Quick Guide To Cam Chain Replacement

[fenbrancis]

Hey all,

My 82 xs has 18000 miles on it and figured time for a fresh set of rings. Top end is apart and while the cam chain looks all clean and the guides look good I figure why not replace the chain while I have the motor apart. I’ve done some reading of some hacking away at chain guides to get an endless chain in.

Am I stupid? (Rhetorical) but why not purchase chain, pop a link out, feed it through and replace link and rivet back “endlessly”. Is there an issue in this?

 

[Jim]

I’ve done some reading of some hacking away at chain guides to get an endless chain in.

Contrary to popular belief, there's no such thing as an "endless chain." You can let the "factory" rivet the ends together... or you can. Either way, a chain is riveted together.
That's a snarky way of saying buy a chain and a master link. Rivet it together and there's your endless chain.... done.

Another consideration... to fit an "endless chain" requires splitting the case halves to fit the chain around the crank. Most definitely not worth it in my book.

 

[fenbrancis]

When looking at these websites for “endless chains” I was like, well shit you’ll have to break it if you aren’t splitting cases.

Reading through my manual I don’t see a spec to test a chain which I guess makes sense because how would you do that to begin with.

Any thoughts on a good mileage estimate for chain replacement? As mentioned I’m at 18000 miles, is it work buttoning it back up or should I feed this machine a new chain?

 

[Jim]

I have a philosophy regarding engines and such... "if you have to take the engine apart to replace it... replace it while the engine's apart."
At 18k miles, you're in the might/might not be ok area. Why take a chance at this point? Absolutely... replace the chain.

 

[5twins]

By 20K miles, many times the chain is stretched out. It's not because it's a bad part but simply because it wasn't maintained well enough, not checked and kept properly tensioned enough. I think the manual calls for tension checks every 4K miles but that's too long. You should check it about every 1000 miles.

Do you have points? If so, a good sign of the chain being stretched out is running out of adjustment on the points plate.

 

[fenbrancis]

By 20K miles, many times the chain is stretched out. It's not because it's a bad part but simply because it wasn't maintained well enough, not checked and kept properly tensioned enough. I think the manual calls for tension checks every 4K miles but that's too long. You should check it about every 1000 miles.

Do you have points? If so, a good sign of the chain being stretched out is running out of adjustment on the points plate.

I’m not sure how attentive the prior owner was.

Sadly no points all black bock magic for me. Will go ahead and replace a chain while it’s apart.

 

[fenbrancis]

Thank you fellas for the information!

 

[5twins]

Most of us use the Tsubaki chain, it's supposed to be a little better than the D.I.D. one. About the best price at the moment is from YamahaXS650.com .....

https://yamahaxs650.com/product/tsubaki-bf05m-x-cam-chain/

It's supposed to come with a master link but the last one I ordered didn't. I contacted them and they promptly sent one.