I picked my bike up and went the first 500 miles before my first oil change. My bill included an overall inspection which addressed the chain, supposedly

I put another hundred miles on it after the oil change and at the end of the day decided to lube my chain for the first time.

NO SLACK at ALL !!!! WTF ?

I just called the dealer and he assumed that I did my own adjustment and wanted it that way. I made plans to go back there next week on my day off and have him loosen it a bit.

My question is, will it harm the bearings to have too little slack in the chain over many miles? I don't want to hurt my baby!!

NO SLACK?? Like ...stretched tight? Ideally the the chain should have 0 slack ONLY if the suspension is fully compressed....like if you bottom out the rear shock. If the chain is adjusted properly, it should have a visible droop in it with only the weight of the bike on the suspension. The chain should be touching the plastic chain guide on top of the swing arm when the suspension is only carrying the weight of the bike. There are pics of proper chain slack here.

http://zx14ninjaforum.com/messages.cfm?threadid=6AE7FFEE-D56B-84E2-15072A3BDDB69729&#newpost

If you have 0 chain slack, that will stretch your chain out in short order. It will fix itself by stretching your chain. It will cause some wear on your sprockets and obviously shorten the life of your chain. It could cause damage to the output sprocket bearings but probably only if you adjusted the chain this tight repeatedly. Worse case scenario, your chain could snap. That would probably total the bike and get you seriously injured.

This was a dickhead way to adjust a chain for a customer. I would absolutely NOT go back to this shop. You should get your money back if they charged you for that. If there really is 0" chain slack, I would not want to ride the bike until the chain is adjusted properly. If you do need to take it a short distance, go very slow and try hard not to hit any bumps. I would insist on watching the tech adjust the chain. They probably had a 16 year old kid with no experience do this job. No mechanic with minimal experience would adjust a chain like this. It's unsafe for the street and I do not think it is even safe for any kind of racing because there is always going to be some movement in the suspension.

I just called the dealer and he assumed that I did my own adjustment and wanted it that way.

I picked my bike up and went the first 500 miles before my first oil change.

This is not hard to do yourself. The first time, you might have to do it and undo it a time or two to get it right. You will probably only need to turn the adjusters in about 1/6 of a turn. ..maybe 1/3 (2 flats). The only risk is tipping the bike over when you loosen the axle nut. If you take your time you can do it. Either that or I would consider going to another shop. Usually, avoid dealership service, they are in the motorcycle sales business not so much service and repair. Get several references.

Thanks so much. Very insightful I think I"m on the "too tight" side of slack, because you can get the chain to move up and down if you push hard on it. But that's what bothered me, it should move freely.

For sure I got lucky with all my riding so far like this but it will never happen again!

And I"m now on a crusade to do my own oil changes and chain adjustments unless I find a very good shop to take it to.

I am very suprised that a shop would take that attitude. THEY are supposed to set and adjust things to the PROPER spec. If anything, THEY should be even MORE aware of proper settings. I would bitch slap the guy who told you that B S and go somewhere else, or do it yourself from now on.

Mad

I just called the guy and asked if he would loosen it tomorrow morning because I'm free early. It's his day off. He said I could drop it off. Yeah, right....

Tonight I'm gonna put it up on my rear stand and see if I can get that Axle nut off if I have the socket. Then turn the adjusters a tiny bit and see if I can do it myself.

I also want to get the correct oil filter tool and do my next oil change myself.

I'd be stupid to go back there at this point, but since it's my local dealer I won't complain or get on their shit list because I might need them one day!

Thank you all for encouraging me! I got so pissed off that I went home lunch hour and popped it up on the rear stand, found a socket and a 12mm wrench and loosened the fuckin chain. Done.

Now, I need to go find a new cotter pin as I can't get both ends into the slot as before.

But I do feel a lot better with doing it myself!

Next I need to learn how to get that oil filter off!

AWESOME. Yeah, I guess you might need to pick up parts so need to piss them off. I would tell them about it though. You'd be doing them a favor. If nobody complains at all and just starts doing their own wrenching, the shop won't know why they are loosing business.

Oil changes are easy compared to chain slack. It can be hard to remove an old filter if it was tightened too much. A filter wrench is usually best. If you don't over tighten it, a strap wrench will work just fine. ..minimal crushing.

I wonder if this mechanic was the same guy that worked on my 07.For one thing....rolling out of the shop it was rolling funny.Not smooth.I had to really use a lot of force to get it outside.Then I checked the chain slack.TIGHT.It was WAY too tight.I took it back in and said 'this chain isn't right'...they immediately adjusted it.

Then about a mile or so down the road,I was glancing at the bodywork...you know,just kinda admiring it.Something didn't look right.I pulled over.This 'mechanic' had reinstalled the bodywork very wrong.I had to pull it off,and redo it right there.It was lucky something hadn't broken.Seriously.And this guy was a Kawasaki mechanic.

If you learn to do these regular maintenance adjustments yourself,you'll definitely have peace of mind knowing it was done right.NO surprises.None of these 'maintenance' checks are beyond the regular guy.I did all my maintenance on all my 14's,except for the valve adjustments.

* Last updated by: Grn14 on 4/14/2015 @ 1:26 PM *

I'm trying to rack my brain on how I turned the bolts to the rear to loosen the chain.....whatever I did it worked....at least I'm now familiar with the bolts toward the front as the ones to loosen all the way to make the adjustment.

Both sides are adjusted in the same direction, right? Which was to tighen? If I know this, I can just make sure I do the same thing every time. When you say "clockwise", are you looking to the rear of the bike?

http://www.zx14ninjaforum.com/messages.cfm?threadid=6AE7FFEE-D56B-84E2-15072A3BDDB69729

Thanks Rook !

I've finally got it! Now I'm no longer intimidated by this screw business in/out/axle nut.......I simply visualize that screw going one way or another. From the back of the bike, looking forward, a clockwise turn would LOOSEN the chain because that rod is going forward, so the wheel comes forward....looser chain.

Turn the bolt COUNTERclockwise, the rod is UNscrewed and the rear wheel goes BACK......tighter chain! So simple!

Even a caveman like me can do it!

Apex, this will get any oil filter off, I got this one at sears a long time ago, but walmart and
many others have them

* Last updated by: carabuser on 4/14/2015 @ 10:40 PM *

How do you reach inside the lower fairing of the 14R? Do you remove bodywork or just have a small hand or a long extension? LOL

If you're planning to use a filter socket, I imagine you will need to remove the lowers. You should be able to reach the filter with a strap wrench without removing fairings unless you have hands like a bunch of bananas.

http://zx14ninjaforum.com/messages.cfm?threadid=BF8429A6-D56B-84E2-1A155B51563CC500

I just use an extension for the filter socket, don't need to remove lowers ...

* Last updated by: carabuser on 4/15/2015 @ 9:01 AM *

If you do decide to remove a lower, just remove the left lower. You can get to everything through there.

Mad

I just use an extension for the filter socket, don't need to remove lowers ...

All great advice. I'm real happy now since I got 600 miles on it and closer to the complete break in. Plus, I got my straps on the subframe all nice and ready for the Kriega Drypack to attach up top via the loops which hang out the sides. They don't look bad when no bag is on and it's always ready for a long road trip when I pack my bag! LOL

I did have one more thing to shop for......cotter pin!!! What size pin goes in the axle nut?

Just knowing how to do my own chain work makes me so happy I actually look forward to it!

I"m a sick bastard......why am I so obsessed over my bikes? It's all I ever think about!!!

I guess there is worse things to be addicted to!

I have some cotter pins that are 1/8 x 1" that look like they should work. Just take the axle and axle nut into Lowe's to compare cotter pins.

1/8 X 1 inch sounds good. I'll get some and if they don't work it's cheap enough.

Thank you.

I"ll leave my nut on the bike for now.

I use one of these reuseable ones :

* Last updated by: carabuser on 4/15/2015 @ 11:50 PM *

That reusable thing looks easy. Just put one end in, right? It snap locks where it goes and that's it, right.

Looks easier than trying to fit both pins in then bending.

That reusable thing looks easy. Just put one end in, right? It snap locks where it goes and that's it, right.

It's nice to not have to replace the cotter pin but I think a regular cotter pin you bend is easier. You can just bend one side a little bit and it will stay in. Bend it straight with a pliers and reuse it if you want. Bend the other side when one breaks off. If you don't bend it too much you should be able to reuse it a lot of times.

I don't use anything to secure the axle nut. I have crash sliders in the axles and a cotter pin won't fit under the puck. Torque it and it should stay in place (always has for me even at half torque which is the requirement for Carrazzeria wheels).