Hey guys,

I'm in the middle of changing my clutch and I noticed wear on the compensator. It was not noisy at all, and I've never had an issue with it. I just wondered if this is normal wear, or is it on it's way out?

 

I’d be curious to see if the shaft extension has any wear on it. Do you plan on pulling it to take a better look?

 

I wasn't planning on it, but if guys think I should I will. I have been looking at others pics online and it looks like normal wear. Mine has 44000 miles on it.

 

If I were you I'd take it out to look at it more closely. Looks to have quite a bit of wear from what I can see. Wear that looks to be maybe from being a bit dry.

 

SG-Jay, you have actually answered your own question, "when in doubt, change it out" ! You don't give year or mileage but I will speak from my personal experience. The ramps will usually show that kind of wear but the more important wear is on the rear of the sprocket spokes. Take a light and look behind the spoke and chances are there is a nice worn grove in it and that is what causes the slack or loose spring tension and the rattle. That is the older style comp because it doesn't have the oil sling orifices in the center of the sprocket. Many will recommend an after market brand or solid comp/sprocket, you can make up your own mind but myself and a few others in our local group have just about eliminated our comp failures. To answer your question, if you don't remove it now or it doesn't seem like it's giving you any problems you may be correct but chances are you will be changing it soon because it will schedule itself, what you don't see is the rust and wear on the inner wear surface on the hub and that also cause chatter.
The new HD Comp part # is 4200064A and you have to glue an oil trap on the inside of your side cover, clean and sand surface very well and clamp using the recommended glue and it works fine or buy an updated outer primary case. Here are the two things that we have found to increase comp life, we have been polishing wear surfaces that gives smoother operation and it reduces the metal shavings in the primary oil to almost none. Second , the lower you run on your RPM's the quicker you will wear out the comp causing it to ride up on the ramps more than it should and compressing/wearing springs, you can see how far your's are worn, almost to the point. Keeping RPM's above 2500 and mostly in the 3000-4000+ when pulling a hill or regular shifting will increase comp life as per our experiences. Below are a pic of the new style comp and what they look like polished. Regardless of what direction you go you would do well to change it now. Just seen your mileage post, change it !

 

Baker Compensator....it’s what went in mine after the 4th time in 93000 miles

 

Thanks for the advice guys. Mine is a 2012 with 44000 miles on it. My bike rarely below 2800 rpm. I usually cruise around 3000 and shift at 4000. When I'm playing around with my buddies I do shift with throttle wide open. Hence why I'm replacing the clutch now. I guess I better pull the compensator and have a look.

 

Here are a couple pics with the compensator removed.

 

LOL, and there it is, good call on your part to pull it, I know many who said "it's not even worn" and a month later they're back into it. It's hard to believe that it rusts in an oil bath but that's how much centrifugal force it has and why the new one's sling oil from the inside out. I've seen many of them that look exactly like that and much worse. While you are into the clutch you should check the primary output shaft bearing and seal, you aren't that far from have all the bugs out of the primary. All ***** makes a nice kit. Nice catch on the comp ! Myself and some friends have over 50,000 miles on the new style comps and checked mine at 40,000 and looks brand new with zero wear and no free play at all.

 

It’s time to go....this ones shot.