Swing arm/chain case interference and more etc (2010)

I think it was to make it a little easier to remove the box?

"Found" the missing spacer!

The spacer (Item 34, Group 7) wasn't missing from the bike after all. It just happened to be in the wrong place! It was installed under the bolt head on the RIGHT side of the bike, against the drive chain adjuster instead of between the tranny and cradle on the left side of the bike.

Based on the input here, this morning I loosened that bolt, thinking that since there was supposed to be a spacer on the left side, the tranny should separate slightly from the cradle on the left when the bolt was loosened. Sure enough, that's exactly what happened. I then but a straight-edge against the left side cradle that holds the tranny and found it was bowed inward, showing that the cradle was now warped from being tightened against the tranny without the spacer. I figured I'd make up a temp spacer so I then pulled the mounting bolt completely out, wondering why there was a very thick washer under it at the lolly pop. I couldn't see any need for a washer at all against the steel adjuster that can't apply any sort of turning motion to the bolt and why was it so thick?. So I checked the parts book. Low and behold, there is no washer in that position and that thick washer was the spacer that SHOULD have been on the opposite side between the tranny and the cradle!

And now it is!

I had to use a small pin jack to push the cradles apart to eliminate the warp in the left side so I could fit the shim in place. It's now buttoned up and the rear chain will clear the chaincase even disregarding the groove that had previously been cut into it by the chain.

Again, nice one, CNN! I would never have found this without someone mentioning the possibility.

Just thought to add this...the chain guard that I could not get to totally quit rubbing despite bending/shimming, etc no longer does...

Re: "Found" the missing spacer!

MexicoMike said:

The spacer (Item 34, Group 7) wasn't missing from the bike after all. It just happened to be in the wrong place! It was installed under the bolt head on the RIGHT side of the bike, against the drive chain adjuster instead of between the tranny and cradle on the left side of the bike.

Click to expand...

Did you take a picture of the spacer in the correct position?

No pics - I couldn't get any sort of angle to take a pic without removing other parts. But that mount and associated hardware looks just like the parts manual shows now. Spacer 34 was under the head of bolt 33 instead of inside the cradle on the opposite side as it's supposed to be.

Cmd+Shift+4 will give you crosshairs to let you select what on your screen you want to capture.

If you do Cmd+Shift+4 and then tap the Shift bar you can then hover over an open window and click to just capture that window.

For linking to parts manual pics I love to go to Old Britts, look for Exploded View, click and then right click on the image and "Copy Image Address". Paste inbetween IMG tags here and voilà!

rx7171 said:

Could you put a micrometer on your chain and tell me its width so I can compare it to mine?
Bob

Click to expand...

Bob — measured across the split link (which is wider than rest of the chain), it is 22.78 mm or 0.896 in. Hope this helps. I think there is some discussion on fixes for chains rubbing against chain guards in another thread, so maybe you can find it with the search engine, I fiddled with mine for a while because it was annoying me, and managed to stop it rubbing. I guess you already know that there should not be a washer between the shock mount and the chain guard bracket. The mounting bolt, the one that also secures the bottom of the shock, has a special shallow head where it slots into the guard. You should also have a spacer forward of the shock mount that keeps the guard 'spread out, the one held by the 1/4" through-bolt. As well as doing some very slight tweaking of the sheet metal, I made up a spacer about 3 millimetres wider so the guard spreads out more. You could try this. Lastly, you could check your final drive sprocket alignment with a straight edge. I can just hold a small diameter length of square bar stock across the outer surface of the gearbox sprocket (with the chain removed) and line it up with the rear sprocket. If the gearbox is sitting squarely in the cradle, the straight edge should show if the rear sprocket is misaligned.

Dave

daveh said:

rx7171 said:

Could you put a micrometer on your chain and tell me its width so I can compare it to mine?
Bob

Click to expand...

Bob — measured across the split link (which is wider than rest of the chain), it is 22.78 mm or 0.896 in. Hope this helps. I think there is some discussion on fixes for chains rubbing against chain guards in another thread, so maybe you can find it with the search engine, I fiddled with mine for a while because it was annoying me, and managed to stop it rubbing. I guess you already know that there should not be a washer between the shock mount and the chain guard bracket. The mounting bolt, the one that also secures the bottom of the shock, has a special shallow head where it slots into the guard. You should also have a spacer forward of the shock mount that keeps the guard 'spread out, the one held by the 1/4" through-bolt. As well as doing some very slight tweaking of the sheet metal, I made up a spacer about 3 millimetres wider so the guard spreads out more. You could try this. Lastly, you could check your final drive sprocket alignment with a straight edge. I can just hold a small diameter length of square bar stock across the outer surface of the gearbox sprocket (with the chain removed) and line it up with the rear sprocket. If the gearbox is sitting squarely in the cradle, the straight edge should show if the rear sprocket is misaligned.

Dave

Click to expand...

Thanks Dave.
All good advice. I'll work with all of it this weekend.

I had exactly the same thing. It turned out to be when I assembled the gearbox into the cradle. There is a spacer on one side of the top bolt (the adjuster bolt). It is about ⅛" thick and needs to be on the correct side. Needless to say I got it wrong any buggered up the belt alignment as well as the back of the chain case. I caught it in time and its all good now. Might be worth checking.

Item 34 spacer left out. Its a common mistake on rebuilds. Its always a good thing to have your manuals and Parts list when reassembling.
Cheers,
Thomas