OK, what is the best way to adjust the chain

F

FloydV

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Seriously, someone walk me through it. I have seen some posts that someone did who was high on meth with strings and lines and measurements. Isn't there an easy way to get it right.
 
Gonna try and make it short and sweet. Start by placing on a rear stand if you have one, I have had to do mine on the kick stand which works well too. Remove the cotter pin from the castle nut on the rear axle. Loosen the castle nut. Loosen the lock nuts on each tensioner. Slowly tighten each tensioner until you have about an inch of play on the bottom section of chain. If you look at each tensioner, there are little tic marke to help you keep your rear wheel straight. Once chain is where you want it. hold the tensioner bolts with one wrench and tighten the lock nut with another. Keep an eye on the tic marks because when tightening the lock nut, the tensioner may move on you a bit, just loosen and reset. Onse tensioners are tight, tighten castle nut watching the tic marks still. If the move make your adjustments and retighten. After castle nut is tight, recheck chain and if it still has the inch of play, put in a new cotter pin in castle nut. If it needs it, relube the chain and your good. This is the way I have done mine, but if someone knows a better or easier way, by all means give a suggestion. Hope this helps.
 
a digital caliper may help. once on my rear stand i just eye ball it and i have never had any problems or funny wear on the tire, chain, or sprocket. i had read about the string method and its just too much for me. no matter what anybody says or how u adjust your chain there is no way to get it perfect. just get it as close as possible. those marks on the swing arm can be a little deceiving
 
Two comments:
1. Make sure you loosen the TQ arm on the wheel side, if not it will cause the wheel to kick when you do final TQ.
2. Do not adjust the chain in the air; get it off the stand when making the adjustments to make sure they are true...
 
The only thing I'd add to Badazgtp's suggestion is to loosen the axle nut (before) you place the bike on the stand. After the chain is set you can tighten the nut some but I'd wait until the bike was on the ground before tightening the axle nut all the way.
 
Adj. it while it sitting on the kick stand, don't use a rear stand.
 
everything is compressed just as much if not more while it is on a rear stand compared to the side stand. it doesnt matter which way just double check it with your weight on it as well.
 
I'm about to adjust my chain and everything seems pretty straight forward. The only problem that I think I'm going to have is loosening the "castle nut". I don't have a cotter pin on mine. What I have is a, I'm guessing its called a c clip? The space to remove that is so small and its like flush against the nut. Any tips on removing this thing?
 
badazgtp said:
Gonna try and make it short and sweet. Start by placing on a rear stand if you have one, I have had to do mine on the kick stand which works well too. Remove the cotter pin from the castle nut on the rear axle. Loosen the castle nut. Loosen the lock nuts on each tensioner. Slowly tighten each tensioner until you have about an inch of play on the bottom section of chain. If you look at each tensioner, there are little tic marke to help you keep your rear wheel straight. Once chain is where you want it. hold the tensioner bolts with one wrench and tighten the lock nut with another. Keep an eye on the tic marks because when tightening the lock nut, the tensioner may move on you a bit, just loosen and reset. Onse tensioners are tight, tighten castle nut watching the tic marks still. If the move make your adjustments and retighten. After castle nut is tight, recheck chain and if it still has the inch of play, put in a new cotter pin in castle nut. If it needs it, relube the chain and your good. This is the way I have done mine, but if someone knows a better or easier way, by all means give a suggestion. Hope this helps.
Click to expand...

This is how I do mine. :beerchug:
 
do u have the manual? sorry if this sounds silly, but just in case it passed you buy... the manual explains it well...
 
All good points above. Couple of other IMPORTANT points to note:

1) Always adjust the chain when the it hasn't been ridden for a few hours. When riding, the chain will heat up and expand from thermal expansion, so if you adjust the chain "hot", it will shrink when it cools off and will be too tight.

2) Any chain with more than a few thousand miles on it will have developed tight and loose spots. This is from the sprockets that become a little eccentric with wear. To adjust, turn the rear wheel and keep checking the play in the chain until it feels the tightest to you. Then adjust the chain from that position. After you adjust, but before you tighten the axle nut, rotate the rear wheel and keep checking the tension just to make sure it doesn't get really tight in some positions. If you find a spot where it is too tight, you'll have to loosen both adjuster nuts and kick the wheel forward to loosen it.
 
Are you talkin about adjusting the chain or aligning the rear wheel?

Chain adjustment is pretty basic and easily comprehended, just follow directions in your owner's manual or service manual.

Now the rear wheel alignment is another story and something I have been concerned about as well and the more I read about how it's done and how far off the factory marks can be the more concerned I became. I've read about the string method and the laser method both of which left me thinking WTF. So with the new Busa I purchased the "Axelign Rear Wheel Alignment Tool" from RhinoMoto Products, it's very basic, easy to comprehend and use and I feel it gives pretty accurate results. Thanks to whoever it was that originally posted about this tool, works great.

RhinoMoto motorcycle parts installation tools

tools.jpg
 
Thought i would chime in on this subject. After whatever procedure you use for chain slack adjustment......alignment goal is simple! The chain links should be centered on the sprocket teeth! Rotate the rear tire and observe where the teeth are in relation to the center of the chain. If the chain is riding on either edge of the link...adjust till sprocket teeth are in the middle. Swingarm marks are not relevant to chain link/sprocket teeth! Just my two cents!
 
I've always done the final check with me sitting on the bike. I don't think the manual calls for that.
 
You're to funny. I did it for others that might read it for the first time like me. I understood it was posted in April :laugh:
 
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