It came today and I put it on right after I opened the box. I've got a powerbomb header so it was very tight to install. Not much room for fat fingers and tools. I finally put all my ratchet extensions together and worked from the back by the shock. Another note when I pulled the plug out to crank the bike by hand oil ran out, if I had been working on a stand that wouldn't have happened. As far as the rest it was easy with good instructions except my chain didn't change much from cranking the engine, it didn't get any looser. So the adjuster is finger tight plus half turn with the wrench that was supplied. Tightened it back up and ran. The bike makes no odd noises now, all I hear is the engine again. Magic! I guess I'll back off some on the tension just to make sure it's not too tight but I'm basically ready to roll and thrilled. Thanks Mr. Krieger.

 

Did you happen to take any pictures of the old and new side by side that you can post so I can fully understand the difference between the two. Thanks.

 

Do back off the tension and readjust per the directions. It's all about you getting the best and most out of your KLX, otherwise I'd have just disregarded this post having "made the sale". I actually do care about a rider getting the most out of their ride.

For a clearer understanding for anyone who reads about the tensioner (actually a misnomer, it is an adjuster) I am adding this. The adjuster bolt should not be turned tighter, that's preloading the cam drive. That is not what the instructions direct a rider to do in adjustment. Those directions were worked out through both mechanical design requirements, personal experience, and the experience of others. The instructions for the KLX250 were developed by my own experience with the KLX650 over 30,000+ miles and my other bikes, plus input from TNC, who has some serious time with the 250/300 design engine.

I know it is hard to believe that a bolt that is only finger tight is tight enough, but it is. It's like a small fastener that is torqued to the proper torque value, it may not seem tight enough, but it is. I've run into this a number of times with riders who find it hard to believe finger tight is adequate. That is all the tightness needed to get the cam chain slack out. The locking action of the nut makes the adjuster bolt tight and right with the right adjustment on the cam chain. Remember, the cams are running in plain bearing surfaces machined in the head, so it is best to not have any tension on the drive pulling the cams against the head, but rather to just have the slack out of the chain.

There needs to be a minor bit of slack in a cold engine, which will cause light ticking when cold, for thermal expansion of the engine. When the engine heats up there is little to no chain slack. That is why we recommended a 1/8-1/6 turn looser when cold. It is better to have a tiny bit of slack than to be overtightened. There should not be a preload on the cam drive. After following the directions the engine cam drive will be quiet when warmed up. The fine tuning when hot is for those who really want to be positive, but I'm finding more and more that the cold set is sufficient.



As for the other post wanting to see the differences, here they are:



versus this



The stock tensioner at the top has a problem where the ratchet fails to lock position and suffers damage and wear on the teeth and pawl resulting in failure to maintain adjustment. Not all bikes have the problem, it is a tolerance stacking and wear issue. The wear is not readily apparent, it takes a sharp eye to see the wear (rounding of the rack and pawl) and understanding that the pawl will no longer lock in place.

The simplicity of the manual tensioner is apparent, an adjuster bolt holds the slider shoe in contact with the cam chain to eliminate play, not to hold tension. Perfect adjustment will be zerio play and zero tension. A tiny amount of play is preferable to any tension, 1/8 turn of the adjuster bolt is only .007", so even if it was 1/8 loose it is tiny, but preferable to excess intentional tension.

The complexity of the KLX250 manual tensioner is setting up the right positioning of the adjuster bolt to contact the slider shoe properly. That thru hole required some calculation and rotations in CAD to position it correctly, because not only is the plunger off center and angled, but the plunger tip is cut at a different angle to clear the inside of the head, altering plunger (and thus adjuster bolt) position again.

 

There's a fine line between being a salesman pushing your product and being a resource that follows through with helpful and beneficial information for all.

You are the latter. Thank you for your efforts KLX678.

 

I appreciate that comment. If it wasn't for others giving some tips and a bit of mechanical resourcefulness on my part we'd all be paying more for the part. I buy stuff I can't make and appreciate the break when I get it from someone else. Even when selling bikes, it was always about the rider and the bikes for us at the shop. We'd rather sell a bike that was right than to make a bunch of money and put someone on something they weren't suited to ride. Kind of what a friend I was just visiting said, what goes around comes around. Most of the people I sold bikes to back in the 80s that I meet now are still riding, either motorcycles or ATVs and none have anything negative to say about how we treated them.

 

A true gentleman. We appreciate what you've done for us!

 

I think it's uba good opportunity to thank Mark publicly for their work.
A few months ago that I have installed one of their products in my KLX250 EFI and am very satisfied with the results. I live across the ocean in the Canary Islands.
Farewell to the rattle noise!




When I installed I believe it would do for the EFI version, because the adjustment of the tensioner passes very close to the plastic cap Keihin body, but fortunately not bothered by few mm. Here I put a photo taken from above in order to understand what is happening around the plastic cap from the injector, but not touching.

Thanks again!

 

I've got it barely finger tight and then snugged up with the jam nut and it's fine much better than before. The noise started with the install of my skid plate so the whole time I knew it was an engine noise but had the thought that the damn skid plate might be doing it. Thanks Mark for posting in this thread as I wanted your opinion and I got it. Anyway with the noise gone I'm just another happy customer.

 

Fixed.
I had the tensioner installed backwards. Now is much better.
In the above photo was the tensioner installed backwards. Now is much better.
The distance from the injector cap is now higher.
Sorry for my stupidity.

 

Now you know. Stupid is doing it wrong the second time