Auto cam chain adjuster

My cam chain is making some noise... The bike runs great, but I can hear the rattle.. I have an auto adjuster and I adjusted it but no help to the noise.. Do have to take the cylinder head off to examine it? The bike sat for 8 years so maybe it's stuck or sticking?

Hey Vach - You don't have to take off the head, just the valve cover to see if you have too much slack in the cam chain. I would recommend getting the APE manual adjuster for your 650. I went through a couple of old adjusters that didn't work properly before I gave in and picked up the APE unit from Jeff @ Z1Enterprises. My 650 has the roller type cam chain.

The nice thing about the APE adjuster is that you can actually feel when its plunger is coming in contact with the cam chain, then you back it out 1/4 of a turn and you are good to go. Make sure that you have taken up all of the slack on the chain before you check it for correct tension. Additionally it looks way cool:)

By the way, these engines do tend to make some chain noises at the lower rpm's so expect a little noise from the bottom primary chain or the cam chain. I believe that both versions of the 650 (the single roller and HY-VO cam chains) can use the APE adjuster.

Cheers-Colin Firth-Ontario Canada

Thanks Reborn.. I happen to have a 77 motor sitting in my truck.. I believe it's a manual adjuster.. Should I just slap it on?

I doubt the auto adjuster is bad, although it sure could be. It could also be those 3 rubber centered sprockets the camchain runs around have gone to crap. That's a common thing. You can take your auto adjust tensioner off the back of the engine and easily see if it's working. The spring should fully extend the plunger and it should not be possible to manually press it in. If this is the case, the auto adjust tensioner is working correctly. All it is is a one way plunger with constant spring pressure that extends slowly as need be to tension the chain but cannot go backwards. So of course with this type of tensioner after removing it you'll have to follow the manual to reset the plunger back retracted before reassembly. Othrwise yes you can simply bolt on the 1977 manual tensioner. The bast thing about the manual is you have about 50% more available travel of the plunger.

Just as Ron said, the rubber dampners go bad or just simply harden and dont dampen anymore. I changed mine and there is no more noise...at all. Plus make sure your cams are lined up properly. Plus I have a manual tensioner from Ape also, that works.

Cool, thanks.. I'll pop in the manual tensioner tomorrow and let you guy's know how it sounds.. It is mostly at idle, but it just sounds like something is going wrong.. I know it's not, but it sounds like it..:blink: :laugh: