Cam chain adjustment

royxxx

royxxx
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Hi guys, I took off the acorn nut & the centre pin was flush with the 10mm nut, you could turn the nut in & the pin would stay flush, turn the nut out & the pin would recede, can I take it that you just turn the nut in until it is flush, then stop?
The book doesn't say move the chain to the slack point, but I did anyway, by rotating the mill forward twice, then back 1/2 a turn.
Thanks, Roy.
 
The way people usually adjust it is with engine running, turn the adjuster until there's about 1 mm or so movement of the center pin in and out. Much more than that and the chain will rattle. If there's no movement it's too tight. If it's hard to see, you can feel it with your finger tip. If you're not sure if you're just feeling vibration, you can compare it with your fingertip placed on the adjuster around it. It gets very hot and seems to get tighter as it heats up. The center pin movement will lessen as the engine heats up, and if it's set to barely rattle cold when it heats up the rattling will stop.
 
The only mistake you made was going back that half turn. You never want to turn the engine back against the direction of rotation. That pulls the rear run of the chain taught and puts the slack in the front run. Correct rotation direction is CCW when facing the left side of the motor (points and alternator side).
 
Thanks guys, bike is in bits at the moment (frame off rebuild), I get that 5 twins, I've still got my XJ head on. Roy.
 
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