Well here is my story to chew on. I ride approximately 20k miles a year. I have gone through several compensators throughout the years. My 2011 RG has just over 111,000 miles.
After the first compensator around 35k I replaced with the new Harley replacement and a Hayden tensioner. The newer compensator are better, the Hayden tension works great. But I had one significant problem with the tensioner. Can't recall the exact mileage but it was less than 10k. I did a inspection and the pad was worn out. Grover so bad that the chain rollers were hitting the pad. Tried another pad with different lube and I had the same issue. Went back to the Harley auto tensioner.
The Harley tensioner is great as long as it doesn't over tighten. Again chew on this. At around 98k I took a trip to the Dragon with some friends. I rode it very aggressive with a lot of hard downshifts. I was determined to see sparks in one of the killboy photos. Mission accomplished. Any way because of my riding style that day. The tensioner overtightened. This got me about 300 more miles before I started loosing clutch pull. Made an adjustment and made it home. Next day same thing lost clutch. This time adjusting was not an option.
Ok so where is the problem you say.
Here is where it started. Because of the overtightened adjuster, the transmission shaft warped. This caused the throw out bearing to slowly be eaten. Hence loosing clutch. So upon inspection found no evidence of a throw out bearing at all. The small shaft the bearing rides on was welded to the push rod. Yes welded. So I had a ground up bearing all in my tranny.
So 4000 dollars later I rebuilt tranny. Added baker door and smooth chit kit. New main shaft and all new bearings. In the primary I went with baker manual adjuster and baker compensator.
10 k later I lost charging. Had a bad stator. Pulled primary cover. Chain adjustment was right where I had set it. New compensator bearing surfaces look terrible all gouged. Definitely looked like a lack of lubrication. That's why I chose baker is because it looked bulletproof with those oil scoops to pick up the oil.
So current config is baker manual tensioner. No more auto tensioner for me. I know I contributed to the problem but the fact it adjusted to tight caused it. I went back to Harley compensator they work decent. Can be noisy and yes there is more noise with the manual adjuster.
I recommend the baker smooth shift and the new door. I probably would have done the DD7 if I had it to do over. Never for me another auto tensioner. I can inspect and adjust if needed. And I recommend staying with the Harley compensator kit replacement.
Love my Harley's and this was a topic I have had a lot of experience with. Among others, of course since I ride a lot
BTW 111,000 miles on motor. Heads have never been remove and I use .5 quarts of oil every 5k
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Topic: SE primary chain tensioner vs the regular auto version (Read 14623 times)