cct ? from a newbee
 

First off what an informative forum this is! I just picked up a 98 superhawk with 9000 miles. I started reading about the cct's and that at about 9000 miles they should be changed. My question is do these normally show any sign that they are going to let go? or is it bang complete engine failure. I wanted to get some miles on the bike this season and now I am wondering if I have to ship this thing off to the dealer for the change out. I appriciate the help in advance. Thanks Drew in CT

Opinions are widely varied on this subject. Most people who change them out have no signs of failure at all, just do so to be cautious. I've never heard of the manual ones causing any issues after they have been installed correctly. The stock ones are known to go bad though. About once a month someone will post a thread on here describing engine failure that was caused by stock CCT's. Most of these people had little or no warning.

I don't know about the send it off part though, if you have a little mechanical skill and can follow directions you can do this yourself in a day. It's actually kind of fun to tear the bike apart, teaches you a lot of things you would otherwise never know if you aren't real familiar with the inner workings of bikes.

Pardon my ignorance....uh...but what is a CCT?

Cam Chain Tensioner

:welcome: to the forum joedirt5.

Some more CCT questions
 

Maybe this should go in its own thread, but I'm trying to keep most CCT info together. I bought my 98 Superhawk in February of this year. The gauges have all been removed, but the title from when the last owner bought the bike showed ~8500 miles on it, and he estimated he'd put another 500 or so on it, so 9000 when I bought it. I estimate I've gotten it up to 13000.

It's giving a metallic clacking that seems to be synced with RPM, but I can't tell as it's hard to hear at speed/revs. Given the nature of the stock CCTs, I've decided that's the problem, and to replace them as soon as I can. Here are my questions:

1. I've heard that warming the bike on its sidestand wears out the CCTs sooner. Why is this? Does it only affect the stockers, or will the manual tensioners get worn out more quickly that way too? The last owner told me he didn't ride much (bad knees) but he would run it for 10 minutes a week, so if this is a cause, I'm sure that made it that much worse.

1b. Related: I use engine braking a lot when I ride. I've heard this also makes the CCTs wear out more quickly. Will this be a problem with the manual tensioners as well?

2. How do I tell when and how much to adjust the manual tensioners?

3. What tools will I need? The stickied guide seems very good, but it just says what to do, not what I'll need to do it. I've learned from experience how frustrating it is to get halfway into a job and not being able to proceed without spending an hour tracking down a tool from a shop. I only have basic ratchets, comb wrenches, screwdrivers, although a coworker has said he'll lend me his rearstand.

4. Anyone in the San Diego area who has done this want to help out some weekend in the next month or two?

Welcome to the forum!

I replied what I could in blue

Awesome, thanks for the info. And the quick response.

Ok After all I have read here I have decided to go ahead and change the cct's. I appriciate the step by step directions on this web site but I am not willing to have a potential problem that can destroy my motor. Better off in the hands of a professional, in my opinion. Now I call my local Honda dealer and they said 1/2hr to 1hr each to change. To me this sounds way to quick. Do you guys agree this could be a 1/2hr job or is the service manager possibly confused or misunderstood me. Thanks Drew

A two hour job sounds reaosnable for people who do it day in and day out I suppose. Then again it took me a couple of hours just for ONE LOL, but that's because I ran into some snags along the way. I could see it being a 30 minute job if it were an inline.

I'm pretty sure I could do the whole thing in an hour if everything went right, but that's only because I've done it before and learned what to do and what not to do. I wouldn't have to remove to valve covers, but I highly recommend doing that for someone who isn't intimately familiar with what's going on inside. That's the hardest part of the job, because you have to take off the front fairing and move the oil cooler out of the way to get the front cover off.

The most important step is making sure the lobes on the cams are up. If they are down even a little pressure will still be on the cam chain and it will skip when you loosen the CCT. If the lobes are up it shouldn't move at all, but people have suggested a ziptie just incase and I think that couldn't hurt.

Yeah the zip tie thingy is a must but the PITA of removing the front valve cover will lenghten the job by a lot.

I would remove the front plug, try to get a finger in there to feel the compression, turn the engine counter clockwise from the stator cover until I feel the compression, and make sure you align the FT mark LESS THAN 1/2 TURN LATER and you will be set at TDC on the fire stroke with no lobes touching the cam so it will stand still.
For the rear, the valve cover is soo easy to access that the tie wrap thing is a must.

But if the valves are due for a check, this will be a hell of a good time to check them to access the front CCT and remove the dreaded front valve cover only once...

I have a 2004 with 42 000 km and the CCT's are stock, I still hope they give way so I have a good reason to rebuild the engine my way :evillaugh:

Today after getting home from work, I was listening to the engine and I found a tic-tic-tic sound coming from the rear cylinder near the CCT. I don't think it was there before. An early sign of CCT going out?

This thread has awaken my CCT paranoia. :eek: I'm going to do the APE swap. But should I keep riding untill I get the parts?

A regular ticking, is most likely to be normal valve operation, the valve lash can be on the wide side.
An irregular chain rattle is bad news.

I just messed up and skiped some teeth trying to put ccts in and now what!!! im feeling real dumb...

Did you tweak any valves?
If not you have to re-do the timing.

As long as you haven't put the bike back together and tried to start it your fine. Just loosen up the bolt holding the cams in and re time them according to the manual. If you need better instructions PM me with details and I'll help.

Remove the valve cover and the chain guide, set the crank at TDC on the fire stroke, slack the CCT, withs CCT fully retracted, you may be able pull a link, engage it on the sprocket, then push the extra link all around the sprocket with your finger, you advanced one link repeat as needed.
Front or back ??
You need to be on the fire stroke at TDC to loosen the CCT's otherwise a valve spring will try to rotate the cam and the chain will skip.