Chain and Sprocket Swap

[Tat_Man]

Right then, a lot of you on here are probably carrying out your own replacement chain and sprockets already.
but,for all those who aren't and would like to I have put together a step by step guide to aid you.
It really isn't that difficult, Ok, I am a time served mechanic but just a basic tool kit ,
socket set and chain breaker/riveter and you're good to go.
Oh and a Paddock Stand...Now i know not everyone has a chain breaker/riveter but they are a good investment.
I paid £39.99 for mine,its not the heavy duty d.i.d type but its more than up to the task.I suppose you could borrow or maybe hire one.

If you are not confident in your ability to do the job..STOP NOW and take your bike to your mechanic..

Ok , so with everything at the ready lets crack on......

Sockets out......Round 1

Firstly, make sure that the bike is in neutral and that your bike is stable on the paddock stand
Get yourself an 8mm socket and ratchet and remove the 4 bolts that hold the front sprocket cover in place,
ease it off gently leaving the clutch push rod in the gearbox,don't worry nothing will leak out.
If you follow the clutch flexy pipe back to the first fastner and release it ,it'll swing clear of where you're working.

If its not been done for a while it'll look pretty grim in there and need a damn good clean, we'll do this shortly.


Now get yourself a 1/2" drive ratchet or bar and a 14mm socket.Apply the rear brake(or get a helper to do so) and
loosen the front sprocket half a turn in an anticlockwise direction.

If you've ever tried to slacken this bolt after you've taken the chain off you'll understand why i do this now.Leave the bolt in for now.

Next,locate your soft link it should stand out from the others and grind off the head of the pins

Remove one of the pins using the chain tool as per the instructions,make sure its properly aligned and you'll have no problems

OK..pin out ,now slowly and carefully draw the chain off the sprockets


Now for the next few steps both my hands are busy and i can't get any pictures fired off so we'll talk through it step by step.

1.Undo the rear wheel pin using a 27mm socket and bar
2.Carefully remove the pin whilst taking the weight of the wheel
3.As the wheel becomes free,lift the rear calliper out of the way to let the wheel out of the swingarm,
make sure the wheel spacers don't fall out and do one.
4.Rear sprocket off the carrier next,..different people do this different ways,some slacken these off with the wheel on the bike and chain on.
I do it with the wheel off the bike and leave the carrier in the wheel.Sitting on the wheel to stop it spinning use a 19mm socket and bar,undo
the nuts..remove the sprocket ,clean the carrier and then fit the new sprocket to it,tighten the 19mm nuts .
5.If you're fitting new cush rubbers,do so now.
6.Lift the rear wheel and calliper into place and re-insert the pin..I lightly grease with teflon grease before fitting.
This is a bit fiddly so you may want to get an assistant
7.Run the nut on loosly for now,it'll get tightened up later.

Now for the dirty bit, Remove the front sprocket and clean the surrounding casing and cover thoroughly.
This took me the best part of an hour with a screwdriver,WD-40 and plenty of rags.
I'm not into my show and shine but i don't want my new gold chain to keep coming out black and filthy.
You'll be amazed just how much crap comes out, i got a metal washer,half a dozen stones and a chunk of carbon fibre in mine

I have only removed the side stand as it was sticking and thought i'd sort it whilst i'm down there..


Now fit the new front sprocket and run the bolt up finger tight

Wind the chain tensioners all the way in then run the new chain over both of the sprockets with the join meeting on the rear sprocket.
Insert the new soft link,O rings and link plate.
Using the chain riveter press the new link together, Make sure the chain tool is aligned properly and be careful not to push it on too far or you run the risk of the link being too tight.
Now you need to flare the ends of the pins, the same again..not too tight,just enough to flare the ends of the pins.

Foot on the rear brake again and tighten the 14mm bolt on the front sprocket
Now re-fit the sprocket cover, i use a little dab of teflon grease on the end of the clutch push rod on assembly
You may feel a little resistance,don't worry its just the clutch slave cylinder settling back on the push rod.
Fasten the flexy hose back to the frame and tighten up the four 8mm cover bolts.

Adjust the chain tension, use the marks on the tensioners and then make sure that the chain runs true (in a straight line)
do this by casting your eye down the length of the chain,looking from sprocket to sprocket.

Finally tighten up the rear wheel,double check the chain tension and use a lube of your choice.....DONE

[tony.mon]

Good write-up.

I'd add that when you remove the slave cylinder (two bolts holding the round bit bolted to the sprocket cover) then it's a good idea to strap the cylinder into it's housing.
You can do this with a g-clamp or cable-ties, but any method which stops the piston moving out of the cylinder is fine.
If the piston moves out far enough, air gets into the slave cylinder behind the piston.
It doesn't completely fall out, just moves forward far enough that the rear edge of the piston passes the seal.

This happens sometimes, and then bleeding new fluid through is a pain, and seems to take much longer than it should,( unless you use a vacuum bleeder, which isn't available to most home mechanics).

It's very irritating when you think you've finished the job and then find the clutch won't work......

[Tat_Man]

Cheers tony.mon,

Thanks for the heads up on that, I suppose you could also use a brake hose clamp on the flexy to stop any fluid movement...
that said, if you only remove the 4 bolts marked red on the first picture and leave the last one in,
you can remove the sprocket cover and the slave cylinder as one unit without the risk of the piston moving.
To be honest, this is the first bike with a hydraulic clutch i've owned and i didn't want to end up having to bleed it
like you mentioned..I do have access to an easybleed but it can be a nightmare getting air out of some systems.

[tony.mon]

Cheers tony.mon,

if you only remove the 4 bolts marked red on the first picture and leave the last one in,
you can remove the sprocket cover and the slave cylinder as one unit without the risk of the piston moving.

Good idea, might make cleaning it awkward.

You don't need any pressure to hold the piston in, just stop it oozing out, really.
A cable tie round it is fine, and cheap. String or tape would do.

But the tube clamp would work ok, good idea on standard hoses.
If you have replacement hoses fitted, you'd crush the braid.

[sirch345]

Good job Tat_Man, nice sharp photo's too, well done

Chris.

[benny hedges]

.

.....DONE

not quite.... now you have to get all them red blobs off the bolts

re the fluid leaking out - if you remove the clutch lever there is no pressure on the mc piston and no fluid will come out.
the lever normally pushes a little rod against the piston, even when it's in it's return position.

[MJONESY]

Just a quick point: make sure you buy decent quality chains,

Whoever replaced mine before me could do with taking out and giving a slap for putting price before safety, it was a cheap Chinese one on mine that snapped on sunday at about 70mph (30 miles after clean/check/lube) smashed my hugger up a bit but that's it, luckily it chucked it straight out the back otherwise it would have probably locked the back wheel up.


Dont be stingy with it guys, it will cost you more in the end.

[Walenut]

If your replacing the chain new for old I've found grinding straight through the chain quicker and pretty safe, remember to sheet the bike up though and do it below the swing arm as well just in case.

[rollingthunderx2]

The usual reason for grinding off the sideplate is you can join the new chain to the old one and use it to pull the new chain through the chain guard.

[RiderOfTheStorm]

Cheers Guys for a brilliant "How to". This should save me a lot of time, especially in preventing the Clutch Bleeding process.

[Wicky]

A way to remove the old chain without splitting it and add the new chain is to remove the leftpeg hanger mounted on the swingarm spindle - this has the advantage that you can rivet the chain off the bike and then hang the chain through the swing-arm using the VTR's frameless design. Though remember afterwards to correctly retighten the swingarm nut to 93nm torque.

[tony.mon]

A way to remove the old chain and add the new chain is to remove the leftpeg hanger mounted on the swingarm spindle - this has the advantage that you can rivet the chain off the bike and then hang the chain through the swing-arm using the VTR's frameless design. Though remember afterwards to correctly retighten the swingarm nut to 93nm torque.

Unless you've got a braced swingarm, and the chain then has to thread through the SA.....
I didn't consider that when I had the brace added, but tbh you don't replace a chain very often, and with a Scotoiler it's even less often.

[misnblu]

Good information here for this newb.
This is on the bucket list and should be fun.