Ape Manual tensioner.

I'm trying to fit a manual tensioner to my 1300. Instructions say to advance the bolt till you feel the cam chain and then back off a quarter turn. My concern is that I feel the chain through many turns. If I use the first feel of the chain I imagine it to be way loose. Has any body fitted a manual tensioner? Once you've felt the cam chain would you be willing to use the starter to spin the engine?

TIA

Bill

The way i did mine on my old gsxr srad 750 , was turned it in till it went tight backed it off a tad . fired the bike up slacked it off till i had cam chain rattle , then slowly pinched it up till the chain rattle was gone .. never had a problem doing it this way my brother also did it this way for his cbr 600 racebike ..

Bill, Just went through this 2 days ago....

Seriously, it jumped a cam tooth following the provided instructions. Manually rotated crank until feel it hit, so I thought anyways, back her off 1/4 turn. Rotated a crank full 360 degrees a couple times (MANUALLY always before pressing the starter switch!!!) insuring no timing chain bind, Started her up, heard some chain slap, and adjusted ever so slightly until I thought it was about right....

Immediately noticed my idle was now erratic where previously, could adjust down to 900 rpm with no issues... Even at me preferred 1100-1200 rpm idle, still up and down in the idle... First thought was AZ @ 100 degrees now and possibly need to re-jet but in thinking about it more thoroughly/technically, naw, only one thing could be the culprit for it to occur this quick....

Off with the valve cover, needed to check valve clearance anyways after the 1075 build... Sure enough, exhaust cam was off 1 tooth pointing under deck height @ 1/4 TDC.... :S Re-set both cams into desired rotation and tooth count...

Now here's what I did Bill, may work for you as well...

This time, I screwed in the adjuster bolt while keeping a finger and eye on the chain slack feeding into the top idler gear... I could feel and see the slack being tightened up at which point I felt good starting point... Not over tight mind you but enough to see that the chain slack indeed was being affected by the adjuster.

Rotated a crank full 360 degrees a couple times (MANUALLY always before pressing the starter switch!!!) insuring no timing chain bind, Valve cover on, Fired her up....

Re-sett/test idle, purred like a kitten @ 900 rpm! Set for my preferred rpm idle and all good;)
Take her for a spin, sweetness!

Conclusion: Eyeball and feel timing chain slack into top idler was the ticket insuring new tensioner was truly picking up the chain slack...

OMR

I personally just wrench the motor over clockwise while tighting the adjuster in by hand until it stops.Dont force it when it stops. Then i just barely back off the adjuster. Then rotate again by hand to insure its all good. Then start. And then if needed adjust accordly. But usally that gets me super close.

I did mine just like P-stroke and worked fine.

I would do the first adjustment/ install with the motor on TDC mark. This is where the cams have little lobe pressure down on a lifter. So chain will go slack on the adjuster side but not anywhere else. Put it in, turn the bolt in by hand tight against the chain guide. Then as suggested crank the motor by hand a couple of turns. Get back to TDC and recheck the adjustment to see if there is slack, and make another adjustment if so. As others stated you may need to run it, and once warm do a final adjustment.

Thanks Everybody!

The instructions say to stop where you first feel the chain moving past the adjuster, then back off a quarter turn and tighten the lock nut.

I turned it in till it started to tighten up then backed it off a quarter turn. At this point I could still wiggle the bolt side to side which means that there was no tension on the chain but no slack either.

In case you were wondering this setting was five turns past the point where I could first feel the moving chain.

When I got the bike it had already been fitted with an adjuster from a ZX11. The spring in that adjuster pushes with six pounds of force. Hopefully now the chain will not cause too much wear on the guides. I've read that some folks think the ZX11 adjuster is too strong for the 1300.

Bill

KZCSI wrote: Thanks Everybody!

The instructions say to stop where you first feel the chain moving past the adjuster, then back off a quarter turn and tighten the lock nut.

I turned it in till it started to tighten up then backed it off a quarter turn. At this point I could still wiggle the bolt side to side which means that there was no tension on the chain but no slack either.

In case you were wondering this setting was five turns past the point where I could first feel the moving chain.

When I got the bike it had already been fitted with an adjuster from a ZX11. The spring in that adjuster pushes with six pounds of force. Hopefully now the chain will not cause too much wear on the guides. I've read that some folks think the ZX11 adjuster is too strong for the 1300.

Bill

I dont believe the tensioner should not really have much tension at all. It just takes the slack out of the chain. If the tensioner is to strong it will cause excessive wear on the guides and chain.

Remember the camshaft bearings, and excess friction created by over-tightening. :dry: