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Old Sep 15, 2009 | 05:33 AM
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I have an '04 Heritage Classic with 40,000 kms

Yesterday a mechanic told me I should have the cam chain tensioners replaced in the next 10k ( he said they were fine now but 100% need to be replaced around 50K)

Is he accurate? 100% need replacement?

thanks for any comments,
 
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Old Sep 15, 2009 | 06:07 AM
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I would tend to AGREE with him, there have been a lot of ISSUES with those TENSIONERS!!! I got RID of mine with only about 5000 mi. and went GEAR DRIVE!!! Wasn't gonna wait for something BAD TO HAPPEN!!!
 
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Old Sep 15, 2009 | 06:37 AM
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on my 03 softail, the rear one was just about done at 25K miles
 
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Old Sep 15, 2009 | 08:34 AM
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Usually between 35-50k miles. Most certainly by 50k miles.
 
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Old Sep 15, 2009 | 08:38 AM
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I waited too long. Ended up paying $5K for the engine to be sent back to HD for a rebuild after the tensioner broke lose. Get it changed out. I use gears but I understand the new style comes highly recommended now. That happened at about 65K.
 
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Old Sep 15, 2009 | 09:18 AM
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did mine with gear drive at about 30 thou
some wear but not worn out..
 
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Old Sep 15, 2009 | 09:28 AM
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Switching to gears next week. One less thing to worry about.
 
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Old Sep 15, 2009 | 09:36 AM
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i got 30K on my st bob and ordered a new one today!
 
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Old Sep 15, 2009 | 10:14 AM
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You want to change it before it goes bad. Because if it breaks, it will take most of the motor with it.
 
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Old Sep 15, 2009 | 06:21 PM
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thanks for all the replies.

It appears to be such a common problem that Harley should issue a 'recall' and replace the tensioners free of charge.
I'm not very happy to pay for this.

thanks again for the info.
 
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