Check Those Cam Chain Tensioners

[glazier]

Sounds like a great deal for you Glaizer, just remember all your friends here at HDT when you win the lottery.

Absolutely. Party at my house. But isn't it funny how the number of "friends" you have (or don't have) is directly related to the amount of money you have (or don't have)??? :newsmile108:
Test it out for yourself...... go ask some old "friends" if you can borrow some money and watch how fast they disappear. Except the real friends. On the other hand, come into some money, and watch how many old friends mysteriously show up all of a sudden.
"Money won't buy you happiness, but you can sure pick your own misery" :s

 

[War Horse]

Lucky man for sure, to bad I'm not closer to you, I'd show you a trick way to do pushrod tubes easy with a flathead screwdriver, but you got her done so its all good..

CVO, IMO pretty bikes but hardly worth that type of scratch. but with the streak your on maybe you can get one at cost....

 

[glazier]

to bad I'm not closer to you, I'd show you a trick way to do pushrod tubes easy with a flathead screwdriver, but you got her done so its all good..

Is the trick to get it started under the head and then pry down on the top of the retaining clip against the fins with a flat head screwdriver??? Thats how I did it and it seemed to work pretty good. Well 3 out of 4 anyway. That little spring in there is stout. Tried putting a screwdriver in the hook and pushing down, but couldn't compress the spring enough. And I'm fairly strong too. Biggest problem I had was when the expander was pushing down against the slider tube, it would dig into it just enough to bring the tube down out of the head with it. It was grabbing the tube instead of sliding down it due to the angle it was at. I put a little oil on the slider tube and it seemed to help it slide down instead of pulling it with it. Just got back from a quick ride and it's running great and no more oil leaks. 30 miles on the highway and it's 90 degrees here today and the oil temp only got to 220. It was getting to almost 250 before. Now I'm gonna change to Mobil 1 V-Twin 20W-50 synthetic and see what that does. Was running HD 20W-50 non synthetic. Will the synthetic mix ok with whatever non syn is still left in there???

 

[War Horse]

I'll try to put this as easy as I can..

What you're doing is great for removal , but really a bad way way to install, thats why you had a leak..

Once you expand the tube and have it lined up, take the retainer and put it in the top first, then take a medium flat blade screwdriver, put the tip on the sring loaded collar and using the retainer as leverage, push down on the collar and push in on the retainer.

Your using the retainer as leverage to push down the collar while also holding the tube tight.

If you want, tomorrow I'll have the wife take pics of me doing it.

Let me know, I'm happy to help out..

 

[glazier]

I'll try to put this as easy as I can..

What you're doing is great for removal , but really a bad way way to install, thats why you had a leak..

Once you expand the tube and have it lined up, take the retainer and put it in the top first, then take a medium flat blade screwdriver, put the tip on the sring loaded collar and using the retainer as leverage, push down on the collar and push in on the retainer.

Your using the retainer as leverage to push down the collar while also holding the tube tight.

If you want, tomorrow I'll have the wife take pics of me doing it.

Let me know, I'm happy to help out..

Thank you sir (and your wife too), but like dad used to tell me, "if it works, don't mess with it". (he would usually tell me that after I took apart his lawn mower or other mechanical device to see how it worked, but could never get it back together just right)
It all seems to be working fine now, so I'll leave it alone. I was gonna try the way you suggested, but thought the screwdriver might slip off the collar and scratch up the chrome. TQ suggested I buy the installer tool (he said it works great), but that seemed like the easy way out. Us "real men" have to screw it up a few times first.

 

[War Horse]

Thank you sir (and your wife too), but like dad used to tell me, "if it works, don't mess with it". (he would usually tell me that after I took apart his lawn mower or other mechanical device to see how it worked, but could never get it back together just right)
It all seems to be working fine now, so I'll leave it alone. I was gonna try the way you suggested, but thought the screwdriver might slip off the collar and scratch up the chrome. TQ suggested I buy the installer tool (he said it works great), but that seemed like the easy way out. Us "real men" have to screw it up a few times first.

Jeesh, send ya to school, buy ya books....whata ya do,(EDITED)..:51:

Please read and understand the info in this link...

A Friendly Reminder - Harley Davidson Community

 

[TQuentin1]

TQ suggested I buy the installer tool (he said it works great), but that seemed like the easy way out. Us "real men" have to screw it up a few times first.

Yeah, but I had done it for years the hard way with flat bladed screw drivers until I decided it wasn't worth the fight to save $20!!

TQ

 

[Buster]

For some reason this year more then the last few I have done a lot of cam chest/tensioner jobs. I have done just the tensioner replacement, replaced with the upgrade and a few gear drive systems. I have yet to find any with 30K or less on that have huge tensioner wear but I just did one at 37K that the tensioners were ready to explode. Has anybody seen any abnormal tensioner wear in an 07 or above with the hydraulic tensioners? At this point I haven't had any complaints of unusual noise in the later model bikes due to tensioner wear.

 

[OldSkyking]

I’ve heard that the cam chain tensioners failed due to defective stamped chains, a problem that was discovered and corrected prior to production of the 2006 models; likewise, I have yet to discover a 2006 model that has experienced premature tensioner failure, Anyone out there with a 2006 that has had cam tensioner problems? I have an ’06 Ultra, thinking of converting to gear drive to prevent future problems (if there is a problem associated with year 2006).