Took the cam chest apart in my '09 RKC with 16,000 +/- and guess what? The inside shoe was severely grooved and almost junk, with only 16K on the clock? I wouldn't have even found it or suspected that there was a potential problem if we weren't trying different cams for the **** of it..

Anyone have any early failures on the "new and improved" tensioner design? I thought they "fixed" this????

I run gear drives in my '03 and guess I'll have to in the '09.............


By hoofmender at 2011-04-12

 

That's almost disconcerting. I have on 08 FXSTC, but I did replace the OEM inner cam bearings around 30K I think it was, and both of mine were pristine. An anomaly perhaps??

 

You need to visit page 3 on this forum long thread on this, you just missed it.

 

Thanks for that info...that thread is a guy with old style tensioners in an 88,(I changed my '03 to gear drives a long time ago),..... it's my '09 that went to hell..... with the "new and improved" tensioners..... looking for others that have had early failure of the newer style tensioners??? Thanks....

 

Tensioners are crap. Old style, new style. Bad design. HD has built a good engine but cheaped it through bearings and tensioners.

 

Funny, others (honda, suzi, triumph etc) Have been using cam chains and tensioners for years. Reliable and quieter than gear drives. More than likely less wear on major parts since there is less metal contact than gear drive. If I could do something like it on my sporty I would. Freakin thing sounds like a sewing machine