When one thing leads to another...

On the way back yesterday following a very enjoyable ride to the coast via some great bike roads I noticed a unusual noise from the bike. 'Cos I had earplugs in the sound was muffled but was similiar to a belly pan full of stones. Very strange - but since my mate and I had ridden over a brief stretch of gravel perhaps I had managed to pick up some loose stuff.

Things got stranger as I soon realised that it was only when I trailed the throttle that the noise appeared - the harder I shut the throttle the more noise.

A post ride strip down revealed no stones in the fairing, no errant objects in the airbox - nothin! After cleaning, lubricating, topping up of the radiator etc everything went back together and off for a quick lap of the block - but noise is still there and without earplugs its the sound like marbles bouncing around in a tin box.

Back home the culprit was discovered - a VERY loose chain. Second discovery was that the pinch bolt was cross threaded How I've managed to do this I've go no idea 'cos its never been removed. I can only guess that at one stage I must have undone it enough for it to exit the lower part of the axle case and inadvertantly cross threaded it tightening it up again! Bummer!!

The upshot is that I now know the sound that a too loose chain makes......

Cheers and Happy New Year,

 

I set out for a ride once and her a skkkkkwwwEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE noise. WTF'd but didn't think much of it until I stopped and smelled smoke. Went on a little ways to a safe parking lot and stopped for a walkaround.
I had managed to pick up and jam into the mudguard an empty brake fluid canister, the metal sort, of course, and the cap had put a 3/4" wide, 1/4" deep scallop in the left side of my nearly new BT-045. *sigh*
I then learned what a pain in the ass finding 18" tires is.

 

Love the new avatar, Stuka.:clap2:

The hair gel one was starting to creep me out.:wink:

 

Hi Stuka,

not sure on which way I'll deal with it yet. My son-in-law is a mechanic and has access to all the appropriate toys. On the other hand I could leave it to the bloke who services my baby - since a new chain is just about due.

Its weird though - I just cant believe you could cross-thread the bugger if the bolt never is removed from the upper part of the swingarm. I've torqued the bolt up as tight as I dare for the moment - my luck the moment I try to remove it completely to assess the damage the bolt is gonna shear!

 

The thing that makes the most sense to me is that the bolt was over-torqued or torqued one to many times, not crossed. You would definately have known it was crossed when you tightened it down, the bolt would have been extremely hard to turn for several turns.
I've thought about the same thing happening - 54 lbs in the aluminum swingarm every time the chain is adjusted - over an over the threads may give out.
I wouldnt worry about backing the bolt all the way out - it's a big bolt, its in aluminum, and it's got to come out no way around that. I wonder if helicoil makes the right size/pitch insert? let us know how you fix it.

...you do use a torque wrench on that bolt, right?

 

Put this one down to experience..

Problem solved guys. Two things have come to light. Firstly the pinch bolt. Its fine - nothing wrong with it, but what I did discover was that small shards of alloy (presumably from the swingarm thread) had been pressed into the bolts thread. According to the guy who does the techo servicing of my bike, this can sometime occur - hence the need to make sure the bolts torqued to the right tension I guess. Tighten and untighten the bolt enough though and maybe sooner or later.... :twitch: Yep - torque wrench in the toolbox so I'm assuming that its been a build up from the previous owner perhaps.

As for the chain becoming very loose it was therefore never a case of the bolt not being torqued incorrectly and the hub being loose...it was the chain itself.

I knew the chain was on its way out, red rust on a couple of links meant that the seals keeping the inner lube inside had failed, even though I keep the chain lube up to it. With the ride that I took that day, it meant that the chain simply overheated and stretched - big time! My bike guru recommends that you keep to short trips - like around town if your chain gets like mine was. Or be prepared to carry chain lube with you along with chain adjustment tools!

So the mystery is solved and I'm a little wiser for it - needless to say the bikes new chain will be fitted shortly..:redface:

Ride safe all.