Chain Adjustment Question

[olekzap]

Question for all of you on your chain adjustment practices. I ride on average 240 miles or so a week and feel like I have to adjust the chain at least once a month to keep the slack just over 1". At the moment it's probably close to 1.5" which I know is the upper limit listed for slack. I've kept an eye on the rear axle and it's definitely not moving so I know it's the chain stretching. I lube it frequently so it's not due to lack of that.

Does anyone else have to adjust their chain this much? I know I ride a little harder than a lot of the others here but I still feel like that shouldn't cause this. Is it just because my chain is close to EOL? I'm at about 16k miles now and I think 20k is the recommended time to change it.

I also ride in the rain a lot so I probably abuse it, I'm guessing that could be part of it. Anyone have any thoughts? I've never had to keep an eye on the chain this much on any past motorcycle I had. I probably will be taking it in for the chain and sprockets soon due to this, anyone think a higher performance chain would help?

[TCinNC]

(06-16-2017 08:17 AM)olekzap Wrote:  Question for all of you on your chain adjustment practices. I ride on average 240 miles or so a week and feel like I have to adjust the chain at least once a month to keep the slack just over 1". At the moment it's probably close to 1.5" which I know is the upper limit listed for slack. I've kept an eye on the rear axle and it's definitely not moving so I know it's the chain stretching. I lube it frequently so it's not due to lack of that.

Does anyone else have to adjust their chain this much? I know I ride a little harder than a lot of the others here but I still feel like that shouldn't cause this. Is it just because my chain is close to EOL? I'm at about 16k miles now and I think 20k is the recommended time to change it.

I also ride in the rain a lot so I probably abuse it, I'm guessing that could be part of it. Anyone have any thoughts? I've never had to keep an eye on the chain this much on any past motorcycle I had. I probably will be taking it in for the chain and sprockets soon due to this, anyone think a higher performance chain would help?

I have 8k on my bike, and I've never adjusted it. It's still well within spec.

[The ferret]

I have 32,000 on my original chain and sprockets and it gets adjusted usually once between rear tire changes (and then again when the new rear tire is installed) so about every 5,000 miles. It is still within spec, no tight spots and can't pull it away from rear sprocket. I must confess I'm not that anal about lubing either. When it looks dry I shoot some lube on it. That's it. I ride in every weather there is.

[Pauley]

Adjust the slack to where you want it. Align the wheel. Torque the rear axle nuts to spec. Recheck alignment and slack. Then snug up the chain tension adjusters - that will hold everything in place. Not hard, just firmly with a small boxed end wrench. I had similar issues until I started doing that last step and now every time I check its right where it should be.

[olekzap]

(06-16-2017 08:40 AM)Pauley Wrote:  Adjust the slack to where you want it. Align the wheel. Torque the rear axle nuts to spec. Recheck alignment and slack. Then snug up the chain tension adjusters - that will hold everything in place. Not hard, just firmly with a small boxed end wrench. I had similar issues until I started doing that last step and now every time I check its right where it should be.

I actually did this the last time I adjusted the chain a couple weeks ago. I found your older post mentioning this. It still has about 1.5 inches of slack today. I'm starting to think that maybe it's just something about how I ride that causes this. Ferret above said he's on his original chain at 30 something thousand miles and it sounds like he does less maintenance on his than I do mine.

When you say snug up the tension adjusters, are you talking about snugging them up to pushing the axle forward or pushing the axle backwards? I have mine snugged up to push the axle forwards now.

[kvdv]

(06-16-2017 09:14 AM)olekzap Wrote:  I have mine snugged up to push the axle forwards now.

Yep...pretty sure you should be doing that the other way around. After your next adjustment, snug your adjusters so that they're tugging backwards on the axle, and you should be golden. Good luck!

[olekzap]

(06-16-2017 09:23 AM)kvdv Wrote:  

(06-16-2017 09:14 AM)olekzap Wrote:  I have mine snugged up to push the axle forwards now.

Yep...pretty sure you should be doing that the other way around. After your next adjustment, snug your adjusters so that they're tugging backwards on the axle, and you should be golden. Good luck!

I actually misspoke. I just went out and checked and they are definitely tightened to push the axle towards the rear. I appreciate the input though.

[Pauley]

(06-16-2017 09:14 AM)olekzap Wrote:  

(06-16-2017 08:40 AM)Pauley Wrote:  Adjust the slack to where you want it. Align the wheel. Torque the rear axle nuts to spec. Recheck alignment and slack. Then snug up the chain tension adjusters - that will hold everything in place. Not hard, just firmly with a small boxed end wrench. I had similar issues until I started doing that last step and now every time I check its right where it should be.

I actually did this the last time I adjusted the chain a couple weeks ago. I found your older post mentioning this. It still has about 1.5 inches of slack today. I'm starting to think that maybe it's just something about how I ride that causes this. Ferret above said he's on his original chain at 30 something thousand miles and it sounds like he does less maintenance on his than I do mine.

When you say snug up the tension adjusters, are you talking about snugging them up to pushing the axle forward or pushing the axle backwards? I have mine snugged up to push the axle forwards now.

Tighten so the axel is pulled backwards. Standing behind the bike, turning the chain adjusters CCW pulls the axel backwards / tightens the chain. Tighten down the chain adjusters CCW once the axel nuts are torqued.

[johnf514]

(06-16-2017 08:33 AM)The ferret Wrote:  I must confess I'm not that anal about lubing either. When it looks dry I shoot some lube on it.

But seriously, same here. 10K miles and no issues, slack is within spec and I lube the chain every 300-500 miles or so.

[EmptySea]

Have not had that problem. I have not needed to adjust my chain between scheduled service intervals or tire changes. I have 31,000 miles on this chain and Honda is not recommending changing it at this time.