well I have decided since my bike has never sat and was ridden every summer very lightly and only has 3k miles and no noise im just going to have them replaced at 16K and again at 32K when the valves need to be checked and adjusted... I will pay close attention to the sound of the bike... Its super quiet and smooth so I think its ok for now...

hi all

i need to change my Cam Chain Tensioner. does anyone know where i can get a set for a goor price. i live in netherland.

thank u

Interesting thread! New guy here, what do CCTs going bad sound like? Someone describe what to look and listen for please.

Are you more curious about how the system works in general, or just want basics to diagnose your particular bike? There is little to no warning noise when the CCT goes out on the design of this motor. You have maybe 10 seconds in most cases to react to what is a metal rattling noise before the timing skips and you do damage. In other words, if you don't know the history of your bike, it is wise to just bite the bullet and replace the CCT's and not worry about their condition. There has been no reliable way to determine whether or not a CCT will fail until it has already broken, so there is no real diagnosis.

On inline-4 bikes, there is a partial "warning noise" which is a similar metallic rattling that lets you know the CCT must be replaced. The catch here is that the CCT has already instantaneously failed just like on our v-twins, but because of the design of the motor it is not catastrophic. On an inline 4 bike you have one cam chain with four cylinders keeping relatively consistent pressure on it, so it is much harder for the chain to skip teeth. On the v-twin you have one cam chain per cylinder so you get much more erratic pulsing on the chain, and there is basically no protection from the chain skipping. It's this aspect that makes this failure so lethal to our bikes. These cct's most often fail when the spring that keeps tension inside the CCT brakes. Unless you can tell when spring steel is about to brake by looking at it, there is no way of really knowing how close to it's fatigue limit it is.

With both you'll get kind of a shaking and metallic clacking as the chain starts slapping around, but on the Superhawk once the chain skips and valves start hitting the cylinder heads it will be loud and you'll know. Hope this helps ;)

+1 As above

When it gets to sound like this then not even a loud exhaust will cover the noise…

Thanks guys! I have a fairly good grasp of how they work but I was wondering if there were any warning symptoms such as a strange noise.

I have a 2011 VW GTI and there are rare instances with that engine when the CCT will fail on start-up and cause massive engine failure... It sounds much more common on this bike! I'm just a lucky guy that picked two vehicles that have such an issue, damn the luck!

I'm trying to track down the first owner of my bike in Colorado to see if he has ever replaced the CCTs on the SH.

They are available from people on this website and also on ebay.

A visual inspection will tell you if you have standard Honda CCTs - if so then contact Mark Krieger > Krieger Cam Chain Tensioners

Or make your own for $5...

James

Are they easy to see without removing the fairing?

The rear one is easily visible on the rear pot, while the front one is buried under the airbox, under the tank behind the frame spar.

An OEM bog standard Honda one looks this:

http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/MTIwMFgxNj...NJw~~60_35.JPG

If I had a bad CCT the noise would not go away when clutch is engaged correct? Sorry for the noo. Question.

No- a bad CCT would make noise if the motor was running regardless of clutch...

Thought so. Thank you very much

How do I attatch a photo in this thread?

Easiest way is to upload the photo to a hosting site (such as photobucket), then copy and paste the "IMG" link. It just shows up then.

You can also "go advanced" in your thread reply and attach with the little paperclip icon, but the pic has to be a certain size and is more tedious to view...

If someone reads this in the future another way to find TDC compression is to pull the plug on the rear cylinder, then turn the engine over by hand or with the rear tire (in gear of course) if it's on a stand, until you hit compression. that will be the front cylinder at TDC compression, change the front tensioner and do the cold adjustment. Then pull the plug on the front cylinder and put the plug back in the rear cylinder and turn the engine over until it hits compression, that will be the rear cylinder at TDC, now change the rear tensioner and do the cold adjustment. Job done.