SOHC.co.uk Forums > CB500/550

HD Cam Chain

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Murf:
You say you have done quite a few of these in the past, which I guess you were happy with and they worked ok. So if you think this one is not right it probably isn’t. Cam chains are tight when they are all tensioned up but not so tight when the tensioner is backed off.

McCabe-Thiele (Ted):
I would follow my gut instinct, if you feel it's too tight it probably is.

I recall having trouble fitting my chain on my 500 initially.

Page 40 on my 500 project refers to my problem, getting the chain on the sprocket.

Oddjob:
A new chain is always tight, doesn’t matter if it’s a heavy duty or the normal one, I’ve fitted loads in the past and all of them needed to be levered into position on the cam. It’s normally made worse because it’s very hard to get the tensioner to sit back as far as it should. Also if the tensioner isn’t in its slot in the lower crankcase the misalignment will make it even worse.

Seabeowner:
Took the cam off and peered down with a borescope that connect with my son's phone. All looked ok. But in the end took the head back of and damaged the new gasket a bit. Doh! Also lifted the block a little to release the tensioner. I did notice that even when held fully retracted there was still a fair amount of bow in the blade that would bear against the chain. And also it was a little bent. So made it look a bit more like the spare tensioner I have.
Put it back together sans the gasket to try and did a little more bending and I think it's better. We'll see tomorrow.
The other thing I noticed is that the chain is a much tighter fit on the sprockets than the standard chain with no movement at all.

Oddjob:
Tighter fit on the sprockets is no bad thing. The side links are thicker and a different shape so that’s to be expected. Is the blade a genuine Honda one or one of Silvers copies. Wasn’t a big fan of the copy tbh when I compared it to a genuine one, had a slightly different shape to it and wasn’t as strong.

Most tensioners are bent tbh, especially on the lower part, it’s caused by being fitted badly by a PO. I always mount mine in the barrels when the barrels are about 1” above the base gasket, you can really crush the blade back and lock it off with the locknut and it normally fits the slot in the lower case without needing to be moved at all.

The metal part of the tensioner should be perfectly straight with no bends.

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