RETURN TO SPARK'S CORNER


Kevin Lunday Surveys the Carnage

A Twisted Tensioner Tale
And you thought all TC88 cam stuff was history…

by Spark

It started out on a country road on a sunny Saturday afternoon. Had I heard a noise? Perhaps a little more cam chain than usual? My ‘02 Road King had over 37,000 miles and a stout set of Vance and Hines pipes. Little noises had come and gone over the last few years, usually traced to loose heat shields, junk rattling in the saddlebags, or collateral damage from the time my brother-in-law was late stopping for a light and used the left saddlebag as a launch ramp.

Our ride took us through Corinth, Texas, so I stopped in to ask Kevin Lunday, the service manager at American Eagle HD about it. Their shop had been the only ones to figure out that my chronic primary leak was actually the result of an undersized starter jackshaft. Another shop had replaced the inner primary and resealed the works four times without success. American Eagle had also done a crackerjack job of fixing the aforementioned launch ramp damage.

Kevin told me the sad tale of the cam chain tensioner shoes. These little guys live between the cam chain and a hefty spring assembly, making sure that the chain stays nice and tight at all RPM. This arrangement ensures that they spend their life with their little plastic faces mashed against the moving chain. Wow, talk about nose to the grindstone -- these guys are dedicated. At about 1/16” inch of wear, or about 20-25,000 miles, the plastic can start coming off in chunks.

The next stop for the plastic particles is the oil pump. If they are small enough, they pass harmlessly through the pump, and are then picked up by the oil filter. If they are large enough, they force the gears of the oil pump to perform unnatural acts, resulting in metal and plastic debris in large quantities.

When I got the ’02 Road King, I thought all the twin cam bearing stuff had been taken care of with the ’99 and ’00 models. The improved assemblies, the fix kits, the service bulletins, the extension of warranties to affected bikes and the failed class-action lawsuits had all run their course. What’s the deal here?

“I plan to change mine out between 20-25,000 miles,” said Kevin. “If you catch them early, they are easy to fix. If they kill your oil pump, things can go bad in a hurry.”

Lots to think about as I headed home. We were getting ready to do a 22-state, 6,800-mile trip next week. Do I dare tear down the bike a week ahead of this trip? Did I really hear anything at all? Did I dare not fix it?

LEFT: A Gutted Road King. CLICK TO ENLARGE

These thoughts filled my head as the August afternoon heated up. The pack finally pulled into a restaurant near my house to have lunch and split up. I forgot about it over stories and good food, then headed home.

As I rode the remaining mile to my house, something was noticeably different. That little whisper of a noise was a distinct sound. I cut the motor and coasted down my street, trying to see if the noise was brakes or a wheel bearing. No such luck, it stopped with the motor.

I restarted it as I pulled into the alley. By the time I got to my house, it was a clear whine that rose and fell with the engine. I hit the kill switch and looked down at the trip meter. It read 666. Not a good sign.

I decided to see if there was plastic in the oil, so I cleaned my oil drain pan with mineral spirits, wiped it dry, and drained the oil. After I poured the oil into the five-gallon bucket I use to recycle, I checked the drain pan. Sure enough, plastic and sparking little metal shavings were present. I got out a magnet. About half the shavings moved with the magnet, the rest stayed put. This meant both steel and aluminum were involved, not a good sign at all.

LEFT: Arrow points to tensioner face--when these wear out the plastic goes into your oil pump. CLICK TO ENLARGE

Next I pulled the oil filter and used a chisel and tin snips to cut it apart. I cut the element free of the plastic housing, and stretched out the folds of the filter media. Sure enough, plastic and metal were embedded in every fold.

I replaced the filter, put in oil just in case somebody at the dealer started the bike to move it, and pushed it onto a trailer. Monday, it was at American Eagle HD.

Now the fun started. The bike was a few days short of three years old and had over 37,000 miles. It did not have an extended warranty. I was the second owner, but had paid the fee to inspect the bike and transfer the original warranty into my name. If Harley did not stand behind the repair, this was going to be a $1200 hit. If they did stand behind it, the cost would be a $100 administration fee.

While the shop, full of bikes getting serviced for Sturgis, found time to tear the bike apart, Kevin went to work with HD Customer Service. It was a tough sell. Harley handles these situations on a case-by-case basis.

While we were making last-minute preparations for our trip, I drove out to American Eagle. There was my bike, eight feet of assorted Harley parts lining a lift. The tank and rocker covers were off, the cam chest was open, and the ruined oil pump was out for inspection. The evil tensioner shoes were worn to the point that the plastic had stripped off in chunks.

By the end of the week, the bike was back together. A new cam plate, chains, shoes, and oil pump were getting to know each other. No metal or plastic were found in the rocker boxes, so it appeared that the oil filter had successfully given its life for the engine. Harley covered the repair, so I was only out the $100 administration fee.

We made our trip, 6,800 miles through the 22 states west of Big Muddy. I was listening to every little noise along mountain roads, down the coast of California, and across the desert, but it made it all the way.

So what does this mean for you and your twin-cam? If you ride 1,200 miles a year doing toy runs, I’d say turn the page and forget about it. If you have over 25,000 miles on your bike, my recent experience would suggest that you get the tensioner shoes checked or replaced.

Contrary to a lot of the stuff you read, all of the twin-cam problems have not been solved, and Harley is still handling the tensioner failures on a case-by-case basis. The good news is that it appears to be a fixable problem, and so far, the factory has been standing behind the product.


(© 2004 Terry Morris
Articles appearing here may not be published either in print or online without the express permission of the author.