How to: Replace the Chain and Sprockets

Guides and how-to's related to chain and sprocket maintenance, replacement and upgrade.
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rstoup
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Joined: Tue Nov 05, 2013 7:24 am

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Basically this was my first ever chain install and I figured that I would take the time to document the process so that it could be of use for someone else who would like to change their chain but have never done it before and would like to see how it was done.

In my opinion the best part about doing maintenance yourself is the chance to play with some TOOLS! Also it feels great to get a sense of accomplishment when the job is done. Overall the whole process took me about 2-3 hours give or take. I think that the next time I have to change the chain I could cut that time in half. This being my first install I decided to take things slow and take a lot of pictures to have in case something went wrong.

Here is a list of the tools that I used:
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First off I decided to remove the exhaust from the bike in order to have easier access to the chain. Having removed the exhaust plenty of times before I did not take any pictures but If any one of you are interested in how to do it all you guys have to do is ask and I shall produce. Naturally in order to remove the left exhaust I had to remove the right one first to give the exhaust headers room to pull the left one out. After that was I done proceeded to remove the chain guide. Next, I removed the shift lever and left foot rest then began to remove the front sprocket cover. Once again I have done this countless amount of times to clean the chain that I did not take pictures of these preliminary steps. If you have never removed the shift lever before make sure you note the position of it before you remove it so that when you reinstall it you do it right.


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After all of that was done I took a dull chisel and hammer and straightened out the washer tabs on the front sprocket in order to release its hold on the bolt that holds the front sprocket down. I was able to remove the sprocket bolt with my fingers (I guess the previous owner did not torque the bolt to specs).


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The next step was breaking the chain. I used this Stockton chain breaker and rivet tool-set that I purchased at cycle gear.

Link: http://www.cyclegear.com/CycleGear/Acce ... 6518_00000

It is important to read the directions of how to use the tool because it tells you exactly which parts you need to use.

The chain is now broken.

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You can now remove the chain and get rid of it. Also you can remove and inspect the front sprocket.

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It is highly recommended to replace the sprockets with the chain.

Now comes the fun part: removing the rear wheel. Before you start removing the rear wheel the FSM manual recommends removing the rear brake caliper. There are two bolts holding the brake caliper onto the bracket and one bolt with a slide pin holding the bracket to the swing arm. Make sure you remove all three bolts and slide the brake caliper off the rear disc. Be careful not to depress the rear brake pedal or you will have to pry open the break pads (Not fun). I decided to put the caliper in a zip lock bag to protect it from any debris or cleaning sprays that I was going to use)

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With the brake caliper off the bike you want to remove the slide pin that holds the rear wheel axle bolt in place.


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Once that is done you can remove the axle bolt and then loosen the chain tensioner bolts on both sides of the swing arm.

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Next you want to begin to SLOWLY remove the rear axle. Pay attention to the cups that fall off of it and in the direction the were in.

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Once you remove the rear axle you can pull the rear wheel out and put it aside. Also its a good idea to remove, inspect and clean the chain tensioner. While you are at it it is also a good idea to give the swing arm itself a nice good cleaning along with the shock and the front sprocket area. A clean bike is a happy bike.

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Now its a good idea to replace the rear sprocket. Start off by removing the bolts holding the sprocket onto the hub. In hindsight I should have done this with the wheel and chain still on the bike. I had a fun time wrestling the breaker bar to get the bolts removed. once the bolts are removed you can slide the hub off the wheel and the sprocket off the hub. If the sprocket is on there tight its a good idea to use a rubber mallet and gently tap the sucker off.

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It is a good idea to clean the hub with some chain cleaner and inspect the wheel dampers to see if they are in good condition or need replacing. With the rear sprocket off it is a good time to give the wheel rim a good cleaning also. Once that it all done you can install the new rear sprocket. I decided to use a little locktite on the bolts for extra security.

Next we want to put the chain tensioners back into the swing arm and grease up the rear axle. Now we can reinstall the wheel. Make sure you put the cups back on in the proper order along with the rear brake caliper bracket.

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Once the wheel is back on the bike you can gently tighten the axle bolt. Don't tighten it to torque yet because after you install the chain you need to fine tune the rear wheel for proper chain slack. The next step is to reinstall the rear brake caliper.

Now we can install the new front sprocket.

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the FSM recommends using a new lock washer but I did not have one so I used the old one.

Now we can get the new chain on. Our chain is a 520, 120 link so make sure you have the right size and length. You can now thread the chain in starting on the rear sprocket and pull it through the front sprocket.

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I used a chain with the master link system. What you want to do is to grease up the 4 o rings that came with the chain and slide 2 of them onto the back plate

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Now you want to connect the back plate onto the chain to join it and slide the other 2 greased o rings on.

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Next you want to press the front plate on with your fingers.

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Now grab the chain breaker tool and set it up for pressing the two plates together. Make sure you align it properly in the rear and front.

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Carefully press the two plates together. I used some calipers to measure the surrounding links to the master link to be sure that everything was to specs.

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And the last step is to set the chain breaker tool to rivet mode and carefully rivet the two pins shut.

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Grab the master link and the next link to it and wiggle it to make sure that the links are properly installed.

Now we go to the back of the bike and pull the rear wheel out to set the proper chain tension. The FSM recommends between 30mm-40mm of play. Once the proper length is achieved you can tighten the chain tensioner bolts on the swing arm. Make sure the wheel is true to the swing-arm. Again I used the calipers to measure the distance on both sides to make sure that everything was aligned. Now we can torque the rear axle to 75 ft lb and reinsert the slide pin.

Next we need to either have a buddy depress the rear brake or figure out a way to lock the rear wheel. Once we have that locked we can torque the front sprocket bolt to 80 ft lb. After that we need to re-bend the washer tabs to "lock" the front sprocket bolt.

Now all that is left to do is: reinstalling the front sprocket cover, the left foot rest, the clutch lever, the chain guide, the left exhaust header, then the right exhaust header.

You can now clean your tools and put them away because you just installed a new chain and sprockets. Pat yourself on the back and go take it for a ride.
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