I took LearjetMinako's advice and pulled the exhaust out of the way and loosened the two bolts very slowly that hold the tensioner. While I did not hear a click, I did notice the mount shift a bit and figured I must have passed the click. Retightened, put everything back together and voila, no chain rattle! Woo! Thanks a ton LearjetMinako, that sound was really aggravating. I ran the engine through its paces several times to make sure, a few hard runs up and down the neighborhood, and some bouncing at the little 'park' at the end, and it all checked out.

 

Just doing my best to help. Just remember the tensioner is a rachet mehcanism. So once it clicks, it stays there until enough slack is provided to go in to the next click. Also if every want to reset it. Remove it complete, take the center bolt out and press the little side clip, push the slider back in. Then just re-install it with the center bolt last to screw back in.

 

Thanks Learjetminako!!!!!!!
Took the outer cover off this morning and removed the spring. I inserted a 16 common nail into the opening and pushed hard till I heard a click, reinserted the spring and torqued the cover back on(did not remove exhaust) and went for a ride. NO NOISE!!!!!
Bike ran smooth and quiet thru all rpm's. Thank you very much for this adjustment tip!!! The bike is now enjoyable to ride again without that annoying chain slap noise.
This forum and it's members ROCK!!!!!

 

I wonder if this is the same thing with my 2007 (450 miles)...

When running at anywhere near 3500 rpm, and with just the lightest amount of throttle, I hear some sort of gravelly noise, sometimes rhythmic. At higher RPMs, higher throttle, etc., the noise is overwhelmed by the exhaust, etc. If I pull in the clutch at that RPM, the noise is gone. If I coast at that RPM, it's not really noticable.

Given that it's not when I'm pushing the engine, it's probably not a big deal, but when on the road, we spend a lot of time at light throttle and 3500 rpm. Catches my attention whenever I ride.

Any thoughts?

 

No doubt that these chains stretch and then get noisey. The question is why. So few miles and cam chain noise is just wrong. I admit that I baby my KLX and it's quiet as can be. But... A timing chain should go about 25,000 miles before even needing the adjuster to click. My KLX has 3,300 miles but I hope even at 10,000 20,0000 etc it'll still be quiet. Maybe there are some sub-standard chains being used??

At least Learjet helped you fix it and all is cool for now. (Great job Learjet)

 

Yeah i hear ya on that...I'm an auto tech. and if we saw this amount of stretch and the tensioners didn't do their job we would have problems. Just my 2 cents.
Oh and has anybody experienced long lasting results from ratcheting the tensioner manually? Maybe this chain "settles in" and then we won't have any problems, but if this is something I have to do every 500 miles...when will it end?! The tensioner can only do so much...

 

Mine started at around 1050 miles, after adjusting and riding this weekend(1640 mi.), a little over 1700 miles, normal engine noise, great ride and no chain slap.

 

As for long lasting results, I did the manual adjustment for about 2,000miles before replacing the cam chain. I think I only adjusted it twice within that mileage. Just everytime the engine started to get loud, I would adjust it one click.

I'm sure after so many miles (maybe 3k + miles) the cam chain would stop streching. After that, its only wear on the cam chain guides.

 

Perhaps putting a spacer or a few washers in behind the tensioner spring would beef up its ability to self adjust? My tensioner spring is pretty stiff, and I haven't heard anything of note, but perhaps one spring out of 20 is weaker than it should be? Just a thought... I mean, the mechanism should self-adjust. It's designed to do that and most of us don't have a problem. I'd be leery of putting too much tension on the chain, that will just cause it to stretch faster.
~Steve

 

yesterday(saturday) while doing a few things to the bike===I decided to try to adjust the cam chain tensioner===the upper one===a second time====since I had my tool set from work I removed the entire tensioner assembly===noting the position it was in====it was obvious that this tensioner had not clicked in a long time===when I pulled the ratcheting mechanism forward to its furthest extent===I could see the tooth it had been sitting in holding the chain guide===anyways===I dont the the cam chain tensioner spring is strong enough===like a slight engineering miscalculation or something======my bike has 9k miles on it-----I assume this tensioner worked fine for awhile then the internal spring couldnt put it any further which allows the chain to start to slap and rattle=======just my two cents work=====oh yeah===I reassemble the tensioner assembly and left the tensioner one click tighter than I pulled it out=====the bike is silent at 5k-6k rpm where it was very loud before====SILENT I could hear other rattles I'd never heard before===like radiator shrouds===my brain===I have a feeling due to the tensioner spring===I will be clicking this chain adjuster again in a few thousand miles====but with the tool setup I had this weekend it takes literally 3 minutes to take the tensioner completlely out of the bike-------I originally tried to loosen and let it click===but I plainly heard two clicks===then I new I had to reset the hold assembly=====anyways thanks LEARJET MINKO===its quiet now