How Many Cam Chain Tensioners Actually Fail ?

andy c · Post by **andy c** » Wed May 23, 2007 12:59 pm

I'm Curious how many people who use this site have actually had a cct Fail.
We have 1500 registered users (ok not all active).
There must be thousands of words written about the subject
But just how common is it ?

Andy

alan · Post by **alan** » Wed May 23, 2007 1:23 pm

Me, a rear let go about 18 months ago (which is rare according to Honda )

shaun1978 · Post by **shaun1978** » Wed May 23, 2007 1:25 pm

I'm presuming regular quality oil changes and a good servicing regime could help with this?

alan · Post by **alan** » Wed May 23, 2007 1:28 pm

Well mate my bikes more pampered than my wife at the beauty salon and it still went,just one of those things i suppose but still makes me very paronoid about the hole cct thing.

KarlosVTR · Post by **KarlosVTR** » Wed May 23, 2007 4:20 pm

well mine didnt fail per se, just got a bit worn and rattled due to a 1mm bit of float it developed.

expired when i jammed a bolt in it to take up the slack as it didnt return it nipped on to the bolt

SO

im hoping a 1mm nylon washer will do - nylon being a solid lubricant and all should help matters

richard · Post by **richard** » Wed May 23, 2007 8:02 pm

Good question andy c,

on a 24k miles '98 bike, i took mine out at xmas 2006 to change the internal springs - as a precaution ( chaps advertises on this forum ) - and f**k me if the metal 'glove' on the front one hadnt wandered half way off !

so....bloody good job i took them out as it would not have been long before a) the 'glove' came off b) the rubber under the glove tried to tension the chain c) the rubber wore out d) there would be no tension on the chain e) the piston and valves meet.

rs

Max · Post by **Max** » Wed May 23, 2007 9:18 pm

CCT's are a very emotive issue, this emotion probably means the issue overall is probably a bit out of proportion. This is no comfort however if its your CCT has just given up the ghost. The paranoia seems to come from there being no set time for them to last, its reported that they go from almost zero miles or you have bikes like my cousins that have done 33,000 miles with out a hitch. My bike has done 16,000 miles but I gave in to the paranoia 11,000 miles ago and fitted APE's. ( If its any consolation my Reg/Rec went a couple of weeks ago (now R1))

LotusSevenMan · Post by **LotusSevenMan** » Tue May 29, 2007 5:50 pm

Myself and Chris S (Sirch) have done a fair bit of research into CCT tensions, set-ups etc with test rigs and the like. We have come to the conclusion that from new the CCT's are installed fairly quickly from their production time to their installation on a bike in the factory. Remember that the normal running position of a CCT is approx half way extended/compressed depending on which way you view it.
Now new Honda replacements come sealed in a plastic bag on the slow boat from Japan. They may take months to gets here + storage and distribution with more storage. They then get to the Honda dealer. You buy a set. These though will have a tiny key holding the plunger that is wound hard back in/compressed. This is to say that these have a tensioned spring that is 'overwound' by about 100% !!!!!
I therefore think the std factory issue installed ones are better than the replacements for these reasons.

Alan having a rear fail first is unusual because the rear when removed will have oil around it as well as some coooling air. The front one (actually stuck in between the two cylinders) is vertical and gets NO lubrication and is in the hottest place!!!

alan · Post by **alan** » Tue May 29, 2007 10:44 pm

LotusSevenMan wrote:Myself and Chris S (Sirch) have done a fair bit of research into CCT tensions, set-ups etc with test rigs and the like. We have come to the conclusion that from new the CCT's are installed fairly quickly from their production time to their installation on a bike in the factory. Remember that the normal running position of a CCT is approx half way extended/compressed depending on which way you view it.
Now new Honda replacements come sealed in a plastic bag on the slow boat from Japan. They may take months to gets here + storage and distribution with more storage. They then get to the Honda dealer. You buy a set. These though will have a tiny key holding the plunger that is wound hard back in/compressed. This is to say that these have a tensioned spring that is 'overwound' by about 100% !!!!!
I therefore think the std factory issue installed ones are better than the replacements for these reasons.

Alan having a rear fail first is unusual because the rear when removed will have oil around it as well as some coooling air. The front one (actually stuck in between the two cylinders) is vertical and gets NO lubrication and is in the hottest place!!!

Yeah mate i know its only trickle fed thats why i have Bob's modded cct locks installed now front and back just in case.

warfox · Post by **warfox** » Thu Jun 14, 2007 11:19 pm

mine went on the front at 12000 miles (front one)pulled in for fule was fine got into town trafick less than 30mph following a HGV remarked to myself how noisy it was then relised it was me bike pulled over listend it clonked to a stop had rebuilt by honda luton broke the bank new valves etc 13000 miles later got a rattle no one else seemd to here real paranoid so had pressure test at local guy i now use very good shop was reading low,had heads removed, front exhaust vales were bent? but cct intact so had new one firtted whilst work was done on head
spend every trip listning for ratles now

.............got some blue flame ovale evos took out baffles cant here any rattles

Stratman · Post by **Stratman** » Mon Jun 18, 2007 9:55 pm

m presuming regular quality oil changes and a good servicing regime could help with this?

No.

My front went at about 35,000 miles. Now have manual APE ones in the replacement engine for peace of mind.