8541Hawk

I tend to agree with you. I didn't bother swapping my CCTs out until I hit 70k and replaced them with stock units...... no problems here

grisman76

I have, yes, and that's another concern. Though many seem to think the later models like mine aren't much concern. Opinions? Two months and two thousand miles and I'm in love with this bike I hope to keep it running for a long time. Already dropped all vitals and replaced with fresh, performed PAIR-ectomy which got rid of the annoying pops on decel - bike came with Devil high rise CF pipes, now sounds great without the coughing. And Haknslash, thanks for the heads up on "knowledge base", still learning the ropes here. Wish I still lived in Schenectady, Greg/Zeus is just down the road AND he's got a XS 750, same as my other bike.

Hawkrider

Where do you live now?

opsmgr

I had read somewhere that it was inadequate oil supply that caused the front tensioners to fail. On hearing this I assumed they were hydraulically operated.

On stripping the engine, they are entirely manual, but are splash lubricated by the camchain. On the rear pot, there's plenty of oil coming past them, but on the front, they are high and dry (literally).

If you intend keeping your auto adjusters, I strongly recommend setting up the timing so that there is no valve loading on the camchain (compression stroke on front cylinder) pop the screw on the tensioner, and get some oil down into it, whilst gently releasing the tension on the CCT (clockwise with a thin screwdriver) a couple of times.

I swapped the auto tensioner off a working engine, onto the one I rebuilt, but replaced the one on my bike with a APE one. Just takes the worry out of it.

Cheers,

Paul.

nath981

This is what I did to mine last year. found on sportbike forum SBN.


Originally Posted by Veefer97 (SBN)
Try this instead of buying a new CCT
Honda Cam Chain Tensioners, yes they suck big time but there is a $1.50 fix for the later Hondas, F3 and up. If the CCT has a plug (bolt) at the outer end remove it. Buy a 6X1.00X30mm bolt and nut. Thread the nut on the bolt and install the bolt into the hole that the plug was in. Gently (fingertip pressure only) rotate bolt until it makes contact with the piston. Hold bolt with wrench and tighten nut against the CCT case. Your CCT will now be silent. Why does this fix work? The CCT in the Hondas does not have a ratcheting mechanism. It depends on a left handed threaded shaft that is spring loaded. Due to the locking pitch thread design this shaft cannot back up. Sounds good so far. Unfortunatly the shaft stays in one place so long that the constant vibration wears out the shaft or the nut that the shaft rides in. The shaft gets sloppy and does not exert enough pressure on the chain pad so the chain starts to rattle at high rpm. The bolt fix exerts just enough pressure on the threaded shaft that it prevents the shaft from vibrating and backing up thus eliminating the chain noise. Yes you will have to adjust the bolt but so far I have no historical data as to how long the time intervals are in between adjustments. Maybe some of you big milege people can provide the data. Any way, hope it prevents you from buying a new CCT. Latest data, the cheap fix has been working for at least 60K miles in a Honda F4

Note: no need to turn engine over. rear needed a bit of gasket sealant(loctite) to prevent oil leak since it's tilted downward. used OEM flat washers under locknuts.
so far so good.

JamieDaugherty

I did something similar to mine using long M6 set screws "just because" as a fail safe measure, then I found out that maybe it doesn't do anything. Supposedly the idea was to prevent the adjuster from backing off, however the adjustment screw does not go in-and-out it only turns. This is the first time I've heard of the vibration thing. I've left then in there because I'm too lazy to pull them out. Who knows if they are actually doing anything at all.

opsmgr

You're right, i've just had a play with the failed one on the bench. The screw moves the plunger in and out, but doesn't itself move in and out, only turns.

If the "screw in the top" fix prevents it from turning, it'll do good in the event of the failure of the spring, but it's not a better solution to the APE tensioner, even if it is cheaper ..

Paul.

nath981

I don't know enough first hand in terms of removing, dismantling and understanding, but maybe there is some validity to the fact that there is no oil reaching the front CCT internals.

CentralCoaster

I got the same sound with my manual CCTs in place. Tried tightening them and adjusting valves to no avail. New oil finally quieted it down.

RickB

My '02 with 10k and regular oil changes was getting a bit noisy so I replaced them with the TMB manual CCTs this week along with coolant and brake/clutch fluid change while I was in the wrenching mood. The bike is quieter now and I have piece of mind - well worth the effort to avert a possible catastrophy imho.