Do I need to pull cam and tensioner???

Hi guys,
I just got home from 2 months away on a job, pulled the forks and changed fluid and seals, took the bike out for a ride (about 100 miles trying to finally get the rings seated), and it got a progressively worse tick on the way home. Decided I'd better open it up and check the valves, and one of the adjusters was MISSING! I feel like a damn fool, because I'm the one that set them during the build. Anyway... i got the screw out of the chain valley with a magnet, but have yet to find the nut. Even went to the extent of pulling the pan, and clutch cover to make sure it wasn"t there ( more like hoping it was). The question is, as I believe it has to be somewhere in the chain galley, how hard is it to pull a cam and tensioner out with the motor in the chassis? I cant think of where else it would be, and thank God it didn't destroy my engine when it came loose.

 

If it's the rear cylinders it's pretty easy. The fronts are a little harder because radiator has to come off and your working behind/under the forks, but it's not to bad just time consuming. Did you check the whole head area? I think there are places the nut could hide out of site. Don't think there is any place it could fall to without going in to the pan. But I could be wrong, it happened once.................

 

Thanks for the response Grey, I have pulled both valve covers (intending to run the rack), radiator, exhaust, oil pan, clutch cover and have scaled about every inch of the head and down thru the chain channel with a magnet, which is where the adjuster screw was, but still have yet to find the nut. I just really dont want to pull the cams and tensioner but I have to think it got in behind it or one of the slippers. I also find it hard to believe it wasn't laying in the pan. It almost has to be in the head or the chain canal.
Just wondering what I may need to look for, or be aware of, in pulling the tensioner as this engine was already apart when I got it.

 

Thank goodness, after 2 days of digging for the nut, I finally caught a glimpse of it stuck under the lower slipper, right about where I knew it had to be!!!!!!!!! No pulling of cams, tensioner , nothing. On to rerun the rack and make SURE it is all tight and buttoned up, then to get the carbs resync'ed. I can't believe it didn't damage anything, or blow the front right out of the motor. I guess I've been doing something right lately to have this good fortune.

 

Well done. Any amateur mechanic worth his salt has dropped something down the camchain tunnel. It's what they are there for. In my case a tiny spanner when I was adjusting the valves on a VF400.