Cam chain tension help

[Guest]

Hi all,

so I’m rebuilding my cam Chan tensioner and I was going by the tutorial on Bikecliffs site, well before I got to the direction below, I removed the spring loaded knob.

Slowly pull the knurled knob off the adjuster shaft.
Note the relative positions of the small holes where the ends of the spring go. The adjuster knob can only go on two ways.
Count the number of turns of spring tension.
Mine had one turn of spring tension, and the holes were in line with one another.

so my question, if anyone can help, if I don’t know the original position, what do I do?

i did search before I posted but couldn’t find anything, I guess everyone but me reads the directions first.

[Steve]

I would have to go out to the shop to lay hands on one to see which way it needs to turn to apply the preload, but I can do it tomorrow, if necessary.

When you determine which way it needs to turn, slide the knurled knob over the end of the shaft, but not so far that it engages the flats. Turn it the desired number of turns for the preload, then slide it over the flats and install the nut to hold it in place.

Since you seem to have some difficulty reading directions before doing a job, I will tell you now that installing the tensioner has some rather CRITICAL steps that need to be followed and are often overlooked.

.

[Salg]

I would have to go out to the shop to lay hands on one to see which way it needs to turn to apply the preload, but I can do it tomorrow, if necessary.

When you determine which way it needs to turn, slide the knurled knob over the end of the shaft, but not so far that it engages the flats. Turn it the desired number of turns for the preload, then slide it over the flats and install the nut to hold it in place.

Since you seem to have some difficulty reading directions before doing a job, I will tell you now that installing the tensioner has some rather CRITICAL steps that need to be followed and are often overlooked.

.

I know how it goes together my question is how much preload do I put on the spring, how many turns? That’s what I didn’t take not of when I removed the knob.

[Redman]

I don’t know if this tutorial of bwringer is different than the on on BassCliff site.
It has complete removal and rebuild and reinstall .....

https://www.bwringer.com/gs/camchaintens.html

maybe step 12 has what you are asking.

[bwringer]

As I mentioned in the instructions, mine had one turn of tension, and I reassembled it with 1.5 turns. It's a very light spring, and honestly there's little difference. But somehow I felt better with 1.5 turns.

I posted these instructions in October 2004, so the tensioner in the photos has been working fine for 15 years of glorious regular redlining and merciless thrashing. I guess that worked out OK... And I've rebuilt several others the same way, as have lots of other people with drippy GS tensioners all over the world.

https://www.bwringer.com/gs/camchaintens.html

"Wind the torsion spring 1 to 1.5 turns counter-clockwise, against the spring tension. I used 1.5 turns -- the spring had 1 turn of tension when I disassembled it."