Ok guys, here's the situation.

Past couple of rides, the CCT is taking more and more time to settle down. My bike has 65,000 miles on it. Not planning any multi-day long distance rides. Just using it for commuting and occasional sprints to some local destinations.

Funds are tight. Do I pull up now and build my warchest to buy the parts or risk it and ride out the summer?

I mean, shoot, it's fine above 3000rpm. Still runs good out on the road. Sounds like crap in the parking lot

 

What grade of oil are you using, cause when i use anything under 15w50 in mine pressure is not high enough in the cct chamber. Try this and also do you know if you have the new model of cct?

 

Running Castrol 4t 20/50, changed less than 500 mi ago. Level checked yesterday. It's fine

Getting in touch with the previous owner, he's a friend of mine. I know he's meticulous about servicing. I do know it's been replaced at least once or maybe twice

 

If it was me, I'd ride the summer out and sort it in the winter. But that's just me.

Never heard of one of them slipping/snapping. I'd just treat her with a bit of respect.

 

PO said it was replaced for the second time in '04, but couldn't remember the mileage.

I'm sort of with Hawk on this. I'm religious about giving it a proper warm-up. It does settle down but lately never goes completely away. I know three other 87/88 riders in my general area and we all have the problem to some degree.

If I'm going to go inside of her, there are some other things I'd like to do over the winter. Valves, (maybe a complete head job) Carbs and brake lines. New driveline, etc

But then again, she's too nice a bike to go out and kill needlessly

 

The rattle could be the primary chain at that mileage.............
If so it means a teardown, BUT - my primary has been rattling for 12000 miles now, bike runs fine, just noisy until it's warm.
The primary tensioners go on these bikes and you can't get to it without splitting the engine.......

 

I run Castrol Power 1 10w40 semi synthetic in all my bikes and after about 10 mins warm up on my 89 model the rattle goes away. My 92 model doesn't seem to have a rattle at all but then again I can't hear the engine much over the 4 into one pipe the previous owner put on it.......Dont get to worked up about it mate. Treat her nice ride out the summer and do the cct and all the other work u want to do over the winter. we are lucky here where we can ride all year round so we never get to do much maintenance.....lol.

 

My thinking is that they fail quickly. They are somewhat like a hydraulic lifter, pumping up. When they begin to fail, the piston cam move freely back and forth as the chain puts force on them. This movement would then cause more wear and hence more movement until they can't pump up. I believe this wear is not liner, it's more rapid.

Not a hard job but you may want to do the chain as well.

A good carb balance can smooth thing out some times. I have had them out slightly and get some rattle.

Apparently the CCT on my DR-Z400 fails (ratchet type-total failure) but I can get a MCCT for it.
My Stratoliner has push rods. YEAH! LOL

 

My main concern is what all that slapping and grinding is putting into my oil. I'll buy a filter magnet this week as an ounce of prevention.

Building a warchest as we speak. If affordable, I'll do it prior to winter. Looking at about $300-400 US in parts including new chain guides