I'm new to this board and I'm sure somewhere there is an answer to my simple question. What is the best stand to use to raise the back to adjust the chain?

Thanks,

Maurice

 

That's 2009 KLX 250S

 

You don't need to raise the bike to adjust the chain.
In fact its best not to.

Just make sure both snails are set to the same number.

 

No snails on the "09"s, but Neil is right ,, chain should be adjusted while on the kickstand.
I have hydraulic motorcycle lift that is handy for other maintenance.
Congrats on the bike!
Dan

 

Doh.

 

Thanks folk. Saved me a bunch of money on a stand.

Maurice
Y2K BMW R1100RT 1989 BMW R100GS Genuine Buddy 150 oh and the new KLX250S

 

Me thinks you may still want a stand. Not for adjusting the chain, but for doing other maintenance on the bike when the time comes...unless you're gonna pay someone else to do all that. Search this forum and you'll find some good ideas; it has a good search tool. I use a $10 steel 6-gallon bucket at times. Others use cinder blocks. Some spend over a hundred on a nice lift.

 

Am I the only one who picks the bike up and sets it on a 5 gallon bucket? I have a hoist in the garage I use to lift my street bikes, but the KLX isn't heavy enough to bother with it.

 

You can buy or build one of these.



I'm trying to dig up the CAD drawn plans I made when teaching in a metals shop class. We used telescoping square stock, flat stock, and angle stock to build the stands. If you can weld and have a source to buy the stock at reasonable cost, you can build one for about $20. Otherwise buy one from Amazon for $60 plus shipping. They allow for wheel removal, both if you prop up whichever end is heaviest. I use a jack stand and axle to prop the front end, which is heaviest without the wheel on my 650. The stand also makes work easier, not to mention setting up the controls while sitting on the bike.

Oh, and by the way, the bike need not be on the side stand for chain adjustment, you just need to know how much play should be in the chain to allow for the swingarm movement. The real issue is to not overtighten the chain and the only real way to be sure is to actually weight the bike down or tie the swingarm down to the point where the axle, swingarm pivot, and countershaft sprocket centers are all in line. The chain should have a small amount of play at that point, then unload the suspension and measure how much play is present at a specific point in the run and note it. Then you can adjust to virtual perfection each time using that amount of play.

I always measure from the swingarm pivot to the center of the axle on both sides with a tape measure to verify that the wheel is adjusted square to the swingarm, which should be square to the sprocket as positioned from the factory. Just a way to be certain. I don't trust markings on swingarms or snail cams. I have no idea how they are positioned for the stamping so I don't know how accurate they are and thus I ignore them for a more exact measure.

 

Harbor Freight had one just like that on sale for $20 at one time. Not sure what the regular price is, but probably still reasonable.
Dan