Replacing cam chain

[Anonymous]

Has anyone done this ? How difficult is it ,I've worked on cars for years so I know my way around mechs but I don't have a clymers manual to go by so any help would be appreciated .If someone could send me a diagram that would be most helpful .Oh yeah the bike is a 81 650 Kat

[Anonymous]

complete engine tear down.

[moto_dan]

First things first...purchase a manual, or if you're lucky your local library may have one. It is possible to replace the cam chain without a tear down. Finding a shop that will do it is the hard part and purchasing a chain breaker/press for this infrequent task would be IMO not cost effective. Good luck.

[Anonymous]

The European and Australian crowd says it can be done without a complete engine teardown????? I think it can be done safely that way also//// Just what I think?????

[Anonymous]

Chain tool is only about $20US at McMaster Car and can be used on all cahins including the rear.

[rosco15]

How do you get the cam chain on without tearing the motor apart and splitting the cases? On my 1100 the chain is in the middle.

[Anonymous]

How do you get the cam chain on without tearing the motor apart and splitting the cases? On my 1100 the chain is in the middle.

Based on the fact that we use endless chains on some of our large displacement bikes. Or in other words instead of using a clip master link, we use a link that is riveted in place and it looks just like the other links that the chain has when it was manufactured.
From this we sumize that a cam chain, because it does not have to handle anywhere near thre stress of a drive chain, will be ok to break, remove, install another new broken chain and then properly and carefully re-rivit the timing chain. Did i ,iss anything??

[redliner1973]

Scotty, You are correct. While I personally have not done it this way, I have seen it done by others, with seemingly OK results, but actually trying it I don't know. What I have seen was to 'break' a new chain, hook it to the old chain, snake it through using the old chain as a guide, then removing the old chain (the new one is now threaded in the engine) and re-riveting the new chain back together. :twisted:

[Mr. Jiggles]

I plan on replacing my cam chain and installing adjustable sprockets in a month or so using this method. As long as the rivet is as strong as the original (or strong enough) it should no different from splitting the case to change it.

I've never broken / riveted a chain before so I'm a little apprehensive about this step. I'll probably wind up practicing a few times on the old one after I get it out.

Jeff

[Anonymous]

cam chain replacement

Years ago when you replaced a cam chain on some bikes i worked on,they were made so that you could remove a master link and replace with a new chain and then replace master link and you were good to go.....seems like a lot of work to replace a cam chain on a complete teardown....Just my thoughts... :?

[Craig]

Scotty is quite right. The mechanic at our local Suzuke dealer used to race for Team Suzuki (Canada) on 1982-1983 GS 1100's. I asked him a while back about this very process. You break the new chain, break the old chain, attach the two and feed the new one on. It is then a matter of peaning over a new rivit. The trick is finding a new link to pean! He personally has done a number of chains this way and has not had any problems. It would be worth measuring the distance between 20 links to see if in fact the chain has stretched before going ahead with a chain replacement. The manual for the 1100 has the specs for the allowable tollerances.

[Don Lobacz]

I have had several GS650s and once was ready to replace the cam chain because of the noise. Upon investigating further, I found that the replacement chains fit virtually EVERY GS model, same links and size. This made me wonder why my GS1000's cam chain lasted over 100,000 miles (with bigger cams therefore more stress) but the GS650's chain couldn't last 20,000 miles (?!). I rechecked the tensioner and sure enough that was the problem. Please look in the "Tips and Tricks" section for a thread titled "Valve Cladder". This is a recent thread and should explain a lot.

[Hoomgar]

I never done it myself but Joe has replaced one for me already on the 1000 by the way of the master link. He had the bike done and ready for pickup before we got home from shopping (where we went after we dropped it off). The message was on the machine to come pick it up.

So it sounds like it is not only possible but also very easy for someone with some experience. I may need to do this to my putt putt shortly.