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My chain is tight but not stretched - time to change it?

ScottRNelson

ScottRNelson

Adventure and Dual Sport
Joined
Aug 3, 2002
Location
Meridian, ID
Moto(s)
Honda XR650L, KTM 790 Adv R
Okay, rhetorical question because I just stuck a new DID 520 XV2 chain on my XR.

This is what the old chain looked like:
gRRocTd.jpg


Yeah, some of the links are tight, but it has absolutely not stretched at all in the eight or ten years since I put it on there.

The simplest way to check for correct chain tension on this bike is to push down on the chain and see if you can get it to touch the end of that black chain slider on top of the swingarm. With the big rear sprocket, the correct position was 5 on the snail adjuster for the old chain. That's also the correct position for the new chain too.

So, should I have kept running the old chain and just continue to lubricate it, or was it truly time for a new chain.

All opinions on the subject will be appreciated.


Here it is with the new chain and a couple of new street legal dirt tires - MT21 front and D606 rear:
UY9FyJt.jpg
 
With a kinky chain like that I would replace it. If I had just crimped a new master link, I would examine the link and reinstall. I am not positive, but wouldn't kinks indicate that the center roller is binding? That would be extra wear on every contact.
 
I get that a lot on my dirt bike chains, even dual sport used in the dirt. With the O or X ring chains, sometimes it just takes a good cleaning as it is binding on the dirty O or X ring between the plates, and not the roller inside. Removing the chain makes a deep cleaning easier, everything I run uses a clip except for the street only bikes making it an easy process.

Cleaned, then liberally lubed and good for more use. Anyways..... just what I do before replacing.
 
OaklandF4i said:
I get that a lot on my dirt bike chains, even dual sport used in the dirt. With the O or X ring chains, sometimes it just takes a good cleaning as it is binding on the dirty O or X ring between the plates, and not the roller inside. Removing the chain makes a deep cleaning easier, everything I run uses a clip except for the street only bikes making it an easy process.

Cleaned, then liberally lubed and good for more use. Anyways..... just what I do before replacing.
Click to expand...
I prefer a rivet master link, but didn't have that option with this chain, so it has a clip. In another five or ten years when this chain gets that way, hopefully I'll remember your advice and can take it off and deep clean it.
 
I know it ain't easy to determine wear on our chain links when they look
serviceable on the outside even though its grinding metal to metal on the inside...

A chain kinks after the factory install grease is used up and metal on metal wear
is happening at critical pin and roller junction with every turn of the sprockets...

Post a photo of the pins of your old master link to note the wear like this...

gallery_3131_51_50064.jpg
 
Busy Little Shop said:
I know it ain't easy to determine wear on our chain links when they look serviceable on the outside even though its grinding metal to metal on the inside...

A chain kinks after the factory install grease is used up and metal on metal wear is happening at critical pin and roller junction with every turn of the sprockets...
Click to expand...
Maybe one of these days I'll feel like pulling some pins out of that chain. But what's in it for me? :laughing

The one pin that I pushed out - to break the chain - was all black. That's all I really know. And I don't have a good way to measure the difference between that pin and one I popped out of the new chain when I cut it to length.

But if there is metal wear, the chain will "stretch", right? And there was no evidence at all that the chain had gotten any longer.
 
Rohloff has a chain tool (to measure the stretch on bicycle chains) which makes it easy to tell when the chain has "stretched" and need to be replaced. I think these chains are 1/2" like on the MC but haven't checked. I got a tool for sprocket (cassette) wear also.
 
ScottRNelson said:
Maybe one of these days I'll feel like pulling some pins out of that chain. But what's in it for me? :laughing

The one pin that I pushed out - to break the chain - was all black. That's all I really know. And I don't have a good way to measure the difference between that pin and one I popped out of the new chain when I cut it to length.

But if there is metal wear, the chain will "stretch", right? And there was no evidence at all that the chain had gotten any longer.
Click to expand...

Simple. Line up the old chain with the new chain.
 
buellistic said:
Simple. Line up the old chain with the new chain.
Click to expand...
The new chain is on the bike. I'm not taking it off to prove something that doesn't matter to me. And I used the old chain to pull the new one through, so they were never both off at the same time.
 
ScottRNelson said:
The new chain is on the bike. I'm not taking it off to prove something that doesn't matter to me. And I used the old chain to pull the new one through, so they were never both off at the same time.
Click to expand...

You can still line up the old one with the new one on the bike.
Pretty simple or use a measuring tape. 12" is all you need.
Did you lift your chain on the rear sprocket to check for wear?
 
"Is it time to change it?" depends on you, cause it probably still has a lot of life left in it. The chain on my 950SM looked similar to that when I bought it, and I went another 7k miles before I had to replace it when it really looked tattered. Partly because I didn't know any better, or you could say I didn't over think it since it still worked fine. But then I'm not one to replace a tire just because it hit the wear bar or the profile "looks" bad; as long as the tire handles fine I'd ride it bald until the cord almost shows. Nevertheless, a new tire / chain sure look pretty.
 
ScottRNelson said:
But if there is metal wear, the chain will "stretch", right? And there was no evidence at all that the chain had gotten any longer.
Click to expand...

The evidence metal to metal wear was in progress are the binding links... you just didn't objectively measure the "stretch"...

Installing a new chain on worn sprockets is the job half done... always changed both...
 
Busy Little Shop said:
The evidence metal to metal wear was in progress are the binding links... you just didn't objectively measure the "stretch"...

Installing a new chain on worn sprockets is the job half done... always changed both...
Click to expand...

On a streetbike I might tend to agree, but on a dirt/dualsport bike, I have seen more than a few chains have what appears to be kinks from a dirt/excess chain wax build up mix between the O or X rings and plates. The O/X rings begins to have drag causing what appears to be kinks unless thoroughly cleaned.

After deep cleaning with a brush, no more kinks, freely articulating links. If after deep cleaning there is still binding of the links, yes, replace.

Happens often in muddy conditions and the normal cursory clean isn't sufficient. Just my experience, yours may differ. :thumbup
 
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