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General Category >> Rubber Side Down! >> How tough was it to check my cam chain, you ask?
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Message started by Sandy Koocanusa on 08/17/08 at 17:34:02

Title: How tough was it to check my cam chain, you ask?
Post by Sandy Koocanusa on 08/17/08 at 17:34:02

Well, I'm glad you asked, 'cause I was fairly bursting with wanting to tell the story.

For whatever reason, I have been getting a real case of the nerves lately over that little tensioner doodad. I could fairly hear it planning to leap apart, drop its spring between two critical gears, seize the engine and dump me on my nose, most likely at highway speed. So, today I decided I was going to pull off the clutch cover and at least see how close it was getting to that fateful day when I would hear a loud bang and then silence.

Here's what I saw once the cover was off...

http://a336.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/22/l_29fadbf8c2f08438a816f2136920d7c7.jpg

I measured the distance from the housing to the plunger and found that the plunger was out 11/16 inch, which translates to about .685 inch as I recall. I think that is around 17.4 mm, but I'm still not willing to bet my life on the accuracy of my metric conversions.
http://a342.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/16/l_d193710be04a3e38a49798d56df798e5.jpg

These numbers are within tolerance, but just barely. I reviewed Verslagen1's excellent write-up, as well as other articles and information in the tech section. Still not convinced that I should button it back up, I PM'd Verslagen1 and asked him his opinion. Then, I noticed that he was offline. So, I went back outside and pondered some more. The cover gasket came apart in about a million pieces, and I didn't want to open it again too soon if it wasn't necessary, so I decided to try to finish the project now. I have a friend who is a welder by trade. I gave him a call and he agreed to extend the tab on the tensioner. I borrowed "Pearl," Kay's new friend, and rode over there. I'll tell you, watching a good welder is fun. He just started cutting and sparking and pounding and pretty soon he was done.

When I got home, it took Kay and I both to get the plunger back in the housing. I did not remove the housing from the bike, just the plunger. I didn't have enough fingers to hold everything where it needed to go and still start the bolt. Between us, we got it in place and bolted down.

http://a536.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/46/l_268b836b3ad1a1616d23be859e2bd0d7.jpg

http://a118.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/128/l_4fee046f92bdd958c6369d45a5c985fd.jpg

As I said, the gasket was a mess. I considered pulling the cover off the parts bike and using that gasket, which I know is intact. It just didn't sound like a good idea though, so I carefully scraped all the old gasket off with a very sharp wood chisel, wiped the mating surfaces off with a little lacquer thinner, and made a seal using gray goop designed for the purpose.

I bolted everything back together, wrestled for awhile with the header connection, topped off the oil, and started her up. Nothing sounded too dangerous, so I rode it down the highway a piece.

I have two concerns: It seems that my clutch may be slipping on acceleration, and the engine doesn't seem to wind down as quickly as it should when I let off the throttle. It is really warm here today. Somewhere around a hundred, I think. I fooled with the idle a little, and that may have been the solution to the revving problem. But the clutch concerns me. Could anything I did today have goofed that up?

If I were to rate the difficulty of this project on a scale of 1 to 10, I'd give it about a 2 on the technical issues and maybe a 6 on the physical aspect. I think if I had removed the whole assembly, that 6 would be a 3. It really is pretty straightforward. The most time was spent cleaning the mating surfaces of old gasket material. As for the welding, I'm glad I had someone else do it. I can mend a broken sickle bar on an old swather if I have to, but sticking two tiny bits of metal together and making a strong bond is not my specialty.

With the exception of the welding, the entire task was done with a cheap set of Walmart tools. Nothing special was required.

By the way, after I was done I saw that Verslagen1 had indeed responded to my query. He felt that I had about 1/8 inch of travel left before I had trouble. I'm glad I went ahead. That doesn't seem like much. I'll be sending the spare tensioner to him soon for his Verslavy modification. I like the idea of that pin and slot keeping the thing together.

Title: Re: How tough was it to check my cam chain, you as
Post by SavageGreaseMonkey13 on 08/17/08 at 17:41:35

so how many miles did you end up having before pulling the cover?

Title: Re: How tough was it to check my cam chain, you as
Post by Sandy Koocanusa on 08/17/08 at 17:43:36

9812. Seemed like a nice round number, so I went for it. :)

Title: Re: How tough was it to check my cam chain, you as
Post by verslagen1 on 08/17/08 at 18:29:49

Man what an ugly weld... just kidding!

Glad you gotrdone, I know you could ride for awhile. But I'm sure it would have been nagging at you the entire time.

And yes I'm in and out all day.

Title: Re: How tough was it to check my cam chain, you as
Post by Max_Morley on 08/17/08 at 19:11:30

I order the gaskets needed 2 at a time ahead of time and keep them in stock and then re-order when I use it. Few bucks tied up in stuff on the shelf but better than waiting a week for a gasket. I used both Alternator side ones fixing the oil leaks on the sidecar tug, seems it isn't easy for me to get the cover in place with the foot peg holder in place as I tore the first gasket beyond saving and after trying and not being happy with the results the 2nd time I did R & R the peg bracket and it went in like it was supposed to and is leak free. I did lay the bike over on the right side on a padded stool so the oil didn't leak out as it was almost new. Did the clutch side also and checked the tensioner it was out 15mm at 9800 miles. This was was used as a tug for the last 7000 miles so I wanted to know. It does have a cam, and the PO gave me a new Lancer chain. Need to order the pinned Versy II tensioner so I have all that stuff on hand for this winter. Again I laid the bike over on a padded stool to save the oil and make it easier to work on. All was in vain as had one of the brackets for the side car break and it has been parked since. Hopefully Thursday is the magic day to deliver it to the rigger in Enumclaw, WA to be rigged correctly. Max

Title: Re: How tough was it to check my cam chain, you as
Post by Robertomoe on 08/18/08 at 09:05:06

You're lucky the grey goop worked! When I paid a personal visit to Verslagen and had my tensioner modified, we didnt have a gasket so we used the silicon. Seconds after startup the thing was oozing oil

Title: Re: How tough was it to check my cam chain, you as
Post by rigidchop on 08/18/08 at 18:10:47

i ended up using some goop as well, with my new gasket. and i wish i wouldn't have. when i tore the cover back off to change the circlip, there were bits of silicone all over the place, well maybe i exaggerate a little, but it was noticable, especially in the oil filter. the new gasket got none and i have had no leaks to speak of. if it gets stuck in an oil passage i'm probably done for.