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[MObe]

  I just had a friend with a road king who had to overhaul his engine at 30,000mi due to disintegration of the tensioner shoes.
  My bike has 20,500mi and I will be doing a 4000mi trip this summer so I thought that I would pull the cam cover and have a look.
  Here's what I found. Glad I pulled it now instead of waiting!  Looks like a trip to the stealer for me!

[MObe]

another

[MObe]

one more

[hd-dude]

Mobe;
The wear depth isn't that bad. What's bad is the chunks of material that is missing from the shoes. These chunks fall into the cam chest and get sucked into the oil pump. Odds are that your pump has some pretty nasty scaring as well. Be sure they pull the pump apart and inspect it too.

Good luck and keep us posted on what gets done.

[Twolanerider]

And you can't even see the bad one yet....

[BLM777]

And you can't even see the bad one yet....

Exactly right......have seen several dozen and have come up with one conclusion.  Whatever you see on the front shoe can be doubled on the rear.  What a great idea the MoCo had to include plastic parts in the motor....

[grc]

I've come up with a new theory on the shoes.

[lucky1]

grc-The surface finish theory makes a lot of sense. Good call.

[HUBBARD]

Yeah, 'er 'uh Twolane,
I thought I read in a previous thread, where someone went as far as to have their chains polished.  What was that result?  I don't think I just dreamed that. I saw it somewhere.  Please advise.  Later--HUBBARD  

[BLM777]

Jerry....you know what they say about great minds?....Myself and couple of techs at the local shop had the same thought after looking at the first few "shoe wrecks".  Took the chains and wiped the surfaces against a piece of nylon (no, not the secretaries pantyhose) and couldn't get a snag.  My personal feeling is that the chain is too heavy and at the higher rpm's and full engine heat that there becomes enough play in the chain to create a whip or slapping against the shoe.  If you look at the really bad examples there always seems to be "divots" in the face of the shoe that are not caused by the chain wear, but a roller edge actually cutting a small round piece out of the face.  To me, it makes sense that the new chains in the Dyna II engine are narrower and about 1/3 the weight to reduce some of the slapping and momentum of the "logging chains" in our motors.  Just my 2 cents and probably worth about half of that.  Real bottom line...chitcan the whole theory of plastic parts and go gear drive.

[hd-dude]

Yeah, 'er 'uh Twolane,
I thought I read in a previous thread, where someone went as far as to have their chains polished.

[TB]

So what are the groups thoughts on when to crack open the gearcase and inspect the shoes?
 
**Is 20K miles the golden number?

**Do you cut the oil filter and use orange flecks as the test?

 I'm in the same boat, approaching 20K and planning on a long trip this summer.  What does everyone think?

TB

[BLM777]

So what are the groups thoughts on when to crack open the gearcase and inspect the shoes?
 
**Is 20K miles the golden number?

**Do you cut the oil filter and use orange flecks as the test?

 I'm in the same boat, approaching 20K and planning on a long trip this summer.

[Fired00d]

[highlight]I've come up with a new theory on the shoes.

[HUBBARD]

TB....I don't think there's a legitimate answer to you question.