Cam Sprocket Alignment - CCT

[VTRDark]

Need some help from the masters....

I'm in the process of changing my CCT's to manual. I have the rear rocker cover off and the crank is at RT on the compression stroke, lobes facing inwards. The scribed line is dead on alignment with the line on the generator cover peep hole, looking dead on eye level with hole. So all good there.

Now when looking at the rear cam sprockets the Rear Inlet appears to be out by one tooth. I would like some confirmation on this please.

Click on thumbnails to enlarge






And when looking at the arrow on the opposite side of the wheel, should that be aligned with the two circles on the exhaust cam? or is that irrelevant as it's the RE and RI we are just concerned with? it just seemed a bit odd to me


Some more pics.




I suppose I should have more confidence in myself and my own judgement. But it's always good to get a second opinion.

I have the front rocker off as well, as yesterday when taken out the the front cylinder auto CCT, I think I heard the chain slip, and it just did not feel right. I know where I went wrong. Completely my own fault not concentrating. I think when going from the rear to the front, I only turned the flywheel 180 degrees or there abouts. Meaning and correct me if I'm wrong, the front would have been on the power stroke and not compression. Where as if I had turned the whole one and a quarter turns it would have been on the compressions stroke, Doh. How does this affect things? Can having it on the power stroke cause the chain to slip while removing the old tensioner.?

If the chain has slipped how do I re-align the chain? Is it a case of loosening the cam bolts and turning the cam round one tooth. Obviously with the total slack in the chain and putting an extension/long screwdriver through the top of chain to stop it falling down inside the crankcase

Many Thanks.

(:-})

[benny hedges]

it is possible the rear cam has been misaligned but could just be slight chain wear (which is perfectly normal.)
i havent seen one yet that lines up 100% straight.

moving the cam by one tooth moves the line by quite a few degrees...

make sure when you are lining them up that you pull the chain toward the back of the bike so the slack is on the tensioner side, as it would be when assembled with the chain taking up the slack,

the non-tensioner side should be pulled taut.

if you do need to realign the cams, dont undo the cam gear bolts, just remove the tensioner and jog the chain over the top of the gear til its in the correct position.
then re-check as per the guide in the workshop to make sure theres 1 1/4 turns (450*) between tdc on the firing stroke of the rear pot to tdc on the firing stroke of the front pot.

take your time and double check to make sure - might save you another job lol!

and yes, the chain will skip the gear if you arent on the firing stroke.... if for example its on the exhaust stroke then the exhaust valves will be under spring tension and will flick the gear back when you remove the tensioner.

[sirch345]

Carl, Looking at your photo's showing the inlet sprocket timing mark for the rear cylinder (RI) it doesn't look enough to be out one tooth to me. You can see you've taken the first three photo's (showing the RI mark) looking downwards at an angle. If you got down level with the top of the cylinder head it would look to be out even less than it appears in your photo's. Ignore the other marks on the cam sprockets The RI and RE are the only ones you need to be worrying about on the cam sprockets.

This photo is what the RI mark for the rear cylinder looks like when the valve timing is one tooth out. You'll also notice in my photo the angle of the line under the RI mark is pointing upwards at the end facing the front of the bike unlike yours, your's looks like it almost parallel with the cylinder head.





Chris.

[VTRDark]

Thanks guys I'm all back up and running now

In the end after looking at the distance moving one tooth would make,I decided that it's not out enough to worry about if at all. As I looked level and square on the RI was level with the top of the head which I did not see before. Was possibly not looking square on to it. The RE is just so dam hard to see with the frame in the way. But I did shine a torch down and it looked OK, thogh I was not looking square on.

So chain guide off, tension up to 7mm ish, guide back on and onto the front. Got my mark FT checked lobes facing away from each other, took the guide of, and woh, sh1t. It was very slack, way to slack. Just goes to show you can not always rely on doing it blind by feel. I'm so pleased I went to the bother of removing all the 2 hours worth of extra stuff. Including carbs and the plastic panel underneath. Is there a method for getting the choke through between the thermostat and the other hose by the cct without removing the hoses. It's such a tight space down there.

Back to the front. Checked sprocket alignments FT FI which was even harder to see than the rear, seemed OK and nothing had jumped, so I tightened chain, got it to 7MM ish. Put the guide back on, rocker covers and everything else all back together. Started her up and no rattles, everything sounds normal. All seems fine. Let her warm up a bit. She's purring like a kitten. So removed baffles, I put them in so I could hear the engine/camchains more! went for a spin/test ride and she's running perfect, purring like a kitten.

I had to re adjust my idle speed, that had increased slightly, got that down to 1200 with no fluctuations any more and ticking over smoothly.

Then I washed and polished her.

Well Happy.

Thanks for your comments most appreciated. I think it was a case of me not having enough faith in myself. I should now better.

(:-})

[sirch345]

Well done Carl glad you've got it sorted and all is OK.

I don't remove the choke. I find you can just about (with a little patients) move the carbs around enough to remove the plastic tray etc underneath them once they're disconnected from the inlet manifolds, with just removing the throttle cables and TPS (throttle position sensor) block connector.

Chris.

[VTRDark]

Funny you should say that Chris when putting it all back together I ended up removing one side of the hose, stuck my finger in the hole to stop fluid pouring out, while I manipulated the choke through under my finger and the hose on the other side of my finger. That was a laugh working one handed, and I almost got my finger stuck in the hole. I think there must have been some kind of vacuum created with my finger. It hurt pulling it out that;s all I can say.
After doing all that, I looked at it and re aliased I forgot the plastic shielding, DOH. There was no way I was moving that choke again so I managed to manipulate the carbs and get the plastic underneath.

Fun and Games! Now I have stripped it all down once. The next time it will take a quarter of the time. Lessons learned.

(:-})

[bazza696]

now you have done the juniors work you can go that extra step to novice by doing the valve clearences.

you have done most of the work that is required for cct that you would do for clearences, with the exception of taking the can shafts off.

[VTRDark]

can shafts

Nothing wrong with my cans mate

I did think about checking valve clearances but my Snap On feeler gauges are straight and I did not fancy bending the tips on them. I shall have to get me some angled gauges.

Have Fun.

(:-})

[tony.mon]

You can use straight ones, they're flexible enough at the thicknesses needed.

[bazza696]

I used straight gauges.