Topic: Broken cam chain tensioner teeth

[wmajinw]

So I'm putting back together my top end and had very hard time putting on the cam chain on the sprocket. I tried adjusting the aoring loaded tensioner to be slack but it ended uo seizing and not moving at all. After dissasembling everything I saw that one tooth of the tensuoner was broker (see photo) and thr pin "jumped" thourg the remaining teet and would not function.

Any advice on how to solve this? Didn't see any used tensioners and new ones are quite costly.

[bryanj]

Would help to know what the bike is

[wmajinw]

CB550

[Little_Phil]

You need a another tensioner. When rebuiding do not use the slotted screw to try to adjust. Push the tensioner back by using a tool in the chain tunnel and locking off the tensioner with the lock nut on the slotted screw. Never turn the tensioner slotted screw. It is there only to hold it still when you lock the nut down.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/116407260762
or put a listing in the wanted section here.

[bryanj]

Dave Silver sells complete pattern ones but not cheap, used ones ones are a crap shoot and as stated DO NOT used the slotted screw as adjuster

[Maraakate]

Lol, the screw is actually for adjusting.  See Mike Nixon's many posts about this on his site.  Real life experience confirms it.

[bryanj]

50 years of hond dealer workshops say he is wrong, the traveling Honda tech reps specifically said DO NOT use the slot for adjusting, it is ONLY for holding the screw still whilst tightening the locknut

[HondaMan]

Lol, the screw is actually for adjusting.  See Mike Nixon's many posts about this on his site.  Real life experience confirms it.

Consider the source: it is Mike Nixon...

[jaytee-nz]

The Honda workshop manual backs this up to. Loosen the lock nut and the spring on the tensioner does the rest - no turning the screw.

[bryanj]

Yup, no idea where the myth of turning the screw to tighten started but itvhas wrecked countless adjusters over the years!

[Maraakate]

You guys are complete idiots who perpetuate bad information on these bikes. I guess they put that slot there for fun, right?  You guys treat the FSM as gospel when it suits you but compression readings in the book are false.

Stupidest forum on the internet for these bikes, for sure.

[Maraakate]

The reason they break sometimes is they can get rusted and seized. Obviously use common sense. If it feels like it's binding then it probably is which means it won't deploy anyways.

Oh hey I used an OEM gasket from "gasket kit a" and have no leaks hondaman. Strange.

Also I put low ohm dyna coils on mine and it does have enough power to run those coils with headlights on at extended lights.

This forum is complete bull#$%*.

[bryanj]

So why stay and insult us, sod off into your own world, if 50 years of shop experience dont convince you of what is fact nothing will.

[HondaMan]

Oh hey I used an OEM gasket from "gasket kit a" and have no leaks hondaman. Strange.

Also I put low ohm dyna coils on mine and it does have enough power to run those coils with headlights on at extended lights.

This forum is complete bull#$%*.

Your resume', please?
1. How many Honda SOHC4 bikes have you successfully restored and/or built?
2. How many have you repaired, including replacing wire harnesses burned down by items like overly-hot headlights and low-ohms coils, or added running lamps, or electronic ignitions that used more power than the alternators could generate?
3. How many hundreds of thousands of miles have you ridden an SOHC4?
4. How many of the SOHC4 bikes have you owned (in running condition), and for how long were they ridden?
5. Since 1969?
6. I have also installed halogen headlights - of appropriate wattage - in the CB350F/400F/500K-F/550K-F/650 SOHC4 bikes with great success - but you won't install an 80W H4 bulb and 3-ohm coils and ride very far, nor for very long, with it ON in your 550.

Facts are sought and spoken here: errors are also apologized for when they happen. I have a few of each...
 

[Oddjob]

It’s odd though that the FSM refers to the screw as an adjusting screw. I’ve found that the oring around the screw can actually stop it from moving when trying to tension the camchain statically, sometimes the screw does need to be persuaded to move by using the slot, clearly not a lot of force though, I think some people think the more they force it to turn the quieter the engine will become, not realising that the main source of tickover noise generated by these engines is from the primary chain not the camchain.

[HondaMan]

It’s odd though that the FSM refers to the screw as an adjusting screw. I’ve found that the oring around the screw can actually stop it from moving when trying to tension the camchain statically, sometimes the screw does need to be persuaded to move by using the slot, clearly not a lot of force though, I think some people think the more they force it to turn the quieter the engine will become, not realising that the main source of tickover noise generated by these engines is from the primary chain not the camchain.

+1

[Oddjob]

Another thing I’ve noticed over the years is how many of the tensioners are bent out of shape, especially at the bottom. The body is meant to be straight but a lot of the ones I’ve removed showed 2 things. A lot of damage on the lower end caused by the primary chain hitting it and the bend in the body of the tensioner, both of these caused by missing the locating slot in the crankcase at some point, if it veers right the primary chain chews it to bits, if it misses the slot at the back the tensioner gets bent as the barrels are forced down, this causes misalignment of the 2 parts of the tensioner and the screw gear is where these 2 parts meet, so either the screw starts to jam or it is misaligned and this causes the teeth to start to strip. Then the screw slot gets abused by the owner trying to get the tensioner to work again.

I have around 5 or 6 of these tensioners spare but as I’m in the UK that’s not a lot of use to the original poster. Shame.