We agree on the springs weakening, but the assembly will bottom out, shims do change where it sits. Guys have trimmed the nut to allow it to go in further. It does change look at how it all sits you could shim between the spring pack and the sliding cam and it would create tension it would have to be the size of the cam part that touches the spring though

 

The springs weaken, you replace them. You don't start compensating for a deficency.

Around fifty bucks when I last looked.

 

By bottoming out you mean the slide cam moving excessively?

 

The back plate of the cover can bottom against the shaft without the spring plate edge putting tension on the sliding cam. If the cam is shimmed it would move the cam out against the spring portion of the cover. That changes with age and riding style. Everyone's will wear differently and even come a little different based on alignment of the chain. Slight, but still varies.

 

Some things you really have to give credit to the engineers.

The whole thing is designed to work. I repeat...work, when it's assembled, with good parts. Hence the phrase, "I've never seen one go bad/ fail." They all don't.

The cover does nothing but house the spring pack and act as a spacer to the assembly.

A false torgue can be a problem if the male and female threads are not cleaned thoroughly. This would allow less holding power.

The trick is to keep the three cams between slider and sprocket,centered/ nuetral, during the torque of the nut.

 

. So you reported reduced vibrations and a night and day difference upon replacing your worn out spring pack, but now you're saying they don't fail? That's a failure in my mind. As soon as something wears to the point of not working it's failed. As stated everyone says that they do not fail, but many report adverse performance and then say it can't be the comp only the new ones are bad.

 

The old style compensators as a rule are pretty bullet proof, but you have to remember... we're talking Harley Davidson here. They have never been known to make "quality" motorcycles when compared to its metric counter parts in the reliability aspect. There is always some little BS thing we have to deal with to own these fun machines. With that being said, your compensator very well could be bad.

 

I'm not saying they do not fail.

I'm quoting the others that claim that the thing never goes bad.

Mine did wear to the point of getting my attention. I changed it after isolating the problem. It did take care of three issues the bike had.

I know first hand that it can be a problem. Hence my posts.

 

. You were one of a very small group of people that led me to keep investigating and reaching out to people. I got in touch with one guy from a two year old post. I'm fairly confident that a failed compensator is a common issue undiagnosed as there's no known test for the spring cover which appears to be the weak link. It's the same one used on many bikes and still works just causes odd problems when it gets weak one of which is a low specific rpm vibration similar to the new bikes with bad compensators. I'm confident that if this doesn't fix my bike it will most likely fix others and the dealerships insist it doesn't go bad. I know I've spoken with a few as well. Also many report new mounts fixing their issue, but it only masks it somewhat.

 

Hmmmm... I didn't read this whole thread but a lot of Harleys have the shake at 2000rpm's where you are saying yours is. As far as rpm's at whatever speed, just don't lug the motor. If I lug mine, it skakes like a ***** sitting in church! On the highway, at 80 mph, my rpm's are damn near 4K. Rides smooth as hell!!!