Gen1 Cam Chain Tensioner (CCT) Replacement Lessons Learned

[Patriot]

I guess I should search and research opinions on how necessary valve checks are and how often...huuuuuuummmmmmmmmmm...

This might help, Mike: Valve Check vs Adjust Poll

damn Fred...amazing...are you my long lost older brother who keeps me in check ??? :yahoo:

No way!! I might be your long lost younger, more handsome brother that keep you in check though...

OK, then...and let's not mention our other two siblings Daryl and Daryl :blink:

 

[dingofarmer]

I just did my CCT on my 2003 with 36,000miles. This thread was great, however I have some tips that may make someone else's life much easier.

I noticed a lot of noise from the cct after warm up and over a period of 500miles it became very pronounced. I purchesed the newer blue dot part. I will throw in some added notes that will augment the original post instructions.

First,remove the lower fairing and don't forget the three screws on the bottom.

Remove the right side silver panel and both black plastic pieces that are just below the tank. remove the two tank bolts and suspend the tank up by whatever method is safe, you will need at least 12 inches of room. move the black rubber piece and you should have a good view of the CCT. Remove the grey rubber plug that is in the frame. loosen the top bolt that also holds the idle set screw, move the bracket down if you can.

Tool check time.

two 8mm wrenches,

one long, long thin flat tip crew driver

one 5-6in ratchet extention, 1/4

one 10mm shallow 1/4 socket, and some tape or gum

one very long set of neadle nose plyers, harbor frieght sells a pack of 6 for 6 bucks.

Dremel or friend with one or a grinder.

one zip tie

one 10mm long socket as mentioned by the other guy, thanks for the picture, it was worth a thousnd words.

two different allens,

remove the allen bolts holding the engine cover on, gently loosen each by just a bit in a star/car tire pattern, loosen the larger one in the center. remove the cover gently as the gasket is delicate. Now do a check and ensure that the lower guide dowel pin is still in its place, if it is in the cover like me, stop and gently tap the guide up untill you can fully insert the dowel in its proper place.

Inspect your chain at this point, mine was almost new looking. gently insert the deep 10mm socket in the place seen in the picture earlyer, and use a zip tie to secure the chain, wrap it around the guide and snug it up. Your now done in this area.

with one hand, hold the 10mm short socket on the screw that is in the middle of the cct, while holding the socket, gently insert the ratchet extention through the hole in the frame and secure it to the socket. now lossen this screw. Once the screw is off, hold the socket with one hand and remove the extention, then the socket and screw, tape or gum is nice, there is a hollow part of the frame that stuff can dissapear in so watch out. instert the screw driver, and turn CW until you feel a slight lock. this just retracted the CCT, which will make removal much easyer, the previous step made sure that the chain did not loosen causeing a possible tooth skip.

Now here is the awesome part, called awesome part 1. there are two 8mm bolts that hold the CCT to the engine as mention before, the top bolt is self explanitory, the bottom is the focus of hell. take a 8mm wrench and cut it in half with the open end just slightly shorter than the box end. take the other 8mm and loosen the bottom bolt, hopefully you can get at least a slight turn, this was enough to initialy loosen it. nowloosen the top bolt just a bit. use your new factory yamaha wrench and start the process of loosening the bottom bolt take turn to loosen the top. once the bolt is almost out, place you right hand pinky on the top of the bottom bolt from the top access, basketball player hands will have trouble. While doing this use you left hand index finger and place it on the bottom of the bottom bolt, use both hands to gently loosen the bolt until it comes out, this was actually easier towards the end than the wrench. do the same once you tighten it.

Once the bolts are out, gently bring the CCT down and out through the bottom of the frame, it should come out fine. Chek the CCT feature of the unit to understand how it works.

take the new gasket and use a little dab of something (gasket sealer) to keep the gasket on the new CCT, you don't need to remove the T-pin, but if you do, you will need to wind it up CW, and hold the plunger in with your hand and insert the t-pins, i would not even think about trying to install it fully extended. Be carefull to ensure that the gasket stays put on install. Line up the New CCT blue dot up, use your other hand to start the top bolt, once it is somewhat snug, use the two handed technique stated earlier to start the bottom bolt, to turn the bolt with the mini wrench like hell. once both bolts are snug, tighten the top, dont get crazy with this, use the mini wrench to tighten the lower bolt, once your ready to put a little torque on it use the open end of the other 8mm, and push the end of the wrench with the open end and push towards the engine block, just a little, but you will not have enough leverage on the mini wrench alone. Remove the t-pin with the neadle nose plyers. you should hear a pronounced click sound, if you are worried that it has not extended, simply turn the adjustment screw CW two rotations and let the screw driver rotate CCW in your hand as stated in the earler post. Once you few ok, screw the 10mm bolt in this spot in a similar manor as the removal.

Remove the socket that you jammed next to the guide, and cut the zip tie, it may tighten up some as your old CCT may have not had enough force to fully do its job. Button up the cover and I re-used the gasket, tighten the screw that you loosened that holds the idle set screw. start putting everything back togeather, take your time and consult your parts bin and manual, extra parts are badddddd.

Cross your fingers and start it up, no really taking off the bottom cover is so easy that I would recommend it, plus you get a chance to check out the condition of you chain and see just how much it may have streached. Hope this helps and sorry if I'm re stating stuff said before. I originally had lots of questions and this was the way that I went about this, took about 2 hours, and my bike now sounds great, the difference was very noticeable, and the old CCT had little to no life left.

 

[Donal]

I just did my CCT on my 2003 with 36,000miles. This thread was great, however I have some tips that may make someone else's life much easier.

I noticed a lot of noise from the cct after warm up and over a period of 500miles it became very pronounced. I purchesed the newer blue dot part. I will throw in some added notes that will augment the original post instructions.

First,remove the lower fairing and don't forget the three screws on the bottom.

Remove the right side silver panel and both black plastic pieces that are just below the tank. remove the two tank bolts and suspend the tank up by whatever method is safe, you will need at least 12 inches of room. move the black rubber piece and you should have a good view of the CCT. Remove the grey rubber plug that is in the frame. loosen the top bolt that also holds the idle set screw, move the bracket down if you can.

Tool check time.

two 8mm wrenches,

one long, long thin flat tip crew driver

one 5-6in ratchet extention, 1/4

one 10mm shallow 1/4 socket, and some tape or gum

one very long set of neadle nose plyers, harbor frieght sells a pack of 6 for 6 bucks.

Dremel or friend with one or a grinder.

one zip tie

one 10mm long socket as mentioned by the other guy, thanks for the picture, it was worth a thousnd words.

two different allens,

remove the allen bolts holding the engine cover on, gently loosen each by just a bit in a star/car tire pattern, loosen the larger one in the center. remove the cover gently as the gasket is delicate. Now do a check and ensure that the lower guide dowel pin is still in its place, if it is in the cover like me, stop and gently tap the guide up untill you can fully insert the dowel in its proper place.

Inspect your chain at this point, mine was almost new looking. gently insert the deep 10mm socket in the place seen in the picture earlyer, and use a zip tie to secure the chain, wrap it around the guide and snug it up. Your now done in this area.

with one hand, hold the 10mm short socket on the screw that is in the middle of the cct, while holding the socket, gently insert the ratchet extention through the hole in the frame and secure it to the socket. now lossen this screw. Once the screw is off, hold the socket with one hand and remove the extention, then the socket and screw, tape or gum is nice, there is a hollow part of the frame that stuff can dissapear in so watch out. instert the screw driver, and turn CW until you feel a slight lock. this just retracted the CCT, which will make removal much easyer, the previous step made sure that the chain did not loosen causeing a possible tooth skip.

Now here is the awesome part, called awesome part 1. there are two 8mm bolts that hold the CCT to the engine as mention before, the top bolt is self explanitory, the bottom is the focus of hell. take a 8mm wrench and cut it in half with the open end just slightly shorter than the box end. take the other 8mm and loosen the bottom bolt, hopefully you can get at least a slight turn, this was enough to initialy loosen it. nowloosen the top bolt just a bit. use your new factory yamaha wrench and start the process of loosening the bottom bolt take turn to loosen the top. once the bolt is almost out, place you right hand pinky on the top of the bottom bolt from the top access, basketball player hands will have trouble. While doing this use you left hand index finger and place it on the bottom of the bottom bolt, use both hands to gently loosen the bolt until it comes out, this was actually easier towards the end than the wrench. do the same once you tighten it.

Once the bolts are out, gently bring the CCT down and out through the bottom of the frame, it should come out fine. Chek the CCT feature of the unit to understand how it works.

take the new gasket and use a little dab of something (gasket sealer) to keep the gasket on the new CCT, you don't need to remove the T-pin, but if you do, you will need to wind it up CW, and hold the plunger in with your hand and insert the t-pins, i would not even think about trying to install it fully extended. Be carefull to ensure that the gasket stays put on install. Line up the New CCT blue dot up, use your other hand to start the top bolt, once it is somewhat snug, use the two handed technique stated earlier to start the bottom bolt, to turn the bolt with the mini wrench like hell. once both bolts are snug, tighten the top, dont get crazy with this, use the mini wrench to tighten the lower bolt, once your ready to put a little torque on it use the open end of the other 8mm, and push the end of the wrench with the open end and push towards the engine block, just a little, but you will not have enough leverage on the mini wrench alone. Remove the t-pin with the neadle nose plyers. you should hear a pronounced click sound, if you are worried that it has not extended, simply turn the adjustment screw CW two rotations and let the screw driver rotate CCW in your hand as stated in the earler post. Once you few ok, screw the 10mm bolt in this spot in a similar manor as the removal.

Remove the socket that you jammed next to the guide, and cut the zip tie, it may tighten up some as your old CCT may have not had enough force to fully do its job. Button up the cover and I re-used the gasket, tighten the screw that you loosened that holds the idle set screw. start putting everything back togeather, take your time and consult your parts bin and manual, extra parts are badddddd.

Cross your fingers and start it up, no really taking off the bottom cover is so easy that I would recommend it, plus you get a chance to check out the condition of you chain and see just how much it may have streached. Hope this helps and sorry if I'm re stating stuff said before. I originally had lots of questions and this was the way that I went about this, took about 2 hours, and my bike now sounds great, the difference was very noticeable, and the old CCT had little to no life left.

Very nice, very clear, puts everything in place. Thank you :clapping:

Don

 

[clocklaw]

Thanks for all the info guys, since I am already deep into my FJR (working on the Starter) and have the throttle bodies loose, I am planning to replace the CCT and check the Valve Clearances before buttoning it all back up....at 28K it should be due.

 

[dannymax]

I just ordered a new CCT for my '05 w/30K. The parts supplier informed me that the old CCT is still available (with the '01' number) but they would give me the upgraded one at no extra charge (I expected this anyway).

So, when ordering another CCT be sure to request the CCT with 10 instead of 01 in part the number. (part & box shown in an earlier post)

 

[FJRBluesman]

Edited original post Important Hints & Notes:

Edit 5/14/11 NOTE: 1a) I just did my second CCT removal/install (I bought another 2005 FJR this time with ABS). I did the same stuff as before except.. I took haulinasche's suggestion and secured the cam chain. I removed the stator cover and tied the cam chain across both front and rear so the chain was squeezed by the tie wrap above the crank sprocket, as close to center as I could. I also used a sprocket as shown in this thread by others as backup if the tie wrap let go. I can now see how it could move and possibly jump a tooth. With everything off and retracting the CCT I could see the slack coming. It still has quite a ways to go, but I guess it’s possible. I absolutely recommend doing this to help prevent any aggravation. The gasket for the stator cover was under $4, not much more time for peace of mind.

Other issues I ran into: The lower CCT bolt did not work well with my ratchet wrench this time. I had to resort to my cut 8mm socket and wobble extension, that did the trick this time. Upper bolt ratchet wrench did awesome! I guess not every Feej is alike. It was real easy again and much quicker since I know what I’m doing. My old CCT was weaker in the resistance department. Glad I changed it. Also it is more quite again.

Observations: My old 19K CCT was weaker in the tension department. New one was very good in extractor tension. Also bike is more quiet. It didn’t make much noise compared to my old one I knew the CCT was not doing its job well. But after changing this one, the bike is more quiet. Glad I did it… again.

 

[TomInPA]

Simon, I just finished doing the CCT replacement (at only 27K miles), and want to thank you for this helpful thread. We all have our small variations to make things a bit easier. I tied the cam chain in place and went into overkill mode tying the chain at the cam sprockets as well as jamming several sockets between the case and chain slippers inside the timing cover area. NOTHING moved. Since I am doing valve checks, I have open access to the cams and can spot the timing marks anyway.

I removed the clutch cover. Seriously an easy thing to do, no oil loss or anything, and that gave me plenty of room to swing wrenches on that lower bolt on the CCT. Almost too easy, and of course, without the cover, the CCTs can be slid out of the frame are and the new one put in with lots of visibility and room for fat fingers. Instead of Vaseline, I used a trick suggested by the Yamaha mechanic here and used a tiny dab of grip glue to hold the gasket. I will use the same for replacing the valve cover gasket. Just a tiny dab at each end of the gasket holds it nicely, and it wont' be a mess or hurt the seal.

After removing the keeper on the CCT, It made an audible sound as it ratcheted into place and the chain is tight. I did not do any retracting, just put the keeper bolt back in.

Thanks again.

Tom

 

[rbentnail]

I just did my CCT on my 2003 with 36,000miles. This thread was great, however I have some tips that may make someone else's life much easier.

I noticed a lot of noise from the cct after warm up and over a period of 500miles it became very pronounced. I purchesed the newer blue dot part. I will throw in some added notes that will augment the original post instructions.

First,remove the lower fairing and don't forget the three screws on the bottom.

Remove the right side silver panel and both black plastic pieces that are just below the tank. remove the two tank bolts and suspend the tank up by whatever method is safe, you will need at least 12 inches of room. move the black rubber piece and you should have a good view of the CCT. Remove the grey rubber plug that is in the frame. loosen the top bolt that also holds the idle set screw, move the bracket down if you can.

Tool check time.

two 8mm wrenches,

one long, long thin flat tip crew driver

one 5-6in ratchet extention, 1/4

one 10mm shallow 1/4 socket, and some tape or gum

one very long set of neadle nose plyers, harbor frieght sells a pack of 6 for 6 bucks.

Dremel or friend with one or a grinder.

one zip tie

one 10mm long socket as mentioned by the other guy, thanks for the picture, it was worth a thousnd words.

two different allens,

remove the allen bolts holding the engine cover on, gently loosen each by just a bit in a star/car tire pattern, loosen the larger one in the center. remove the cover gently as the gasket is delicate. Now do a check and ensure that the lower guide dowel pin is still in its place, if it is in the cover like me, stop and gently tap the guide up untill you can fully insert the dowel in its proper place.

Inspect your chain at this point, mine was almost new looking. gently insert the deep 10mm socket in the place seen in the picture earlyer, and use a zip tie to secure the chain, wrap it around the guide and snug it up. Your now done in this area.

with one hand, hold the 10mm short socket on the screw that is in the middle of the cct, while holding the socket, gently insert the ratchet extention through the hole in the frame and secure it to the socket. now lossen this screw. Once the screw is off, hold the socket with one hand and remove the extention, then the socket and screw, tape or gum is nice, there is a hollow part of the frame that stuff can dissapear in so watch out. instert the screw driver, and turn CW until you feel a slight lock. this just retracted the CCT, which will make removal much easyer, the previous step made sure that the chain did not loosen causeing a possible tooth skip.

Now here is the awesome part, called awesome part 1. there are two 8mm bolts that hold the CCT to the engine as mention before, the top bolt is self explanitory, the bottom is the focus of hell. take a 8mm wrench and cut it in half with the open end just slightly shorter than the box end. take the other 8mm and loosen the bottom bolt, hopefully you can get at least a slight turn, this was enough to initialy loosen it. nowloosen the top bolt just a bit. use your new factory yamaha wrench and start the process of loosening the bottom bolt take turn to loosen the top. once the bolt is almost out, place you right hand pinky on the top of the bottom bolt from the top access, basketball player hands will have trouble. While doing this use you left hand index finger and place it on the bottom of the bottom bolt, use both hands to gently loosen the bolt until it comes out, this was actually easier towards the end than the wrench. do the same once you tighten it.

Once the bolts are out, gently bring the CCT down and out through the bottom of the frame, it should come out fine. Chek the CCT feature of the unit to understand how it works.

take the new gasket and use a little dab of something (gasket sealer) to keep the gasket on the new CCT, you don't need to remove the T-pin, but if you do, you will need to wind it up CW, and hold the plunger in with your hand and insert the t-pins, i would not even think about trying to install it fully extended. Be carefull to ensure that the gasket stays put on install. Line up the New CCT blue dot up, use your other hand to start the top bolt, once it is somewhat snug, use the two handed technique stated earlier to start the bottom bolt, to turn the bolt with the mini wrench like hell. once both bolts are snug, tighten the top, dont get crazy with this, use the mini wrench to tighten the lower bolt, once your ready to put a little torque on it use the open end of the other 8mm, and push the end of the wrench with the open end and push towards the engine block, just a little, but you will not have enough leverage on the mini wrench alone. Remove the t-pin with the neadle nose plyers. you should hear a pronounced click sound, if you are worried that it has not extended, simply turn the adjustment screw CW two rotations and let the screw driver rotate CCW in your hand as stated in the earler post. Once you few ok, screw the 10mm bolt in this spot in a similar manor as the removal.

Remove the socket that you jammed next to the guide, and cut the zip tie, it may tighten up some as your old CCT may have not had enough force to fully do its job. Button up the cover and I re-used the gasket, tighten the screw that you loosened that holds the idle set screw. start putting everything back togeather, take your time and consult your parts bin and manual, extra parts are badddddd.

Cross your fingers and start it up, no really taking off the bottom cover is so easy that I would recommend it, plus you get a chance to check out the condition of you chain and see just how much it may have streached. Hope this helps and sorry if I'm re stating stuff said before. I originally had lots of questions and this was the way that I went about this, took about 2 hours, and my bike now sounds great, the difference was very noticeable, and the old CCT had little to no life left.

Add to the list of required tools: Hacksaw with 32 tpi blade.

Use it to cut a slot across the head of the 10mm bolt that goes into where the locking T-post is pulled out. This allows for easier screwdriver tightening and loosening for valve adjustments. Just a little thing to remove a bit of aggravation in the years to come.

 

[FJRBluesman]

Simon, I just finished doing the CCT replacement (at only 27K miles), and want to thank you for this helpful thread. We all have our small variations to make things a bit easier. I tied the cam chain in place and went into overkill mode tying the chain at the cam sprockets as well as jamming several sockets between the case and chain slippers inside the timing cover area. NOTHING moved. Since I am doing valve checks, I have open access to the cams and can spot the timing marks anyway.

I removed the clutch cover. Seriously an easy thing to do, no oil loss or anything, and that gave me plenty of room to swing wrenches on that lower bolt on the CCT. Almost too easy, and of course, without the cover, the CCTs can be slid out of the frame are and the new one put in with lots of visibility and room for fat fingers. Instead of Vaseline, I used a trick suggested by the Yamaha mechanic here and used a tiny dab of grip glue to hold the gasket. I will use the same for replacing the valve cover gasket. Just a tiny dab at each end of the gasket holds it nicely, and it wont' be a mess or hurt the seal.

After removing the keeper on the CCT, It made an audible sound as it ratcheted into place and the chain is tight. I did not do any retracting, just put the keeper bolt back in.

Thanks again.

Tom

Tom - Gets the award for helping perfect the CCT replacement! Huge props to Tom! :yahoo: I highly recommend removing the clutch cover. Adding this to the original post.
I just rode down to Glamisking's and helped him replace his CCT, my third CCT replacement on Gen1's. Let me say this about that.... Each bike is unique and no replacement seems to be the same. Glamisking's 2003 seemed like the CCT was closer to the frame and the access hole in the frame was nowhere near close for any help except getting the center cover bolt out for manually using a screw driver to actuate the CCT plunger.

After each of us taking many turns trying to use the wobble extension and cut socket, ratcheting box end wrench, we decided to yank the clutch cover, per Tom's post. Easy peasy, about 10 bolts (I didn't count) and it came right off. Like Tom mentioned no oil came out at all, the clutch is not sitting in a bath of oil like the old days, it's only getting splashed with oil. That would explain sticky clutch plates and why they don't loosen up after just sitting. NOTE: EXTREME CAUTION! With the clutch cover off, you also have direct access to the lower end connecting rod and crank. This area leads right down to the bottom of the engine case. If anything falls in, YOU’RE HOSED!

Make sure you cover the area with something so NOTHING falls in there, we used foil, worked great.

We finally got the lower bolt out, but man, it took forever. Popped the new CCT in and buttoned it up nice and sweet. What I thought would take 45 minutes took over three hours, but it also included a trip to the store for a magnet to fish out the socket that fell in the frame, gas station, and lunch. Thanks for Lunch Peter, that was good.

Peter's bike is much quieter and he had a big smile on his face. Another happy customer.

 

[garauld]

OK, I just checked the valves at 39k - all in spec. I plan to replace the CCT now. Is MR Cycles still the best (cheapest) place to buy one as well as other parts? It is a bit pricey. Thanks.

 

[Patriot]

OK, I just checked the valves at 39k - all in spec. I plan to replace the CCT now. Is MR Cycles still the best (cheapest) place to buy one as well as other parts? It is a bit pricey. Thanks.

I'm a big fan of www.ronayers.com

 

[GalaxyBlue]

Soo... When is the next socal tech day? I'd be in for getting this done!

I got a court date <_< in Temecula on 3/20 so that weekend prior would be good.

 

[SkooterG]

OK, I just checked the valves at 39k - all in spec. I plan to replace the CCT now. Is MR Cycles still the best (cheapest) place to buy one as well as other parts? It is a bit pricey. Thanks.

cyclepartswarehouse.com

 

[garauld]

OK, I got the old CCT out without any issues. I did not remove the primary drive cover - there was plenty of room to drop the CCT out once I moved the idle adjust out of the way, but then again, I have a Gen I bike. The primary cover gasket would have cost about $10. I bought the parts from PartShark.com - they were about the least costly with the tensioner priced at $76.

 

[SkooterG]

OK, I got the old CCT out without any issues. I did not remove the primary drive cover - there was plenty of room to drop the CCT out once I moved the idle adjust out of the way, but then again, I have a Gen I bike. The primary cover gasket would have cost about $10. I bought the parts from PartShark.com - they were about the least costly with the tensioner priced at $76.

Yeah, there are a couple places that sell the CCT for $76.25 before shipping, so it all comes down to which of those has the cheapest shipping.

Be careful! Do I understand you didn't remove the cover for the chain? Best practice is to zip-tie the cam chain if all tension is off it as it can skip a tooth on the crankshaft sprocket if it is slack. Don't ask several of us how we know that!

 

[wheatonFJR]

Be careful! Do I understand you didn't remove the cover for the chain?

:dribble: :dribble: :dribble:

Ruh Roh!

Definitely check your timing marks before firing that sucker up...

 

[garauld]

I removed the timing chain cover and zip-tied the chain before I pulled the tensioner. I did not need to remove the primary (clutch) cover to drop out the tensioner from below.

 

[fudgejerkin1188]

Wedge the tensioner blade in place with a small socket

Buy a cheap 1/4 inch socket and expansion bar then grind and slightly bend to fit

new one being put in place

quick and easy job

new V old

 

[TomInPA]

The clutch cover gasket is very durable. No problem removing the cover and reusing the gasket.

As far as grinding a solid 1/4 extension, I used a flex extension with the same effect. Useful for a lot of projects, no grinding needed.

 

[fudgejerkin1188]

The clutch cover gasket is very durable. No problem removing the cover and reusing the gasket.

As far as grinding a solid 1/4 extension, I used a flex extension with the same effect. Useful for a lot of projects, no grinding needed.

Flexible drive, why didn't I think of that. Got one for my 3/8 inch not found one in 1/4 inch yet, I shall start looking.