I know that this topic may have been covered somewhere, but for those who still ride their touring bikes with the original compensator (not the SE compensator).
Please share your bike model and mileage, as I still don't see why I need to replace my compensator at this time, or anytime soon.

Mine is 2010 Ultra Limited / ~40000 miles

Thanks!
Nick

 

I work at Drago's, the last 2010 I tore down, had bout 70,000 miles, the comp. cup springs had eaten almost 3/4 of the housing wall and ready to fall out and just ride loose on the shaft. will try to find the pics tomm. to post on here. Looks like this had been going for some time. another one during the summer, dont remember the miles on it, but the cup washers were just starting to eat up the inside. It shows up as very fine wet like graphite. Hope this helps answer what you are looking for as an answer.

 

Change now, pay a little. Change later, pay alot. Your call.

 

Aren't they having issues with the SE Comp. i thought i read about this somewhere.

 

Nick...it's well documented that the stock compensator on mine and your model year bike is crap. You may be riding on borrowed time. If you are asking for us to confirm loyalty to a poorly designed part, you are wasting your time.

All it takes is a look at the difference between the two. Mine was causing no problems either, but at 2000 miles, I bought a SE version at Lake Shore and installed it myself according to these instructions. Take a peek:

https://www.hdforums.com/forum/touri...it-w-pics.html

 

While your in there you might as well do something about that tensioner.

 

To the OPs question, 09 RG with 67K & still on the original comp, have SE comp in the garage waiting to be installed. Mine was getting worse, making more noise, so I decided to replace it before it died completely.

 

I had mine replaced under warranty with a SE comp. Just pd the difference between the two, $150 I think. Did this at 12,000 miles I believe. I now have 21,000 miles on my 2010.

 

I have 21,000 miles on the tock compensator in my 2010 FLHX. No problems yet.

 

No Joe I disagree. The stock compensator was fine until the 6 speed appeared in 2006 on the Dyna Series. That's when the we first saw Inner Primary Bearing failures with Harley instituting an automatic free replacement of IPB's every 15,000 miles for the life of the bike. ( That policy has since been cancelled.)

By 2007/2008 with the introduction of the 96" cast crank motors, we'd seen the the comps start going on the now older 06 bikes along with now anything that had a 6 speed in it. And it has been that way ever since.

I just replaced the drive belt on my '00 Road Glide last month at 119,960 miles. My original compensator still shows no signs of wear. I mean none. (You'll recall that I do have an M-6 chain tensioner in there, but that addition is certainly not getting all the credit for my primary's longevity.) My bike has the 5 speed. And bikes with 5 speeds typically don't have comp or IPB issues.

So with what Harley is putting on the road now, yes, the original comps can't handle it. But then apparently neither can the "older" S/E comps installed to keep these bikes from tearing themselves apart. The problem IMHO has never been with the comps. I firmly believe that it is a problem with the 96/103 motor mated to that 6 speed.

We're just searching for band aids that will work for awhile.