The art of Zen riding is more fun then Zen wrenching IMHO.  But in order to ride with a clear mind some wrenching must be performed.  In this case every 5k miles.

To check your adjuster you have to remove a few things, gather a few tools and buy a gasket or 2.

Supplies:
You need a clutch cover gasket about $17
Or form-a-gasket, I like Ultra Grey.
And you may need a exhaust header gasket about $4
Your favorite oil.
Oil filter if you like.

Tools:
A 8mm socket for the clutch cover bolts.
A 19mm wrench or an adjustable metric wrench.
A 17mm socket for the foot peg mounting plate nuts.
A 14mm wrench to hold the other side.
A 17 or a 14mm wrench to drop the oil.
A 8mm allen wrench for the filter cover.
A 12mm socket and wrench for the muffler/header.
A Torque wrench
A big flat bladed screwdriver.
And External Snap ring pliers for small rings
And your favorite cake tin to drop the oil in.

Instructions:
Drop oil
Remove filter
Remove the right foot peg, leave the cables on, just get it off and let it hang out of the way, be careful not to over extend the brake switch cable, that little SOB is held in place with a plastic something or other that I've never seen cause I overextended it and it went poof!  Micro roach clips are a good replacement.
Remove the muffler and header together as one piece.
Disengage clutch cable, careful with the little tab that holds it in place, don't bend it any more than you have to.  If it snaps off, you can use a cotter pin instead.
Remove clutch cover bolts, note which ones have seals (3) and which ones are long (2).

W marks location of washers, arrows marks location of longer screws.
Remove the clutch cover.

Tip: 19mm wrench fits on the clutch lever to pop the cover loose or use the adjustable metric wrench.  And use big screwdriver on the offsets around the case to ease it off evenly.  There are 2 big pins which align the cover to case and they hang up the cover unless you pull it off evenly.  If you intend to reuse the gasket, you can ease the cover off about an 1/8" all around and check which side the gasket is stuck to, either the case or the cover.  It doesn't matter which, just not stuck to both.

The plunger attaches to the rear guide, aka "tensioner"
And it rests in the housing.  The plunger and the housing together are the adjuster.  Measure the amount the plunger sticks out of the housing.  When it sticks out more than 18mm (.71") It's time to do something.
Thanks MotoBuddha

Note: Past time to do something

To remove the adjuster remove the bolt that attaches it to the tensioner.  And don't loose the spring, it will come flying out.  Then remove the ring that holds the housing in place.  Housing should slip easily off then.  Don't loose the ring either.  And if your pliers has an adjustable stop use it, don't over extend these rings or you'll have to replace it.  That's a buck you don't need to spend.

Several things affect this projection.
Chain Stretch: SSM states the limit for 21 pins center to center is 128.8mm (5.07"),  when new it's 127mm (5").
Guide Wear: No specifications exist for this.  In extreme cases they have been known to separate from the steel backing and clog the oil pump.  So look for deep cracks or loose bits.  Pull the chain taunt (to the right) and the guide to the left and inspect round portion of the guide for wear.
Chain/Spocket Wear: No spocket wear has been reported.  Chain wear may contribute to plunger extention.

Once you've finished dropping everything on the floor, replace in reverse order.  Check the condition of your exhaust gasket and replace if necessary.  Check the condition of your clutch cover gasket, replace if necessary.  If not, apply alittle sealant around the oil path before reinstalling.  About 10 ftlbs on the oil filter and clutch cover, 50 ftlbs on the footpeg, 20 ftlbs on the header, muffler nuts tight.  All from memmory so check your bibles for the actual range.

Don't forget to use antisieze on the header bolts, you may want to remove them some time in the future.

That's all for now until I can add some pict's.

slavy wrote on 12/31/69 at 16:00:02:

You could look at every time you torqued the head bolts which the owners manual say every 3500 miles or every year.  right.  I know we'd rather ride than twist wrenches and getting to the clutch cover off is an hour of low down stuff.  A quick trip to the chiropracter. and an hour to put it back together.

Some adjusters have fallen out at 7k miles.  So 5k seems like a winner.  Take a measurement and make a guess when you want to look at it again.  One fellow here went from 17mm to 23 in 60 miles.  So don't take this measurement for granted, keep your ears peeled.

One thing I would definitely recomend to check out the condition of a new to you bike is to do this inspection asap.  It will tell you how the bike was kept.  If the bike is ran with out oil, this chain and the guides are going to suffer.  And there's a possibility that the owner is selling cause of this as this maitenance is probably in the neighborhood of $750.  Anybody have this done?  How much did the stealership nail you for?

verslagen1 wrote on 09/30/07 at 08:43:49:


If I may, I'd like to input a slight modification I made to Verslagen's excellent instructions:

I found it was not necessary to totally remove the starboard footpeg bracket from the frame.

I loosened both footpeg bracket nuts.  Then, I tapped the upper-forward long bolt inboard with a brass hammer.  I tapped it in enough so that the forward portion (only) of the footpeg bracket could now be tilted downward, thus clearing the clutch-side engine case.  (Note that you cannot tap in the aft footpeg bracket bolt if the kickstand bracket is in place on the port side of the motorcycle).

This way, you don't have to struggle against the stiff rear brake cable to remove the rear portion of the footpeg bracket from the frame - and you still have clear access to the clutch-side engine case and its bolts.

Here is a picture of the starboard footpeg bracket after performing this procedure:





IHTH someone!

verslagen1 wrote on 09/30/07 at 08:43:49:


Just for the record:

On my bike (see signature), the FSM does not specify a torque for the oil filter and clutch cover bolts.  If you want to torque them anyway, the generic torque for "conventional" grade 6 mm bolts is 3-5 ft-lbs.

The other torques mentioned above are all close enough for government work.

The Clutch/Crankcase cover bolts (6mm) torque specs are listed at 6.6 to 9.6 ft/lbs. I just torqued them at 100 inch/lbs = 8.3 ft/lbs

For those of you w/o mechanical talent and want to know when to get fleesed by the stealership, teach your ankles to listen to the engine.  Press the sides of your shoes against the top of the covers on both sides.  When the vibes are uneven, your timebomb is ticking.  I've been hearing intermitant ticking for a month now.  Yesterday, the alarm rung, 21mm.

Here's a chain check procedure I'm trying to work out.

Take the clutch and primary gear off.
http://suzukisavage.com/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl?num=1262974235/5#5

Remove the adjuster assembly.
Tie or hold back the rear guide aka adjuster.
Wiggle the chain links about and check for any stiff links.
mark the leading and last link that you can check somehow (white grease?)
Rotate the engine to make another section available.
Repeat check and rotate until all links are checked.

And please note that when you replace the clutch, on the oil pump drive gear, the teeth should be directly over the drive pin.

And other thing to check is the oil pump gear shaft, push in the gear and check alignment with the drive gear.  Then pull out.  Either way it should not be in danger of coming off.  If it comes off, the dangerous little oil pressure you got becomes non existant.