Cam tensioner - I know I'm a grown man..

..but right now I feel like crying. I'm relatively new to this whole motorcycle wrenching thing. I've recently just finished changing the rings on my pistons, lapping the valves and doing all of the clearances. It's looking really good! I was buttoning it all up earlier, and my cam tensioner broke! The threads sheared off when I was torquing it down.. I'm soooooo pissed right now.

I spent my saturday driving to Marion to pick up my parts from Jeff (4hrs there, 4hrs back), and spent all Sunday working on my engine. I managed to finish it last night, and get it started, but it had that clacking noise that had been described here before. I reopened it this afternoon and adjusted some of the clearances..they look perfect now, and just as I'm putting it back together to try starting it again, the tensioner breaks.

"Frustrated" is definitely not going to do my mood justice right now..

So - my question is whether or not the APE KT1100 tensioner will work for my 550? I know travis asked before about his 550, but it isn't clear if it will work. It *is* listed on the Z1E page for my bike, but is that for sure? Should I instead try and get a replacement OEM automatic adjuster? I can get the body from Ron Ayers for $21 + shipping, which is really all I need..but the manual ones, from what I've heard, are better.

What kind of maintenance intervals would I be looking at with a manual one? If it's noisy, adjust it?

Thanks.

You mean the threads on the tensioner, not on your cylinder block, right?

The same thing happened to me. Used tensioners are easy to find on EBay for about $10-15. I don't know enough to comment on the benefits of manual vs. stock.

yeah - on the tensioner.. the block is fine. That would have really sucked!

Oh..and I checked buy kawi just now..and for future reference (for those of us lucky enough to have a 550 ) the KT1100 tensioner is the one that works. The OEM part number is 12049-1009, and is spec'd on both the 550s and police bikes..in addition to many other machines all the way to late 90s ninjas.

Post edited by: pyxen, at: 2007/09/18 21:48

The tensioner on your bike is a fairly reliable part. You are doing the right procedure to unlock the tensioner letting it recede back in it's body until the valve cover ect is all installed then putting the tensioner back to work? It's been 25 yrs since I've seen that tensioner setup, but I remember the rubbing block setup on the top of the valvecover pushing down on the chain between the cams as you assemble the valvecover, and I think the tensioner should be released before putting valve cover on or you'll have problems. I could be wrong though.

well if you drive back to Marion I will be glad to give you one of mine!

I have 3 or 4 of them for a 650, i think they are the same part.... if you are interested!


BTW living in the same small town as Jeff is AWESOME! When i need something i just drive 5 minutes to his shop.

hardr0ck68 wrote:

well if you drive back to Marion I will be glad to give you one of mine!

I have 3 or 4 of them for a 650, i think they are the same part.... if you are interested!


BTW living in the same small town as Jeff is AWESOME! When i need something i just drive 5 minutes to his shop.

Not the same part unfortunately.

Sorry to hear about your issues. I know the factory ones work, but are a little noisy. Some have streched the spring for better tension, and others have replaced the stock one with one from a Zephyr 550 with success. I have a manual adjustable one from APE that I plan on installing on my 615 engine, but I have heard stories about that APE Tensioner not having the "reach" as the factory one, but haven't verified this myself. Anyone heard of this before?

Here's the one I have waiting install:


I would guess it's the same one for your bike. APE P/N KT1050.

I'll be putting the KT1100 on my bike - same tensioner body as the 1000J, so that's the one to use.

Yeah, I've been removing the tensioner to remove the valve cover..everything has been done as per the manual. I'm just unfortunate enough to have one that has weak metal..I guess I over torqued it a bit - I was even just tightening it before finishing it with the torque wrench when it came off..

So I need a whole new body, instead of the spring. I'm going to be going with the manual one..I ordered it today. The stealership in town wants $95CDN for it..so probably around $105CDN after taxes. That's just criminal considering the exchange, and the ease of working with Jeff et al.