anybody know what the front cam chain guide is made from ?/ Gona maybe make one.

[weekendrider]

I would have thought the purpose of the tensioner was to control loading and unloading.
Not the curvature of the rails.
A curved rail does give more surface area than a straight line for a equal length distance?
IME it is the side rails/flanges that get knocked off first.
Not because of length stretching but because of plate, pin and roller wear allowing side to side whip which the tensioner can't correct.

 

[fredintoon]

So it seems that there is not much out there for these. Some say not to buy old stock, some cringe at the sound of MIKES XS. Well that leaves me lost. Not sure what to do. Is the guide made out of Teflon ?? If not does anyone know what it is made from ??/ I have a boat load of Teflon, have the resources, ability to make the guide up.. Just curious, I need a guide like now, the bike sounds like a diesel, it starting to leak oil from the bolt holes that hold the guide in.. It is ready lol..

Hi Raty,
if I had to purchase the material I'd try using Nylatron (graphite-filled nylon) and I'd rivet the bastard in place.
But hey, if I had a boatload of Teflon I'd use that instead.

 

[Pierrax]

Teflon has a very low COF but its mechanical properties are poor so it won't last very long (poor wear resistance).
As Fredintoon said, better to use somehting like Nylon, Ertalon, ...

 

[Brian902]

And what if the profile was changed to something like this;
.

 

[TwoManyXS1Bs]

I seem to recall one or more of the old Hondas had a mildly raised center profile like that, maybe to control side-side whip as WER suggested. Kinda remember seeing them getting pretty beat up.

Probably come to me some night at 3:47 am...

 

[Brian902]

I was thinking the raised portion would help keep the chain centered as well as add the extra area for the rollers to ride on lessening the wear factor.

But I don't remember seeing any like this so there must be other issues.

 

[5twins]

I'm thinking the small portion of the side plates that extends above the rollers would chew into the sides of that raised portion, filling your oil with plastic or rubber shaving and/or bits.

 

[650Skull]

Correct and regular tension maintenance would help to keep the sideways movement down, to a degree.

Also slightly sanding the edges of the cam chain will help to reduce the wear on the guide.

 

[I am Carbon]

Also slightly sanding the edges of the cam chain will help to reduce the wear on the guide.

That's such a good idea.

I'm going to add that one to my box of tricks

 

[cruzin]

Probably need the metal back to keep it rigid. I gave a used one to my brother who loves cad/cam work. I thought if we could find the right material we could make one totally from the plastic material on our cnc but the more I think about it Im thinking that it needs the metal in back of the plastic for rigidity. Unless the material was rigid enough to keep its shape without bowing. Love to find some parts I could manufacture out in my barn.

 

[goodgollyjosh]

The part number never changed throughout the production run. Now whether or not the one you're looking at is N.O.S. or newly manufactured I guess would depend on the shop you're dealing with. Some little hole-in-the-wall, off-the-beaten-path shop may still have some of these laying on the shelf from the '70s and '80s. A big place like I've linked to below would most likely be selling newly manufactured ones. Yes, they are still available from Yamaha .....

http://www.boats.net/parts/detail/yamaha/Y-256-12231-01-00.html

Thanks for the link. Picked up a couple for myself and another user.

 

[TwoManyXS1Bs]

Probably need the metal back to keep it rigid. I gave a used one to my brother who loves cad/cam work. I thought if we could find the right material we could make one totally from the plastic material on our cnc but the more I think about it Im thinking that it needs the metal in back of the plastic for rigidity. Unless the material was rigid enough to keep its shape without bowing. Love to find some parts I could manufacture out in my barn.

Cruzin, If you could rummage thru some '70s Honda parts/service manuals, you'll find that some used (what appears to be) solid plastic front slippers, that were supported only by a tongue at the bottom and t-posts near the top. If memory serves, I'd never seen one of those wear out.

Here's a CB-350 tensioner, that uses double t-posts:

 

[cruzin]

I started a new thread on this topic. I priced out a small sheet of this PA46 2' x 40" .75 thick. 900.00
bucks.

 

[gggGary]

Bummer;


256-12231-01-00 GUIDE,STOPPER 1
Price:
$115.56
Current "discount" 5-2017 pricing for the Factory guide, someone got smart, captive audience yada yada Fark!

 

[xjwmx]

^ Probably buying them from Mike's, then only doubling the price like a reasonable retailer...

 

[Robert Breen]

So it seems that there is not much out there for these. Some say not to buy old stock, some cringe at the sound of MIKES XS. Well that leaves me lost. Not sure what to do. Is the guide made out of Teflon ?? If not does anyone know what it is made from ??/ I have a boat load of Teflon, have the resources, ability to make the guide up.. Just curious, I need a guide like now, the bike sounds like a diesel, it starting to leak oil from the bolt holes that hold the guide in.. It is ready lol..

 

[Robert Breen]

Bummer;


256-12231-01-00 GUIDE,STOPPER 1
Price:
$115.56
Current "discount" 5-2017 pricing for the Factory guide, someone got smart, captive audience yada yada Fark!

 

[Robert Breen]

I am New here So please forgive me for chiming in on and old conversation, But Yes it's true Boats.net in GA has the newly Yamaha manufactured front 256-12231-01-00 GUIDE,STOPPER the old part # was 256-12231-01 $115 and change I just purchased a Mikes xs Chinese one and paid $46 after shipping but I did not like how soft the guide cushion felt so I ordered the one from Boats.com I'm in Brandon Fl and it was here in 2 days but at a cost with cheapest shipping $130 How ever the quality of this part verses the Mikes part in comparison to the mikes part is really evident the guide cushion feels much stiffer and stronger on the OEM part and I feel much better about using it after buying all the stuff the do top end rebuild

 

[gggGary]

Yeah it seems like there might be room for a cnc built guide with a decent rub strip coming in around $80-90.00

 

[drgonzo]

When I was road racing a CB350 stocker, one mod allowed was installing a slipper type cam chain guide. I can't recall who made them right now but that dude would know what material to use. OK, it was KA Performance.