Have been reading about failure of cam chain tensioners on twin cam motors.

It would appear that the tensioners can be worn out to varying degrees from 16000 k's onward.

As this is not an item to be checked at any service interval I wondered if anyone had actually had a problem or

worse still an engine failure, from worn cam chain tensioners?

I have 24000 k's on my 05 Roadking and was hoping for a lot more trouble free miles before needing mechanical repairs.

Also changing to gear driven cams has anyone done this and at what cost?

My Roadking is standard apart from SE air cleaner, SE mufflers and a download.

 

 

Yeah what scotty says is exactly the information I recieved from Sam Gravette via an email to Heavy Duty magazine.Sam is H.D's Australia Service Operations Area Representative (whew) and he said that there has been some premature failure of the component but it is rare and suggests to check it at 50,000km.

Hi, I have been getting around for a few weeks checking all the info available on the net.
I would like to thank all those who have contributed & provided such great information.

I picked up a September 2000 model Dyna Superglide about 3 weeks ago.
It has 47,700K's on it now & after doing a lot of research on the net I just had to check the cam chain tensioners.
Got into it last night & was very pleased to find minimal wear on both tensioners though the rear one has slightly more wear than the front one.
I'll check them again in about another 10 to 15,000K's just to be sure considering that there seems to be a large variance in wear rates.
When they do need replacing I'll go the full compliment inner camshaft bearings as well..

Great website with great info.... Thanks from Sweenz

Hey sweenz, I haven't bothered with mine yet but is it difficult to see the rear tensioner ?? I read somewhere you need a dentist mirror or similar to get a look at it ??

Thanks again Scotty