And the CCT gets a little cheaper when its made in china

PAZOMA REFIT DIY Manual Cam Timing Chain Tensioner RED FOR 99 06 CBR 600F4/F4I-in Engines from Automobiles & Motorcycles on Aliexpress.com | Alibaba Group

 

Is it worth getting a manual CCTL or getting a new OEM auto tensioniser lifter? They're both around the same price point. I've been told the manual CCT can cause some good damage since there is no play compared to the auto. Which would be the better choice since I have to replace mine?

 

From what i know of the CCT moves only in one direction which is out ways. it never retracts by itself untill rewinded by the tool from the back side. Sr members can confirm about this. Only the CBR F1 and F2 600 88-94 had the auto rewinding CCT's i guess

 

if you get a new auto one, you're just taking a gamble, could last 10k or 30k miles. with the manual one you adjust it as needed. on the f3 i had, i just adjusted it every spring and it was golded all season long.
im actually thinking about getting an oem for mine, simply because its a pita to adjust, on my f3 i just took the right side fairing off and an engine mount and boom, easy access. but since on the f4i's its stuck right behind the damn frame, huge pita to adjust.

 

Tool question here. Who here can reccomend the best tool to get to the lower mounting bolt to the stock CTTL on an '04 F4i? I have the right fairing off and I can see the bolt but it's an impossible fit for a torque wrench (too much play before it can tighten) if I come in from the top. I can, however, come in from the rear side going forward. Might consider getting a flexible 3/8th socket head to attach the allen key too since I'm unable to go in straight.

How has everyone else been able to get to it? Thanks.

 

Finally put a manual tensioner in my bike at 75,333 miles. I have a plethora of tools and still ended up pulling the throttle bodies to install. Thankfully pulling the throttle bodies only takes like 20min so not a big deal but its so much easier once you do.

 

Here are some tips I feel I can give which I haven't found on the forum for anyone wanting to tackle fitting a manual cam chain tensioner lifter (I will refer to it as CCTL from now on.) I fitted one to my 01 F Sport just over a week ago as the rattle was both annoying me and causing me concern over the wellbeing of a low mileage (12500 miles) engine. My OEM CCTL was rattling about 2000 rpm and again right about 4800 rpm, and could actually feel it through the bars at 4800 rpm. The annoying thing about 4800 rpm is that it is right around the national speed limit on country roads. So I decided it was time for it to go and give the manual CCTL a change. Ordered a cheap ebay one which was a mimic of the APE one in anodised red. I must admit I was very surprised at the quality, it was definitely CNC machined, the bolt I suppose could have been better threaded but it's in now and is working superbly. Ok so onto the tips/ difficulties no one seems to mention:

1) No need to remove side fairings, just the RAM air covers.
2) Best way to get the tank out of the way (as seen on youtube) is to remove both front and back bolts and tilt it backwards and secure by putting a shoelace around the front of the tank and looping around the bungee cord bolts on the back seat.
3) I would recommend draining the tank by removing the banjo bolt at the fuel rail end, this allows better access to the CCTL without removing the throttle bodies.
4) I did not remove the throttle bodies as I didn't know how I would get access to the clamp screws. The top clamp screws are facing the front of the bike but there is no way to get a regular screwdriver on to them. The front frame brace is in the way and the cylinder head is also in the way, can't go in at an angle either. Even removing the valve cover wouldn't help. You would need some sort of super short phillips hex attachment for a very small ratchet or something like that. (If anyone has tips on how to remove the throttle bodies i'd love to hear. All guides i've read have just said “remove throttle bodies” which is not helpful at all.
5) I couldn't get a ¼ inch or ½ inch ratchet in to remove the Alan bolts holding the CCTL in place as space was too restricted. So I placed an 8mm hex bit into the alan bolts by hand and used an open ended 10 mm spanner to turn it. It was the original CCTL and these bolts were not torqued overly tight from the factory.
6) After these bolts were removed, the CCTL did still not come loose. It was practically fused to the gasket and the cylinder head. I had to gently knock it loose with a hammer.
7) No one so far has mentioned the old gasket may be stuck on to the engine (as in my case) took about half an hour or so to scrape off. It seemed to take forever.
8) Putting the new manual CCTL in after previous work is simple. I put the mounting Alan bolts in the same way I took them out (see point 5). Trying to get a 17mm spanner onto the nuts is tricky though. Practice is required :P
9) I initially screwed the main bolt in until I felt it touch something, backed off a quarter turn and locked it up. The bolt would still turn, but it definitely touched something. You will need to go in at an angle with an open ended spanner to turn the lock nut. This was APE instructions but when I ran the bike it actually turned out to be far too loose. Lots of rattling. (lucky it didn't skip teeth).
10) I found out that the bike will run if you reattach the fuel rail (and other electrical connections). I connected the airbox electrical plugs and left the airbox draped off to the left hand side. The bike will actually run without the MAP AND MAF sensors plugged in, but the fuel injection light will flash on the dashboard. Anyway, this allowed me to move the CCTL bolt into the cam chain guide while the bike was running. Took a few more turns until I got it quiet.
11) Bike now runs really well, it is such a blessing to have an engine so smooth not rattling any more. It was such a big improvement I nearly couldn't believe it. I rode the bike from Belfast to Portrush for the Northwest 200 (about 60 miles) and it was as smooth as butter! There's a sweet spot about 5200 rpm and again at 6000 rpm where the engine is just vibration free. Very very pleased.


I hope this is helpful to someone hoping to take on the job of replacing the OEM CCTL. The job isn't hard, it just takes a lot of patience and it is very fiddly at times. Realistically 95% of the job is just removing bolts and screws.

 

I wanted to add something here that i think is possible others can experience with the cam chain.

The auto CCT does require oil pressure/level to operate correctly. A lot of people aren't actually checking their oil level 100% correctly as it's a little different on these bikes.

My new CCT worked great for nearly 3000 miles, but it started rattling again.

This fixed it:

Oil level check needs to be done on a flat surface with the bike level (duh)

Level check needs to be done *after* the engine was running and stopped for 5+ seconds but before 20-30 seconds have passed.

There is a point at which the oil "settles" right after engine stop, and stays at roughly the same level until about 30 or so seconds in, at which point, more oil starts dropping from the head and the oil level goes up further in the sight glass.

If you check your level at this point, you will be under filling the oil.

Something else to double check it's running with enough oil, again, with the bike level and this time running, the oil level in the sight glass should be on the low marker line, if it's below the low line, or out of the sight glass completely, there isn't enough oil in there. More importantly, there is not enough oil for the CCT to adjust correctly.

 

F4i's don't use oil pressure for the CCTL at all. They use a spring inside applying pressure to the piston which pushes on the cam chain tensioner plastic.

 

Correct, however they do not operate correctly if the oil level is too low.