maybe they should. it sure would have saved me a bunch of money. it is part of the regular inspection - which i admit i was never very good about getting done.

i wonder if others who had a catastrophic failure were as slack about routine service as i was? i took care of fluids and tires - but that was about it. things are different now.

 

I just did some motor work and my inner was bad at 25k. I had mine changed over to the hydraulic tensioners, Andrews makes the best kit IMO. The problem is that after 02 I believe, they changed from forged cranks to cast cranks. And the crank run out will not allow many bikes to run gears mine ran out .004, I think .002 is the max. If you really want to run gears and you have run out the only option is to split the cases and have the crank trued. The Andrews hydraulic kit, if I remember right, cost about the same as going the gear route, plus you get a higher volume oil pump. plus it's supposed to free up 3-4 hp. If I made some mistakes I'm sure someone will correct them. Good luck bud. You should definitely change it over, just for piece of mind.

 

What does it cost to replace the tensioners?

and what does it cost to change to gear drive?

thanks

 

They just had to replace mine at 8000 km (5000 miles) on an 08 heritage. I had noticed a funny sound, and guessed that might be it.

 

If I remember right the tensioners were like $70 a piece, the chains on the other hand I'm not sure. I think my conversion kit was like $450 plus the cams. Here's the skinny: http://www.andrewsproducts.com/motor...nstall_Kit.htm

To me it was worth the piece of mind, cuz I tend to ride hard and don't want a $70 part grenading the motor.

 

My dealer told me it's not part of the regular inspection and you need to ask for it. It costs extra, especially to inspect the inner tensioner. I've heard you can cut your oil filter apart and if it has little chunks of orange plastic in it, then your tensioner is starting to go. Big chunks will plug up your oil pump. If it goes completely, bye bye engine. They recommended checking it at 20k and after 30k, they recommend replacement - they say you are on borrowed time after 30k. Oh yeah, and this is for the 88 ci TC motors (through 2006). '07s and later have a hydraulic tensioner. He also said you can convert to the hydraulic tensioner for about $800 or the gear driven cams for $1000. (ouch!) I agree there should have been a recall for this.

 

Here's what mine looked like at 52k. They still had some life left in them. I'm glad I ditched the whole shebang and put in gears, though. Not worrying about tensioners and lets me focus more time on worrying about when my belt is gonna break...LOL

 

I think you're right. Looks like the primary chain adjustment is "inspected" every 2500. I was mistaken and now I don't feel so bad about not having it checked so often (in the past). You know, up until this moment I think I have been confusing the cam chain tensioners with the primary chain tensioner. Two very different things. Told you before that I'm a mechanical dummy.

 

Excellent advice! And particularly true about the crank. Best to go with the Andrews upgrade kit for sure.

 

at 16k cam job my 07's looked like new.... the TC's 88's are the ones with the issue normally..
07's up haven't had many issues