Well I suppose there is a torque, but I just tighten it until my face starts to turn red, and figure that good enough. But I suppose someone here will chastise me for not reading the manual. So bring it on.

 

80 lbs .. I still haven't tightened it yet... I am just now recovering from the insane 40 hour work weekend

 

I adjusted the chain. Does it look too tight?

 

there should be about 2" of play in the chain....

 

It looks pretty good, perhaps a bit tight but probably ok. Like EMS_0525 said, you needa bit overtwo inches of play.

I'm guessing you had your bike up on a stand so the wheel could move freely, if not, that’s ok; it’s just a bit harder to adjust. I'm also assuming that you simply rotated the "snails" on the rear of the swing arm to get the chain tighter.

I typically will getthe chaintensionvisually close, then take a 12 inch straight edge ruler, grab the chain at its lowest 'sag point' somewhere along the top of the swing arm, push down the chain to get it taunt, then take a first reading on the ruler by placing one end of the ruler on the top of the swingarm and mearsuring up from the top of the swing arm to the chain (you canmeasure to the top or bottom of the chain link, you just need to be consistent).

Then I'll pull the chain (at that same point) up away from the swing arm until again taunt, then re-measure (again, from the swing arm to either the top or bottom of the link, matching how I did it below).

The actual spec is between 2.2 and 2.6 inches. I try to get it as close to 2.2 as possible, but not under.

Hope that helps a bit....

 

Chain looks like it might be a little tight.

+1 on what Dirt Surfer said

 

The problem with our adjusters is that sometimes for example the # 4 notch is a little loose and the # 5 is a little snug especially for those who get air on their bikes. Trust me its better to be on the loose side than a little tight. One good jump especially with a portly guy like me on the bike and snap! I really likes the adjusters from days gone by that had infinite adjustments. They were cool. But the drawback to them were that it took more time to get the tire square with the bike, and that's a good thing about our bikes if both sides are in the notch (same notch), then its square. Don't forget after tapping the adjuster to the next notch, lightly tap the nuts so that the pin is seated in the groove. Here is a picture of the old style.

 

Good point, Deej.

Another thing that factors in (but I don't know how much), is if you've changed your spring, or even just adjusted your preload:

The 2.2 - 2.6 inch spec is with the bike resting on the kick-stand, or in otherwords, sagging under the bike's weight. If you change your spring for a stiffer one or increased your preload, the bike will sit higher, which means your chain will show even more slack, yet still be tightened properly. Conversely, changing the spring for a softer one, or decreasing your preload, will cause the bike to sit lower, which means your chain will show less slack.

For people that have a lift stand that gets the back wheel off the ground, the swing arm is fully extended, and probably provides amore consistentpoint of reference for measuring chain slack. (This might be affected by lowering links, since I think the swing arm travel is limited by the rear shock itself. Everyone probably has the same shock, but different links probably result in a different location of the fully extended swingarm.).

The only absolute way to measure chain slack would be to compress the rear suspension so that the centerlines of the countershaft sprocket, the swingarm pivot, and the rear axel are all in a straight line. This is the position where the chain will be the tighest it will get. Loading the bike to get this exact position is probably not practical, however.

 

I did it with the bike resting on the stand. I am going to loosen it one notch. Or 1/2 a notch. It is on 3.5 I will put it down to 3. I have no place to work on my bike and the condo association would freak out if they caught me working on it in the day. So I have to do it after midnight.