Cam chain tensioner wear
 

Can anyone tell me which cam chain tensioner shoe (primary or secondary) gets the most wear, and is the most prone to failing? I'm really considering changing the whole mess to a gear drive (as soon as I can save up the cash), but in the mean time, I'm not sure if I should get some insurance by installing new tensinoer shoes. The primary tensioner shoe would be easy to replace, but the secondary involves removing the cam support plate. Not much sense in ripping all that apart to change the shoe, and then doing it again to switch to a gear drive. Also, if anyone has done a gear drive conversion, about how much was the labor cost to install it?

There's a lot of talk about this issue....but in reality, it's rare that anyone is having a problem. I've personally seen tensioner shoes during rebuilds that look perfectly fine. I'm talking on bikes with 20,000+ miles on them. Yes the shoes had a little wear, but it was minimal, and the shoes looked as though they could go another 80,000 with no problems.......and those shoes are still in those motors....

So from what I've read, and seen with my own eyes, I'm not gonna worry about it......but like you if I ever have a problem, I will go to a gear drive as well.

But, if you do decide to replace your shoes, or go with gear drive. you might as well do any other motor upgrades at the same time......since your already in there ;)


FBR :cool:

Thanks for the info. Sometimes it's difficult to seperate fact from fiction on some of things people post on different boards. I've read posts that say people find the tensioner shoes are wiped at 5k miles, which I found kind of hard to believe. I've got 4300 miles on my '02 RK classic, and was beginning to wonder if the cam drive was going to lunch itself sometime in the near future. Hopefully that's not the case.

Junkyard, if you ever decide to change out your shoes, or do an upgrade...here's a great link for a tutorial with a lot of great info & tips (with pictures)...and it's on a RK Classic, how cool is that ??

http://www.harleyhog.co.uk/tensionerinstall.htm



FBR :cool:

Thanks FBR. That link provides a lot of great info and photos.