Drive Chain Guide missing?

[79josh81]

I just bought an 81' special II to bring back to life. I removed the left side alternator cover and noticed the chain guide on the shift shaft was missing. Am I losing mind or is there supposed to be a chain guide on an '81? And if there is supposed to be one, why on earth would anyone want to remove it? It's not like the thing can just fall off when you're riding. ???

 

[gggGary]

Yes all years used one. might of gotten chewed up if a stretched chain skipped on the sprocket. OR if someone ran an 18 tooth front sprocket there isn't room for it. Since that was gone, clean and look closely for any cracks here.

 

[79josh81]

Copy that. Thanks Gary. Is it something that I should definately replace? I assume that it's only really there to protect the shift shaft?

 

[gggGary]

IMO Cheap insurance and not hard to find in decent shape.

 

[79josh81]

Yeah i just needed to hear it from someone else. lol I'll get one off ebay or something. Thanks.

 

[79josh81]

Hey gary quick question, do you know if all of the years of chain guides from the xs650 are interchangable with each other?

 

[gggGary]

Early years are different but 74 up are all the same.
Info like this is easily found at a store like partzilla, find the part in the diagrams, click on the part number in the list and it shows all the years, models it was used on.
It's not infallible but usually right, this list misses 76 but it's the same.
This Yamaha 447-17467-02-00 GUIDE, CHAIN 1 Not Available fits the following models and components:

Yamaha Motorcycle 1975 XS650B SHIFT SHAFT TX650A - XS650B - C

Yamaha Motorcycle 1974 TX650A SHIFT SHAFT TX650A - XS650B - C

Yamaha Motorcycle 1980 XS650SG Shift Shaft-Pedal

Yamaha Motorcycle 1978 XS650SE-11 Shift Shaft-Pedal

Yamaha Motorcycle 1979 XS650SF Shift Shaft-Pedal

Yamaha Motorcycle 1978 XS650SE Shift Shaft-Pedal

Yamaha Motorcycle 1979 XS650_2F SHIFTER (2)

Yamaha Motorcycle 1977 XS650D SHIFTER 2 XS650D E E006501- F

Yamaha Motorcycle 1981 XS650SH Transmission

Yamaha Motorcycle 1980 XS650SG Transmission

Yamaha Motorcycle 1980 XS650G Transmission

Yamaha Motorcycle 1978 XS650SE Transmission

Yamaha Motorcycle 1979 XS650SF Transmission

Yamaha Motorcycle 1982 XS650SJ Transmission

Yamaha Motorcycle 1981 XS650H Transmission

Yamaha Motorcycle 1978 XS650SE-11 Transmission

Yamaha Motorcycle 1983 XS650SK Transmission

 

[79josh81]

Oh nice! Great resource. Thank again.