outer cam tensioner wear
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Joined: Sep 2012
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From: Castle Rock, CO
outer cam tensioner wear
Working on putting SE 204s in my 2013 FLHTK and found something that doesn't look right to me. Bike has 16K miles and has been filled with Mobil 1 since 1K miles. I wasn't expecting any deep wear like this on the outer tensioner shoe. Wasn't originally planning on doing so, but I will now be replacing the tensioner. Thinking about taking it to the dealer to see if they could somehow get me a new tensioner and chain under some kind of warranty claim since the wear looks abnormal to me and the searches I did had plenty of folks with several thousand miles on them with very little wear. Looking for folks with a few more cam replacements under their belts to weigh in about if there could be something else wrong with this much wear after only 16K miles. When i was disassembling the cam plate, i also noticed there seemed to be quite a bit of slack on the outer chain on the front side opposite the hydraulic tensioner. Was expecting the chain to be pretty taught all the way around before I loosened the tensioner to start removing the plate.
Thanks in advance for any guidance.
Thanks in advance for any guidance.
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Joined: Sep 2012
Posts: 92
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From: Castle Rock, CO
I also checked the crank runout this morning and it looks pretty darn good. Was at about .003". If I did have a problem with this, I would expect wear on the shoe from both sides of the chain instead of just one side. Anyway, well within spec according to previous threads on the runout issue.
I talked with a couple dealers and they won't cover the tensioner as "an over the counter warranty". One of the dealers in Denver area did say that if i brought the bike up and had them put it back together, they could work with me.
I decided to just go with the Red Shift tensioners from Zippers and I had already purchased the Axtell oil bypass valve from them.
Going to head up to the dealer and order a new outer chain just to be safe since I have to wait for the new tensioners to get shipped anyway.
So much for getting out and enjoying the nice weather this weekend. Guess I will just have to go skiing instead of riding.
Thanks,
Scott
Grand HDF Member
Joined: Jun 2009
Posts: 4,006
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From: On the Front Range, CO
The inner looks immaculate.
I also checked the crank runout this morning and it looks pretty darn good. Was at about .003". If I did have a problem with this, I would expect wear on the shoe from both sides of the chain instead of just one side. Anyway, well within spec according to previous threads on the runout issue.
I talked with a couple dealers and they won't cover the tensioner as "an over the counter warranty". One of the dealers in Denver area did say that if i brought the bike up and had them put it back together, they could work with me.
I decided to just go with the Red Shift tensioners from Zippers and I had already purchased the Axtell oil bypass valve from them.
Going to head up to the dealer and order a new outer chain just to be safe since I have to wait for the new tensioners to get shipped anyway.
So much for getting out and enjoying the nice weather this weekend. Guess I will just have to go skiing instead of riding.
Thanks,
Scott
I also checked the crank runout this morning and it looks pretty darn good. Was at about .003". If I did have a problem with this, I would expect wear on the shoe from both sides of the chain instead of just one side. Anyway, well within spec according to previous threads on the runout issue.
I talked with a couple dealers and they won't cover the tensioner as "an over the counter warranty". One of the dealers in Denver area did say that if i brought the bike up and had them put it back together, they could work with me.
I decided to just go with the Red Shift tensioners from Zippers and I had already purchased the Axtell oil bypass valve from them.
Going to head up to the dealer and order a new outer chain just to be safe since I have to wait for the new tensioners to get shipped anyway.
So much for getting out and enjoying the nice weather this weekend. Guess I will just have to go skiing instead of riding.
Thanks,
Scott
Castle Rock, eh? I'm just down the road from you in Monument.
Anyway, I've got a cam/lifter/bearing upgrade going on myself at the moment.
My 2010 110" has almost 31K miles, and my outer shoe looked much better than that. Look closely at the primary cam chain. Or, like mentioned, it could have been the tensioner not seated correctly in its body.
One other thing....if your run out is only .003, you might consider ditching the chains altogether and go with gear drive cams.
Just a thought...
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Tourer
Joined: Apr 2012
Posts: 469
Likes: 3
From: Arizona
Looks to me like there were air pockets in the tensioner and chunks broke out. Just did cams in my '07 with 35k and there was only some wear on the leading edge of both tensioners. I decided to replace both anyway, new ones look to be a different material. I also found some scoring in the oil pump and cam plate so replaced those as well.
I think you should take a look at your oil pump, to see if those chunks did any scoring.
I think you should take a look at your oil pump, to see if those chunks did any scoring.
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Road Captain
Joined: Sep 2011
Posts: 541
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From: Sherwood Park AB Canada
As Old Hippie said, that there is an issue with the chain not the pad. I would not be so quick to decide on gear drives. While your runout is ok for gears now, runout has been know to increase in some cases over time and miles. Its only a safe bet when the crank is welded, which is done to ensure they don't move.
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Joined: Nov 2012
Posts: 2,422
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From: Fla
I'm with SR90...
The old tensioners had a 'defect' where during the manufacturing process, bubbles developed in the interior of the tensioner. When the outer surface wore off, the bubbles were in plain view. Many people thought this was the chain gouging out chunks of plastic, but this is not the case. The new material used for later models was supposed to 'cure' that problem, but looks like it's still there...
If you haven't tossed the old tensioner(s) yet, put them to a grinding wheel, (or slice the surface off with a band saw?), and take the rest of the surface off just to see what it looks like. I'd be curious to see that...
The old tensioners had a 'defect' where during the manufacturing process, bubbles developed in the interior of the tensioner. When the outer surface wore off, the bubbles were in plain view. Many people thought this was the chain gouging out chunks of plastic, but this is not the case. The new material used for later models was supposed to 'cure' that problem, but looks like it's still there...
If you haven't tossed the old tensioner(s) yet, put them to a grinding wheel, (or slice the surface off with a band saw?), and take the rest of the surface off just to see what it looks like. I'd be curious to see that...
Last edited by Def Mute; Mar 6, 2014 at 07:08 PM.