Chain Adjustment Question

[olekzap_imp]

Question for all of you on your chain adjustment practices. I ride on average 240 miles or so a week and feel like I have to adjust the chain at least once a month to keep the slack just over 1". At the moment it's probably close to 1.5" which I know is the upper limit listed for slack. I've kept an eye on the rear axle and it's definitely not moving so I know it's the chain stretching. I lube it frequently so it's not due to lack of that.

Does anyone else have to adjust their chain this much? I know I ride a little harder than a lot of the others here but I still feel like that shouldn't cause this. Is it just because my chain is close to EOL? I'm at about 16k miles now and I think 20k is the recommended time to change it.

I also ride in the rain a lot so I probably abuse it, I'm guessing that could be part of it. Anyone have any thoughts? I've never had to keep an eye on the chain this much on any past motorcycle I had. I probably will be taking it in for the chain and sprockets soon due to this, anyone think a higher performance chain would help?

 

[TCinNC_imp]

Question for all of you on your chain adjustment practices. I ride on average 240 miles or so a week and feel like I have to adjust the chain at least once a month to keep the slack just over 1". At the moment it's probably close to 1.5" which I know is the upper limit listed for slack. I've kept an eye on the rear axle and it's definitely not moving so I know it's the chain stretching. I lube it frequently so it's not due to lack of that.

Does anyone else have to adjust their chain this much? I know I ride a little harder than a lot of the others here but I still feel like that shouldn't cause this. Is it just because my chain is close to EOL? I'm at about 16k miles now and I think 20k is the recommended time to change it.

I also ride in the rain a lot so I probably abuse it, I'm guessing that could be part of it. Anyone have any thoughts? I've never had to keep an eye on the chain this much on any past motorcycle I had. I probably will be taking it in for the chain and sprockets soon due to this, anyone think a higher performance chain would help?

I have 8k on my bike, and I've never adjusted it. It's still well within spec.

 

[the Ferret]

I have 32,000 on my original chain and sprockets and it gets adjusted usually once between rear tire changes (and then again when the new rear tire is installed) so about every 5,000 miles. It is still within spec, no tight spots and can't pull it away from rear sprocket. I must confess I'm not that anal about lubing either. When it looks dry I shoot some lube on it. That's it. I ride in every weather there is.

 

[Pauley]

Adjust the slack to where you want it. Align the wheel. Torque the rear axle nuts to spec. Recheck alignment and slack. Then snug up the chain tension adjusters - that will hold everything in place. Not hard, just firmly with a small boxed end wrench. I had similar issues until I started doing that last step and now every time I check its right where it should be.

 

[olekzap_imp]

Adjust the slack to where you want it. Align the wheel. Torque the rear axle nuts to spec. Recheck alignment and slack. Then snug up the chain tension adjusters - that will hold everything in place. Not hard, just firmly with a small boxed end wrench. I had similar issues until I started doing that last step and now every time I check its right where it should be.

I actually did this the last time I adjusted the chain a couple weeks ago. I found your older post mentioning this. It still has about 1.5 inches of slack today. I'm starting to think that maybe it's just something about how I ride that causes this. Ferret above said he's on his original chain at 30 something thousand miles and it sounds like he does less maintenance on his than I do mine.

When you say snug up the tension adjusters, are you talking about snugging them up to pushing the axle forward or pushing the axle backwards? I have mine snugged up to push the axle forwards now.

 

[kvdv_imp]

Adjust the slack to where you want it. Align the wheel. Torque the rear axle nuts to spec. Recheck alignment and slack. Then snug up the chain tension adjusters - that will hold everything in place. Not hard, just firmly with a small boxed end wrench. I had similar issues until I started doing that last step and now every time I check its right where it should be.

I actually did this the last time I adjusted the chain a couple weeks ago. I found your older post mentioning this. It still has about 1.5 inches of slack today. I'm starting to think that maybe it's just something about how I ride that causes this. Ferret above said he's on his original chain at 30 something thousand miles and it sounds like he does less maintenance on his than I do mine.

When you say snug up the tension adjusters, are you talking about snugging them up to pushing the axle forward or pushing the axle backwards? I have mine snugged up to push the axle forwards now.

Yep...pretty sure you should be doing that the other way around. After your next adjustment, snug your adjusters so that they're tugging backwards on the axle, and you should be golden. Good luck!

 

[olekzap_imp]

Adjust the slack to where you want it. Align the wheel. Torque the rear axle nuts to spec. Recheck alignment and slack. Then snug up the chain tension adjusters - that will hold everything in place. Not hard, just firmly with a small boxed end wrench. I had similar issues until I started doing that last step and now every time I check its right where it should be.

I actually did this the last time I adjusted the chain a couple weeks ago. I found your older post mentioning this. It still has about 1.5 inches of slack today. I'm starting to think that maybe it's just something about how I ride that causes this. Ferret above said he's on his original chain at 30 something thousand miles and it sounds like he does less maintenance on his than I do mine.

When you say snug up the tension adjusters, are you talking about snugging them up to pushing the axle forward or pushing the axle backwards? I have mine snugged up to push the axle forwards now.

Yep...pretty sure you should be doing that the other way around. After your next adjustment, snug your adjusters so that they're tugging backwards on the axle, and you should be golden. Good luck!

Yep...pretty sure you should be doing that the other way around. After your next adjustment, snug your adjusters so that they're tugging backwards on the axle, and you should be golden. Good luck!
I actually misspoke. I just went out and checked and they are definitely tightened to push the axle towards the rear. I appreciate the input though.

 

[Pauley]

Adjust the slack to where you want it. Align the wheel. Torque the rear axle nuts to spec. Recheck alignment and slack. Then snug up the chain tension adjusters - that will hold everything in place. Not hard, just firmly with a small boxed end wrench. I had similar issues until I started doing that last step and now every time I check its right where it should be.

I actually did this the last time I adjusted the chain a couple weeks ago. I found your older post mentioning this. It still has about 1.5 inches of slack today. I'm starting to think that maybe it's just something about how I ride that causes this. Ferret above said he's on his original chain at 30 something thousand miles and it sounds like he does less maintenance on his than I do mine.

When you say snug up the tension adjusters, are you talking about snugging them up to pushing the axle forward or pushing the axle backwards? I have mine snugged up to push the axle forwards now.

I actually did this the last time I adjusted the chain a couple weeks ago. I found your older post mentioning this. It still has about 1.5 inches of slack today. I'm starting to think that maybe it's just something about how I ride that causes this. Ferret above said he's on his original chain at 30 something thousand miles and it sounds like he does less maintenance on his than I do mine.

When you say snug up the tension adjusters, are you talking about snugging them up to pushing the axle forward or pushing the axle backwards? I have mine snugged up to push the axle forwards now.

Tighten so the axel is pulled backwards. Standing behind the bike, turning the chain adjusters CCW pulls the axel backwards / tightens the chain. Tighten down the chain adjusters CCW once the axel nuts are torqued.

 

[johnf514_imp]

I have 32,000 on my original chain and sprockets and it gets adjusted usually once between rear tire changes (and then again when the new rear tire is installed) so about every 5,000 miles. It is still within spec, no tight spots and can't pull it away from rear sprocket. I must confess I'm not that anal about lubing either. When it looks dry I shoot some lube on it. That's it. I ride in every weather there is.

:banana::rofl:

But seriously, same here. 10K miles and no issues, slack is within spec and I lube the chain every 300-500 miles or so.

 

[emptysea]

Have not had that problem. I have not needed to adjust my chain between scheduled service intervals or tire changes. I have 31,000 miles on this chain and Honda is not recommending changing it at this time.

 

[Rocky_imp]

Have not had that problem. I have not needed to adjust my chain between scheduled service intervals or tire changes. I have 31,000 miles on this chain and Honda is not recommending changing it at this time.

I'm not surprised at the longevity of the chain. I've had similar good luck with chains.
If you care for it the life can be amazingly long.

 

[olekzap_imp]

Have not had that problem. I have not needed to adjust my chain between scheduled service intervals or tire changes. I have 31,000 miles on this chain and Honda is not recommending changing it at this time.

Starting to wonder if maybe I'm being paranoid about this for some reason. Maybe I need to measure the slack better. This thread is a small sample size but I'm the only one so far that has had this issue, might just be user error. I'm going to measure / adjust this weekend and really make sure I'm not missing anything. Although every situation is different, it seems like I may not be as close to needing a new chain as I thought.

This might not be the best thing, but I haven't been using my torque wrench on the axle nut because I have to remove my exhaust to fit it in there. I was pretty positive I was tightening it enough because it's still very tight when I go to loosen it but I'll probably go ahead and use it this time. Who knows, maybe I'm not getting the axle tight enough and it's slipped forward very slightly. It doesn't take much movement to change the chain's slack.

 

[LongRanger_imp]

14k on my CB and I honestly have no idea if the chain is properly adjusted or not. Aside from giving it a cleaning and a blast of chain lube every so often, I ignore it.

 

[use2b_imp]

I've never adjusted and seldom lube . must say it is harder without a center stand but i getter dun

 

[the Ferret]

Adjust it to correct tension per instructions below and then do 2 things. See if you are in the red zone, green zone or even made it to the green zone on the sticker on the chain adjuster/ swingarm (Post 6 in the tute below). Try and pull the chain off the sprocket at the rear..pull straight back and see if you see a gap between chain and dip between teeth on sprocket


How To adjust the chain on the CB1100

 

[kennyw]

I replaced my factory chain and sprockets at 26K just to be safe before a long road trip last year. I'm now over 40K and had to adjust it for the first time since that replacement.

 

[olekzap_imp]

Thanks everyone for the comments. I checked and I am getting very close to the red zone so I made an appointment to have a new DID chain and sprockets installed next weekend. I'm pretty sure after that I shouldn't have to worry about the stretching as much.

 

[cb4me?_imp]

I have 609 miles on my bike now and adjusted the chain 200 miles ago because I noticed lash in the drivetrain. It was loose. Still in spec now though.

 

[Stichill]

Running a chain too tight is far worse than running it too loose. Some people reduce the chain slack below spec, thinking that will cut driveline lash. However the chain gets strained whenever the rear suspension compresses, stretching it prematurely. The cycle of taking up slack, stretching, and taking up slack can wreck a chain in short order.

 

[Wisedrum]

Not only it will shorten the chain life it also can or even will damage the transmission output bearing, where the sprocket is held. So a slightly loose chain is better than a too tight one.

Wisedrum