Topic: CB550K Drive Chain Replacement

[ddcook10]

What do you guys recommend for a drive chain and sprocket replacement? Can you put an O-ring chain on these old Honda's?

[bryanj]

NO not on 500 or 550 its too wide and rubs the case. An ordinary 530 HD chain of good name plus standard sprockets, Honda did not spend millions to get the design wrong

[Sw1ssdude]

i read that the wider chains will rub on the transmission shaft plug seal, which will start to weep or leak, and sends you in a world of pain (splitting cases to replace the seal). my plug shows heavy wear too, but i pretend i didnt see that until it starts to leak......
 the sprockets are a loose fit on the shaft, so they can wobble a bit, my guess is to take up some existing misalignment of the chain drive, so even if the wide chain clears the plug while fitting it, it still might rub under load.

[Kenzo1979]

[Deltarider]

Kenzo, the chain you show, is about the shortest lived I ever had. Better shop for the HDS variant or, if you can find it, Tsubaki QR 530. The RK 50H chain I have now, is also OK. Oh, and some sealed chains do not rub. But then there is the master link. I prefer that simple link, where you have to slide that thin plate over the outside. Has always worked for me.

[BenelliSEI]

From memory, your bike is original and low mileage? Are you changing out the sprockets too…….?

[Deltarider]

When I started riding in the 80s, it was common practice for CB500/550 owners to renew the sprockets every second chain. The dealer who serviced my bike - and owned a CB500 himself - practised this also with his.
Nowadays everyone parrots: change the chain and sprockets as a set, 'because the sprockets will eat the new chain'. Wait a minute: there's a difference between 'worn' and 'used'. My dealer could easily have sold me new sprockets, but he judged them used, not worn. I profited from his expertise. With my style of riding, I usely did 13.000km with a chain.
I stress: this was common practice for CB500/550 owners. I have no idea what's best for other bikes like the CB750.

[PeWe]

Sprockets and chain will wear quickly  if not lubed in time.
Riding in rain will make it dry really quick. I remember tours on Autobahn in heavy rain. I had to lube at every fuel stop.
Today's chains have a longer life.
Be too cheap on chain can be expensive when a low quality chain or worn out chain snap.

[Deltarider]

Heavy rain is even harmful to O-ring chains...
But... gentlemen do not ride in rain.

[HondaMan]

I'll put in my 'pitch' for the Diamond XD or XDL chain here: it is easily the longest-lasting chain on the 750, and my brother ran exactly one of them, from 6,000 miles to over 38,000 miles on his CB500 SOHC4. It ran new on the 6k-mile worn sprockets, which he forgot to flip until 2000 miles later (when I yelled at him), then he flipped the sprockets at 10k mile intervals (replaced the countersprocket at 18k miles or thereabouts), and the chain as well. He gave the bike to my littlest brother who rode on another 8k miles before letting it get stolen in CA. It still had that Diamond XD chain on it at that time.

I'm passing 22k miles on my current XDL chain (CB750), now 6 years in, time to flip those sprockets, too. Chain stretch is less than 0.2% so far (almost 1/4 of one link, 102-link chain). Change point is 1 full link of stretch, for my bikes.

[Deltarider]

Are those Diamond chains sealed? Reason I ask: those mileages look astronomical for us here.
Are Diamond chains Diamond or (made in the US) Tsubaki chains branded as Diamond?

[jlh3rd]

My '75 550F still has the original chain and sprockets, 10,800 miles.

[seanbarney41]

Kenzo, the chain you show, is about the shortest lived I ever had. Better shop for the HDS variant or, if you can find it, Tsubaki QR 530. The RK 50H chain I have now, is also OK. Oh, and some sealed chains do not rub. But then there is the master link. I prefer that simple link, where you have to slide that thin plate over the outside. Has always worked for me.

going to agree with delta on these.  I had one that didn't make it 1200 miles.  It was a much bigger, more powerful bike than a cb500 and conditions were not ideal (few hundred miles of it in the rain), but that was bad.

[Kenzo1979]

Geez, good to know. 

[MauiK3]

So many variables. Chains live in a hostile environment. Some folks don’t ever change oil and complain  about engine life. Some folks keep things well maintained and get good service out of almost everything.
Keep the chain clean and lubed, limit the number of “clutch dumps” at high RPM and try to stay out of the rain. The chain will reward you.

[PeWe]

It is a pity that O/X-ring chains cannot be used on the 500/550.
There are no sprockets to fit 520 X-ring chains?

[HondaMan]

It is a pity that O/X-ring chains cannot be used on the 500/550.
There are no sprockets to fit 520 X-ring chains?

The real problem is: how close the countersprocket runs next to the transmission mainshaft's bearing housing. In a properly-configured 500/550 there is just 1mm of space between the OEM chain/sprocket and the outer face of that bearing housing. Inside are tiny roller bearings, in a cage. A wider chain always hits it: often even a standard chain & sprocket mark it up if the countersprocket does not have tapered-tip teeth on it (like most cheap aftermarket sprockets with full-width teeth). The tips of the countersprocket teeth must be ground inward to lose 3mm of tooth-tip to clear the bearing's housing. Honda's own sprockets are made that way.

[HondaMan]

Are those Diamond chains sealed? Reason I ask: those mileages look astronomical for us here.
Are Diamond chains Diamond or (made in the US) Tsubaki chains branded as Diamond?

They are phenomenal numbers, but only the true Diamond chains can attain them. Tsubaki might be making the Diamond "Powersport" series chains, from what I've been able to find out: those will not attain these kinds of mileage, though.

The XD's secret is in how Diamond makes their industrial chains, and the changes made in 1970 that became famous (it was done for the new Harley 1000cc Sportster at that time). These changes are: the rollers are narrower than the normal width by 0.020", their inner ID is 0.004" larger than normal (so they "float" on their hardened pins to suck in lube as they leave the sprocket tooth), the inner sideplates of each link and of the coupling links are polished, the sideplates are all heat-treated AND shot-peened heavily (on their outer sides), and (on the XD) the pins are quad-staked on their outsides to hold the links together. When the XDL series chains replaced the original XD in 1996, the pins became only 2-staked-points instead, while the rest of the features remained, but the rollers changed a bit. The XD rollers are 1-piece machined parts, while in the XDL they are MIMs cast, then machined (not quite as strong) and then polished. The XDL chain, though, is still remarkable, attaining over 30k miles on my own bike. I still have an original XD chain in its (now tattered) box from 1980, which will go on my bike, maybe next year. I find these on eBay from time to time, in 106-link lengths. They are often inexpensive because the sellers don't know what they have(!).