Cam Chain Tensioner....beating a dead horse

[LOUD MOUSE]

As I was one who did it I'll tell ya the answer now.
When set correctly both rollers can run a long time without a problem.
That said.
In the early days we thought ya would want the chain tensioned as hard as ya could get it.
We pushed IN on the adjuster rod while the set bolt was loose and then tightened it.
Well we now find that when we put excessive tension on the rollers the chain made impressions over time and ya would have a couple of rollers which looked like sprockets.
While HONDA made just one size for the Guide Roller there were 2 sizes for the tensioner. ..........lm

The one engine I had apart had impressions in the rollers from sitting for a long period without moving. The primary roller also had small impressions in one side from probably sitting at well.

What you cannot tell is if that happened from sitting for years, months, weeks or days. My guess is with age and heat, it takes less time for the impressions to form because the material has loses it's resiliency. Once you have impressions in even part of the roller, it will have a greater tendency to follow the chain pitch consistently and therefore end up producing permantent impressions over time.

Now if the roller material cracks at any of those impressions and begins to chunk, then that same process could continue around the roller. As it loses material, the rollers sink deeper into the roller and basically form a sprocket out of the roller.

So my guess is material property loss over time leading to impressions in the roller while at rest for long periods, combined with operation once impressions begin to form turns them into sprockets.

Or maybe they just cook from heat and nothing else.
regards,
Rob

[Snakeoil]

You know, that possibility occured to me, but I figured it would not be something mechanics would do as a routine practice. When I checked mine, I did push in on it to see if it was free to move, but I did not hold it tight when I tightened the bolt. I figured the spring was in there for a reason.

That's good input, LM because I'm sure that more than one do-it-yourselfer has thought that more tension was better than less.

regards,
Rob

[LOUD MOUSE]

Ya did good as ya adjusted yours for sure.
We Did. ............lm

You know, that possibility occured to me, but I figured it would not be something mechanics would do as a routine practice. When I checked mine, I did push in on it to see if it was free to move, but I did not hold it tight when I tightened the bolt. I figured the spring was in there for a reason.

That's good input, LM because I'm sure that more than one do-it-yourselfer has thought that more tension was better than less.

regards,
Rob

[GG]

Hello everyone. I have my cb77 in a moderate restoration. I removed the tensioner, and it has what I would call minor indentations. Do I need to remove them with the sanding procedure? I am a bit paranoid at the thought of sanding the wheel out of round and making things worse. Do small indentations affect the functioning of the tensioner adversely?

I really appreciate this forum - it has been a tremendous source of knowledge, and a great inspiration for my restoration project. I hope to have my Superhawk pretty much put together come January.

¡Felíz Navidad to all!

GG

[GORDON BROWN]

Hello

Don't know if this is the best thread for this ? and it is a bit late but here is a picture showing a sprocket style tensioner and steel roller set up. It is copied from a Yoshimuria modification.
I should say I have only used it for racing but it seems to work well.

Gordon

SAFOJ

[e3steve]

Interesting mod, GB. I'd think that Honda used the rubber compound wheels to suppress mechanical noise. Delrin wasn't as available, if at all, in the '60s, but I'd thing the original wheel works, and has worked, perfectly well for over forty years!

A metal-to-metal sprocket would be, I imagine, a touch noisier than the softer wheel/roller. Let's face it, the mechanical noise factor isn't much of a problem for a race engine.

Is that your real name or just a forum handle? What a shame to parody that useless, inept, inarticulate and M*s*im-sympathising twat-of-a-pillock who, in two offices and for many years, assisted in and accelerated the further decline of our nation.....

[cyclon36]

Hello

Don't know if this is the best thread for this ? and it is a bit late but here is a picture showing a sprocket style tensioner and steel roller set up. It is copied from a Yoshimuria modification.
I should say I have only used it for racing but it seems to work well.

Gordon

SAFOJ

Excellent picture Gordon. I appreciate the input. Was there a substantial increase in noise with the metal on metal?