Its broken

[Wildfire]

Went for an early morning ride today..........usual plan to avoid traffic etc and still leave the rest of the day for all the family stuff.
Went and filled up and did about 7 or 8 miles but something didn't 'feel' right either with me or the bike.
Carried on a bit further but thought either me or the bike are going to come a cropper today....Call it a hunch / intuition i dont know.....

Decided not to head out to Buxton but pulled over on the way to Ashbourne.....lid off and earplugs out and I thought the engine sounded a bit 'rattly' at tickover not massively loud but noticeable
(with & without clutch lever in).
Slight bit of load and it seemed to go, but still there when dropped back to tickover.... You know that feeling when you get a noise that wasn't there before

Anyway...I think the CCT is going at the Front (Its not unknown on VTR's apparently ) but a gentle ride back didn't cause any grief so I think I caught it early (I am somewhat paranoid about CCT's after reading all the posts on here, but I'd rather be safe than sorry ).

Could have been so much worse had it let go fully so I'm feeling quite smug I cought it early
The plan is now to get replacement CCT's (manual or standard ) and learn how to fit them without wrecking anything else

Unless I'm way off the mark and its something else altogether...In which case I may just go off to the corner to cry

[Kitch]

Is THIS your noise?

Mine was front CCT and it was just in need of a jiggle around, though I plan to fit APE manual CCT's in the future.

My mechanic guy who looked at mine (whom I trust) assures me that the CCT is fine and had somehow just stuck. After unsticking it, mines been perfectly fine, though he did say it was a bad design and he would fit manual ones.

http://www.vtr1000.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=9676

[Wildfire]

I think so just not as loud...1st thing I did when I got back was pull the video up
I went out earlier and started her up again....It may be it is just slightly stuck as it seemed a bit less obvious at tickover, more noticeable with a slight load (very small throttle movement) and then going as the throttle is opened further.

[Jaglifter]

Fitted manual CCTs to mine. Never had a problem.

[LotusSevenMan]

How do you like my MANUAL VTR CCT then?




Lool familiar? I used the standard Honda body of the CCT to fit the manual plunger into it.

LSM

[Jaglifter]

Mine were home made as well. Couldn't wait for the APE kit and they were simple enough to make.

[LotusSevenMan]

Any pics JL?

[Jaglifter]

LSM,
Sorry can't find any.
Front one was made of steel after making a template for the flange using the old CCT. I then machined the flange and welded the body to it. Body was about 20mm long. Machined down the head of a high tensile 12mm bolt for the plunger.

The rear one I made of aluminium alloy. Was going to do the same for the front, but decided the steel one worked fine, looked OK and wasn't much of a weight penalty (compered to a 14st rider!)

[LotusSevenMan]

OH, JL. Alloy for one and steel other!!!!
My g*d. There goes the handling

[Wildfire]

Had a mate pop over last night and he confirmed it sounded like CCT or chain itself (or both).
Has anyone had a replacement camchain fitted as a precautionary measure, rather than as a rebuild job? - Presumably its a shop job to make sure the things rivetted up properly or does it have to be a split cases/engine out job

I'm just thinking that it may be easier to get the chain replaced as well whilst the tensioners are being done, providing a split chain is OK.
I'm budgetting around £80-100 ish for parts and then say what 3Hrs labour maybe £ 200 ish in total or am I way off

[Stratman]

After mine went I had Honda ones again but I was never happy, so last winter I fitted the APE manual tensioners and they seem absolutely fine. I do like LSM's home made one and if I was doing the same again I would do something like that and save myself £100 as the APEs aren't cheap.

I can now throttle off in a lowish gear going into a bend without worrying that the camchain is going to jump.

I wouldn't replace the camchain at the same time necessarily unless the mileage was particularly high - just because the CCT went doesn't mean the chain is worn

[Wildfire]

Mileage is coming up to 24k....I was hoping its just changing the tensioners.
I was thinking chains should last a bit longer than 24k....Had an old CB750 that went to 90k, I put 50k on it even assuming it had had at least one chain before I got it.

Its up to the shop on Saturday for a 2nd/3rd opinion....I have a mate who's offered to help change the tensioners to save a bit of cash
I'm a bit nervous about doing it myself, but he's just changed the belts on his Ducati so I figured he knows his stuff

[LotusSevenMan]

Agree with Stratman.
The CCT's are the weak point of the design especially the front cylinder one as it sits in between the two cylinders getting very hot and with nil lubrication. When you remove it it is always 'dry' whereas the rear sits behind the cylinder and is kept cooler as more fresh air gets to it and when removed a dribble of oil comes too.
That's the reason why the 'fronts' fail first normally. Lack of adequate lubrication IMHO!!!!!

PS Different I know, but I had a BMW with a similar design cam chain that did 221,500 miles and was still going strong with no c/chain problems (but it did have a good tensioner system!!!)