Hyd.Tensioners

Charlie, I've got 122,000 miles on mine and the shoes still look good (maybe 50%). But I built my own motor and the crank run-out was <.001 when new. Never saw or heard of any run-out greater than .004 coming from factory. I've always used synthetic oil.

Going with gear drive when the time comes though.

That's good to hear.

OK so I've got the older bike '05 ....whats a reasonable life expectancy out of my tensioner?

Aloha...Mike

That's what had me worried as I've heard of them failing with only 25k to 40k.

If you've never checked them and you have 25,000 or more miles on the bike
I'd do it pretty soon....some seem to wear out faster than others and the only way to know is look...
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Hmmm......thought you had an '09. But on pre 2006 t.c. with simple spring tension adjuster, I would definitely plan to change to new hydraulic style at 30,000 miles. Some may last longer, but I would not take the chance of shoe failure causing a ruined motor.

That spring style adjuster was a 99 cent solution to eliminating gear drive cams. Big mistake.

No I HAVE an '09(hyd). What worried me was the failures that were happening on the spring style. 'Found it hard to find out if the new ones were much better. I've since found out that the problem with the old style was more due to the stamping of the old style chain link plates. Seems that they were coming out of the stamping dies,a lot of the time, very rough and would often cause the nylon tenssioners to wear prematurely. So some would fail very early and some not so early. The new chain and also a different compound make up of the blocks was H-D's answer. I saw a bike at my indy getting hot rodded and at 84k still had very servicable tensioners in it.

Yeah me too. Nothing is better than seeing for yerself. That one I saw with 84k on it made me feel warm and fuzzy.

Hard shifting loads and unloads the chain tension causing accelerated wear on plastic shoes. If you rode mostly long steady hwy miles, system would last nearly forever. Don't do speed shifts.

Really? On the cam chains. I never thought of that. The Primary I would think so. But hard shifting IS like hitting EVERYTHING with a sledge. 'Told that by my Pop's mechanic,Harold, when I was a whippersnapper. FB, remember Harold? Taught me "you can fix ANYTHING!

Harold was the best. Dad was good too. Made rings out of a wire coat hangar for his '41 Pontiac. Drove it for years like that.

Did he. I must have been employed by our uncle... (Sam) when that happened. Harrold was a driver/mechanic on Half Tracks WWII in N.Africa. "Said nothing will get you to fix something faster than knowing "there's a thousand Germans behind that sand dune. Never will I forget Pop or that Harold.

If'n I had the old style and went to replace them, I think I'd try to polish up or smooth out the chains before install.

When you upgrade to the hydraulic set-up, it comes with the new chain style also.

Think about how the lifters are under pressure from the valve springs. That tension is transferred back down the cam lobes into the cam chain. Now, when the pinion shaft unloads during gear shifts, that fairly loose cam chain whips back and forth against the tension shoes in a sawing motion.

Your timing will change 4 degrees easily from all the slack in that chain. That's why I like the gear drive cams--no timing movement and much less friction.

Good points Alex.