I agree with you about the chain slack. All the adjustment I have talked about was done on the side stand. I cannot tell by eye how much slack I gave it (my mind still works in metric system), but I'll measure that tonight. In any case, as I said, the chain noise is gone. I'm still not sure if it was a combination of chain adjustment plus torque on rear axle. However, this morning coming to work the rear brake start to get stuck again. This is driving me crazy and I don't understand why. As I mentioned in a previous email, last night I re check the rear axle by re tightening it with a torque wrench at 65 lb-ft. I'm starting to think the problem is inside the drum. Any suggestions?
Javier. On Thu, May 20, 2010 at 5:16 AM, jgalban <[email protected]> wrote: > > A centerstand is a good idea and makes lubing easier, but you're going > to want to check the chain slack with the bike on the sidestand. The > chain gets tighter as the suspension is loaded and the procedure from > the manual indicates that the slack should be checked with the bike on > the sidestand. Last month my buddy adjusted his Nighthawk's chain > with the bike on the centerstand, he commented that his chain sounded > noisier. The bike was on the sidestand when I checked it and the > chain tension was tighter than a banjo string. > > For proper slack, just move the chain up and down at the midpoint > between the sprockets. Honda says 3/4" to 1 1/4" of play is good. I > would highly recommend the looser end of the spec. Tight chains tend > to wear much faster. Every tiime you go over a bump, the suspension > compresses and the chain tightens up. If you're already at 3/4" > standing still, that's going to put a lot of stress on the chain. My > last chain I kept at the loose end of the spec and only had to adjust > it 3 times in 24K miles. > > Now for the possible bad news. My last chain still had plenty of life > left on the wear indicator when I had to replace it. The goofball > that installed my last tire didn't put the wheel back on straight and > the cocked angle ended up damaging some of the O-rings after a few > thousand miles. Even after I figured it out and readjusted it, it > was too late. The symptom was a lot like yours. At first I had a > mild clunking that I only felt when taking off from a stop. > Eventually it got worse and began doing it at highway speed. No > amount of lubing or adjustment would make it go away, so I had to > spring for a new chain and sprockets. > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Nighthawk Motorcycle Lovers!" group. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected]<nighthawk_lovers%[email protected]> > . > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/nighthawk_lovers?hl=en. > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Nighthawk Motorcycle Lovers!" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/nighthawk_lovers?hl=en.
