[road.ripper]

Hi all, Been kinda busy with other stuff for the last year. I need to get this 400 engine and outy finished.
How do you tell if the timing chain is stretched ?
How much stretch is acceptable ?

The tensioner is all the way in but the chain is sloppy and I can fit a sharpie marker between the chain and the timing gear.
really didnt wanna get into the engine case splitting.
Gotta read the manuals again .

 

[trendchaser103]

There's your answer, if it's that loose then it's definitely stretched. Not too hard to fix though and I'd advise you don't ride until you do so. $120 in chains and maybe $60 in gaskets. Can do it all without splitting the engine though the clutches to have to come off

 

[northern pointer]

Trendchaser, you say the chain can be changed without removing the motor and splitting it open? My repair manual states you have to remove the engine. Perhaps you can give us a detailed explanation on how to do it. It would certainly save us a lot of time dismantling all kinds of things to get at it. I think I will need to replace my chain and guides soon and am not looking forward to disconnecting/unscrewing all kinds of stuff beforehand.

 

[road.ripper]

I'm no mechanic but I'd like to see how this is done., I cant see for the life of me how anyone could do this without splitting the pull start side of the case
Remove the Clutch ?? the chain is still captured by the drive shaft , the stator bell and the oil pump..all on the other side of the engine .

You need to split the case on the pull start side NOT the clutch side to remove the chain from below the stator , drive shaft and the oil pump. No room what so ever to do this without splitting that side of the case. plus getting a new lower chain guide installed splitting the case is a mandatory procedure.
easiest way after splitting this side is to remove the oil pump and the chain can come out.

I'm on reassembly at this point. I need to set the timing gear and loktie / torque.
All new head gaskets, valves reset to spec, new timing chain and guides. .
then reassemble the case with some blue loktite & RTV sily cone then torque to specs

 

[CanAmRancher1]

I think trendchaser was talking about the vtwins which you can replace chains and tensioner on while the engine is in frame. I'm not sure if it is possible on the 400s.

Sent from my SM-G991U using Tapatalk

 

[trendchaser103]

Trendchaser, you say the chain can be changed without removing the motor and splitting it open? My repair manual states you have to remove the engine. Perhaps you can give us a detailed explanation on how to do it. It would certainly save us a lot of time dismantling all kinds of things to get at it. I think I will need to replace my chain and guides soon and am not looking forward to disconnecting/unscrewing all kinds of stuff beforehand.

I've done this dozens of times on many machines and will most likely be doing the same procedure this week yet on another 07 800 that has stretched chains. As just mentioned, if it's a 400cc then I'm not sure what's involved and a full disassembly is probably needed as I haven't personally taken one of those apart. I'm only referring to the V-twin engines, OP made no mention of it being a 400cc machine so I assumed it was a twin.

 

[road.ripper]

I'm sorry, I am working on a 400 engine out of the frame . I should have said that in the first post.so i edited the first post so.

tks

 

[trendchaser103]

I'm sorry, I am working on a 400 engine out of the frame . I should have said that in the first post.so i edited the first post so.

tks

No worries, sorry it's not good news then. I don't have experience working on the 400s but it sounds like it would end up needing pulling.