On the cam chain thensioner, I was wondering exactly how to adjust it (it's an APE manual adjustment tensioner). Do you finger tighten it then back it out a 1/4 inch or do you ratchet tighten it until it cant tighten anymore then back it out from there??? Any info would help.

 

Sorry playa but it would take to long to explain myself. Go to sportbikes.net and register. Then go into the search option and type in cam chain tensioner or just cct. Lots of stuff will pop up beleive me. I had to put an ape cam chain tensioner on my shyt about 2 or 3 months ago. One of the more detailed explanations on sportbikes.net will give you a list of some special tools you will need, they left one out. Go to Sears and buy a 16mm Crows foot along with the other tools. The crows foot will help a great deal for the lock nut on the tensioner. At least I think it was a 16mm. Just put a wrench on the lock nut to figure out what size it is. You cant get a wrench in such a small space with the tensioner mounted to the bike. Hand tightening might work if you have small hands. Hope this helps. If you have more questions after going to sportbikes.net feel free to pm me.

 

Sorry, I just re-read your thread. I'm not a mechanic but this is the way I did it. This is not the proper way to do it but it works. The proper way would take longer and would involve take more thing apart on the bike. When I change my oil the next time around I will be doing it the right way but I didnt feel like going thru all that because I wanted to ride bad. DO IT THIS WAY AT YOUR OWN RISK. What I did to adjust my tensioner was to hand tighten it untill I couldnt tighten anymore. Then I marked the threads with nail polish. Then I loosened it all the way. After that I hand tightened it again untill I Just began to feel tension. Then mark the threads at that spot. After that I set the tension between the two marks on the threads. When you have done that put a wrench on the bolt on the tensioner to hold it in place and start the engine. When I say bolt I dont mean the lock nut I mean the bolt that is on the end of the actual tensioner for adjustment. You have to have the wrench on to keep it from backing out when the engine is running, hold on to it. When you have started the engine now you need to rev it to check for noise. If it is to tight it will wine like crazy so you need to loosen a little. If it is to loose it will rattle so you need to tighten. Check it at every rpm range from 1000 to about 3/4 of your rpms. When you have decided you have a satisfactor setting go ahead and tighten the lock nut. This is where the crows foot will come in really handy. After that put everything back together and ride around the block a few times to check for noise. If everything sounds normal your good to go. After a few setions of riding take everything apart again and make sure that the lock nut hasnt come loose just my . Remember and be warned if you set the tension to loose it will damage your engine. If you set it to tight it will wear out your cam sprockets faster. Hope this helped a lil.

 

Yeah that helps alot thanks man.....

 

You finger tighten it until you feel a load on it then put everything back together then turn on the engine. If you dont hear the cct noise anymore you have to gradually unscrew it until you do then tighten it untl you dont hear it anymore. If you still hear it gradually tighten it little by little until you dont hear it anymore.

I also read another guys post which said that he just finger tightened it until he felt a load then turned it 1/4 turn more and he was done

I havent personally done it before, but i also bought the ape cct not too long ago and read up on sportbikes.net about it to get ready for the install.

 

Cool I read a lil on Sportbikes.net about em.. I just finger tightened it then turned on then engine and gradualy(?spelling) when up in RPM's when I went higher in the rpm's and heard it I tightened it a lil more till it was gone...Thanks fellas...

 

I tighten it hand tight then start it up. With it running adjust it just to the point where it stops rattling, then tighten it 1/2 to 3/4 turn extra. Has worked for for 8,000 miles +.