Were there no rollers in the cam chains? Asking 'cuz I don't know. Whether the parts that fitted between the sprocket teeth rolled or not, at least they should have doubled to quadrupled the surface area rubbing against the blocks and slowed the wear rate.

 

The problem with the spring type cam chain tensioners was caused not only by the material used in the wear pads but the non-roller cam chain used in the early versions. H-D changed the pad material and went to a roller chain which extended the life of those spring type tensioners.
None of those cam chain issues has anything to do with the primary chain.

 

Leftcoaster, thanks for the additional info. If you will check the previous page you will see that I have no confusion between the primary drive and the cam drive.

 

nice setup

 

Holes and threads look good. I thought the bolts were harden because they each have 6 dashes on the heads. I think I'll go ahead and buy Harley bolts. The HD bolts have those built on washer heads anyway. The M6 directions say do not use washers anywhere on the Hayden.
The mounting bolts had red on their threads and still worked loose.

 

If you have a doubt about stretched threads, mount the body without its shoe and without loctite. Torque the screws to their max value, and let sit overnight. You must have the same torque value after a heat cycle or after 24H, comparison is done at the same temperature to eliminate thermal expansion of the female thread.

 

Good to know that not all 07's have the thin shoe material. But you can bet if I had an 07, I would be taking a look at the tensioner regardless.

And just so you know, respectfully, no one is trying to spin anything. An owner will either keep his/her stock tensioner, or take steps to improve it. A personal ownership decision.

The new design may not break in two places and look like the one in the photo from the 07 bike primary, but there is no ignoring the fact that it just keeps getting tighter. The post-07 shoe design may not fail, but it will contribute to failure of other components, mainly various bearings. All of this has been discussed thoroughly in this thread.

Good for sales? Please, this is a discussion. From the beginning, there has been no particular pitch for either of the aftermarket replacements offered by Baker or Hayden. Both have positive attributes when compared to the stock units shortcomings. Again, up to the owner to decide which product would work best for his/her approach toward improvement.

And I wish you a Happy New Year as well!

 

[quote=Lowcountry Joe;10724648]Good to know that not all 07's have the thin shoe material. But you can bet if I had an 07, I would be taking a look at the tensioner regardless.

The new design may not break in two places and look like the one in the photo from the 07 bike primary, but there is no ignoring the fact that it just keeps getting tighter. The post-07 shoe design may not fail, but it will contribute to failure of other components, mainly various bearings. All of this has been discussed thoroughly in this thread.

I had already bought new style tensioner off ebay and planned to install it. But after reading thru this thread and others about the tensioner I ordered the M6. It seems to me that Harley made a bad part stronger not better. Instead of the shoe breaking as on my '07 the too tight chain will cause bearing wear. Be it clutch hub bearing, transmission, or crank. (I'm not a mechanic so if I got a bearing wrong or I didn't include a possible problem bearing please let me know)
The picture of the broken shoe shows the forces involved more so than a picture of a noisy bearing.
I'll do the torque check after I buy new bolts. Thanks for the info. And thanks for this thread.

 

The broken tensioner in U-234's bike underscores the stock tensioner issues. Looking at Lowcountry Joe's and my tensioner I don't see where either tensioner may last past 30K+ miles. Wear enough material off the top of the shoe plus the ratcheting tension and the shoe will eventually fail.

 

I received my tensioner today, they assurred me it has the new springs. Now after reading the instructions I received, they contradicted themselves in print by stating the clearance was 3/8" and at the end it had 1/2". So after another email they said the correct measurement is 3/8" and they updated all the instructions now.
Anyone else notice they advise to ONLY use HD fluid? They mention compatability with other fluids and the plastic material. I have been running Redline primary fluid so far.
Just wondering if some of the wear issues mentioned here could have been from fluid issues? Whats everyone been using?
Sorry if some of this was covered but 200+ posts and I got tired of looking this up.