Cam chain renewal

[dagda]

Hello there new fella signing in. Just bought a GS750 for my brother. It needs a new camchain and was wondering if you chaps can offer any tips or tricks in changing the old for the new. Waiting for a manual which will hopefully arrive soon but in the meantime I though I would pick the gsr collective brains. I owned a GS850 many years ago but have forgotton much of the skills needed to work on these old bikes.
Cheers in advance.

[80GS750]

welcome to the forum

you will need to cut the old chain off, and get a new one and rivet it in....

shouldnt be too hard a job, i wouldnt think

[dagda]

Yeah I got a new chain so I assume one could cut the old chain and use it to draw the new one around the crank. My only worry would be ensuring I get the timing set back up again correctly.

[catbed]

the timing is easy, riveting the chain is the harder part.

[chuckycheese]

Rivet

Most of the decent tools will both 'break' and rivet your new chain. If you get a good 'break', it will be easy to thread the other one through it and you should be fine. I wouldn't cut it off with a hack saw!8-[ Riveting with the right tool is a delightful experience!

[dagda]

What I am alluding to lads has anyone actually done one? I can guess what the problems are but would certainly benefit from the experience of someone who has actually changed a camchain in a GS750.

[hampshirehog]

Piece of cake. Once you've released the chain tensioner you get plenty of slack to de-rivet your old chain and pop the new one on. Make sure you don't drop the camchain into the crankcase as it's a sod to hook back out. (Use the old chain to pull the new one around the crank by the way - you'll never do it otherwise).

Timing is straightforward -too complicated to explain here but follow the manual precisely and you'll have no problems.

Worth doing a compression test (hot with WOT) before you do anything as with the camchain off it's not much more work to pull the head (if you're low on compression) to see what's causing it.

[flyingace]

Hello there new fella signing in. Just bought a GS750 for my brother. It needs a new camchain and was wondering if you chaps can offer any tips or tricks in changing the old for the new. Waiting for a manual which will hopefully arrive soon but in the meantime I though I would pick the gsr collective brains. I owned a GS850 many years ago but have forgotton much of the skills needed to work on these old bikes.
Cheers in advance.

How do you know you need a new camchain if you don't have a manual?

[Quietlake]

Technically you have to pull the crank from engine and slip it off. You have to pull two piston rods to do it also. This is after the engine is out and the case is split. One person pulls the chain around the journals and one person holds it. I just did my 750 this weekend. New chains for this are whole. Yes it sux. But I had to tear the engine down for other reasons. WHAT REALLY SUX IS THE AFTERMARKET CATALOG THE CYCLE SHOP GUY ORDERED FROM SHOWS MY CHAIN IS A 120 LINK. IT'S NOT!!! I JUST LOOKED IT UP OEM AND IT'S 122!!!](*,) I've been going crazy and was ready to kill the cycle shop guy. This engine is assembled and in the bike and I can't get my cams in!! My dad has the chain riveter tool, but where can you get master links and can I just add one???

[chef1366]

Technically you have to pull the crank from engine and slip it off. You have to pull two piston rods to do it also. This is after the engine is out and the case is split. One person pulls the chain around the journals and one person holds it. I just did my 750 this weekend. New chains for this are whole. Yes it sux. But I had to tear the engine down for other reasons. WHAT REALLY SUX IS THE AFTERMARKET CATALOG THE CYCLE SHOP GUY ORDERED FROM SHOWS MY CHAIN IS A 120 LINK. IT'S NOT!!! I JUST LOOKED IT UP OEM AND IT'S 122!!!](*,) I've been going crazy and was ready to kill the cycle shop guy. This engine is assembled and in the bike and I can't get my cams in!! My dad has the chain riveter tool, but where can you get master links and can I just add one???

Bummer.......

[Kris V]

This is why I do my own ordering and my own work,replace the chain the right way...split the cases!!!!:roll:

[dagda]

How do you know you need a new camchain if you don't have a manual?

I have a friend called google so downloaded one. But I am waiting fro a nice Clymer one in the post. Recommends change at 30k.

[dagda]

Technically you have to pull the crank from engine and slip it off. You have to pull two piston rods to do it also. This is after the engine is out and the case is split. One person pulls the chain around the journals and one person holds it. I just did my 750 this weekend. New chains for this are whole. Yes it sux. But I had to tear the engine down for other reasons. WHAT REALLY SUX IS THE AFTERMARKET CATALOG THE CYCLE SHOP GUY ORDERED FROM SHOWS MY CHAIN IS A 120 LINK. IT'S NOT!!! I JUST LOOKED IT UP OEM AND IT'S 122!!!](*,) I've been going crazy and was ready to kill the cycle shop guy. This engine is assembled and in the bike and I can't get my cams in!! My dad has the chain riveter tool, but where can you get master links and can I just add one???

Ahh! I dont think so fella you might want to step away from the spanners there friend:-D

[Nessism]

The factory service manual details measuring the length of the chain between a specified pin distance; if the chain is too long, replace it. No arbitrary mileage between changes or nonsense like that.

Many members here have big mileage on their GS bikes and have never changed the cam chain. I'd go so far as to say changing a cam chain at 30k miles is crazy (unless it measures out of spec for some reason - which is unlikely).

[flyingace]

The factory service manual details measuring the length of the chain between a specified pin distance; if the chain is too long, replace it. No arbitrary mileage between changes or nonsense like that.

Many members here have big mileage on their GS bikes and have never changed the cam chain. I'd go so far as to say changing a cam chain at 30k miles is crazy (unless it measures out of spec for some reason - which is unlikely).

That is my point too. The manual is very specific about how far the cam chain can be streteched. The chain may last the entire life of the engine! I have 45K on my bike with the original cam chain. I measured it about 6-7K miles ago and it was well within spec.

Besides that, you will be going from a linkless chain with greater reliability to a linked chain where the most likely site of failure is the link.