Chain tensioner upgrade?

[Zithlord]

I have bought a set of pressure fed chain tensioners. After I removed the cover, I noticed that there is a coller mounted on top of the piston on the tensioner. It seems this is a safety coller? And the piston looks to be quite far into the tensioner. Is this a sign that the tensioner is at the end of its life?

Thanks
John

[edmayo]

If the chain is taut then the tensioner piston is where it needs to be, pry up on the idler sprocket and see if the tensioner piston comes up any. If it does then try to push down on the tensioner to see if you can push the piston down, if it feels solid then the tensioner is okay. If the chain is fairly new the tensioner piston will be most of the way down. I'll look up that harness part number for you tomorrow.

[66S]

If the piston is retracted it shows that the chain is probably close to new.

[Zithlord]

Thanks guys, do you think I should upgrade to the pressure fed tensioners anyway? (I have the kit)

John

[edmayo]

John, it all depends on whether you want the exposed oil lines or not. I prefer not to have them for originality appearances. If that isn't an issue for you, and you already have the pressure fed tensioners, then I'd say go ahead and change over. Make sure your kit has the little brackets that stabilize the oil lines, without them the lines will crack at the soldered fitting from vibrations.

[Tom F.]

John, I believe that it's more important to upgrade the levers that carry the tensioner sprocket to the later, bronze-bushed levers. You have to change the tensioners to the Turbo style, if you do this. IMHO, you should upgrade the levers even if you install pressure fed tensioners.

If you take out the levers, you may find that there is serious galling on the pivot shaft. This is because the steel of the levers chatters on the steel shaft. The chattering causes the o-rings in the sealed tensioners to fail, and then the tensioner collapses. The bronze bushing fixed the chattering problem. The pressure fed tensioner just fixed the vulnerability of the tensioners to a failed o-ring.