Cam chain tensioner good or bad?

Checking the valve clearances on my '84 700. Got the rear bank (1-3) done and before putting the lid on pulled on the chain to be sure it was tight. It was, no way I could get any slack when I pull the chain down off the guide at the top between the sprockets nor could I get it to lift off the sprockets. I did find #3 exhaust too loose at .008"....ah the source of the noise found!

After finishing the rear bank yesterday I went for a test ride to see how it sounded....no noise from the rear now but still clatter from the front.

Fast forward to today and time to check the fronts. Got the cover off and the first thing I did was pull on the chain between the sprockets....sure enough I could get the chain to pull down off the guide maybe 1/4 inch in the middle. Well crap, front tensioner is dead. So I pull alternator cover so I can begin rotating the engine and check the chain again. Now its tight...I cannot get it to have any slack nor pull off the sprocket.

So is this thing good or bad? Only thing I can think happened is maybe the chains loosen on shutdown if the engine rotates backwards a touch before coming to rest? When the chain was loose the last time the engine was moving was last night when running, now that I rotated it by hand the chain is tight.

Yesterday when I checked tension on the rear chain it was after I had already been rotating the engine around by hand checking clearances. Hmmm....

 

Pulling the alternator cover isn't necessary as there is a simple, small access hole on the clutch cover to turn the crank.

 

I think all those nuts are starting to rot your brain squirrel. :smug: lol.

I'm checking the valve clearances, the alternator cover has to come off to be able to set the motor to TDC. It's only 6 bolts and comes off in about 30 seconds anyway. Besides....there is no access hole in the clutch cover to turn the crank? This is a 1984 VF700F, you must be thinking of another model???

You could argue that I don't need to set the motor to TDC to check clearances....true....that's the book method but probably better to just hunt for the point of rotation with the loosest measurement and set clearance there. I check by book method and then go back and find the loosest spot I can and notate measurements at both locations. Sometimes TDC is the loosest spot, sometimes not. Last time I set them by book method, TDC, and ended up with loud valves so this time I'm hunting loosest points of rotation. I ended up with a few that are .005" at TDC and a loose .008" at the loosest spot.....pretty big difference.



But...I'm wondering about the tensioner right now. Like I said, chain was loose when I first opened it up but now after rotating the motor by hand that chain is tight. My guess is that the tensioner can loosen up when engine rotates backwards. I'm about to have a few hours to play with the bike again and I will check and see. I'll rotate it backwards a bit and see if the chain gets loose.

 

If you are in there and wondering aboot the condition maybe you should remove and inspect the tensioner as they are almost always damaged in one way or another. The rods tend to get grooved and become unwilling to move and like to get a slight bend in them to. It is also common for the rod lock to crack and break as well.

 

I guess I'm gonna be a little bitch this time....lol. I'm not going to pull the tensioner, I now think it's ok. Pretty sure it's the valve clearances being too loose causing all the racket.

Three of the four sets in the front are loose. They are at .007", .007" and .008"....someone set these too loose. I found just one set in the rear bank at .008" and setting it correctly made a huge difference in the noise. I bet these 3 up front will make a huge difference also.

I'm going to reset those and see how it sounds when running. If there is chain noise after that then I'll dig into it deeper.

 

I'm getting a .003" difference on three valves between TDC (book method location for measurment) vs nose up (loosest spot). Like .005 vs .008, .004 vs .007.

Going by the book they are set correct, but going by loosest spot they are way loose. I'm gonna go by the loosest spot and see what happens. The book method seems a little strange because you are measuring each cam at a different point in their rotation. If it wanted you to position each cam to the same point in their rotation for measurements that would make sense.

I can't see any harm in setting each one to their loosest spot and setting them there. Loosest place ends up being nose up on all of them.