In looking for a replacement cam chain tensioner for my KZ750, I came across this MANUAL adjuster. Would this be a bad idea for everyday use?

 

The manual cam chain tensioner is a reasonable tool.

It offers the ease of a quick adjustment. However, repeated adjustment can cause wear on the ends of the nut.

make sure that the wrenchs you use are the right size and the preference would be six point vs. twelve point.

Snap-on has a design called "flank drive"
very positive reviews have been given about them. I'd buy a set myself, if the pocket book said I could.

But back to the cam chain tensioner...

If you are the type of person who desires variability in your ride, go for it. It makes top end repairs that much faster and tuning for a
power ride vs. the daily commute (unless you make them one in the same) that much more enjoyable.

the question you need to ask yourself, is are you sure that you tightened that lock nut before you go on a test ride.

 

What I wonder is:

A. how do you know when it's tight enough. do you need to take off the valve cover to check?

B. how often do you need to readjust it. Maybe every time you do your valve job???

 

Ok. I finally replaced the original adjuster with the manual cam adjuster last night, and I'll say that it made a hell of a difference! The valve train rattles that I had especially during start up are gone, and the engine timing feels much more accurate too. I'm glad I put this new adjuster on.

 

Who sells this tensioner

 

Nice pic of the adjuster. How does this keep tension on the timing chain? I noticed the drain ports on the bottom of your float bowels are capped. Is it really OK to cap these off. I thought the float bowles had to drain into the air canister to prevent fuel getting into the crank case? Why are these drain ports there then?

 

Those are just float bowl drains. No caps required really. The fuel that you drain will be in a bowl to inspect, then tossed.

The manual tensioner still uses the stock rub plate/guide that the auto adjuster uses.

 

If adjusted correctly they don't actually put tension on the cam chain. They will only push in the chain slider to take up the slack. Any extra tension causes both chain slider wear and cam chain wear, not to mention increasing drag on the cam drive. Proper adjustment just takes away the noise by eliminating slack, not putting tension on the chain. Actually calling it a tensioner is kind of a misnomer. Cam chain adjuster would be a better name for it, especially in the manual tensioner sense.

I know this because I am a competitor for APE, selling for about half the cost. I've got two Kawasakis running manual tensioners, one with 27,000 miles on the tensioner with four adjustments in that time (can't remember the last time I adjusted it) and one that is just going over about 8000 miles. No one making them for either bike got me in the business, when I made one I made five. To date I have around 200 of them in 15 countries on 4 continents. Several members here are running them. The latest one is for the KLX250, which has the same poor design my KLX650 had.