Manual Cam Tensioner / Adjustment schedule?

OK, so i put a new 1 piece HYVO cam chain in my J motor, along with a bunch of new goodies durring my winter rebuild.

I've only put about 1k kms on the bike, and I started to hear a sort of clacking in the head.

Upon further examination, I could hear that it was deffinately coming from the intake cam.

Turns out that the cam chain has streched, and with a manual tensioner at idle, the chain would slack enough between the cams to allow the intake cam to snap closed prematurely.

So... Whats a good/normal time schedule for adjusting these manual tensioners?

Should they be tensioned with the engine running, or by the T1 mark not running? i know just finger tight, but how far back out?

Cheers!

I'd ask at the places that sell them:

1. www.aperaceparts.com
2. www.redlinecycle.com
3. www.kzzone.com
4. www.dynoman.net
5. www.suco.com

MFolks wrote:

I'd ask at the places that sell them:

1. www.aperaceparts.com
2. www.redlinecycle.com
3. www.kzzone.com
4. www.dynoman.net
5. www.suco.com

...brilliant...

i guess so!

It makes sense that the new chain would seat in and get looser, do listen to the cam drive area possibly with a mechanic's stethescope or even a long screwdriver with your ear against the handle occasionally to see if you hear actual cam chain noise.

I both run and make manual tensioners for Kawasakis. My recommendation is that the initial tensioning should be done by hand while manually turning the engine over with a socket wrench in the direction that the crank rotates when running (usually clockwise when using the right side crank nut to turn the crank). This will get the slack to the back side run where the tensioner shoe rides against the chain. Do it finger tight while rotating the crank, then turn it back off by about 1/8 turn or less. The slight loosening allows for some tightening when the engine metal expands as it gets up to operating temperature. Then lock down the lock nut. This should be sufficient, but you should listen for any cam chain noise after getting the engine to full operating temperature.

Ideally the adjustment would take place with a hot engine, but that isn't too easy if you don't have mechanic's gloves, with that tensioner in the center. We do the KLX tensioners at full operating temps, but you can actually hear the light ticking of a loose chain with them We back off the tensioner until we hear light ticking, then very slowly turn it in until the ticking is gone. I've only adjusted my KLX tensioner about 4 times in 25,000 miles. I haven't had the Zephyr long enough to tell yet. With the KLX if I hear ticking I adjust it, obviously I haven't heard ticking too often with only 4 adjustments.

By the way, the KLX is notorious for having the ratchet style tensioners go bad. I went through two of them and a ruined set of chains in 15,000 miles. With the manual tensioner I've got 25,000 and no end in sight. The replacement tensioner for the Zephyr was a ratchet style, no way that's going in. The bike showed 12,5?? miles which were obvioulsy relatively hard miles, and a real buzz from the cam chain. I knew it because if it is primary chain noise, you can take out the slack by putting the bike in gear, holding the brake on, and starting to let out the clutch making the primary noise go away.

I'm just learning about the KZ engines at this point. My friend's AHRMA bikes have manual units in them, he has one of my units for his Zephyr now too. I also delivered a unit for another racer at Mid Ohio for his superbike engine that uses the same tensioner as the Zephyr. Seems a lot of Kaw engines use that diamond shape. The rest use the squar shaped one.