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Cam chain tension

2K views 7 replies 2 participants last post by  pfranks 
#1 ·
Hi guys, what is the right procedure for checking the cam chain tension? I've been having a buzzy grindy sound that comes and goes when I do a lot of shifting and when I checked the tensioner, the stock tensioner was missing a spring on the outside of the assembly and when I pulled it, it was completely extended. From the looks of it, somebody installed it without one of the springs.

Perhaps I've jumped the gun a bit, but since the tensoner was all the way extended, I decided to inspect the inside of the engine. I'm not seeing any damage to the gears, but I'm not sure how to check the cam chain and I haven't found any information about that. Is it going to be sufficient for me to verify the timing is correct and then put things back together, or is there something else I need to do more to check the chain proper? The motorcycle had a check a couple thousand miles ago and apart from the chain buzz sound there aren't any real problems with it.

The engine is generally running well apart from that detail, so I'm hoping this is just a matter of replacing the tensioner and fixing any timing issues that might be involved.

Any insights here would be much appreciated. I can get photos if need be, but I'm not sure what to take pictures of.
 
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#2 ·
I take it the lack of replies as an indicator that this is an obscure problem.

I've decided that since there's a lack of any signs of damage on the sprockets and the engine was sounding balanced when I shut it down the last time to just adjust the tensioner until there's no obvious slack in the chain and then put everything back together.
 
#3 ·
Quick update, it's been a rather cold icy winter here. But, I've finally gotten around to putting the bike back together. Hopefully I'll be done with it this week.

As far as I can tell, the sound was just a matter of the metal not yet expanding when I started the bike. It was a very even sound, but the valve slappy noise made me nervous. But, I probably had the manual tensioner in far enough that I would have done damage if I hadn't stopped and set things right.

It would be nice if the specifications for the cam chain tensioner would be in my service manual or somewhere online, but I'm guessing that since people normally use automatic tensioners or are supposed to know more about this, that nobody posts that information.

On the bright side, my understanding of my bike and the confidence of taking it apart and putting it back together will be invaluable in the future.
 
#4 ·
You definitely don't want it too tight (it will wear out the cam chain guides). I would recommend replacing it with an OEM automatic cam chain tensioner.
 
#5 ·
I definitely get what you're saying, the OEM is usually sufficient, I just don't have any faith in it. I'm not a street Rossi and I don't make a habit of coming out of stop lights hard on the throttle, but the bike itself only has 12k on it and the stock unit that came out of the bike doesn't appear to be in bad shape. Apart from it not showing any signs of springiness when coming out, I wouldn't even have noticed a problem with the unit itself other than the lack of adjustment on the cam chain.

I'd much rather just deal with the periodic tightening of the manual as time goes by rather than the sporadic resetting that the stock seems to require. Especially, if the issue is because of the large hills.
 
#8 ·
Got things resolved. Basically, if you do the fix promptly it's just a matter of finger tightening the tensioner until you lose the slap. Then just back it off a quarter turn, but the sound is obvious. It won't get quiet, but it won't rattle so much.

Anyways, the bike hasn't sounded so good in a good long time and I even found some missing bolts in the process.

Sent from my LG-H901 using Tapatalk
 
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