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Installed the manual cam chain tensioner from APE

61K views 177 replies 35 participants last post by  Wynnded 
#1 · (Edited)
A bit slow getting back to this, but I had to order a new O-ring from the dealer (ridiculously priced at $10 as it is a pair in a set, but you only need the larger one and not the smaller that goes on the black unit's plunger) as I wanted a fresh one in when I pulled the 3rd Gen. tensioner off the K1200GT (the black hydraulic cylinder one mentioned.).

The "Beta" one that APE gave me for a trial fit worked well, although I have to get back to them on the measurements for the bore and first and second bore fitment. Not a big issue to install and maybe 1 hour at most as I'm slow and I took a lot of photos too. I had only about 0.200" threads left before it hit bottom so that thread length may need to be a bit longer too.

No issue getting the old one off using a 1/4" swivel and an 1/4" 6-point socket on a hand driver. Some external Torx screw they use in there, but the small 1/4" socket did the job.

I ran the screw down until it bottomed out by hand, then wrenched in an additional 1/8 turn. Put the bike in 6th gear, and rotated the tire back-and-forth to get any more slop out of the cam chain. Then backed the adjuster off, and hand-screwed it down tight again, added 1/8 turn, and then backed it off 90 degrees.

Tightened up the lock nut (either a 5/8" or 16mm combo wrench will work) and fired the beast up. Absolutely NO cam chain noise at all on firing up, and no oil leak...yet. :)

I need to get all my measurements back to APE this week and see what they say. Their machinist was a bit worried about the dimensions of the upper bore for the bike and he has a lot more meat there he can deal with to make the device more rigid.

Fwiw:
I tried to post the photos of the unit and the install on the 2006 K1200GT (should be good for all K44 series engines: i.e. K1200/K1300), but seems I'm max'd out on what this site allows for photos. :mad:


Mack
 
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#2 ·
Any clue if/when this will be available for sale?

I noticed that there web site has one listed for the 1000rr. Is it the same for the k1200 series?

Bill
 
#3 ·
KR-Rider said:
I noticed that there web site has one listed for the 1000rr. Is it the same for the k1200 series?

Bill
They are different.

The one they showed me for the S1000RR is a screw-in thing like some oil sender unit. The K-44 engined (1200/1300cc) bikes use a flat flange-mount with two really odd external Torx screws (where my 1/4" 6-point socket on a 1/4" swivel worked really well) to hold the assembly down. I was very surprised they had one for the S1000RR as I never heard of a cam chain jump on that engine on any of the S-forum boards since I also own one. Guess some racers are "old school" still and they prefer manual adjusters, or maybe they just don't want any excess friction caused by a hydraulic tensioner? The APE sales guy said they were contacted by some S1000RR race group so they made them for that bike. They are blister-pack wrapped (on a hanging cardboard thing) so they can be sold at dealers I guess.

No telling if they (i.e. APE Racing in Rosamond, CA) will make them for sale for the K-44 series. That's their decision, but calling them and asking them for the unit couldn't hurt. I've just packaged up all the sketches and photos and will send it off Monday to them.

All I can say is it really fires up quietly now and without the inconstant clattering it had before. I don't know how much pressure remains on that plunger affair that BMW currently uses, but I could see it loosening or maybe getting kicked back which allows the jump and sundry expenses to occur. I'm still not 100% convinced that plastic guard will keep the chain on the crank sprocket. Just seems too flimsy to me and steel chain on plastic with no backing (ergo, flimsy) cannot be good. Least I've maybe covered two bases now with both the BMW chain guard addition and the APE tensioner too. There's no way that guard could get kicked back and allow for excess slack in the chain now as there is no spring nor hydraulics behind it.

My only wish is to maybe have a bit more adjustment length, maybe 1/4" more would be sufficient as it's almost 2" extended now from tip to bottom of the base plate. It isn't at full length yet, but maybe one or two turns more and I'd be out of adjustment room. Much longer and it would be hard to angle it int there due to the frame though. Their CNC machinist I spoke to would like more thread meat on the flange plate - and they could do that too as there is room in the engine cavity stepped bore. For now, I'll leave it on and see how it goes.

Too bad I can't post the photos due to the 5MB photo limits imposed on this site as you could see what it looks like and how much further I have to go. Guess in nearly 2,500 posts, I ate up my 5MB bandwidth somehow.

Anyway, here's to hoping I won't have to mess with it again . . . I hope. :dunno:


Mack
 
#4 ·
Hey Mack, can't you go into your control panel here and delete some of the old pictures? It would be cool to see some of this install.
 
#5 ·
Robert_W said:
Hey Mack, can't you go into your control panel here and delete some of the old pictures? It would be cool to see some of this install.
Wish I could. I only show 5 photos in my "Gallery" and no where near the 5MB the site allows, but I get the 'Max'd Out Warning" if I try to add even a 90KB image. Maybe they meant 5KB? Or there is something else somewhere I can't find to delete? I dunno. I give up. It ain't that easy to find nor navigate in that area. Lucky I could even upload back then. :confused:


Mack
 
#7 ·
Bah! No workie!

I decided to take a 100 mile test run since it relatively cool at less than 95 degrees F. Roads are all torn up, dirt construction and stop-and-go traffic, and about 1-2 miles from home, a bright RED Exclamation Mark warning gets thrown up on the dash along with the Oil Can image. This is only occurring at idle, so I thought "Low oil?" maybe?

Called off the test run and went back home base for more oil. Oil is full, maybe too much too. :confused:

Back to the APE tensioner since it was the only thing messed with...

I'm now suspecting the oil galley that formerly fed the BMW hydraulic tensioner which was somewhat blocked by the long BMW piston from losing oil pressure, is now losing pressure at idle due to the threaded portion of the APE tensioner. Oil must be freely flowing out of that galley and around the threaded section (there is no piston to make up the bore there) and it throws up the "Low Oil Pressure" (I'm guessing?) fault. Anything above 1300-1400 RPM and the red exclamation goes away so I'm guessing the oil pressure is higher off idle and too low at idle.

Guess I'll have to talk to the APE guys this week.


Mack
 
#8 ·
Wow! Shot a bunch of photos and sketches via email to them this afternoon and I find the APE Racing guys are working on this - and on a Sunday evening? :clap:

Anyway, they are turning the design over to their machinist Ben for a rework of the body or something to cover and seal that oil galley hole. They said the same thing occurred on the Yamaha R6 design so they are aware of it.

I thought just a thin sleeve would do the trick, but the hole extends down into the piston body as well so oil can get in there and go around the threads on their tensioner and you have less oil pressure as a result. You can see part of the cut on the very far left inside the bore in this photo:



Now we wait a bit. I may fab up something myself in the meantime. :popcorn:

Aside, I'm sort of amazed the little Canon G9 P&S camera can take such sweet closeup photos. :)


Mack
 
#10 ·
Thomas-M said:
:clap: You're doing a better job of this than BMW!
Thanks, and keep posting. I'll be saving my pennies for when production part goes on sale!
Tom
Thanks Tom.

I tore into again this morning and I think I figured out a way to stop the "oil galley free-flow" escapade. I did an overlay of what I suspect will work and seal off the oil galley on their flange as they supplied me on the beta version. I just sent this to them a few minutes ago. We'll see...



The red area in the diagram/photo is where the oil flows around the thread and into the engine and I suspect where I was losing oil pressure at idle. With the long BMW hydraulic piston in there, that cannot happen easily.

I'm still wondering why BMW allowed so much compression on their piston that could account for the skipped-chain event. The way it is designed, if ANY particle gets into the small check valve ball that is inside the piston, then it could easily compress and the guard will kick back and the chain skip will occur (and your engine is toast). When I took it off this AM, there was debris around the lip of the oil galley (I took a photo of it too as I didn't believe it when I saw it.). Trust me, your filter ain't getting all the crap floating around in there. If that crap had gotten into the check-ball seat of the piston, then I could see it compressing and maybe a chain jump occurring. In some posts on this forum, the BMW mandate mentions "Pumping up that piston with oil until it no longer compresses." Wonder how may actually do that?

On the Gen. I models that had the spring, the piston may have not been able to compress fully. With the Gen II with the hydraulic cylinder, who knows? Someone mentioned they thought the later models (Gen. II tensioners) were cratering more engines. Maybe the piston less that spring allows that? I dunno.

Anyway, I'm awaiting APE's ideas since the photo overlay was sent.


Mack
 
#11 ·
Update: Monday, June 27,2011.

Heard back from the APE Racing machinist over the weekend. They wanted to know the "Viability?" and "How bad this problem was?" I forwarded some links to this site and seems this cam chain thing is up to around 25,000+ posts in various threads on this site alone so they seem interested. I had to make some more measurements for them on the subsequent reply.

During the wait, I thought I might be able to make a sleeve and seal off the oil galley port with some small red brass tubing I annealed. No luck. Insufficient room due to the step in the bore with their tensioner. It would be nice to have a small machinist's lathe, but I gave up.

What was disturbing during all of this was that the chain guard in the bike moved outwards by maybe more than an inch since the tensioners have been off the bike. It hasn't been started or moved, but the guard has moved outward all by itself. Odd.

When I went to reinstall the APE tensioner, the plunger was still locked in the extended mode and maybe 2+" out. I had to unscrew it for more than an inch to get it to go back into the bike as it was hitting the guard which was pushed outward now. Once loosened up, I installed it and screwed the plunger back down to where it was initially in the adjustment range. That was a lot of adjustment range that had been introduced.

I did spot some debris in the step in the piston bore too. Just enough that it bothered me and I took photos of it too before using a Q-tip to wipe it out. If any of that stuff had gotten into the check-ball valve in the hydraulic plunger I could see where it would lose pressure and the guard may compress the thing and a loose cam chain would be behind that. I suspect there is more crap floating around in one's engine than the filter is picking up.

In the BMW instructions, one is supposed to put oil into the plunger's middle and pump it up until it is solid when installing the thing. Wonder how many do that? When I tried it, sometimes it would pump up solid, and other times it wouldn't and I could keep my finger on it and it would leak and compress. If you have the old one lying around, try it. I think Paul Glaves mentioned some faulty tensioner pistons on the 650's that he's seen in a very recent BMW MOA magazine where he replaced some on some GS bikes headed for a Mexico trip.

That black reservoir they added later to the K44 series is mentioned in the BWM Canada bulletins (on this site) "To supply oil during start up." Seems like it is a redundant way of holding pressure on the piston should the one in the bore against the guard lose pressure and the guard moves outward and the chain is loosened and may skip. Part numbers on the two plungers are the same and I don't know why they would need to add another one in "The kit" in addition to the reservoir if something wasn't wrong there too (see Paul Glave's comment above). Dunno.

All I know is it took a lot of force (i.e. by way of combination-wrench wrenching, and not hand-tightening) to move the APE screw and chain guard back down in too the initial "When it was running" position. During the first install, I could easily screw the adjuster in by hand as the guard was still in position from when I removed the BMW unit. Not this time. Why it moved outward by itself and was that hard to press back after being disassembled for a few days escapes me. Crank and pistons going to some "home" position maybe? Bike has been parked on the CS for the past week and not moved, but the guard has moved somehow. Go figger.

We'll wait and see what APE comes up with. Maybe this week.


Mack
 
#12 ·
Well, maybe this is it guys. Version 2 of the APE Racing cam chain tensioner fresh off their CNC machine for the K1200GT was just hatched today.



The added extension under the flange should seal off that hole and the screw is about 1/4" longer as it was close to bottoming out.

I'll pick it up in person on Thursday as I need to go by that way into LA to see how it fits and if the "Low pressure at idle" Red Warning Light matter is solved.

Fingers crossed.


Mack
 
#13 ·
Just so I understand. This tensioner will need to be adjusted periodically as the chain stretches and the sprockets wear?

Has anyone tried to adapt a UJM ratchet type tensioner to these bikes?

I've installed the upgraded reservoir tensioner on my 07 K1200R Sport and it is quiet as a church mouse. I left the bike for over a week and upon start no chain noise what so ever. Before it would make a horrible sound. And the bike only has 8K miles.....
 
#14 ·
Mack, this thing is cool and all but for all of us that have upgraded to the new design and haven't had a bit of noise or trouble since I don't think it would be prudent to change.

Not sure how many guys haven't changed over but I can't imagine that there are that many. Maybe. But if there are guys still running the old tensioner they either don't read this board or it'll be too late anyway by the time they do cause they will have come here after their bike spews chunks! ;)
 
#15 ·
Robert_W said:
Mack, this thing is cool and all but for all of us that have upgraded to the new design and haven't had a bit of noise or trouble since I don't think it would be prudent to change.
Yeah, I'd be afraid of just opening a whole new and unexplored can of worms with a manual tensioner. But if people with the upgraded tensioner and the jump guard installed still have issues then maybe I would resort to something like that. Time will tell.
 
#16 ·
What is the "old" tensioner and would a 09 13GT have the new or the old ?

When I took my bike in for its 6,000 mile checkup and tires, i complained that when it starts in the morning the motor rattles like it has gravel in it for bearings, it goes away within a 10-15 seconds, dealer "says" he looked into it and all is fine, its just building up oil pressure. I did notice the noise went away but its back now at a little over 8,500 miles, I want to change the oil again and see if fresh oil eliminates it just as a test. My Victory would get noisy near its 6.000 mile oil change interval and fresh oil always solved it. But if a updated tensioner can solve the problem, then I will ask the dealer about it (good luck right).
 
#17 ·
Robert_W said:
Mack, this thing is cool and all but for all of us that have upgraded to the new design and haven't had a bit of noise or trouble since I don't think it would be prudent to change.

Not sure how many guys haven't changed over but I can't imagine that there are that many. Maybe. But if there are guys still running the old tensioner they either don't read this board or it'll be too late anyway by the time they do cause they will have come here after their bike spews chunks! ;)
For Robert:
I don't know how many moved to the later BMW unit, but my understanding that this cam chain implosion (or explosion??) escapade was happening on even later models with it like the K1300's too? Anyone confirm?

Okay. Made me look at the Poll numbers in the sticky. Seems 29 people (22%) have had issues WITH the 'New style' black reservoir. More startling is LESS problems (only one?) with the OLD style according to the polling data there. Not many in the 1300 engine area, but still some there. Then again, BMW deemed coming out with yet another device "The Cam Chain Jump Guard" just this part few months so maybe the 3rd Gen. black back-up reservoir ain't so good either? :confused:

Back OT, at least with this manual-screw thing, there would be no way for the spring-loaded plunger to allow the chain guide to kick out and a loose chain resulting. Eliminating that spring-loaded variable might be a very good thing. After all, Honda pulled the same stunt on one of their engines where they went back to some manual adjuster over the hydraulic one. Their manual introduced was some spring-loaded affair that you loosened the locknut and the spring shoved the piston against the guide and you tightened it down and went on. I think Meese also mentioned he had one similar on some other bike.

I don't know the adjustment intervals or when it should be checked. I need to make a point to ask them about that while I'm there since they make so many for other bikes and BMW is new territory (other than the one they now sell for the S1000RR and now I'm finding there have been cam issues on that bike too - and I got one in that bad build window too!). APE Racing has been around a lot longer than I thought (maybe 20 years?) since they had a new building and new CNC machines running in back in this economy. I would guess every other oil change maybe for the K bikes? I would doubt if the guide wear is an issue since it does not apply pressure all the time to the guide where the stock hydraulic does. Dunno.

For Rbertalotto:
I'll let you hunt down UJM on the ratchet one. Might be interesting idea for them to chase down.

For mikeyr:
BMW started with a flat plate and a spring against the spring-loaded plunger. Noise was bugging people so they added an additional spacer to the mix. Still noisy. Then they added the black reservoir to the mix along with another spring-loaded piston in "The kit" with the same part numbers on it for whatever reason (Why two? Unless there was a bug in design one?), yet according to the poll, this ain't working either. The addition of the latest "Cam Chain Jump (plastic) Guard" at the beginning of this year is testament to that. So we have had 4 factory things on the cam chain tensioning now?


Aside, I'm still not too happy to find the chain guide on mine moving out all by itself with the tensioners out of the bike and as far too over several days of messing with this. In a few minutes it didn't move at all on the initial changeover nor when I did the reservoir conversion two years ago. A few days out and it moved, and that guide moved a lot! I'm hoping that the 4th device (their "Cam Chain Jump Guard" may still be holding the chain onto the crankshaft sprocket. I can't see it having a 'running effect' with the chain moving. It would disintegrate.

Another sidebar:
When I had the old spring-plunger piston out I decided to clean it up as I didn't want oil coming out of it since I was taking it around and making measurements off it, and in general, playing with the thing. In the flushing out process, a lot of debris came out of it while pumping it up with solvent and then flushing it out. A lot of what looked like fine lead off a ground-up pencil came out. If that stuff is getting pumped through the bike, some if it is lodging itself inside the piston unit as it points downward. If enough gets in there and it affects that check-ball valve and spring, will it loose pressure later and the skips occur or will it become a solid unit and the new reservoir pressures it hard into the guide which gets eaten and then loosenig follows? Food for thought since some bikes are cratering with many miles on them.


Mack
 
#18 ·
For what it is worth, i still have the original tensioner on my '06 K1200R. I have the typical .5 to 5 seconds of rattle.
I have discussed the newest design with the dealer and was advised that it is an ineffective fix for bikes with more than 12k.
Looking at the posts and info here, there is no evidence that the new BMW tensioner fixes anything.
I, for one, am excited to get one of these tensioners if they work out.
Bill
 
#19 ·
KR-Rider said:
For what it is worth, i still have the original tensioner on my '06 K1200R. I have the typical .5 to 5 seconds of rattle.
I have discussed the newest design with the dealer and was advised that it is an ineffective fix for bikes with more than 12k.
Looking at the posts and info here, there is no evidence that the new BMW tensioner fixes anything.
I, for one, am excited to get one of these tensioners if they work out.
Bill
Dude. You're playing roulette. Especially if your bike is a box of rocks for even a millisecond at start up. There is plenty of evidence that the new design works. And what your dealer is telling you is bullshit. They're just spouting the BMW line from an old service bulletin. The 12k miles thing was just nonsense based on nothing other than BMW hoping that higher mileage bikes would fall out of warranty. It is just an arbitray number that no one has ever explained or made sense out of.

You need to combine the new tensioner with the jump guard. That and checking all of the bolts for spec on the gears....and do a valve job while you're at it....it's the only 99% solution. No one has come up with a 100% fix yet short of buying a different bike.

At a bare minimum the jump guard and new tensioner are VERY cheap insurance and easy fixes. Well worth the hour or so it takes to do both.

Ignore the noise at your own peril. :(
 
#20 ·
KR-Rider said:
I have discussed the newest design with the dealer and was advised that it is an ineffective fix for bikes with more than 12k.
From what I've been reading it seems that in many cases the dealer is the very last place one should go for info on this issue, demonstrated once again by the above comment.

What Robert said (well except for the valve job :D ) I think you maybe meant valve check?
 
#21 ·
Old-style may be safer

Here's my take on the situation based on what I've read on these several forums:

If you have the old style tensioner and it's getting noisy, you need to change it out to a new style. However, in the case of the old style tensioner, it appears that the noise is less likely to become a catastrophic failure. I would not ignore it, but it doesn't seem as critical as noise emanating from a bike with a new style tensioner. Still neeeds immediate attention, including a jump guard.

If you have the new style tensioner, ANY noise coming from the engine can quickly become a catastrophe. It appears that the worst case scenario is a new style tensioner without a jump guard. Also needs immediate attention, including a jump guard.

Basically, it appears (to me) that the failure mode of the old style tensioner is noise growing over time as it wears. But the failure mode of the new style tensioner can be a sudden and complete failure resulting in a lot of slack, and this seems to be when the worst failures result. I believe the jump guard was introduced to address this mode.

I installed the jump guard a couple of weekends ago (super easy). I'm thinking that one possible way to avoid becoming stranded (or wrecking the engine) would be to 1)install the jumpguard and 2)carry a spare tensioner. This way if the tensioner fails (and the jump guard prevents a catastrophe), I can swap it out and keep riding.

All of that being said, I do like the APE efforts so far. This solution makes it virtually impossible for the chain to develop enough slack to jump a tooth. But it also requires periodic adjustment from the owner. I don't mind working on the bike myself, but others may not like the idea of removing the fairing and making the adjustment. Those on R's already have it exposed, so there's an advantage.

One thing in particular to note:
Those that are hearing some noise at startup that goes away in a few seconds have to also consider the damage being done. The noise is from the chain contacting something it shouldn't, which means there is going to be metal-to-metal wear. That material is going to go somewhere, and the results are not going to be good. Even though a bike with an old-style tensioner might operate fine once the noise dies down, persistent operation like this is going to cause a lot of wear and free metal in the engine. The noise CANNOT BE IGNORED under any circumstances (IMO).

Until a better tensioner solution is developed, I think I'm going to carry a spare. And if your bike does not yet have the jumpguard installed, do it ASAP.
 
#22 ·
I was outside looking at the black oil reservoir (latest). There is no piston on it that pushes on the spring-loaded plunger that I saw. It's at the same position as the flat plate too. I believe the 'only purpose' for it is to hold some pressurized oil in it to apply to the spring-loaded piston that pushes on the cam chain guide. The oil galley located in the engine probably drops to zero with the engine off if the engine oil has a escape route someplace for it to drain off. Seems it's just a redundant pressure vessel.

However, if the plunger's valve is faulty one could still get it to compress on start-up and go slack and you are suddenly without and engine and maybe $5,000 to fix it too. It's in the same plane as the flat plate. I suspect something was done to that plunger for BMW to include yet another one in the $130 kit with the reservoir. As I mentioned before, Paul Glaves in a recent BMW MOA did a write-up on bad tensioners in their 650GS I believe.

Fwiw, Saturn cars had some oil filter that had a check valve in them that held some modicum of oil pressure in the oil galley so their valve train wouldn't be so noisy on starting. If you took one to a Speedy Lube and they used a cheap off-brand, they would clatter like mad on starting until you screwed on the Saturn filter. Never heard of one cratering from an off brand filter though unlike the bike.

That latest "Cam chain jump guard" tells me that BMW still feels the system is still too slack someplace no matter what BMW tensioner you have in there. I'm hoping the APE 'more-rigid' thing won't allow for that excess slack to appear - ever! The thing should not be tossing a chain with the guards in place, but somehow they seem to have way too much excess space available (along with a spring-driven, and maybe a questionable check-valve driven piston) for it to jump.

I still question if the dogs on the cam gear aren't also part of the matter. Someone a while back mentioned they saw cracks in theirs when they did the valve adjust and others said the two attaching bolts were loose. If there is that much chain slack that can occur (and has for some with very bad consequences), it could be stress cracking them as well, imho.

I suspect the noise is the chain striking the guard until it is pumped up and pushed into position against the chain - and hopefully sooner than later. I don't think a lot of it is metal-on-metal (chain on sprocket) noise until that combination blows the engine. I still don't like finding mine pushed so far out all by itself while apart for a few days. That chain must be really loose and I still don't know why or how that could occur.


Mack
 
#23 ·
i had one of the first upgrade done on my 2006 k1200gt. the dealer replaced my chain and tentioner. Also adjusted my vales with fresh oil change. i have but 21000 on my bike since there work. so far no rattle at start up or while it runs. I am concerned with this issue it has me wondering if i should do something now about the gaurd jump. i have talked with the dealer about the rattle in the past. they told me that there repair will take care of my issue i had. So far everything looks ok when should i expect issues again in miles. I know not the best question? also they put a lighter weight oil in the bike.
 
#24 ·
smiller said:
From what I've been reading it seems that in many cases the dealer is the very last place one should go for info on this issue, demonstrated once again by the above comment.

What Robert said (well except for the valve job :D ) I think you maybe meant valve check?
Yeah...check.... too early...not enough coffee... :teeth
 
#25 ·
Follow-up since this thread has passed the 1,000 mark.

I installed their second version and no red warning lights now from the oil pressure sending unit. All is well as the added extension has sealed off that oil galley hole. Fits like a glove in the bore. I've ridden it in 100 degree heat at low speeds in town to see if I could get the red light and it won't come on now. Good!

No chain rattle at start-up as it no longer can do that since their unit cannot compress like the BMW one can. I also found out that under deceleration, the bike's oil pressure drops and the hydraulic tensioner can lose pressure and that can be bad for a chain skip. Never dawned on me, but they discovered that from prior bikes I guess. Plus, it also causes some irregular valve timing issues when the chain goes limp under those off-throttle issues where the oil pressure drops. A limp chain on a BMW K will cost you probably $3,000-$5,000 should it skip from threads we've seen here. New style BMW reservoir won't protect you as it is still uses 'the same' spring-loaded plunger that could compress. I found that out just playing with the extra by pumping it up and then sometimes the check-valve wouldn't seat and it would easily compress the next time I pushed it down.

I was told there should be less wear on the guides and chain with their unit (not a constant pressure on the guards and chain as with a hydraulic unit) and the adjustment interval could be every other oil change and shouldn't be much if anything. It wasn't that hard having done it twice now, just I had to 'wrench it down' as the guides push outwards by themselves for some unknown reason. If you do it fast on the changeover, you can screw the tensioner down by hand. Wait a day and you'll need a wrench. I can see how that BMW plunger could compress the way the chain guides push outward which means a limp chain underneath it all.

Seems they made the Yamaha manual adjusters for the R1 and R6 from "Requests from the dealers" as Yamaha wouldn't do whatever the fix was on those bikes. Sounds a bit like BMW.

They are looking to modify the flange-to-bike mount as the second version was for a Honda dirt bike's cam chain adjuster and maybe off by 0.040" in radii for the BMW. Go figger! Also, they are trying to decide the color: Black or silver, and should they make it?

That's all I got for now, other than mine's working as well as it could and very quiet too. I won't have to worry about BMW's compressionable plunger either as it's now gone. Might put one on the S1000RR too for the deceleration cam chain timing issues and preserve that bike's guide and chain wear too. Some have expressed some noise at start-up on that model as well, but they addressed that bike already with a manual adjuster.

Motto is: "A quiet BMW is a happy BMW." :)


Mack
 
#26 ·
Very nice Mack, thanks for working with APE to get us another option for our "box of rocks"
 
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