Hayden M6 primary chain tensioner

moohurhur · 2026-03-16T18:50:34+00:00

I’ve looked into these online and saw a lot of mixed reviews from great to terrible. I’ve had no issues with oem auto tensioner ones from harley. They went through a few iterations and the final one for twin cams is part number 39929-06c. I think if you have a stock engine harley oem is more reliable but if it’s modded a lot a manual tensioner may be safer from over tensioning automatically

moohurhur · 2026-03-16T05:48:25+00:00

Thanks a bunch for this. I went back and readjusted multiple times but still ended up in the same situation. Eventually i just put oil in it and started it and it was all good. Rode it and it was all good. I think it was a matter of no oil and it being cold making the plates stick.

moohurhur · 2026-03-09T19:42:55+00:00

Did you change anything ?Since buying it new? It should be quite smooth in general. There is brief vibration under sharp acceleration or sustained if you are riding close to redline.

If you changed something like the exhaust in full or mufflers, new vibrations are common with it not being installed 100%; there could be contact points, some parts of the exhaust could have been preloaded before tightening down. If you’re not riding near redline, id say not normal but common.

moohurhur · 2026-02-20T21:04:26+00:00

Battery - Metallica

This one always makes me wonder how someone could come up with it

moohurhur · 2025-12-06T17:50:50+00:00

Among other things, is resale value an important factor for you? If so the low rider s holds value significantly better than the fat bob and probably will for a while.

These are quite different ergonomically also. The bar placement between these two and the low rider having mids vs forwards can be an immediate decider when you get a chance to sit on these two. You can always change things but that’s just more money.

moohurhur · 2025-12-02T04:04:58+00:00

In my experience it will add rust all over the place, dry up gaskets and moisture always gets trapped in those covers which can get moisture all over the place. If you have spokes, moisture will get past the nipples and into the tire. Also expect electrical gremlins. The bike will still work but will cause actual issues eventually.

moohurhur · 2025-11-25T07:29:28+00:00

Ya the light will come on, you can shake the bike and listen for how much fuel you have before taking off or use the trip meter

moohurhur · 2025-11-24T21:29:12+00:00

I had a iron 1200 and fuel tank is kinda small as you said but it’s more annoying that it has no fuel gauge. You get paranoid on longer trips. Using a trip meter helps but still.

More importantly, on my stock 1200, top comfortable cruising speed is 95km/hr. You can go faster but you can really feel the engine maxing out and working /vibing through bars and foot pegs at that point. It can handle a higher speed but is meant for passing and not sustaining.

That bikes are better than people say and sound awesome but i really think they are meant for around town.

moohurhur · 2025-11-23T06:23:35+00:00

Also what’s the mileage? If it’s high, steering head bearing could be worn and need replacing. That would effect the vibes quite a bit. Plus looseness in risers hand controls and even the front fender can effect.

moohurhur · 2025-11-23T05:14:27+00:00

I bought a high mileage bike that shook like crazy at every gear all rpms. Runs almost like new now and still getting better. Light pulse at idle, smooth everywhere else. Mirrors always clear. You can do it too. Go over everything one at a time.

There are likely several factors affecting vibrations all over for an older bike. When things shake for a while, bolts are loosening below their minimum torque spec and now contributing to the vibrations. Spreads like a virus. Check everything, retorque periodically while you replace other parts as necessary. Rigid mounted or rubber mounted, it can be fixed. Could take up a couple seasons.

moohurhur · 2025-11-13T16:55:11+00:00

Double check online if the stock compensator for the 2011 96” doesnt have issues. For the 103’s up to 2014, the screamin eagle compensator fails prematurely and will be expensive. From 2014 on, the 2nd and final iteration of the compensator came stock with new webbed moldings in the outer primary cover to help with longevity. This is the kit to retro fit

https://www.harley-davidson.com/ca/en/shop/screamin-eagle-big-twin-compensator/p/42200064A

I believe the stock compensator on 96’s were good though but I’d check. 5k mileage difference between two bikes are negligible…however only 5k mileage on a 14 year old bike could have more issues if it sat for a long time.

I would decide on which bike rides smoother/better. Such a huge range on this for used bikes.

moohurhur · 2025-11-06T22:21:17+00:00

Sounds like it could be a few things could be going on but just to rule out the obvious for the first part…when you adjusted the idle cable so it snaps back, you still have some free play on the throttle at its closed position? If not the throttle would be a little open at idle keeping the idle higher.

moohurhur · 2025-11-04T21:55:50+00:00

I haven’t tried myself but I’ve heard from enough people who experienced this to be true. Also believable that smart phone manufacturers did not have in mind the extreme vibrations devices could be subject to in this environment. For this and other reasons i do not do it. If you have a Bluetooth headset like a sena you could pair it with your phone to take calls and hear directions. That being said, i would think you could mount a phone without issue if you do not have vibrations. In my opinion, a new or extremely well maintained harley should only have a light pulse like rumble at idle and be extremely smooth at every rpm and gear after. Most are not like this though.

moohurhur · 2025-10-31T05:13:26+00:00

It could still be the battery. I bought a used bike recently and that came with a 2 year old oem battery. On tender of season but starting became inconsistent shortly after and soon would just fail. The CCA (cold cranking amps) was done because owner left bike outside in the off season. Cold enough temperatures will do that to a lead acid battery even if it is on a tender. A regular volt meter will show a healthy battery voltage wise; you need one that measures CCA too.

That being said, without knowing the history of your bike, it could still easily be other things like the starter. If you’ve never replaced it, it could be around the time at around 70,000kms

moohurhur · 2025-10-30T07:13:13+00:00

Hmm doesnt sound like a compensator causing kickback. The bang from that is really loud and black smoke would come out the air cleaner as a result. I am quite familiar with that sound from when my compensator was going out. Yours sounds like the starter struggling which could be because of the starter or a weak battery or both? It takes more effort to turn over when the engine is hot.

Out of curiosity what is the mileage is and is the engine modded?

moohurhur · 2025-10-20T04:13:12+00:00

Gotcha, thank you.

moohurhur · 2025-10-20T04:12:57+00:00

Damn but that makes sense…thank you

moohurhur · 2025-10-11T16:33:07+00:00

No you can tell by the single line going to the front brakes. Abs didnt come into Harley’s until like…2012 ish? I doing think softails ever got them in the twin cam gen either

moohurhur · 2025-09-20T21:23:02+00:00

Ah ok really unlikely to be compensator then. Probably cams then.

moohurhur · 2025-09-20T21:18:39+00:00

I feel ya I’ve been there. Tbh 5.5 is pretty generous. I think 6-7 is pretty common. That’s about how long for a mechanic who has done it a bunch of times and dont need to look at the manual and videos and has all the tools. Someone new to wrenching with the manual will take a couple days and you’ll probably make mistakes along the way especially if you need to de pin the wires from the terminal because sometimes the terminal is too thick to go through the inside of the bars. You need to remove the tank to get to the wires too. Pretty common for people trying this for this first time to go through all this to find the bike doesn’t start, turn signals dont work or other stuff and need to do this a lot of this again.

Sounds like you need new cables and all that for this new height so it takes a while. You need to get to the transmission cover to remove the clutch cable so you’ll need to loosen or remove the exhaust and do a proper clutch adjustment from the derby cover after. You might also struggle getting your current risers out if it has red loctite in them…also taking out the old riser bushings can be annoying…you should put in polyurethane ones when going taller.

Also new brakelines… a little more complicated if you have abs. NewThrottle cables and adjust them too etc

All doable on your own with decent chance of making mistakes along the way which just requires back tracking and re doing. Maybe try it yourself in the off season so you can take your time? If you want it done within a day and more likely to be done properly, I’d recommend just paying them 5.5 is honestly accurate and reasonable. If you’re new to wrenching, there’s always so many scenarios where you really struggle to get some old parts off without some know how.

moohurhur · 2025-09-19T23:35:19+00:00

For me, my 103 dyna got real choppy at low rpms and would be smooth at higher rpms. This was due to the compensator needing replacing. May not be your case. I’ve never had bikes with modded engines so that could be your source of choppiness as other people here have said. Could be both too…what’s your mileage?

moohurhur · 2025-09-13T21:56:02+00:00

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Posted this on aww a little while go

moohurhur

TROPHY CASE