Manual CCT adjustment

[Ckennedy]

Had a slight rattle coming from the rear cylinder yesterday so today I decided to tighten the CCT. It did up about 1 1/4 turns (ish) undid it about 1/4 of a turn. Ran the engine and all seemed fine, no rattles, squeals or anything. Turned the engine off and have not touched it since. But it has just occured to me that when the rear CCT was done there had to be 7mm play in the chain. Get the feeling I have just taken all this out. Any advice on getting it set correctly without stripping everything again or making a mess of things. I remember AMCQ46 saying something about how to set them up but I can not remember what it was.

Any advice before I make a mess of the bike?

[Stratman]

Get the engine warm, then loosen the locknut and slowly wind the adjuster out till you hear the chain "slapping" a bit. Turn the adjuster back in till it stops, then a tad more et voila!

Or, as it's the rear, it's easy to remove the cam cover and check the free play between the cams.

[lloydie]

Get the engine warm, then loosen the locknut and slowly wind the adjuster out till you hear the chain "slapping" a bit. Turn the adjuster back in till it stops, then a tad more et voila!

Or, as it's the rear, it's easy to remove the cam cover and check the free play between the cams.

It is if the top chain guid comes off lol
Remember to use thread lock on the lock nut !

[VTRDark]

Be on the safe side and take the cam cover off. As it's the rear, it's a 5-10min job. Re-threadlock/silicone the thread as well

(:-})

[Ckennedy]

Yeah would be handy if that guard did come off haha.
When I get the tension right I shall lock tight them. Now just not sure if got then set right. 1/4 turn out from finger tight.

[VTRDark]

1/4 turn out from finger tight

one persons finger tight is different from someone else's. Don't rely on feel there's too much room for error.

Like I said it's best to remove the cover. I forgot to mention, don't forget to set the timing to RT first as well. This can be confirmed by the cam lobes pointing upwards and inwards.

(:-})

[AMCQ46]

Chris, my handy tip was how to set the front one based on doing the back one with the rocker cover off. So won't help here.

I think the best way is to lift the cover if you arent sure to do it by ear

[darkember]

Medical stethoscope can detect internal noises really well.

[tony.mon]

I've always thought that if that guard extended over the sprockets, and fitted better, the chain wouldn't be able to jump off the teeth anyway.

[Stratman]

1/4 turn out from finger tight

one persons finger tight is different from someone else's. Don't rely on feel there's too much room for error.

Like I said it's best to remove the cover. I forgot to mention, don't forget to set the timing to RT first as well. This can be confirmed by the cam lobes pointing upwards and inwards.

(:-})

Why would you do that just to remove the cam cover? When you have the cover off you need to rotate the engine anyway to see where the loosest run is anyway (as per instructions from APE/Debben). You only need set the cams when you are removing the CCT.

[leevtr]

1/4 turn out from finger tight

one persons finger tight is different from someone else's. Don't rely on feel there's too much room for error.

Like I said it's best to remove the cover. I forgot to mention, don't forget to set the timing to RT first as well. This can be confirmed by the cam lobes pointing upwards and inwards.

(:-})

Why would you do that just to remove the cam cover? When you have the cover off you need to rotate the engine anyway to see where the loosest run is anyway (as per instructions from APE/Debben). You only need set the cams when you are removing the CCT.

I'd have to agree with Carl on this one. The damage that can be done for the sake of taking the time to make sure, I'd take the cover off. I did mine slightly different, as the ' doing it by feel ' method wasn't working for me. Finger tight on mine was virtually zero slack in the chain between the cogs. My method ( should you want to know, was wind the cct in with my fingers till tight. When it was finger tight, so was the chain. Then count how many turns back out till I got to 7 (ish ) mm play. Then transfered this to the front.

Worked for me but we all have our preffered methods.

[VTRDark]

You only need set the cams when you are removing the CCT.

Actually thinking about it your probably right if just tightening up. But the tension is going to be released when undoing the tensioner to apply more threadlock which could cause the chain to jump teeth on the cam sprockets knocking the timing out. It's far easier/safer if the chain is not under tension

(:-})

[Rob]

This is one of the reasons I'm doing the stopper mod - no issues with adjustment.

Why does the timing need to be set when removing the CCT? I would have thought the chances of the chain jumping would be virtually nil unless you did something really stupid?

Sorry to go off topic, just always wondered about why everyone seems to stress the importance of it because it makes the job a lot longer and more complicated, but there could be something obvious I'm missing

[Ckennedy]

Right so rear cover off, and check chain tension till there is about 7mm. Then just remember how many turns I did the rear one and transfere to the front one?

[VTRDark]

his is one of the reasons I'm doing the stopper mod - no issues with adjustment.

I must admit Rob I'm coming round to the stopper mod idea instead of manuals after doing my first the other week and seeing how easy it is. The only downside there is, that there is still a chance of failure which means replacements are needed. No biggie really cause at least there is no damage accept in the pocket.

Plenty of people have had chains jump teeth including myself when I occidentally set the timing 180 degrees out once. As Tony said above maybe if the guard extended over the sprockets and fitted better the chain wouldn't be able to jump off the teeth. The other option is to cable tie the chain around the sprocket so it don't jump which a lot of people do on the Hawk site. But they do as an added precaution once setting the timing to TDC.

(:-})