Primary Chain Adjustment Shoe
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Joined: Oct 2022
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From: SW Missouri
Primary Chain Adjustment Shoe
I went to adjust my primary Chain on my 03 Anniversary heritage and I noticed the shoe was very worn. In retrospect the chain was too tight. But my question is I found a genuine HD shoe on eBay but I noticed the date on the package was 08. Do you think the age on this part would be a problem?
Rocky
Rocky
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From: Honah Lee
I went to adjust my primary Chain on my 03 Anniversary heritage and I noticed the shoe was very worn. In retrospect the chain was too tight. But my question is I found a genuine HD shoe on eBay but I noticed the date on the package was 08. Do you think the age on this part would be a problem?
Rocky
Rocky
If front to back is off over a 1/32, it's an indication that spline is gone in alternator rotor. It slips and wear lets it move in in front.
When mine went, it had slipped so long, the chain links were nipping the sprocket teeth. (Why I pulled it..in slow hard 180 turns, you could hear it)
Dealer told me it's very common on the 10 spline.
Also, chains wear uneven and tension is different at different areas. Someone could have set it in a loose area. That step on the adjuster is huge. On a worn chain, it's easy to eat up the whole tolerance.
If it gets too far out using up all tolerance, sometimes like in my case, I kept indexing sprockets. If that doesn't work, you ought to replace chain or it's going to be noisy at idle.
Also remember, on a roller chain, once links groove in, chain rolls. Wear stops. If you actually see roller wear, it was super tight.
That shoe is pretty cheap at a dealer. Internal parts are best left to a dealer and hope the owner is not going counterfeit in my opinion.
PS. Just my opinion. Based on what I have found and fixed. Spelling and grammar is phone Google. If it is wrong ignore it or put me on your ignore list please.
Last edited by Jackie Paper; Dec 16, 2022 at 07:03 AM.
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Joined: Oct 2022
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From: SW Missouri
The reason I know it was too tight is because I adjusted it. I know how to adjust them, I found the tightest point on the chain and at its tightest point it had like 3/8 of an inch play. Factory settings are anywhere from 5/8 to 7/8. I don't know the history of this bike, because I purchased it in October.
Rocky
Rocky
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From: Honah Lee
The reason I know it was too tight is because I adjusted it. I know how to adjust them, I found the tightest point on the chain and at its tightest point it had like 3/8 of an inch play. Factory settings are anywhere from 5/8 to 7/8. I don't know the history of this bike, because I purchased it in October.
Rocky
Rocky
I find tightest, set it close to 5/8 and live with loose areas. Or index sprockets or replace chain.
Been a while but I set mine 1/2" at tight and managed to get loose at 1". Bike has over 50k on it. Needs a new chain but it's just local for it's last 5 years. It was a little noisy at idle. Drove it 20k like that. It's just eye candy now.
PS..
I welcome you to the HDForum and
hope you enjoy your ride. _______
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Last edited by Jackie Paper; Dec 16, 2022 at 07:17 AM.
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Thread Starter
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Joined: Oct 2022
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From: SW Missouri
Oh no, I have tons of adjustment! It's just that my shoe is very worn the grooves look pretty deep and I'm going to replace it. No my original question, was there is a original Harley-Davidson shoe that I was looking at buying, but the package on it said 2008. I was just concerned that the part that old the plastic might be brittle.
Not to be snarky but "when in doubt, throw it out" I would think if you were worried about the plastic, if you installed it, you would always worry about how it is standing up to the job Just my 2cent thought