Ok it's not as bad as it sounds, but I have a question for all of you. My bike has developed a really loud ticking when its first started up, now keep in mind this happened once when the bike had like 1000 miles on it, and then it went away. I now have 3300 and it's back (about 500 miles ago) when I mentioned it to the mechanic he said its the cam chain adjuster having slack in it, and it will fix itself when it grabs the next notch. I think when NoBrakes did his 300 upgrade he had a picture of the adjuster, and it had really fine notches and is spring loaded to take up the slack when the chain stretches. Well I wonder if anyone here has the repair manual and instructions as to manually adjusting this thing. When the bike is warmed up you can hardly notice the ticking. What do you guys think, because I value all opinions even if I don't agree with them (to avoid thread wars) LOL So let me see what you got, give it to me straight, don't hold back........ok hold back a little.

 

Relax deej, I think your mechanic is right however if your worried I know its easy to adjust, Brian can prob tell ya how

 

Here's a photo of the tensioner removed:








My recommendation is to not mess with it and just let the spring / tensioner do its thing. Eventually it will take up another notch and quiet down - if that is the problem.

However, if you want to try and manually make it take up a notch, I think what I would try is this:

The tensioner is held in place by two outside bolts and there's one larger one in the middle:



If you unscrew the larger bolt in the middle, that will release pressure on the spring and the spring will slide out. However, the tensioner should not retract - the only way to release the retraction mechanism is to take it out completely. But with the middle bolt out, and the spring out, you should be able to put a blunt rod like a dull philips screwdriver or similar and put it up into the hole where the spring goes and push until you hear 1 click. Then reassemble the spring and bolt behind it.

I'd do this with extreme caution, though - if the chain is too tight, that's not good either.

If it were me, I'd just leave it alone and let the mechanism do its thing without outside assistance.

 

Sounds like its time to list it on eBay to me.

 

Or just get some ear plugs

 

Well I might see if it will do it on its own, I'll let you know what happens.

 

mines still ticking so loud its over the big gun exhaust... gonna call the dealer today.. i dont think the cam chain would tick that loud...

 

My bike ticks too. I solved the problem by buying a pair of nice helmet speakers on e-bay. Now I can hear traffic, the bike, and my I-pod. I barely notice the ticking anymore.

 

ok guys i just got back from a mechanic.... not the dealer... i let him listen to the noise my bike was making, he said it sounds like a mid range lean condition... and to put a .020" shim on the clip on the needle... that doesnt make sense to me, it sounds more like a mechanical problem than not enough fuel getting to the motor in mid range... does this make sense...

 

o yea.. he said my rear turn signals are illegal.. they must be at least 15" apart.... o well.. guess i will deal with that come inspection time... im in PA