Did you buy the newest updated "C" version of the adjuster ? I think they are now on the 3rd one.

I wonder why your chain was rubbing the bracket for the Baker adjuster ?

 

I had to do some digging in my files, but it was the B version. At the time, the C version hadn't yet come out.

Unless you have done the Baker install, it's kind of hard to explain. The only things that holds the Baker unit in place are the same two OEM mounting bolt locations, under the shoe at either end and the hold they bottom of the rear adjustment bracket. The portion of the bracket that extends upwards is use for adjustment. The shoe sort of floats except that there is a thin metal T shaped piece (the one that broke in two places on mine) that attaches at the same place as the OEM bolts, and then to the bolt on the outside of the shoe.

When mine broke, the adjustment portion snapped off the main bracket (and remained bolted to the shoe bracket), and then the outer support T shaped piece broke in two places thus allowing the shoe to basically flop around.

That's how the chain was able to eat into the bracket.

 

I get it now. You were very lucky the entire thing didn't get into the clutch basket and destroy everything in there an lock up the wheel. Any noise before that happen to you ?

I wonder how many of these things Baker has sold and how many failures there have been. A failure like this could put a guy on his head !

 

It certainly made all sorts of racket! I have a solid sprocket in lieu of a compensator, so I had a good idea something like this had happened as soon as I heard it.

I sidelined the bike until I could inspect it and fix the issue.

You are very spot on though - it could have been very catastrophic for the bike and certainly very dangerous for a rider. I feel fortunate to have avoided both worst case scenarios.

Imagine if you aren’t mechanically inclined too. It would suck to have to keep paying to repair the same ‘upgraded’ part.

 

REDBEARD that is absolutely insane to break apart like that!!!!! Have never seen anything like that before!

YOU GOT EXTREMELY LUCKY TO RIDE ANOTHER DAY!

 

Man I love the design of the Hayden tensioner. I put it in my Ultra Limited last winter, and have no issues. Just rode to Sturgis and Montana from TX, and I'm going to pull the primary and have a look, since I'm going on a long road trip to North Carolina and who knows where else in Oct.

I remember when I installed the Hayden, I tried to force it to make contact with the primary, and wasn't even close when it bottomed out. I was impressed.

 

REDBEARD isn't the only one....

I've read of one other similar instance with the Baker tensioner. His didn't break, but bent so he couldn't adjust it... In that case, IIRC, he had a built engine and wasn't shy about using the power...

 

I've run the BakerBaker on a Touring bike and it worked well and did improve the neutral to first shift as well as the others too, but was too much of a pain and mess to pull the cover to adjust it as a maintenance task. And, the chain adjustment procedure is tedious in that you have to rotate the engine check the slack in the chain at many locations to find the tightest and losest spots (I used 10 locations on the chain to fine the tightest location since the comp sprocket is smaller than the sprocket on the clutch basket and you need to be sure to cover all of that) so that the tightest part is within Bakers specs. If you have much flywheel runout the sprocket shaft is rocking back and forth as the flywheels turn, and there is always some runout on the clutch basket as well. That leads to lose and tight spots in the chain as the engine sprocket and clutch basket rotate toward and away from each other. So you can easily end up with a chain that is over tightened, which we all know can damage bearings and other parts. Think about how using gear drive cams can lead to damage if there is too much runout, this is sort of similar because the Baker attitude chain adjuster is not spring loaded, there is no give in it so something else will give and it won't be good.

If you are lucky enough to have very little runout at either the sprocket shaft / compensator sprocket or clutch basket, it should be easy to adjust and have no problems with. But we also know HD has relaxed the runout specs on the flywheels on the latye models, which doesn't help with this or much of anytjhing else.

Bakler claims that not allowing enough slack in the chain causes the bracket to first bend, allowing the chain to walk inward wearing against the bracket, which ultimately breaks. The chain adjustment procedure from Baker indicated that damage due to improper adjustment is not warrantied. If your running large displacement (and a welded crank) with big Dyno numbers, a Baker Armor Attitude Adjuster may be a good idea. But I think for most street bikes the late OEM auto adjuster is fine.

Paul

 

Interesting perspective! I don't recall reading about any issues with EVO engines running with their manual primary chain adjuster. I'm sure there are people running high power in these engines. Is the runout that much better in an EVO? What about the clutch basket runout? Is that better in an EVO too?

 

Right, and you don't hear of many EVO engines with compensator problems either. But not many out there making 100 HP 100 tq.

The EVO flywheels have a tighter runout spec from the factory and aren't pressed together, although you can still tweek them. And it's difficult to get as much torque and HP out of an HD EVO engine without boring the cases and longer stroke flywheels etc. And if you do all of that with HD cases, it isn't likely to last long. It just wasn't designed for it.

And, consider the diameter of an 25 tooth EVO egine sprocket compared to a 34 tooth Twin Cam or M8. I believe the effect of additional runout on the sprocket shaft or sprocket is exagerated with the larger sprocket.

Paul