Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Morgan Three Wheeler & Super 3 Compensator dilema.

Dap of Oppo...I think you were lucky not to have a total internal meltdown......

Sorry to hear about the problem but an interesting question it is!! I have a friend (lurking in here somewhere) that is facing the same question.....Which compensator to go for??

I myself have had the Centa Compensator conversion.....not due to any failure to the HD compensator but due to stator/rotor failure after which our dealer in Sweden recommended the Centa kit conversion. This was last winter. but since I have learned that the stator/rotor issue probably was due to the well known issue with engine running hot due to the restricting baffles in exhaust and air filter constriction. My friend also had the stator/rotor meltdown but a couple of months before me and he had the original compensator installed....needless to say he had a yet another stator/rotor meltdown.

So his question is also which compensator to go for? Almost the same option as you:

1. Replace with Centa Drive original version

2. Replace with Centa Drive Phil Bleazey version?

3. KH version?

Have you not had any problems with the HD compensator and overheating of stator/rotor?? Or did you remove the cats baffles early in you M3W ownership?

Input from anyone with KH version compensator or Bleazey kits would be very appreciated!

BTW..I still have my old compensator in a box in my garage.

Hi Swedewheeler,

No issues whatsoever with the HD compensator, I always kept it lubricated with JCB high pressure blue grease. Which after inspecting the internals was doing a sterling job as there is no wear or discolouration on any of the parts. It did take an awful lot of cleaning out though.

Back in 2014 I removed all the exhaust baffles but kept the cats in and fitted the G56 air filter.

This allowed the engine to breathe so have not had any issues with pinking or running too hot since then.

Sorry you've experienced the down side of the Harley type compensator setup in your M3W.

A few years ago JV had a similar situation and he upgraded to the Centa and sent me his old Harley comp unit. Upon tearing down the system and looking things over, it was clear that a very small portion of this design really doesn't get any grease to speak of, even when pumped full.

Your rotor shows the same signs of internal comp wear that JV's did.



This is the picture of his original rotor. You can see how it's been worn with the end cap of the compensator housing.

CLICK HERE FOR ORIGINAL POST PICTURES AND BETTER DETAILS

The bottom line is these two key components.



The sprocket is what is resisting, or compressing the Bellville washer springs. When the crank nut is tightened, it tightens upon the splined hub shown above, forcing it against the rotor on the crankshaft. You can see that it will be near on impossible to get grease into this area when it's metal to metal and under extreme pressure from the spring pack.

When the two mating surfaces wear, as in JV's case here, the sprocket which is the first part to go into the compensator housing, gets closer to the rotor and when worn enough, will wear metal to metal against the rotor. Dap, this is already showing in your pictures. At least in a Harley there's primary oil flinging around inside and that does get into the cracks giving better lubrication than trying to pack grease into the compensator.

Even with a brand new Harley style compensator from Morgan, these two parts are what go first and then allow the twin ramps to become loose because of the new extra space given to the spring pack due to the worn two parts. In JV's case, I measured around .065" (1.65 mm) of wear on the two overlapping parts. Belleville spring packs do not move very much and they're only under compression of around .080" (2 mm) to keep all things tight.

I have a bike project on my lift and it has an Ultima 113" v-twin with the same crankshaft design as the S&S as well as pre-07 Harley v-twins. When I installed the parts onto my crankshaft I would rotate the components without any force at all; although they did tighten up a bit on the ramps, but had WAY too much free play because of the wear.

So Dap, I think it's time to upgrade. You'll get a new rotor with the package, and you need one now.

I can see some wear on our splined hub, but you don't show the underside of the sprocket to be sure. There are many places in this design to wear and multiple places with a bit here or there will loosen the Belleville spring pack to a point that you have now.

Good luck and let us know how it all works out for you.

Have a great evening!

really a poor use of the HD unit. On our heritage softail the compensator is in the clutch/primary chain oil bath

Hi Dan

I don't have any wear on the splined spigot or chain wheel sprocket unlike the ones in your pictures, which do show a definite lack of lubrication.

The grease in my unit had gone all the way down to where the crank comes out of the engine and had even packed the magnetic rotor.

What I find most bizarre is the magnetic rotor does not have any splines which I would have thought it should have. So the only way in which it rotates is to be clamped firmly between the shoulder on the crank and the back face of the splined spigot/ compensator housing.

As the hollow bolt came loose it has allowed this clamping pressure to relax and there fore allow some slippage between these 2 components which has left a small amount of surface scarring. If the rotor had splines this would not have happened.

Does the HD rotor have splines I wonder.

Do you think the lobed rotors are serviceable with the burrs dressed off?

I wonder if the HD SE compensator would fit as the belleville washer pack on the SE compensator looks to be much more robust than what I have.

Decisions, decisions.....

Dap,

Sorry to hear that you have no splines in your rotor. There has to be splines. It cannot rely upon just the clamping force of the compensator.



ALL Harley type rotors have splines, even my '76 Shovelhead has them.

Because of your loose crank compensator nut, and the fact that you did NOT have significant wear on the sprocket and splined hub, the wear on the outside of your rotor is still very evident.

IF your comp did not wear like JV's did, the rotor scuffing wear has to be from it being loose on the crankshaft spline. Running like this would eventually chew up the soft metal rotor splines and you would then just have a round hole. I would check the crank for wear in the splines and also scuffing on the stator may have happened if the rotor was very loose and could wobble. The clearances between the magnets in the rotor and the stator are quite close. I doubt there would be any operational damage to the stator, but cleaning it up should be done if scuffed. Also, is there any major metal dust in the magnets?

If there is some wear on the cranks splines, it will be just where the rotor thickness is, about 2mm to 3mm wide. The good thing is that when you go to the Centa conversion, the new hub adapter and rotor will be a full spline coupling and just a couple mm will not be any issue at all. But if your splines are worn a bit, fitting in new stock rotor could be a problem getting the splines to hold like new.

I don't know if you have intentions of sticking with the Harley style compensator or updating to the Centa with maybe Phil's pucks, but now would be the time to do upgrade to the Centa. I know it's a LOT of money, but no more greasing and out of sight out of mind mentality with the Centa unit. Just drive now and be happy!

I don't know what happened there but your img tags, except the last one, had lost the final ] (square bracket). Below in the quote I have put each one on a separate line and added the final ]

Dan is absolutely right. your rotor should have (probably did have) splines

Thought it looked a crap design.

It looks to have chattered on the crank when the locking bolt came loose and wore them away, the grease must have absorbed the filings.

Got me home from Grindelwald like that and never had a charging problem.

Thankfully the rotor is made from chocolate so no wear on the crank just a little surface polishing.