Have a 2000 TC that I've just had built and am about to re-install.

I had a pretty bad noise that led to this teardown / rebuild and, although we found a few minor problems, we found no smoking gun that would explain the noise.

The comp sprocket nut was tight, the sprocket cover could not be moved by hand, but I would really, Really, REALLY like to know how to inspect this thing before putting it back together. I'm mostly concerned about the sprocket cover component, the part with the springs in it. HOW do I determine if it's good? It *looks* good, but how do I validate that? What do I measure? What do I inspect?

This build cost me a small eff'ing fortune that I couldn't really afford (we've all been there) and I don't want to just play the "when it doubt, replace it game" with a part that costs $200+.

Any suggestions?

 

How many miles on the compensator? Inspect for abnormal wear and tear, particularly rotor and crank spline fit. The most likely causes for compensator noise are loose compensator or collapse of the Bellville spring pack.

The comp could be tight but the assembly still loose; fairly common occurrence in the early touring models but not the pre '02s as they still had the Timken bearing but worth a check. At one time HD offered shims to alleviate the problem; check out the attached diagram to illustrate. The specified torque can be applied to the comp nut but if the nut is too long (factory tolerance problem) the nut can bottom and leave the assembly loose, i.e., not fully compressing the spring pack. The "go to" fix back in the day was to shave .030"-.045" off the comp nut to prevent bottoming out. Suggest you shave the comp nut as insurance.

The bellville spring could be collapsed. IIRC the stock, uncompressed height of the Bellville spring pack is .692" measured from the top of the shell to the face of the spring pack. If yours is less, the spring pack has collapsed; somebody might check me on the aforementioned dimension.Again, the shade tree fix has been to find another compensator and cannibalize one of the three springs and add it to the compensator in question. Or, replace the spring pack but I don't have the PN or the price. Jack up the rear wheel, put the trans in 5th gear and rotate the wheel. Watch the compensator rotate on the ramps. I don't know if there is a spec for the limit of rotational movement but use your judgement. If it appears to rotate too much, use the extra spring trick or replace the spring pack. IIRC one of the Bellville springs is thinner than the others and that is the one you would cannibalize.

 

There is not one. Just no way without special tooling to measure the compression without costing an arm and leg for a low $$ item. Look at the fingers and the back side that retains cup Belville spring. If it looks OK, probably is. A Belville spring has a long life. We had them in our auto tool changers that retained the tooling. Since at most, they can only go flat unlike a coil spring that could be extended too far. I never saw a failure on our machines.
Normal riding on a bike hardly stresses it.

 

The HD Bellville spring pack is under pressure constantly and can lose tension. I have seen it and repaired it on more than one occasion. I have also seen posts on other forums from one owner who found the Bellville spring pack so loose, he could rotate it in the shell by hand. Check it out per my previous post and if all checks out, look elsewhere for the noise.

 

Mine at 30K was still under load and I am measuring here to determine thread engagement and mine had plenty of room to bottom. That inner face wear was from the slipping alternator rotor that the spline was gone. Compensator had been driving it for a long long time since the dealer had been it at 10K and did not catch what was wrong.

 

DJL & RIPSAW: Thank you very much for your valuable help! I've searched and searched for info like this to no avail, and even made a post or two.

My bike (and thus compensator) has 55k miles on it. visually, the entire unit looks good. The spring is my big concern as I didn't know how to tell if it was good or toast..