Chain Adjuster Bolt Issue

I'm not familiar with your hardtail, but yeah, maybe you should drill a dimple in the axle plates and grind bevels on the ends of your adjuster bolts, still the axle nut should be kind of snug when adjusting the chain. Maybe your hard tail fabricator left the axle plate semi-finished, just as most of them don't stamp increments to adjust the chain.

I'd use a split point drill bit to dimple the axle plate, probably 1/4".

Scott
 
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So I've long since sold this motorcycle... but I currently have a 2015 Triumph America and it has a very similar adjustment bolt set up.

I've learned that these bolts should in NO WAY be holding tension.

They simply exist to adjust the tire into alignment. Which means the issue I was having was either because of low torque on the axle or because something was getting snagged where it was putting pressure on the wheel adjustment bolts.

I snapped them and dislodged the axle twice when I had the bike.

Trust me... if you are having this issue, don't risk your life. Take it to a professional or swap your bike for something with a more modern design. That's the best advice I could give.

Drilling the frame, though it seems logical, will just weaken the frame and put a false sense of security in your head that is how it is supposed to be.

Those bolts, once the axle is torqued to spec should actually be able to be completely removed and not affect anything.

I did a lot of research on this and spoke to many bike mechanics about it.

Hope that helps. My answer was to swap to a more modern bike and not play with a design I felt was flimsy.
 
Thanks for the followup fyl1982. I'm not concerned about a 1/4"x1/4" blind hold sacrificing any structural integrity on a 3/8" axle plate, but it's good to know those bolts do not hold tension. I did not assume they did; however, I've discovered thanks to mrtwowheel that I was tightening components on my bike out of order.

As an aside, those split point bits are nice for hand drills, love 'em
 
Yes the bolt needs a beveled end, doesn't have to be pointed. If it doesn't the bolt contacts off center and if you turn it while it's tensioned it will "walk"and bend. An easy chamfer technique run a nut or two on the bolt chuck it in a drill spin while grinding an angle. Those bolts don't need to "tightened". They are meant to set the axle while it's no more than snugged by the axle bolt. We all rotate the wheel and set the chain deflection when it's tightest with the swing arm at mid travel, right? Chains are never "perfect" they all have tight and loose areas. Yes chamfer swing arm end or axle plate, say around a 5/16" drill bit that will spread out the bolt frame contact area. and tend to self center the bolt. Lots of hardtail plates aren't as thick as the swing arm was and cause problems when the adjusters are crushed down.
 
abyssmaltailgate, hard tails using the 3/8" axle plates, stock wheel, stock adjusters, stock spacers and stock axle need 1/2" more spacer added to make up for the difference when using the thinner than stock axle plates. This is usually done by using 1/8" washers on each side of the axle plates. Those washers go between the adjusters and the axle plates, so, a total of four 1/8" washers. These extra spacers allow the stock adjusters to work without becoming a bent up mess and also allow the axle to be tightened without the nut bottoming out against the axles shoulder that may result in a tight nut but loose axle. Other considerations are the alignment of front and rear sprockets that can be adjusted by putting these washers in other places. But in a perfect world the washers go each side of the axle plates, between the adjuster and the axle plate.

Scott
 
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Thanks Scott! I've been trying to align my chain but still haven't figured out if the inside distance between the axle plates is the same as the stock swingarms. I should also mention that the axle plates are 3/8" plates WITH 3/16" "doublers" (as the website calls them) welded to each on the outside so I believe the stock chain tensioners do not need to be spaced differently around the hardtail's axle plates.
 
According to TC Bros and my measurements there should be 8" between the axle plates. I used a nylon string to check the alignment of the sprockets, worked well to show me that the alignment was within 1/8", good enough. I did this by holding the string against the forward part of the front sprocket and moving the string until it barely touched the rear part of the front sprocket to see where the rear sprocket was in relation to the tight string, just like they built the pyramids.

Scott
 
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Another way to double check your axle spacing is to see how the hole in the axle for the cotter pin aligns with the castle nut. There should be little space between the cotter pin and castle nut. In other words.....when the axle is tightened the cotter pin should go in and not be outside of the castle nut.

Scott
 
IMHO the only way to do a hardtail alignment is assemble the axle wheel on the frame with NO spacers. then align the sprockets (there are 3 axis :confused: ) then measure what width the spacers need to be.
http://www.xs650.com/threads/what-have-you-done-to-your-xs-today.32082/page-166#post-531856
Yes it's a pita.That bike has a custom swing arm and axle, looks like the axle was turned from billet, spacers? stack of washers and hacked off stock spacers, shrug.
 
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