These pictures are from the compensator install session we just completed on my bike. Davessworks had the compensator he offered to me at the price he'd paid through one of the discount HD dealers, and also offered to do the install. Clint55 offered his garage for the day, and his lovely wife Shari fed us. It really was a good day, the install went without a hitch, and we even got to sort out an oil leak that had been bugging me for over a year.

The bike is on a pitbull lift, which is really well built, and makes it an easy job to get to everything.

The first job is to remove the left side footboard and rear shift lever. Eventually, the entire shift mechanism will be disconnected. Here's the primary cover off, and the Screamin Eagle primary locking tool in place. This is a 1"X6" piece of flat bar stock that has been tapered on each end. Probably a 16 or 18 dollar tool if purchased from the moco. Or make one yourself from a peice of scrap metal for about a buck or less.



The old compensator assembly and clutch basket out of the bike



Here's a pretty good picture of the galling that typically occurs on the shaft extension on the old style compensator. I have about 31K miles on my bike. This damage will get worse and worse with time and miles, eventually leading to binding. I hadn't been having problems yet, but it would have happened sooner or later.



The inner primary still needs to come off at this point




To get the inner primary off, the rear exhaust and the starter needs to come off.



In the picture above, you can see a bundle of wires hanging down just above the saddlebag support. This wire harness had worked its way down behind the left side cover and was dragging on the drive belt. It is a left over wire bundle from the police accessories that were on the bike when it was in service in Florida. The wires aren't needed anymore, so I taped them up to avoid any possible bare wire-to-wire contact and then zip-tied them up alongside another section of the wiring harness just behind the left frame cover.




With the starter unbolted and the exhaust off, it's a straightforward job to pull the inner primary. The leak I'd been having problems with was coming from just underneath the stator, and replacing the inner primary gasket should fix it.

Wiring loose ends tied up, ready to go back together




The new compensator installed and getting properly torqued. If you don't have a 1 3/4 inch open end wrench, a large crescent wrench will work for the compensator nut.


With the outer primary cover back on, it's time to refill the primary with 45 oz of your favorite primary lube. I generally use 20w50 dino oil.




Then reinstall the exhaust, footboards and jiffy stand, tie up any loose ends and clean up the work area.

This is a two to three hour job for someone who has done it before, or generally knows their way around a primary. It's easily doable by the average home mechanic, and doing it yourself will likely save you at least a couple hundred bucks in labor charges. There's not a lot of specialized tools needed, but you do need torque wrenches, a 1 3/16 socket to pull the clutch basket, and either a large crescent wrench or a 1 3/4 inch open end to hold the sprocket retainer while you torque down the lock bolt to 140 ft/lbs.


Many thanks to davessworks for leading the way on this, Clint55 for the use of his garage and his help as well, and his lovely wife Shari for feeding the three of us.

Having done this on my bike with Dave, I'm happy to pay it forward and lend a hand to anyone in the Puget Sound area who is considering the upgrade. I haven't had a chance to evaluate the effects of the upgrade. The ride home after the install was cold and wet, and I was more focused on the road ahead than anything else.

I still need to clean up my bike and hopefully get some miles in soon so I can report back on whether or not it's a necessary upgrade. Despite the galling that was clearly evident on my old compensator, I really hadn't been too concerned with it's performance. I had been getting the typical bang on startup, but other than that, I think the stock compensator in my bike really hadn't been too worrisome.

 

Great writeup and pictures Boogaloodude; thanks! Make sure you get back to us with your impressions on the new comp.

 

The new compensator has definitely fixed the loud bang at startup. I really hadn't been having any issues with driveline noise or jerkiness, but the galling on the splines of the shaft extension on the old compensator would tend to indicate that problems might appear sooner or later. Enough wear on the shaft enxtension would lead to similar problems on the sliding cam, and eventually binding of the moving parts. Better to just fix it now than wait until there was a problem.

 

Here is a way to replace the comp without removing the inner primary. I used this post and my manual and did the job in 3 hours. My only parts were the SE comp, a new outer primary cover gasket, blue and red locktite, and primary oil. (had to buy a 1 3/16 socket at autozone for clutch nut)

https://www.hdforums.com/forum/dyna-...mpensator.html

I have a 2010 Ultra so it looked a bit different than the bike in the above post but the proceedure is the same. I also made my own primary locking tool by cutting a piece of metal I had laying around and I have read others used a piece of oak. I had to borrow a reversable torque wrench for the clutch nut.

 

Great write up, great pictures sure is something to plan for the future. Good to have Buds like that. Kudo's to Shari also for feeding the Bro's.
And Boogaloodude even got a free bike wash on the way home
Ride safe, road hazards are everywhere

 

Glad to hear you made it home safe... Dave and I noticed that he big wind and rain started right after you left. Great to finally meet you and look'n forward to seeing you again sometime.

 

Good write up with the pics. Thanks

 

Do you have the part # for the SE Compensator that you installed on your bike? I want to do the same thing on my 07 Road Glide. I have some other problems to fix also. Thanks