chain tightening

89blaster89

Member
Aug 26, 2011
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Pacific northwest, washington
ok so my chains pretty loose. i need to tighten it but when i loosen my carrier bolts and tighten the tensioners all the way in it doesent tighten so im guessin im gonna have to take out links? or am i doin somethin wrong i loosened the bottom left and right carrier bolts so does someone have a full diy how to tighten it properly and maybe take out a link or two and when i tighten the tensioners do i screw them out more or in more? i tightened them in all the way when i did it, im not sure if it made that big of a difference though because there was only about a cm left of tensioner to screw in...
 
ok so my chains pretty loose. i need to tighten it but when i loosen my carrier bolts and tighten the tensioners all the way in it doesent tighten so im guessin im gonna have to take out links? or am i doin somethin wrong i loosened the bottom left and right carrier bolts so does someone have a full diy how to tighten it properly and maybe take out a link or two and when i tighten the tensioners do i screw them out more or in more? i tightened them in all the way when i did it, im not sure if it made that big of a difference though because there was only about a cm left of tensioner to screw in...

Did you loosen the top bolt and nut on the hub carrier too? if not you have to loosen the top and bottom Once you have it with the wheels off the ground loosen the adjuster locknuts then you turn the adjusters clockwise to increase tension. Also your chain slack at the widest or loosest point should be between 30-40mm factory spec. If its to the point that you have to start removing links to get that slack then you prob have worn out parts that need replacement. What gears, chain, sliders do you have? are they all stock sizes? in order to check chain wear you have to measure between like 10 or 11 links and it has to be below the max distance. i forget the measurement though so i have to look it up and ill post it.
 
to measure chain stretch you measure 10 links. you measure between the rollers on the inside of 1 and the inside of another 11 links away with the chain tight by hand it cant be any longer then 150.1mm or 5.91 inch. reapeat this in a few different spots.
 
If you have to replace your chain, replace both sprockets as well, as the old sprockets will stretch your lovely new chain to be the same length as the old one in no time at all.

Its a much cheaper option in the long run, to replace all.