It helped me-thanks.

 

Great post man, exactly what I was looking for.

 

Your photos were good, best I've seen so far. Now as for the whole issue of if - when - why these things fail, I want to throw in my 2 cents.

I have read many theories on why these things sometimes go bad for some folks at under 20K and much longer for others. My own theory is a departure from what others have written, as far as I know anyway.

I think the actual material of the pads in not well controlled at manufacture, and suspect that in the molding or casting process, there are air voids or areas of not up to spec material. I am suggesting pockets in the pads. Your photos show these, I think, as do others.

I think this is why some pads disintegrate and cause big problems. And I think as they get thinner from ware, there is more and more of a chance they will fall apart.

Where it all ends I do not know, but if it were me, I would get rid of your warn pads whenever possible. As for what the replacement strategy is, well there is another subject for another thread or ten.

Good luck anyway.

 

I gotta believe the pitting is nothing more than a lousy molding process . Not enuff pressure when injecting the plastic or not high enuff temperature . The only way H/D could verify the voids not being there is to randomly cut open a few and have a look see. Obviously whoever is molding these isnt taking too much care when they do it.. The may be short shooting the thing too trying so save time which = money. In injection molding when everything is right there are no voids. .. Id worry more about the total wear than the pitting or voids in the plastic if you will as I dont see that being any real trouble. But I was wrong twice before and I got rid of the one problem with a divorce and the other time I was wrong I really cant remember why, how or what

 

Nice write-up and pics to go with it.
I knew mine were wearing as I checked the oil filter last fall.
Changed filter twice just to look inside it.
Once I understood what was needed, I thought....
You know, the bottom end will be open.... why not add a cam?
Then the next thing was......the heads have to come off...why not a BB?
So with the Service Manual and a Wrench friend
All is good now!
For around $1000 Can.
I got the tensioners changed!

Ride Safe!

 

Great pix and write-up. Got it bookmarked.
I plan on going inside ours this winter (30,000 mi).
Will probably do a cam change while in there and get it over with!!

 

I'm just shy of 30,000 miles. I'm going to have the tensioners changed later this year during a routine service.

Do new tensioners have a similar wear and failure rate as the original ones from earlier in the decade or has this been improved upon?

 

Get gear driven cams and be done with it. My tensioners were shot when I had them checked at 33K miles on my 02 Road King. I went with S&S 510g cams with gear drive and couldn't be happier. Better throttle response and better torque climbing the mountain roads of N. GA

 

As to the face material of the replacement units - it is still the same- in the odd pumpkin color- and at the dealership there is not a new part number - which tells me it is the SOS.

But of course they have an 'upgrade' kit which converts the cams to hydro driven rather than spring loaded. AND on those kits the faces are of a different material - color being milky clear - just like the pad face of he primary chain tensioner. I find this very interesting. So I am still claiming that the pad faces OEM are defective. I think the voids in them are somewhat random. SO there will be some with a lot of integrity - and some with more voids and thus less strength. And it was this type that ends up in pieces in the oil system, or just wares a lot faster. I offered my theory on another forum some months back but there were fans of other theories that go into the 'sharp edge chain' and wrong oil direction.

I know this is only my theory - but I think it stands up to the evidence at this time.

I understand OEM replacement sets are only $80, so it is really economic to just throw in a new set. But if you have no idea of how long they will last, that is not a great solution. OTH, the gear driven sets will run well over a grand, and will not even fit every motor due to mainshaft run out on some. The HD 'upgrade' kit is around $475.

If my theory is correct it is a disgrace that HD has not addressed the problem in a more forthright way.

 

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