First Time Chain Replacement

[Simeon 30]

Ok after 12000 miles my stock chain has had it. I've bought a new DID chain and front and rear sprockets. Ready to go yet I haven't done one before so I have a few questions.

1. Do you wind the rear wheel adjusters out as far as they go to make the wheel go towards the front sprocket first?

2. How do you ensure the rear wheel is aligned correctly?

3. What is the torque setting for the front sprocket?

4. What is the torque setting for the rear sprocket bolts?

5. What is the torque setting for the rear wheel axle?

Sorry for all the questions but I don't have a service manual. Thank you for your help in advance and do appreciate your commitment to helping riders with their babies.

[Whiterose 83]

This should help... https://www.moto4.ru/downloads/honda-nc700-service-manual.pdf

And this... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prWLl3u_uvE

 

[Andy m 23,545]

It's easy.

 

1. Yes. Just push and wind.

2. There are marks on the adjuster. You can also use a steel rule to measure the amount of thread showing on the adjuster.

3-5 Don't bother. Your workshop torque wrench is just a bar with numbers unless you have an in-date certificate and can control the temperature it is stored in, amount of grease etc. These fasteners just do up as tight as you go with normal length hand tools. Use nothing longer than the spanners Honda provided.

 

The front will wobble on the bent over retaining washer. It's part of the design.

 

Check the sprocket bolts for loctite, many techs use it. Heat or the windy gun may be required to get them out (but never in).

 

Andy

Edited April 11, 2023 by Andy m

[Simeon 30]

Fantastic. Thank you ever so much for your help chaps.

[jeremyr62 2,560]

I hardly ever use a torque wrench these days. Engine mounting bolts is about the only thing I would get it out for. 

If you chain is endless (very unlikely), you will need to remove the swingarm. If it's a spring clip (yuck) then that's easy. If it's a rivet link, then watch a few Youtube vids on how to peen over the rivet heads.

Edited April 11, 2023 by jeremyr62

[Simeon 30]

Sorry Jeremy I'm an ex aircraft engineer and torque settings are crucial. Old habits I suppose.

When do you know when to stop peening the rivet. I would imagine if you do it too much then link would be stiff. Too little and it could fail. Is it a case of a little then check, a little more then check?

[fj_stuart 4,753]

4 minutes ago, Simeon said:

When do you know when to stop peening the rivet. 

The last chain I fitted (DID) had instructions on the diameter that the pin should be peened to to get the correct fitting.

[Simeon 30]

Just now, fj_stuart said:

The last chain I fitted (DID) had instructions on the diameter that the pin should be peened to to get the correct fitting.

That makes sense. Thanks

[fj_stuart 4,753]

From the DID catalogue

 

[jeremyr62 2,560]

Well a bike isn't a flying machine, at least not normally.

 

I've been working on bikes so long I've learnt to trust myself when it comes to fasteners.

The only time I have stripped threads was when using recommended torque settings.

Same with the chain, I flare them till they look OK. Bear in mind there's little to zero force perpendicular to the chain travel so you don't need much.

[Andy m 23,545]

31 minutes ago, Simeon said:

Sorry Jeremy I'm an ex aircraft engineer and torque settings are crucial. 

 

No automotive setting has a calibrated wrench. They might as well assume the 13 on any spanner means 13 ft lbs.

The use of the wrench with variable numbers is entirely unpredictable. Click & a quarter turn for luck is typical.

These vehicles are made in Thailand for the Asian market. They just don't have the wrench.

 

The designers know this. Vehicle wheel nuts for example will function for years with half the set removed. Weight isn't as critical as it is in aircraft, so we can apply such huge margins.

 

The only time torques matter for function is where gaskets are involved. Idiocy like putting 7 Nm on a nylock that's clamping down on a stepped face is **** covering for when the dealers monkey uses a ten foot bar. The fasteners themselves are in any case Chinese rubbish, so without any instruction on changing them every time or the use of copperslip or Loctite, you are only playing with half a deck to start with.

 

The biggest risk is not the fastener coming undone, it's the wrench stuck at 150Nm because it's sat wound in a tool box for years, the click & a turn for luck idiots, windy guns and big bars. You do up something that backs off, you enter a world of pain with stripped threads.

 

Andy

[Andy m 23,545]

I can't see the point in rivet links with 55HP in play. Just seems like a harder process, more likely to go wrong.

 

Andy

[jeremyr62 2,560]

1 hour ago, Andy m said:

Just seems like a harder process

Some of us like the harder process...

There's no challenge to spring link.

[Skidt 1,306]

Some interesting info on this thread, I send my thanks to the contributors. 
 

DONT do what I did……………..cut the old chain off BEFORE you’ve cracked off the front sprocket retaining nut. 🙄 

The wife wasn’t thrilled at having to sit on the bike on the ramp when I tightened the new one up either. Could have taken it off the ramp first I guess………….but what would have been the fun in that? 😁

 

Now slightly worried that my new sprockets didn’t come with a retaining washer to be bent over? Nor was there one on it with the old front sprocket. I assumed that was the original fitting so it didn’t need one? 
 

I now find myself needing to go back into the garage to check my “flared pin heads” are in spec with the above table. 😔

 

Before I left my last job, I took the opportunity to check both my torque wrenches (which I’ve owned from new, always left wound off  and have not seen a lot of use) against the certificated “in date” calibrated equipment at the workplace. Both of mine were out by some margin. I’ve taken a more casual approach to torque settings since then.  
 

As @Andy m states, I use the swingarm marks on both sides as well as measure from the back edge of the swingarm to the adjusters as well. Good luck. 

[jeremyr62 2,560]

My 2018 NC doesn’t have the bendable washer either.  I have one of those laser alignment tools which makes getting the wheel in the right place very easy. 

Edited April 11, 2023 by jeremyr62

[poldark 1,512]

1 hour ago, jeremyr62 said:

My 2018 NC doesn’t have the bendable washer either.  I have one of those laser alignment tools which makes getting the wheel in the right place very easy. 

 

Can I just ask whether, with it laser aligned, the swing arm marks are equal both sides, just as a sample of one evaluation of accuracy? 😁

 

[MatBin 5,089]

56 minutes ago, poldark said:

 

Can I just ask whether, with it laser aligned, the swing arm marks are equal both sides, just as a sample of one evaluation of accuracy? 😁

 

Doubtfull. I just counted turns of the bolt to be same both sides.

Edited April 11, 2023 by MatBin

[MatBin 5,089]

Spring link for me, I have 54 on tap apparently but the DCT box probably means I never get more than 18/20 if lucky.

 

Edited April 11, 2023 by MatBin

[Grumpy old man 4,682]

2 hours ago, jeremyr62 said:

My 2018 NC doesn’t have the bendable washer either.  I have one of those laser alignment tools which makes getting the wheel in the right place very easy. 

My 2015 doesn't have a tab washer so a little thread lock won't do any harm.

[jeremyr62 2,560]

52 minutes ago, poldark said:

 

Can I just ask whether, with it laser aligned, the swing arm marks are equal both sides, just as a sample of one evaluation of accuracy? 😁

 

Close enough. I have an Integra swingarm however, not the common or garden pressed steel affair. I doubt it makes a difference. 

[Steve Case 955]

Andy you just luv the torque stick things!

Have you ever considered they are to stop gorillas like me winding everything up to 250nm...

Cheers

[Scootabout 2,253]

Torque wrenches: so the largish amount of money that I spent on mine is doubly wasted. Once because I don't do any spannering, and twice because it doesn't work.   Oh well. 

[Skidt 1,306]

Ahh………but at least you’ve got one in case you ever change your mind?
And none of us on here will tell your other half that you never use that “essential purchase”. 😁 
 

[MatBin 5,089]

I have one, had it for years, 2 reasons.

1) the extra leverage can be really useful when doing/undoing something.

2) my son borrows it, no idea what for, probably 1 above.

 

Edited April 11, 2023 by MatBin