I forgot to mention this during my last maintenance project.
First, brief background. I've always had trouble retensioning my chain. I would loosen the axle bolt, adjust the position of the tensioning adjustors so the chain was to spec or a little looser. Then, as I would tighten the axle bolt, the chain would tighten up as tight as a friggin' rubber band. So, I'd have to loosen it all up again and then try to guess as to how loose I could set the chain to allow for the inevitable tightening of the chain during the tightening of the axle bolt.
It was maddening. A 3 minute job taking about 20 minutes.
During the last maintenance project, I noticed that the damn wheel wouldn't suck up to the very front of the adjuster. I was finally getting ticked off enough to throw things but at the last minute, it occurred to me that I could release the brake arm bolt (or whatever you call it) and get the wheel to move up for me. See the picture below.
Sure enough, it worked. It suddenly dawned on me that that same bolt may have been the cause of all my prior grief. I left the bolt loose until I finished with the chain adjustments and sure enough, when I went to tighten the axle bolt, no mysterious tightening of the chain.
Awesome!!!
I wouldn't have posted this except I've see that problem posted on here before and didn't see a real good answer to it. Try it next time. Just loosen that bolt (see picture) before you start to retension your chain. Remember to retighten it, obviously!!!
--Wag--
And no, I don't remember seeing anything about this in the owner's manual OR the service manual OR the Haynes manual! Maybe I didn't look hard enough!
I learn better the hard way anyhow!
First, brief background. I've always had trouble retensioning my chain. I would loosen the axle bolt, adjust the position of the tensioning adjustors so the chain was to spec or a little looser. Then, as I would tighten the axle bolt, the chain would tighten up as tight as a friggin' rubber band. So, I'd have to loosen it all up again and then try to guess as to how loose I could set the chain to allow for the inevitable tightening of the chain during the tightening of the axle bolt.
It was maddening. A 3 minute job taking about 20 minutes.
During the last maintenance project, I noticed that the damn wheel wouldn't suck up to the very front of the adjuster. I was finally getting ticked off enough to throw things but at the last minute, it occurred to me that I could release the brake arm bolt (or whatever you call it) and get the wheel to move up for me. See the picture below.
Sure enough, it worked. It suddenly dawned on me that that same bolt may have been the cause of all my prior grief. I left the bolt loose until I finished with the chain adjustments and sure enough, when I went to tighten the axle bolt, no mysterious tightening of the chain.
Awesome!!!
I wouldn't have posted this except I've see that problem posted on here before and didn't see a real good answer to it. Try it next time. Just loosen that bolt (see picture) before you start to retension your chain. Remember to retighten it, obviously!!!
--Wag--
And no, I don't remember seeing anything about this in the owner's manual OR the service manual OR the Haynes manual! Maybe I didn't look hard enough!