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Hyd Tensioner setup not all its cracked up to be

I thought the OLD design Shoes were ceramic (hard,brittle) in composition? The newer Plastic looks Soft and Not corse like the shoes...

Maybe the softer plastic Wouldn't damage the engine like chunks or pieces of Old Brittle compounds.

Right or Wrong here?????


wonder if Your dealer
"Might"​
take out a set of the shoes from a "KIT" Just until they could get new ones in?

signed....BUBBIE
 
AS long as the hydraulic ones are constant and predictable, it still seems like the way to go, the shoes pictured had at least that much wear again left.
 
What I see in the pics is that the side plates wore into the plastic, now the rollers on the chain are contacting the shoe, and there is no wear in the middle. My dirt bikes had teflon/plastic tensioners on the drive chain. They wore initially, then slowed dramatically when the rollers were the contact point. If you have chunks missing, you do have a issue. Not refuting your concern, just tossing out possibilities.
 
Breeze3at said:
What I see in the pics is that the side plates wore into the plastic, now the rollers on the chain are contacting the shoe, and there is no wear in the middle. My dirt bikes had teflon/plastic tensioners on the drive chain. They wore initially, then slowed dramatically when the rollers were the contact point. If you have chunks missing, you do have a issue. Not refuting your concern, just tossing out possibilities.
Click to expand...

Seems reasonable to me. I actually expected that to be the case. Now, if chunks come off in the process, I will need to reconsider doing this upgrade. I may need to have my runout checked, in anticipation of going the geared route when I hit my 20K. (If I'm opening up the cam case, I'm not closing it back up without preemptively striking the tensioners, putting in the upgraded oil pump and Andrews 26 cams.

Enjoy,
Rich P
 
I agree with breeze3at.You can see the lines from the side plates ,but once it starts running on the rollers it should slow the wear rate way down .I know the gear drives are a bullet proof setup, if you don't have too much crank runout.But I also know most other motorcycles run chains ,with tensioners and don't have trouble worth talking about.I am glad I went with the late hydraulic setup .I'm liking the quiet cam chest.I don't think it will inconveniance me too much to check my tensioners at 20k .JMO
 
Wear pattern is as Breeze said, the link plate edges are pretty tough on the nylon plastic shoes. On similar application on dirt bikes, chain rub shoes to keep it off the swing arm look similar, so 20,000 mile wear like shown may be about right. My Sporty when I checked last had a modest amount of wear, but your post reminded me to consider getting another shoe to replace it next time I pull my Primary cover.
 
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Bud,

What drove you to check the tensioners? Were you gonna swap out those cams? Have a good weekend, hope you get'er back together.
 
yeah thats what im doing swapping cams .. fired right up now its got to come apart no oil pressure
 
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