How to Install Cam Chain Tensioner Extenders on a Kawasaki Vulcan Nomad

Is your engine making a bit more noise then it used to? If it is, and you have over 20K miles, it's probably time to add an extender to your cam chain tensioner. If you're like me, you're probably saying, "cam chain what?" Well let's just say that there are a few chains inside your engine and when they get loose, they can start to slap against engine parts that they should not be hitting. There's a tensioner that keeps them tight, but only to a point. After awhile, a small extension is needed in order to keep everything tight. From my understanding, once the extension is added, you will indefinitely be taken care of because the chain only stretches so much.

Before ordering any parts, or tearing into the bike, you can check to see if the cam chain is actually what's making the noise or if you're just crazy. To check, first loosen the 8mm set screw on the side of the tensioner body, then remove the 12mm cap. Be careful not to strip the 8mm, like I
did. And be careful not to lose any of the small parts. Take a picture or refer to these pictures if you forget what goes where.

With the cap, springs, bearings etc. out, there will be an extender rod in the middle of the tensioner body. It most likely will be inside the body, and if it is 1/3" or very close to it, that means it's time to add an extension. If it's only inside the body 1/8" or not even all the way inside the body yet, than you are okay for a few thousand miles more.

If you've decided that you need to add the extender than read on. If not, put everything back the same way it came off.

Before tearing into the bike, order the extender from Joe at ChucksterCustoms.com or if you're in Canada, they're available at your Kawasaki dealership.

Picture from ChucksterCustoms.com

Start by removing the tensioner cap by following the steps above. Now remove the two allen head bolts. With the allen head bolts out, carefully pull the body off. There is a gasket and O ring that should be reusable. If by chance you destroy the gasket, a thin layer of high temp gasket maker should work.

With the Cam Chain Tensioner off the bike, look it over and get familiar with how it works. Learn how it extends and retracts. With the arm completely extended, carefully clamp the tensioner ring in a vice or with vice grips and cut it off. I used a hack saw, but a dremel would be ideal. Be careful not to cut the arm. Cut the ring 90% and then just break it with a flat head screwdriver.

 

Now with the arm bare, put a small dab of red lock tight in your new extenders and press them onto the arm. Be very careful not to get the lock tight on anything else; it could possibly prevent everything from working properly. If the extender doesn't go on easily, it may be necessary to use a hammer. Be careful to not damage the teeth.

With the extender in place, retract the arm as far into the body as it will go. Now put the large spring back in place and the bearing on top of it.  Compress the spring and bearings all the way down with a small screw driver. While it's compressed, use the set screw to hold it down. (Did you understand that? If not, reread it. Life will be miserable if you don't compress the spring and lock it down with the set screw.) Now bolt the body to the cylinder, making sure you don't bump the arm. You want to keep it retracted all the way.

Now insert the spacer and the small spring and put the cap back on, making sure the little spring lines up in the center of the cap (that should be everything). Loosen the set screw slowly until you hear the big spring snap the bearing and spacer into place.

Torque the end cap to 14.5 foot pounds
Torque the set bolt to 43 inch pounds
Torque the allen bolts to 87 inch pounds

An Old School Custom Gets a Second Chance

Check out the most recent article I wrote for Kawasaki's Accelerate Magazine.


An Old School Custom Gets a Second Chance

A Trip Away From Snow

I have laughed at trailer queens. You know, those who trailer their bikes to Sturgis, or Daytona just to ride them up and down main street. Their trailers tend to have more miles then their bikes. I have even sworn to never trailer my bike, but desperate times call for desperate measures..

Over New Years weekend, after a few long months of winter, I had the opportunity to visit some friends and tour the surrounding areas of Vegas. I didn't want to shame my bike, but seeing it sit in the garage seemed like even more of a shame so, after much consideration, I decided to trailer the bike (snow still on the ground in Utah) and go to Vegas.

With only the weekend to ride, the first day we rode out to Valley of Fire then along the Lake Mead National Recreation Area to Hoover Dam.

The Valley of Fire derives its name from red sandstone formations and sharp rocks that seem to flicker like flames. Around each corner provides a new spectacular view. The history of this state park was also very intriguing. It is located just a few miles off of I-15, north of Vegas. Next time you're in the area with a few hours to spare, I'd highly recommend making the stop.





The Hoover Dam also has a rich history. It's located in the Black Canyon of the Colorado River, on the border between the US states of Arizona and Nevada. It was constructed between 1931 and 1936 during the Great Depression and was dedicated on September 30, 1935 by President Franklin Roosevelt. Its construction was the result of a massive effort involving thousands of workers, and cost over one hundred lives. The dam was controversially named in honor of President Herbert Hoover.

Even as jaw-dropping is the Hoover Dam Bypass. It was completed in 2010 and stretches 2000 feet from one side of the canyon to the other.




The following morning we met up with a M2W group to ride through Death Valley. This ride was hosted by a Vegas local who new the park well and would give us a good, thorough tour. We first rode out to Shoshone, California for breakfast at the Crowbar Cafe and to top off our bikes before entering the park.


After breakfast we hopped on our bikes and rode through the park, stopping at Bad Water (the lowest point in the park), the visitor's center, and at Scotty's Castle.

Ape Hangers on a Vulcan 1600 Nomad - 11" Santee Dresser Apes

(11" Santee Dresser Bar. I am 5'9")

With the addition of a Hoppe fairing, taller risers were not an option, so I started looking for different handle bars that might provide a similar pull-back and rise as the Scootwork PhatII risers. I have always been a bit intrigued with the look of ape hangers, so this is the route I decided to go.
I decided to to go with the 11" Santee dresser apes. The dresser style would give me the additional pull back that I wanted for comfort while staying true to the look of apes. I also chose these bars so that I didn't have to replace all my cables and lines. So far I am very pleased.

How to run the wiring internally:
Drape a few towels over your tank, front fender, etc.

Open up the headlight assembly and follow the handlebar wiring for the switch housings to the 3 plugs. There is one plug for the right side and two on the left. Unplug them from the main wire harness and gently pull them out of the back of the headlight. Remove the switch housings from the bars and the wiring should be free.

Cut the shrink tubing off, exposing all the wires that need to be extended. The headlight circuit is a 10 amp fuse, so I used 18 ga.

Cut 16, 15" extension wires and mark them all differently (e.g. by putting different color/quantity sharpy marks on them). Each wire will be assigned to a specific wire in the harness that you will be cutting. It is extremely important that you write down ALL the colors of the wires and assign them to one of the 16 wires that you have marked (stock red and black wire with silver dots on the black=extension wire that I've marked with two black dots, for instance). Be very thorough or you will have a hard time knowing what connects to what.
Now with everything marked and written down, begin cutting the wires, staggering your cuts by about 1.5". The staggered cuts will keep the wires uniform and prevent there from being a big bump, which would make pulling them through the bar more difficult. The right side only has 5 wires, but the left side has 11, so it's super important to look at all the wires and space them evenly.
Making sure you match the marked extension wire with the correct stock wire, strip about 1/3" off the ends, overlap them and twist them together. Don't twist them upward/side by side and then fold over because this will make your joint larger than necessary. Now solder the ends together. If you don't know how to solder, don't be scared. It's a lot easier than you'd think. Don't attempt to do this with wire crimps. If they come apart inside your bars, you'll be hating life.

After the solder has cooled, give the wires a good tug to make sure they aren't ever going to come apart. If everything feels secure, slip a piece of 1/8" shrink tubing over the solder joint (don't use electrical tape!) and heat it with a heat gun or hair dryer. Repeat this on all 16 wires. Again, make sure that you are connecting the correct extension and that it is written down correctly.Now it's time to pull the wires through the bars. If your bars didn't come with a pull wire in them, tie a string to a bolt and drop it in at the top, shaking the bars until it falls out the bottom, giving you a pull string. Attach your pull wire/string to your new extended wires by wrapping a thin amount of tape around the end of the wires and connecting your pull pull wire/string to it. Then gently pull from the bottom, while pushing and feeding from the top until the wires come out. If you're installing Z-bars, this may be a bit tricky and you may need to lube your wires with baby powder or grease.Once both sides of wires have been pulled through, go drink a beverage of your choice. You're over half way done!

Remember that paper where you wrote down which extension goes with which wire? It's now time to make those connections. Before you forget, slide a piece of shrink tubing over each of the wires before you solder them. Strip the ends, twist and solder the same way as you did previously. Heat the shrink tubing and bundle up the wires with tape or zip ties to keep them organized.

Remove the master cylinder reservoirs, levers, grips, and anything else you may have on your bars (if you haven't already) then remove your old handlebars. Now mount your new handlebars and feed your new wires back into the headlight the same way they came out. You'll most likely have excess length, so just clean it up with zip ties, then plug the wires back in.

Remount your headlight, master cylinder reservoirs, levers, and grips. There is a good chance you will have to reroute your front brake line to the rear of your triple tree. I had to do this, but plan on buying a longer line to go from the splitter to the reservoir in the future, so I can move it back to the front of the triple tree.

Now, with everything put back together, start the bike and make sure everything is working. Check the blinkers, horn, brake light, high-beams, etc. If something is not working check your fuses and replace any that may have blown. If they keep blowing out, you may have an exposed wire that is shorting out. Good luck finding it! This was my worst fear with mine, but it all turned out ok and everything looks and feels great.