Wouldn't be a bad thing to drop the oil pan and clean it also!

 

My tensioners failed at 50K miles. In addition to the tensioners the cam bearings,lifters, cams and the oil pump were toast. All were replaced and the bike is ready for more mileage. Check all those listed above to be safe. Just my experience, hope it helps.

 

Wally: How did you determine that there "was no wear on any metal part?"

 

We have the tentioner assembly out and it doesn't look worn, just missing the plastic.
From the sounds of your question, you don't think we know what we're doing and you're right.
I just hope I can convince him not to ride it and to let someone that knows what they are doing work on it.
I expect he'll change the tensioner and try to ride it.
Hopefully the noise will still be present and he'll rethink.

 

Wally: No, I wasn't suggesting that you didn't know anything by posting the question on metalwear. I have the HD service manual and it has a spec on the wear of the pad material, but nothing on the metal portion of the tensioner.

Hope it all works out well for your buddy.

 

Like I said though, we don't know what we are doing, so you or anyone else that gives us advice that maysound really basic, isn't going to hurt my feelings.

 

My bike had a very slight noise, (I thought, but wasn't sure. I had changed from a 3/4 helmet over to a 1/2) and so everything sounded different, ya know?) Took it to a neighbor who rides quite a bit, he said he heard nothing strange. So I rode it for the summer, In Aug over at Indy it got much worse, very quickly. I got it back on the trailer and hauled it home. It turned out I HAD major cam bearing failure. My tensioners were both worn very slightly, (36k mi) If you figure out the oil passage/flow. I would be more worried about a bunch of plastic pieces floating around, then small metal particles,,,(Not saying metal would be good..because I HAD that, my ball bearing cage, fell apart, and I found several chunks of it in the cam cover.) Just trying to point out the plastic would be more likely to clog up any passage, then the metal would, IMHO....there are passages in the cam support plate you would at LEAST want to make sure are clear I bet. (supply and returns for the tank, if you look at the lines down there) The oil pump, would most likely not be harmed by this, in the way it functions is very simple, however if it has no oil to pump, (Line clogged) it would be terrible, OR if the return to the tank was inhibited, it would be just as bad, I imagine. (Fill the dry sump with oil? Draining the tank?) Not a good scenerio either I am sure.

I also am very inexperienced in these, and am learning as I go,,,
Had several on here "Scared" [:@]because I got the cams out, WITHOUT removing the lifters, ,[:-],,, ROTFLMAO,,, [sm=icon_rofl.gif]

Guess I am just good,,,[sm=hail.gif] NOT.

Good luck, and keep us posted!

 

mine disintegrated while on a trip, and part of the plastic ended up clogging an oil passage(s) resulting in my bike blowing huge amount of oil out of the air cleaner. You will need to try to confirm all oil passages are clear. I ended up having to crack the lower case to get it all cleaned out.