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Skinny on the Cam chain guard

114K views 247 replies 57 participants last post by  DougM 
#1 ·
Ok so the newer style tensioner is old news by now, so if ya haven't yet its time to get that done, both old and new are hydrolic but the new has holes in the mounting plate and the cap that bolts where the old plate did acts as a reservior. The deal with the "chaintooth jump guard", is pretty simple, remove clutch/crankend cover and it snaps into place over the existing guard casted into the case then held in place with the cover, adding additional protection to keep the chain from skipping a tooth should something cause it to. I should have done all of this myself, but the other day on the phone with the dealer this was new as of last month and the service bulletin was not all that clear as to what held the guard in place so I opted to pay and watch this time, education comes with a tuition price and this one was about two and a half hrs. shop time on the first go, but its only about an hour and a half job, this guy is a clean freak, after finishing he was back there with a can of cleaner in one hand and a fresh micro-fiber cloth in the other removeing any trace he'd been there. They did it on saturday, a good job while I waited so I paid cash and thanked them. The parts, gastet, tensioner kit, guard and one time screws etc. run about two bills plus labor, 400 dallars for the peace of mind that I've done all that can be to this point to prevent cam chain/related failures.
 
#227 ·
I didn't read the entire thread, but I did see a couple people talking about the cam chain tensioner as well as the chain jump guard, and someone posted a picture of a bulletin saying they don't recommend doing the work on a bike with more than 12k miles on it.

So here's the deal. I took my 2007 k1200gt to two dealerships for other reasons, and one of them said I needed the new cam chain tensioner. Sure, my bike sounds like a box of rocks when it starts up, so this sounds legit. He quoted me $250 for it. Sounds good so far.

The OTHER dealership, when I took it in and had them look at it, told me that if you do the tensioner you have to do the chain as well, because after 12k miles the cam chain has stretched just enough to make it not work too well with a new tensioner. I don't know why this is, and I know my way around rebuilding a couple motorcycle engines myself. But they told me they had discovered this the very hard and expensive way by trashing two good engines because they only replaced the tensioner and not the chain and sprockets. Then they took out the chain and laid it down next to a brand new one, and lo the old chain was over a quarter inch longer.

I just looked up the price for the tensioner, chain, sprockets, and jump guard. It's over $400 easy when you add in tax, title, and license. So $250 is a really great price if they're going to replace the tensioner and trash my engine and have to rebuild it. I easily save $150 in parts and all the labor cost of having them do the chain and sprockets in the first place. Of course they'll end up eating the cost of the chain and sprockets when they have to rebuild the engine. :teeth

And that wouldn't even be the worst thing to happen to this bike, apparently. I bought it off of craigslist, and it came with the entire service history. Including the $5000 record of when the entire rear end of the bike was replaced under warranty because the rear brake caliper came off during spirited riding and got caught in the rear wheel somehow.
 
#228 ·
Just get the APE manual tensioner and add in the jump guard and be done with it. Simple, relatively cheap, and very reliable.
 
#229 ·
Kind of hate to ask and drag up a post that is several month old, but probably better than starting a new post.
If I do the manual tensionor it seems that the jump guard may not be needed. But I guess it would be much easier to set the manual tensioner if the cover is off, so maybe its a wash. I just dont like to open things up that dont need it.
 
#230 ·
The jump guard isn't a solution in itself (the updated tensioner is), but it is cheap and easy insurance. It is definitely worth doing.

Just take your time, and you can most likely reuse the existing metal cover gasket, which is preferable to the "updated" paper gaskets.
 
#231 ·
DCNKGT said:
If I do the manual tensionor it seems that the jump guard may not be needed.
You could probably make a reasonable case that the jump guard isn't really essential with a manual tensioner, but it's cheap insurance in case you back the manual adjuster out a little too much during adjustment, etc. If you have the clutch cover off for any reason I'd throw a jump guard in there, manual tensioner or not.

Personally I've come to the conclusion that the best option for me is the updated tensioner and jump guard combo, so far it seems to be pretty sound. I've only heard of one issue and that case had some extenuating circumstances so until or unless the combination proves to be troublesome in general use I think it's the best option. The manual tensioner would probably be OK, if you get it adjusted right (whatever that is) and if things don't change much from hot to cold engine operation, etc., etc., but at this point I think there might be somewhat more risk than reward in using it, and I definitely wouldn't use it if you are still under warranty or have an extended warranty. Just my opinion based on my own life experience, YMMV.
 
#232 ·
Thanks for that, those were my thoughts as well. Especially about the warranty. I have 31K on the bike now, so there may be some chain stretch in there already, so if I replace the tensioner with the updated BMW part and install the jump guard which is also a BMW part, if a failure occurs it will probably be covered under warranty. The manual tensioner may raise a flag with the warranty company. One other option is to replace the chain and gears while in there then basically I would be starting over fresh. But I am not sure how much more work it is to change the gears and chain. I thought I read on here that one guy paid 180 labor to have the tensioner, jump guard, chain and gears replaced. That seems pretty reasonable and means it may not be that hard to get the old gears off and put new ones on.
 
#233 ·
$180 in labor seems like a steal at BMW rates, maybe they meant $180 extra over other work that was being done, for instance if you already have the bike torn down as required for a valve check then it's not that much more work to replace the chain and gears. It would be a fair bit of work starting from scratch though.
 
#234 ·
I just had the 1200GT in the shop for annual maintenance and the dealer did the cam chain jump guard. The paper work states this is a recall

RECALL: THE MOTORCYCLE IS DUE FOR THE FOLLOWING CAMPAIGN
Please perform the following service campaign SIB 11 004 12 (017)R retrofitting Chain. As per service recall.

I did not ask about the cam chain install the dealer informed me the recall was to be done per the computer. I was not charged for parts or labor and all the part are listed as warranty parts.
 
#235 ·
Two and a half years to late for me. :boom:
 
#236 ·
I had the cam chain guard (part 17) installed under warranty recently but noticed from videos etc that I still have the original cam chain tensioner. Should that not have been replaced as well?Does it affect long term durability? I was looking at Service Bulletin 1100108 (013) from June 2008. There was a youtube video showing this being done, but seems to have been removed.
 
#237 ·
Personally I would definitely install the updated tensioner as well. The combination of the new tensioner and the jump guard seems to have been a pretty effective fix (I've not heard of any bikes that experienced a cam chain failure after both were installed, or at least not without extenuating circumstances.) But I would consider just the new tensioner or just the jump guard as only a partial effort... a proper fix includes both, and maybe a new chain as well if the old one is still making noise after the new tensioner has been installed.
 
#238 ·
cam chain jump guide installation

smiller said:
Hmm... looking at the RepROM it appears that the clutch basket must be removed in order to adjust the oil pump chain tensioner so it's not exactly a trivial 'might as well do it while I'm in there' operation... unless you happen to have the clutch basket out anyway, as was the case on your bike.
i did mine myself not a big deal, also you do not have to remove the clutch basket to adjust the tension on the oil pump chain, I also did that while i was in there, I had my dealer Kent Holt do the 18 K valve check shortly thereafter and he said everything looked good, the only issue for me is the factory reccomended against installing the Hydraulic chain tensioner if the bike had more than 18K miles on it presumably because of strectch in the cam chain, I worry about this now as I hear some chain noise on deceleration/over run!!
Woody
 
#239 ·
cam chain & sprocket replacement

has anyone out there replaced the cam chain and sprockets on a K12/13GT themselves
is it doable at home with out special tools and how involved is it?
I replaced the chain tensioner and installed the chain jump guide myself and while in their adjusted the tension on the oil pump chain!!
any advice or comments would be welcome
Woody
 
#243 ·
I realize I'm resurrecting a very old post but I'm curious what the general consensus is with cam chain tensioner and the plastic jump guard? Seems like this thread got a lot of attention several years ago and nobody has chimed in lately. I recently picked up an 06 K1200GT and if let sit for more than a few days its sounds like it's about to grenade on start up. Based on the 25 pages of comments I would have expected every bike still in service to have been updated with new tensioner and the guard recommended from the dealer. Is that a safe assumption? According to the records it looks like the bike I purchased had regular visits to the dealer and yet it still appears to have the original tensioner installed and I seriously doubt the jump guard was installed. Should I assume that since it hasn't been an issue in the first 35K miles of it's life that it something I shouldn't worry about or am I sitting on a time bomb until those things are addressed?
 
#244 · (Edited)
You're right to think that those two items should have been done by now, but it's still possible that they haven't. If they were performed by a dealer it should be in your service record (which any dealer can pull up by VIN) but many owners did the work themselves so it may not be recorded. The original and updated tensioners look different so you should be able to confirm pretty easily. Even if the updated unit has been installed occasionally there will be a poor piston/bore fit which can cause it to hang up.

In any event if you are hearing that kind of noise upon startup then you definitely have a problem with the tensioner that must be addressed before the bike can be ridden, as in park it until fixed as you don't want to risk a cam chain jump (since you can't be sure of whether the jump guard was ever installed.) When working properly you should hear zero cam chain noise at startup, no matter how long the bike has sat.

The good news is that these are both relatively easy and inexpensive fixes, but definitely sort this out before riding the bike again or 'easy and inexpensive' can turn into 'difficult and costly' in a heartbeat.
 
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