FZRSupport: the FZROnline Archive

Just wondering what are the differences between the manual aftermarket cam chain tensioners oppose to the stock ones on our bikes? I thought ours were more or less automatic that they adjust with a spring to apply the tension. Im probably wrong but what are the pro's to the aftermark manual ones, besides they look real cool hahah

cheers

i cant think of one single pro to a manual cam chain tensioner. the only reason i could see goin to a aftermarket(manual tensioner) would be if the stock ones had rep. of going bad after a couple years or something. i dont know about anybody else but im still on the stock one. im completly in the dark here so im waiting on yamaha george or sweekster or somebody very,very knowledgeable to come in here.

Thats what I was thinking man, I cant think of 1 reason why its better to go to a manual one. The one we have you just reset and let it do its thing right? so what i've read in the manual. Just makes no sense. Why spend the 50 or so on one? ...

Other than look cool, the "supposed" advantage to them is be able to fine tune the chain which, in-turn, will allow for the valve train to be at optimal performance. A couple years ago, when i was researching maybe putting one on my FZR600, I couldn't find one substantial benefit other than what I just stated. I found more stories about having to constantly adjust it. How it would loosen from vibration. Things of that sort. The only negative I found about automatic tensionors was a bit of a noise issue with certain year cbrs. That was enough for me to scrap that idea. I can see maybe this being used in a racing situation where the bike is raced and raced only but not in something street/daily ridden. Doesn't seem practical if it needs that much attention.

Thanks Duane, was waiting for you to chime in, thanks. An easy 50 bucks saved, just have to buy the gasket for it when I do the tear down. It's just gonna be a semi-built 1040 for the occasional DD once I can afford a truck or another bike because the FZR is turning into an addiction....always wanting to buy this, make that, how can I make it do that.... erghh I love it though hahaha

SO if Im gonna do anything fancy with it, I'll send it to nate for some powder

Yeah, they got really popular on the early generation GSXR/Katana engines.

On those engines the auto tensioners would de-ratchet..let the chain get sloppy and cause serious mayhem (bent valves, smashed pistons, broken cam chains).

So, we started seeing manual ones built by the aftermarket

and, the legend grew...

IIRC Yamaha never had any serious issues with their auto tensioners...just the chain wear guides/tensioner blocks-and that aint gonna get corrected by manually adjusting

reelrazor wrote:IIRC Yamaha never had any serious issues with their auto tensioners...just the chain wear guides/tensioner blocks-and that aint gonna get corrected by manually adjusting

RR,
there was one batch of XT 500 yamaha's with duff cams & crap chain guides ( the rubbery/plastic on the auto cam chain tensioners) that is all I ever came across in 34 years of yamaha 4 strokes. There have been some truly lousy locations for them though, but luckily they work so well they never needed fiddling with except when doing a top end job and then they were in plain sight.