Lehigh Valley person to work on Cam chain?

[jims94vmx]

I was wondering if any of you guys know of a good place to have someone look at this and diagnose for sure? I had a guy do work on the side named Chris Kunkle many years ago and lost touch. There are not to many people I trust to get this done right. Thoughts, and rough idea on price? The symptoms came about while doing my darndest to clean my carbs (sent to Danny) after nothing I did worked. The bike has a pretty noticeable tap at idle. When just applying a little throttle it goes away.....so early consensus was possible cam chain needing adjusting????? THanks, hope everyone is making it thru the crazy snow and now cold! Unreal.....

 

[Rusty McNeil]

Can't help you with a mechanic.

The tensioner is self adjusting with a one way ratchet "pawl". Once it goes in it doesn't come back out. Theoretically.

The bolt right in the center of the tensioner hold/tensions the spring against the plunger.

You can remove that bolt and spring and poke something in there against the plunger and turn the motor over with a socket in the flywheel bolt, I'd go all the way around once and then back the other direction too to feed whatever slack there might be towards the side with the tensioner. Do this while pressing firmly in on the plunger.
Then repeat for the other tensioner.
Pulling the plugs is needed too.
Probably need two people.

If you hear it click then it just went deeper. Its supposed to do this by itself, and I've never heard of anyone having to do what I'm suggesting but if it was me I'd give it a shot before diving in deeper.

There are two smaller bolts on the sides of the tensioner that hold the whole thing in place.
Don't fuck with those two small bolts or you could release the whole tensioner in which case its VERY likely that the chain will slip on the gears and you'll end up with "un clocked"cams which is a big deal to get right again.

These engines are very noisy too. Could be normal.
Might look at setting the valves too depending in mileage.

 

[dannymax]

Dumb question Jim but did you pull the clutch lever in to see if the noise changed?

 

[[email protected]]

+1 to Rusty and Danny's comments.
These are noisy engines. Could be normal.
See if it disappears when the clutch lever is pulled in.

Another weird sounding suggestion: Double check that the carbs are synched properly. I've never experienced it before but read on here a few times that an imbalance can cause noises like you describe.

On another note, cam chain/chain adjuster failure is rare on these bikes.

 

[94 V-Max Rider]

I was wondering if any of you guys know of a good place to have someone look at this and diagnose for sure? I had a guy do work on the side named Chris Kunkle many years ago and lost touch. There are not to many people I trust to get this done right. Thoughts, and rough idea on price? The symptoms came about while doing my darndest to clean my carbs (sent to Danny) after nothing I did worked. The bike has a pretty noticeable tap at idle. When just applying a little throttle it goes away.....so early consensus was possible cam chain needing adjusting????? THanks, hope everyone is making it thru the crazy snow and now cold! Unreal.....

You're not far from me. I'm in Allentown. Have you had the carburetor synchronization checked? I've heard engines make strange sounds when the carbs are out of balance.

 

[jims94vmx]

Hey guys, thanks for the input. I do not remember trying to pull in the clutch lever to see if it stops....good suggestion. The carbs are definitely synced. Even Furbur said that sound pretty loud (the tapping). He does not get into valve adjustments so never went any further with John. Will have to wait till I can get to our pole barn out back and it gets a little warmer for me to even try to start it! LOL Will keep you informed. Thanks again.

 

[one2dmax]

not likely a tensioner. more likely a worn wrist pin end of the rod. just got done fixing one like this a few months back. probably can pull the plug wires one at a time until the noise quits and narrow down the cylinder. on this last engine it was the left rear.

 

[jims94vmx]

not likely a tensioner. more likely a worn wrist pin end of the rod. just got done fixing one like this a few months back. probably can pull the plug wires one at a time until the noise quits and narrow down the cylinder. on this last engine it was the left rear.

gives me something else to look for as far as noise diagnosis. If this is the case for me, what is the cost on fixing something like this.

Also what is likely to happen if I let it go?

It is a shame, with the new micro vboost controller and the carb rebuild from Danny, the bike has never run so good!

 

[dannymax]

Not likely valves either Jim, they get tighter as they wear....just the opposite of what you would think.

 

[one2dmax]

i used to worry about it but not nearly as much anymore. but, if it lets loose it will not be a good day. if its the rear i know it can be fixed with the engine in the bike.

 

[jims94vmx]

i used to worry about it but not nearly as much anymore. but, if it lets loose it will not be a good day. if its the rear i know it can be fixed with the engine in the bike.

not a good day? not sure what you mean....just leave me stranded or cause me harm?

 

[one2dmax]

IF it breaks the engine lockup can occur which could cause a crash and potential death. This is at the very far end of the spectrum though.