Chain way too noisy.

[Cosimo_Zaretti]

Ok, so managed to overtighten my chain last night and slightly misalign the rear axle while I was at it, as you do.  With the aid of a suitably precise tool (read lump hammer) I got the tension and alignment to where I was a little happier with it but there's still a lot of rasping noises going on. What intrigues me though is that the noise shuts up if the bike is rolling along in neutral, but starts up again if it's in rolling gear with the clutch pulled in.  I don't see why the load on the chain and sprockets would be any different.  Should I keep playing with the chain till the noise goes away, or does this suggest another issue?

[crzydood17]

your going to need a new chain soon, you have lose and tight spots. Tighten the chain at its tightest spot to specs and then if you still have the noise replace the chain, the noise comes from the chain whipping up and down as it goes from tight to lose, It can even hit the center stand. Find the slackest part and see if it is touching the center stand.

[ohgood]

Ok, so managed to overtighten my chain last night and slightly misalign the rear axle while I was at it, as you do.  With the aid of a suitably precise tool (read lump hammer) I got the tension and alignment to where I was a little happier with it but there's still a lot of rasping noises going on. What intrigues me though is that the noise shuts up if the bike is rolling along in neutral, but starts up again if it's in rolling gear with the clutch pulled in.  I don't see why the load on the chain and sprockets would be any different.  Should I keep playing with the chain till the noise goes away, or does this suggest another issue?

it suggests misalignment, or a worn out chain. you shouldn't need a hammer for any part of the process, just a swift kick of the rear tire forward to make sure the adjusters are touching.

line up on the swingarm marks, then check with the 'string thing' method (google) and make sure your wheel is straight with the front. it's fast the second time, and very accurate.

check the front and rear cogs for shark's tooth condition. check for broken teeth. check for tight links in the chain. check for loose sections. check for links with high inside edge wear.

[Cosimo_Zaretti]

Once I pulled the sprocket cover off, the sound turned out to be the still misaligned chain rattling the front sprocket.  I got the tension correct and the rear axle better aligned and things are much quieter.  The front sprocket seems to have a little free play on it's splines, which is what I was hearing.  Is this normal?  It seems to be just held on by it's circlip retainer.

I'm still curious why it was noisier rolling in gear with the clutch pulled in than it was in neutral.  I would have thought the loading on the front sprocket would be identical.

[crzydood17]

in neutral/deceleration the wheel turns the sprocket, on acceleration the sprocket turns the wheel, makes weird stuff happen.

[justafifteen]

Should there be ANY noise from the from sprocket area if you have your bike on the center stand, in neutral, and spin the rear wheel? If I spin the wheel in "reverse" then there's a lot of noise from the front sprocket area, can't tell if it's anything bad though. If I spin it in "forward" direction, the noise is a lot less pronounced and kind of just sounds like a chain spinning a sprocket

[Cosimo_Zaretti]

in neutral/deceleration the wheel turns the sprocket, on acceleration the sprocket turns the wheel, makes weird stuff happen.

Yeah I get that the loading on the driveline is different under throttle than it is when you back off, and learning to clutchlessly shift a chain driven vehicle is a great way to get your brain around that one.  In my head I always thought of putting a vehicle into neutral as being the same as pulling the clutch in, but the noises from my wrongly adusted chain said otherwise.  I suppose when the gearbox is in gear, the sprocket is turning the transmission even with the clutch pulled in which is a greater load than if it were in neutral.  Being new to bikes I've never had the trans in bits, so I'm only guessing at what's really in there.

[mister]

Should there be ANY noise from the from sprocket area if you have your bike on the center stand, in neutral, and spin the rear wheel? If I spin the wheel in "reverse" then there's a lot of noise from the front sprocket area, can't tell if it's anything bad though. If I spin it in "forward" direction, the noise is a lot less pronounced and kind of just sounds like a chain spinning a sprocket

As you spin it does it look like your chain goes up and down?

Care to take a photo of your chain and rear sprocket?

Michael

[justafifteen]

Should there be ANY noise from the from sprocket area if you have your bike on the center stand, in neutral, and spin the rear wheel? If I spin the wheel in "reverse" then there's a lot of noise from the front sprocket area, can't tell if it's anything bad though. If I spin it in "forward" direction, the noise is a lot less pronounced and kind of just sounds like a chain spinning a sprocket

As you spin it does it look like your chain goes up and down?

Care to take a photo of your chain and rear sprocket?

Michael

I'm not sure if it goes up and down, but I will post a pic of the chain and rear sprocket later today. The chain is filthy and needs to be cleaned, and the sprocket looked fine when I got my new rear tire put on (there was a small, smalllllllllllll amount of shark finning)

But like I said, the noise comes from the front sprocket. The rear one is totally silent

[twinrat]

id look at the front sprocket before i did anything,as it goes round a lot more times than the rear sprocket and could be hooked, if it isn't you may have a sprocket with a high side manufactures tolerance and an output shaft on the low side of the manufactures tolerance .There by result rattle rattle rattle ..

[adidasguy]

Also check the condition of your chain. Trey was quiet until I oiled the chain. The PO never oiled it. When I did, the O rings swelled up making many of the links nearly frozen. The chain made odd grinding sounds each time around. Some links I couldn't swivel with my hand and some took pliers to make the links move. Only solution was new chain.

Bike on center stand. Rotated rear tire. Sound was not related to a turn of the rear wheel. Marked chain with a dab of paint. Grinding sound matched each revolution of the chain. That's when I found many links frozen.

The sound seemed to come from the front sprocket. That's because the chain must bend and straighten out the most when going over the front sprocket. The worst links made that grinding sound when they tried to go around the front sprocket. They wouldn't bend and straighten back out to go on and off of the sprocket smoothly.

Found a photo showing links that were frozen. Notice the ones where the chain is not straight as it should be....

[justafifteen]

Funny, I had read that post of yours (and saw that picture) elsewhere on here and it did make me check to see if the chain was frozen. It wasn't. All the links are free and not binding at all.

Also, if the links were frozen, wouldn't the sound be the same whether spinning the tire forward or backward?

[adidasguy]

The chain lays different on the top versus the bottom. Chain guide, gravity, etc. Also the front sprocket is not worn the same in each direction. So it can make a different sound whether forward or backwards.