Gawd awful noise

Guys,

Went out for a ride today and at the end of the ride I lubed the chain. As I was wiping down the excess, this is what I heard. It is a gawd awful noise. The video makes it sound actually a lot louder than it is. It sounds like it may be coming from the gear box. When I went out and checked it again a couple hours later, after it had cooled down, the noise was undetectable. I did not notice any issue when I drove it. Chain ans sprockets have maybe 2000 miles on the max. Chain is D.I.D.

Your thoughts and prayers are appreciated.

IMGP0305.mp4 video by 34468RANDY - Photobucket

 

your chain? need a new one? my N00B thought from having gone through the same thing - with some other street bikes. It's way too tight..but defer to the pros of this site.

 

Check your front sprocket and make sure that nut didn't come loose. Seeing as you don't have a lot of miles on your new chain maybe whoever put a new one on didn't torque the front sprocket nut enough or didn't put a retaining washer with the bendable tabs back on. From a safety stand point I would check that and also make sure you don't have any links binding in the chain. Check your wheel bearings, rear sprocket nuts, and rear caliper also. It sucks bad hearing a noise and worrying that it's going to cause damage or worse, cause you to wreck. There's only so many things that can make noise when it comes to turning the rear wheel so just check it all over. Can't find anything? Ride on

 

I'm with fazer... check the front sprocket and make sure the nut is tight enough. If it is, I'd check to make sure your chain has enough freeplay. Too tight, and your chain will tug on the sprocket which will eventually do internal damage but will also wear out both your front and rear sprockets very quickly. I've never heard a chain do that unless it was extremely worn out... like on it's last leg and fully adjusted to the last graduation on the swingarm.

 

chain problem ?

Did the chaintension fit to tightly ?

I heard the same sound at the bike by a friend of mine - a short while later has he to replace the axle drive schaft - the gear drive shaft was broken down.
It was´nt a cheap repair.

The chaintension was to tightly


vfr-treiber

 

Thanks. The chain is practically brand new. I put on 2000 miles normally in 2 months. This chain was put on around November. But I did tighten the chain last week, so I will check the tension today. Good thought.

 

The front sprocket is where the chain has to bend the tightest to wrap around the small sprocket. If any links were binding that is where they would make noise. Maybe the lube smoothed it out, rather than the the fact that it was cooled down?

+10 on the "chain too tight" - just make sure, as that is a big No No! And the drive sprocket nut for safety, although I have never known one to come loose and I think it is a counter-threaded one anyway so unlikely to.


Only other thing I can think of is, one time I let a chain get way too far gone before replacing it, and I was on a long day-trip, it rained, and anyway all that combined to cause the chain to stretch so much that it would not fit the rear sprocket teeth perfectly, causing it to POP and CRACK loudly, I thought my bike would explode. I tightened the chain and lubed it and made it home but I think it may have even broke a tooth off my rear sprocket.
I don't know how this helps you other than to tell you to check everything for wear!

 

Will check that as well. The other matters you mentioned can be discounted. The noise is definitely coming from the frontal area of the chain or gear box and not the back. Originally I had thought it could have been a wheel bearing but as I searched closer, I noticed that the noise was not coming from the wheel at all. And the guy who helped me put it on...or I helped him put it on...OK, he put it on, was oen of our own. Maybe he had too many IPA's before he came over.

 

Randy just a thought but I had my chain adjusted with the right amount of free play when the temps were in the 50-60 degree Fahrenheit range . A few days later the temps went up to the high 80's in the afternoon when I took it out for a quick spin without checking the chain tension. It didn't feel right so I came right back and checked and damn the chain tension was tight. Swing-arm grew enough with the temp change to put the adjustment out of spec. Not sure if this applies but it surprised the heck out of me.

 

All good stuff guys and thanks. I just did a re-adjust on the chain. It was maybe 1/4 inch too tight. But maybe that is enough. SO I slacked it off and now there is about 1 inch of play. I will be doing a 100 mile round trip commute tonight so lets see how it goes.

Just prior to noticing this I did clean the chain with chain cleaner, then ( and I know many will cringe at this ) carefully hosed it down at the car wash. I have done this many times before. Then ran it for about 1/2 hour to dry it out before I tried applied the lube so what Heat said has some bearing on this and the lube just did not have enough time to do its thing. I did check the links and o rings and all looked fine. But I have to say, it sounded more like it was coming from the gear box rather than the chain and sprocket. But then, being metal on metal, sound will travel from one location to another easily so of course there could be a lot of merit to this as well.

Thanks guys for all the advise. I will post up when I figure this out, or I open my wallet.

 

Here's my guess: since your chain and sprockets are not brand new, they have some wear biased in the direction of normal travel. This combined with the possibility that the chain play may have been slightly tighter than it should have been when installed (not saying it was, just thinking out loud) would create even more biased wear and give you that sound of the rollers dropping into the valleys of the front sprocket when turning the wheel backwards, as you were doing. This is assuming you installed the correct chain and sprocket combo to begin with, which if you didnt, would amplify this effect. You dont hear the sound in the forward direction because the chain and front sprocket are happily mated.

 

It made that sound when it was hot, but not when it was cold? Are you sure it was all the way in neutral? I've heard a sound very similar to that from not engaging neutral all the way. Next time: Start the motor, put it in gear, grab the brake, let the clutch out just enough to be sure it's in gear, pull the clutch back in, shift to neutral, let the clutch out, kill the motor, then check for the noise...

 

If you check out the numbers for how much metal expands/contracts with heat (almost microscopic) , I don't see how this is possible. A more likely explanation and one that has happened to me before is that while tightening things up after the adjustment you inadvertantly made the chain tighter.
Anyway the chain would have expanded along with the swingarm keeping things copacetic! :tongue:

Randy, I doubt your chain has lost its grease inside so soon, unless you ride in the rain a lot?
I just hope its not coming from your gearbox... But to be fair, I can't hear the sound clip here at work, so I am guessing.

 

I would really like to say I don't ride in the rain, but truth is, I probably log more miles in the driving fuggen rain than in sunshine. But this hasn't been a problem that I noticed before on my previous three chains and sprockets

But what 90s2 says , I was actually thinking on my own. Could possibly when I put it into neutral, the gear did not completely disengage and something was knocking inside the gear box, like against the very tip of a cog? Then after some time, the gear just fully disengage on its own so that the problem disappeared? I don't know enough about mechanics on these things to know what goes on inside the gear box. It did sound like quite a solid clunk and it was definitely times consistent with the speed at which the tire was being rotated? Never stopped to think that I was rotating the tire backwards now that this has been mentioned.:doh::brick:

I was supposed to take it for a 100 mile commute to and from work today but doc says I am still sick so I am still surfing the net instead of rippin the roads. :sick:

 

That was interesting Tink. Have you had experience with that system? WOuldn't that possibly leave you with one hell of a mess after a long trip though? I didn't look at the price though. I am presently waiting to use up my last can of PJ1 before I try the DUponts Stuff I cannot get here in CAnada but have to travel to the US to get.

 

Hmmm....didnt think about the possibility that you may not have had it completely out of gear.

 

Lube chain when hot; adjust chain when cold.

Always better a bit too lose than too tight.

Rotate the wheel a few times and feel for the tightest spot on the chain; adjust tension at that point.

Hope you get this problem arrested soon.