Kawasaki Sportsbike Riders Club - Australia - Online Forum

robracer wrote:Back out the original tensioner by undoing the top & bottom bolts, when you hear 1 click do them back up. This worked perfectly on my 636, don't mess with the middle bolt & don't pull out the whole tensioner or you will need to reset it which is a bit hard to do when you don't know where the last adjustment was. I have posted up on here about how to do it, just do a search

Did that on mine too, (actually rob is the one that explained this to me) two clicks and i was good to go.
Check after every click if the noise level is acceptable so you dont over tension.
Also the clicks can be near impossible to hear, so make sure you listen out for them

There you go guys. Robracer will sort it do ya's

It's all good info! Both rob and wattie's methods work, just depends what you want to accomplish! I'm going to have a play when I get home

Well, im gonna put my manual APE CCT aside and try to do what everyone is talking about i.e. adjusting the OEM one. Can someone though take me through which bolt to unscrew and by how far? im a little bit confused......................

http://www.kawiforums.com/how-tos-faqs/ ... 636-a.html

If you do it my way, take the middle bolt out, there is a spring and pin inside. Take them out so they don't fall out. Then take the 2 outer bolts out and pull the unit out.
Then pull it out one click and put back in reverse order.

To do it the other way, leave the middle bolt alone - loosen the top bolt 5mm or so and then loosen the bottom bolt slowly, move the unit out until you hear the click, mine went out about 4mm before it clicked...(make sure its a quiet environment)

Then tighten the screws back up...

If I was to adjust it again I would take it out completely, like wattie has explained. Gives you a better idea of where you are at and you won't miss the click accidentally.

Be careful if you are adjusting for more slack (probably not what you're doing) that you turn the crank by hand so it can adjust back. If you hit the starter it could do damage being too loose...

This is what I have read on other forums - plus advice from rob and wattie, don't blame me if I have explained it wrong haha

Wattie wrote:If you do it my way, take the middle bolt out, there is a spring and pin inside. Take them out so they don't fall out. Then take the 2 outer bolts out and pull the unit out.
Then pull it out one click and put back in reverse order.

How far do you pull them out Wattie?

Take the whole tensioner out. As long as you have removed the middle bolt 1st, it won't move as you pull it out.

Geewizz I am confused, who do I believe?
all I have ever done is a well measured tap in the right spot.
Must be the new fangdangled engineering these days that's gmf.

Ok, sorry for going off topic Wattie......I just saw this video that may explain it also. This does make it seem more doable and also explains how things work............something I had trouble picturing......

if I have time tomorrow, I might do mine.........im a bit scared though, i dont want to break my baby......

Ill put up a video of how mine sounds, hopefully the good peeps here can advise me if it needs that one click adjustment thing............

How mine sounds like - so do you think this needs the adjustment?


OEM Cam Chain Tutorial


Doing the APE manual CCT

Jonno wrote:Geewizz I am confused, who do I believe?
all I have ever done is a well measured tap in the right spot.
Must be the new fangdangled engineering these days that's gmf.

Hehehehe yup for me its confusing, but helpful........................id rather get as much info as I can before tackling it. Rather than trying to do it and going WTF half way through ....

So I agree with the OP that any advice would be appreciated.................

Jonno wrote:Geewizz I am confused, who do I believe?
all I have ever done is a well measured tap in the right spot.
Must be the new fangdangled engineering these days that's gmf.

And most times that works fine jonno, used that method many times over the years, bit hard on the newer ones with all the shit in the way

Thanks heaps guys, I just did mine today........wasnt as hard as I though it would be (touch wood).

I took mine to one click, then tightened it and listed and it didnt make much difference, I took it another click and tightened it again and listened..........I did two clicks all up and this made a noticable difference (I was tempted to do three clicks lol). The bike now revs smoother, less vibration through the handle bar, revs not jumping around as much, and less ticking sound.

I was worried that I didnt tighten the mounting bolts enough, hopefully I did since I tightened it as much as I could. I can see why there isnt many instructional videos, its a bl00dy tight spot to access.........

Anyway, here is my after video and how it sounds, and how the revs look.........