Kumaride

Thanks as well ive got an 06 n/train so thats usefull to know.

 

I have 33,000 miles on an 08 Heritage classic. I have heard they have a better system and this is not a problem.
Has anyone had any problems on the newer ones and is it necessary to check them ?

Bob

 

Funny you asked that question.

http://harleytechtalk.org/htt/index....c,35110.0.html
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[quote=magna;7881444]As a matter of interest how often do these things fall apart? and how often are you surposed to check them?

Checked mine every 10,000 after 50,000 miles. At the 70K check I still had over 2/3 of the shoes left. So I was feeling pretty cocky, ( being one of the lucky ones,) when I took a look at 82,000. Surprise surprise! The inner shoe had worn down to 20% and had cracked in half, the broken piece riding between the chain and the tensioner bracket...Age? Cold weather? Dunno..

My new gear drives have about 1,000 miles on them now...

'00 FLTRSEI 83,000 miles

 

as a 'rule of thumb' do the orig. tensionners generally last a mimimum of 50,000 miles?

replace them and they're good for another 50,000 miles?

is that the general consesus?

 

Checking them is relatively easy. I have a friend who just turned 25K on his dresser, and his tensioners were still like new. He felt better safe than sorry.
I would also recommend 25K just to be safe.

 

Well I have read allot of threads the past couple of days about this and I must say I am completely lost. When I get it checked and have the money I don't know whether or not to go with the hydraulic or gear. I will want too change the cam when I do this to the andrews 21 or 26. Hence I don't know if I am suppose to get the N or G but the most confusing thing to me is That I read the that with the SE hydraulic kit I would need too get a different plate than the one that comes with the up grade.

Sorry for the rant but I am far from a gear head and I am sooo lost with all thIs stuff!!!!

 

There are numerous variables so it is easy to get lost. There is not a good set of data to evaluate what is best. There is a bunch of conventional wisdom running around that is usually worthless.

It depends, it seems to me, in order of significance, upon 1. The year of your bike 2. The type of oil that you use 3. How often you change your oil (and how much riding you do) 4. How hard you ride your bike 5. How hot it is most of the time where you are. 6. How you warm up your bike before riding. 7. The type of riding that you do.

This is from reading and reading and reading these threads and getting fact based answers from the contributors. The amount of facts and the quality of the facts are pretty slim, however.

For example, many people think that they can leave oil in an engine that you don't use and be safe. This isn't true. People that bar hop and only ride in fair weather for short distances but ride hard when they do are destined for short life of a lot of things on a Harley.

I checked at 35k. I now have 55k. I think that probably 75k is a moderately risky maximum if you treat your bike well and by the book. I am a little weak on the warm up, but pretty good on the other stuff.

Harley and their dealers stay clear of this one, and you won't get a consistent answer from a group of dealers if they do make a comment.

It should be a class action lawsuit IMHO.

C#

 

Thanks for all the info and I completely agree that Harley should have done something about this on their own dime but that ain't going to happen. One thing you mentioned is proper warm up, what is considered proper warm up?
My bike is an 06 that I purchased last January and it only had 291 miles on it. I now have 8000 and use the harley synthetic. Considering that I logged in 2800hrs at work this year had a pretty solid year of cruising. I don't drive it hard stop sign to stop sign but on the hwy I will cruise along at 80 to 90mph.


You are so correct about all the info with not direction just allot of opinions makes it difficult to figure it out.

 

The Harley Synthetic is better at just sitting in an engine that hasn't gone anywhere than standard oil, so that's a plus (if the P.O. used it, also). The unfounded info that I have heard is that the composition of the followers changed for '06 and that HD smoothed the links on the chains. Supposedly the '06's are better for it. Mine were 1/3 gone at 35,000 mi.

A proper warm up is operating temperature. I have heard it described as 'the time to smoke a cigarette'. I just keep the rpm's as low as I can for the first mile or so after a brief idle in the driveway. I hit lots of stoplights and low speed limits as I leave my home, so my sins are moderate I think. I just don't want my neighbors to have to listen to my bike for 5 minutes early in the morning.

C#