hello i am knew to this forum but i have a question every time. i adjust my chain, the adjusters,  are bending maybe the chain is too tight any help would be helpful i drive a 2006 500 f has a jardine exchaust dyno kit and a k& n filter some say to much low end tork thanks craftierod

Um... what now?

Do you mean the Plates on the back of the swing arm are bent, or the bolts themselves? What is bent?

The chain needs a MINIMUM of 15mm of movement up and down... if you can't wiggle your chain and feel the links move then it's too tight.

Your "power" has no affect on the adjusters themselves, only the massive amount of strain you're putting your chain and sprockets through.

Got a pic of what you're talking about?



Dan

How exactly are you adjusting your chain?

I have the same problem. Either it is a terrible design or we are doing it wrong 

The adjusters are too light to be up to the task.

I might make some if there's enough interest.

or not loosening the axle enough can do it also

The adjusters are strong enough.  One of two things must be happening:

1. the axle bolt has not been loosened enough before trying to adjust the chain (once the chain is set to the new tension, the axle needs to be re-tightened);
2. the chain is being tightened too much.

Given that the adjusters are already bent implies that some of the strength has already been lost - you would be best to replace them.

thanks for all the input, i will put new adjusters on and see what happens, craftierod

Quote from: craftierod on December 27, 2008, 07:53:45 AM
hello i am knew to this forum but i have a question every time. 1) i adjust my chain, the adjusters,  are bending maybe the chain is too tight any help would be helpful 2) i drive a 2006 500 f has a jardine exchaust dyno kit and a k& n filter some say to much low end tork thanks craftierod

hello

before you do anything, read this about aligning your wheels:
http://www.yamahafz1oa.com/sportryderswheelalignmentmethod.shtml

^ that will save you a ton in trouble.

now, on to the questions:

1) it's possible it's too tight, but i'll bet on not torquing the axle proper.
2) it might be too much torque if you put a 5 tooth front sprocket and a 55 tooth rear, and a dual turbo. otherwise, no.

The procedure for adjusting your chain:

1) park on SIDE STAND and remove your rear cotter pin.
2) loosen your rear axle nut until it is movable by hand.
3) check the slack in your chain. 7/8" inch to 1 1/4" seems familiar, but i don't have the exact metric measurement. check your clymer/haynes manual.
4) rotate your rear wheel (lift silghtly on the grab bar with your left hand and spin the wheel with your right) 1/2 a revolution or so.
5) check for tight/kinked links and the amount of slack

slack will vary if your chain is worn or near the end of it's service life.

6) too tight ? loosen each adjuster 1/4 turn, then KICK THE SNOT out of your rear tire 1 or two times from directly behind.

why ? to make sure your wheel is against the adjusters. don't use a hammer. or a drill. or a car. just yer foot.

7) lightly tighten (finger tight !) your axle nut, and spin the tire again, checking for tight/kinked spots
loosen or tighten the adjusters (and kick if you loosen them) THE SAME AMOUNT ON EACH SIDE, EVERY TIME until you have 7/8- 1 1/8" slack, and the largest point, in NEUTRAL.

(the adjusters are both right hand thread, so this means the same direction of turn for both)

10) I don't like the number 9 today, so I skipped it. tighten your axle nut to the specified amount. i'm not certain, but iirc it was around 50-62 ft lbs. LOOK THIS UP FOR YOURSELF. IF I'M WRONG, IT COULD COME APART ON THE FREEWAY.

please do read the link provided. it explains a very easy, and very accurate way to align your rear wheel with your front. a piece of string can be had almost anywhere. once proficient with adjusting tension and alignment, it can be done in 5 minutes, provided you have a cotter key and tools handy.

welcome again

Oooch.. Thanks for the info guys. I just noticed my left adjuster plate has started bending since I put new tires on (right one seems to be fine, its only the chain side adjust plate thats bending). A few days ago I just took it apart and bent it back but it started bending again so I figured I should figure out whats wrong. Scary thing is I've been riding it freeway almost every day since then >,>.. I thought it could be the force of the chain, but I know my chain is at the right slack and I'm quite sure I didn't loosen the axle bolt and re-torqued it when I realigned it. Whats weird is that even though the adjuster is bent when I check for wheel wobble (with a laser level, I'm too lazy to use string.. but maybe that's why) it doesn't have any, and appears to be straight. The bike has been riding fine too (in fact incredible with new tires on it =p).. anyway again thanks for the info, it may have helped me avoid a nice little visit to the road surface and a test of my riding gear..

As far as getting a new plate rather than just bending the old one back.. well I know its only 5 bucks+shipping and not worth putting your life on, but what I think I'm going to do is just bend the plate back, adjust the axle nut properly, realign the wheel then just keep an eye on it bending for a while.. but then again mine wasn't really bent up all that much, I just noticed it when I was doing the regular lubing of the chain and general cleaning.. If it keeps bending after I know I have the axle bolt torque right then I'll get a new plate.. but maybe I'm just young and stupid.

The adjusters should never be under any stress at all ever. They aren't for holding your axle in place while you're riding around, they're just there to hold the axle in place while you torque down the axle bolt. You should be able to completely remove the adjusters once the axle is torqued down with no ill effect. If you are bending your adjuster plates, you have either made your chain way way too tight or you haven't torqued your axle down enough. I guess you could have also forgotten to loosen the axle before trying to turn the adjusters, but you'd have to be quite the rube to torque the adjuster nuts hard enough to bend the plates without realizing anything was wrong. It seems like everyone gets in to trouble with the adjusters because they don't understand their function.

Quote from: fred on April 13, 2009, 01:44:49 PM
You should be able to completely remove the adjusters once the axle is torqued down with no ill effect.

I wouldnt like to try it........My view is that the axle-bolt and the retention plates work together and share the load between them.

sledge, please don't take offense but with that logic using the back brake hard would cause the wheel to move backwards.  The chain adjusters don't prevent backward movement.

The axle bolt should be doing all of the work.

Yeah......and with the same logic hard acceleration would cause it to move forward, particularly on the LH side. The plates prevent this.

honestly, i don't think anyone reads anymore. there was a step by step howto posted in this very thread.... posted by some yahoo. oh well.

lets all go loosen our axles and trust the adjusters to keep the bike together. weeeeee

Rearrange these words into a well known sentence........

WALL. YOUR, HEAD, THE, BANGING, AGAINST.

I recently had my tires changed and after rideing about 100 miles i noticed my chain had a lot of slack in it.  when I tried to readjust the slack in the chain i noticed that the plate on the end of the swing arm won bent.  I am almost certain that the axel bolt wasn't tightened enough.  any one know how much a replacement costs?

Quote from: jrsgs5f on April 13, 2009, 05:11:01 PM
I recently had my tires changed and after rideing about 100 miles i noticed my chain had a lot of slack in it.  when I tried to readjust the slack in the chain i noticed that the plate on the end of the swing arm won bent.  I am almost certain that the axel bolt wasn't tightened enough.  any one know how much a replacement costs?

A replacement plate is 5.00, but I don't think you should need a new one, just bend it back. (the part: http://www.bikebandit.com/suzuki-motorcycle-gs500f-2006/o/m9752 its under 'wheels>rear wheel, number 21. Part number 5169519-001 if that's easier.)

Thanks for clarifying what the plates are for vs what the axle bolt is for =p. Really should have been obvious, I just didn't think about.. I thought I was even overzealous with tightening but maybe I got lazy and trusted the cotter pin to hold the axle on not really thinking about how the whole mechanism was supposed to work.. what you guys are saying makes a lot more sense than the plate holding it on though, because those plates aren't all that tough at all, I'm pretty sure Suzuki's engineers wouldn't miss something that obvious in a model this old. Again, thanks for the clarification.

Quote from: sledge on April 13, 2009, 02:32:54 PM

Quote from: fred on April 13, 2009, 01:44:49 PM
You should be able to completely remove the adjusters once the axle is torqued down with no ill effect.

I wouldnt like to try it........My view is that the axle-bolt and the retention plates work together and share the load between them.

No, those adjuster bolts are way too small to take any kind of load. Think of other parts of the bike that use bolts of that diameter to hold things on. The side plastics are all I can come up with, and they're about as important to safety. The gas tank, the brakes, the handlebars and the grab bar are all held on by much larger bolts for good reason.

Behave yourself Fred 

Tell you what,.................back your adjusters off, pop a few wheelies and ride round like a loon for a few days and lets see what happens to your chain tension eh?