So I got a katana 600 shock and it went in perfectly after some futzing around.

I'm not super handy but learning.

Then, I had to adjust the chain a bit.

On the left side, it wasn't a problem. Chain adjusted nicely and tightened up a bit. Ended up between 4th and 5th notch closer to 5th.

On the other side, I couldn't get the marks to line up. Turning left loosened the plate and left the axel as is. Turning right moved it out and this closer to 4th notch.

I finally had to mallet it in and then tighten it up.

Did I do something wrong?

Thanks everyone.

Sounds like this is the first time you've ever adjusted a chain?
You should ignore the marks, they rarely line up right. Get the chain slack adjusted right and hop on youtube to look for a video on the string method for aligning your wheels. You've probably tweaked them out of alignment. After they are aligned future chain adjustments are made by counting nut rotations on each side to keep it even and everything lined up.

Damnit.

I'll have to look that up. I rode it around a bit and it felt ok but I'll redo it.

You're right. First time chain anything.

Thanks!

Any videos you recommend? I kind of want to do it right before I jump on a 900 mile ride.

That string method stuff has me thoroughly confused.

I'm just going to take it to a shop. Worth $50

It's really not as bad as you think. I know it might seem confusing until you try it though.

You can also check the rear wheel alignment with a tape measure. Just measure from the center of the rear axle to the center of the swingarm pivot bolt. Not as accurate as the string method, but easier and faster. Certainly cheaper and faster than $50 at a shop.

I've had trouble myself getting the string method to work.  Not a confusing concept when you get to trying it, but I couldn't get the string from end to end without catching on the center stand and pushing the string off track.  I ended up counting threads on the adjuster bolts which got me very close to even, but I could tell I was still off a bit because it just didn't feel right while riding.

The last thing I did was take a ruler and measure from the nut on the adjuster, to the end of the bolt.  Had to be careful that I was looking at it from the same point of view on each side, or it would skew the result (similar things happen when trying to use the notches on swing arm).  The ruler showed that one side was about 1/16 of an inch off from the other.  I evened them out according to the ruler and now handling is perfect. 

AND... My rear brake squeal went away.   

There is a clever tool you can easily make for wheel alignment. It was featured in a magazine a year or two ago. (Cost? maybe a tenner?)

All you need is a cheap laser-pointer tool (pen-shaped) and about 600mm length of aluminium right angle extrusion. (Eye before you buy for straightness!)
The pointer is mounted in the 'corner' of the ali, and then held against each side of the rear tyre in turn. the laser shines on a piece of board that you set up crosswise against the back of the front wheel, mark the centre and align centre with centre of front tyre, (you can mark graduations left and right of the centre mark to help). You need to ensure that your front wheel is dead straight-ahead.
So when the laser shines it's point of light on the board, it's easy to see misalignment either side in relation to the centrepoint marked.
(I'll see if I can find a reference to the mag article)

That's a clever way of doing it.

For what it's worth I got mine done at a shop once ($20) and they just used the marks on the swing arm

Well I'd do that for $2 !
I think what were saying here is that it's not very accurate using the marks on the swing arm.

Quote from: spaceman on July 18, 2015, 09:11:52 PM
For what it's worth I got mine done at a shop once ($20) and they just used the marks on the swing arm

I'll stay at home and flush a $20 down the toilet instead, thanks.

Shoot, it may have been in alignment, and you may have paid them to "line up the marks" and take it out of alignment. 

I figure if a credible shop uses the marks then I will too.
I don't think it's worth worrying about
Oh and sorry for being able to afford $20 when I'm too lazy to adjust the chain myself

I tried a few methods I've read around the place but none of them convinced me I had the chain aligned. So I went and bought the profi laser cat chain alignment tool after seeing it in this video at the 7 minute mark:


It's way over priced at about $40. I think it works ok but I'd like to see someone else use on another bike.
I can never get the dot to follow the exact path all the way up the chain. I can only get it where it deviates about millimetre or two by the time it reaches the top sprocket.
Might be my chain aligning skills or might just be the margin of error on the device.

i finally caught a video of the thread method.

i'm going to try it to see how good the shop did it.

if they sucked, well, it was a $60 lesson learned. Still cheap enough

If they got it right, well, i'll be a bit pleased and will do the string alignment next time around!