Alriiiight. Bit of an issue here. Checked my valves for the first time after 52k miles, 7 were out of spec. I really don't rag on my bike at all or ever get anywhere near redline, typically shift around 7k RPM. Have it all taken apart and am having an issue.

The timing chain skipped at least one tooth on the crank sprocket and now I'm not sure how to get it all timed correctly -- this happened before I ever fully assembled it back up or anything.

One of the cam chain guides (the orange one toward the front of the bike) actually busted and was loosely floating around in there, I'm not sure if I did it during the valve adjustment process or what though.

I'm going to have to take the clutch cover off to replace that guide (which I'm at least familiar with, replaced the clutch a few times in the past.)

I realize that I may need to remove that bolt on the end of the crank along with the starter clutch assembly just to replace the guide.

My main question is basically.. how do I get it set back up to TDC since it skipped a tooth and the sharpie marks I had on the chain and cams have since worn off? If I'm replacing that chain guide, I should be able to re-set the cam chain relatively easily since I'll have access to that gear anyway. What would the steps be? Just make sure piston 1 and 4 are at the very top and the mark on that starter gear line up with the notches on the case?

Thanks much in advance! I'm lost here.

 

@ProoN Year and model of the bike?

The location of the chain is not important. It's the location (rotationally) of the crankshaft and the location of the camshafts to each other. The key here is that with the crankshaft and camshafts in the correct spot, there should be no slack in the chain on the front side of the engine. If you're looking at the right hand side of the engine, the front is on your right and that is the side where there should be no slack in the cam chain. All the slack in the chain will be towards the back where the cam chain tensioner is.

Hope that makes sense.

 

That makes sense, thanks for kinda dumbing it down. Hah.

So the chain itself doesn't have to be on the exact teeth it was on to begin with? Just so long as the the crank and cams are timed correctly with each other? Is there any "easy" way to know for sure that piston #1 is at the top? Obviously line up the marks on the crank with the case. Does one full rotation of the crank mean it could be 180 degrees off (ie piston #2 at the top, etc)? Or is one full 360 degree turn of the crank .. one full turn?

It's an 07 600RR. I bought this engine after I had previously wrecked my bike, noticed it had an aftermarket throttle cable setup on it but when it was OUT of the bike which kinda had me a little wary on what kind of abuse it was subjected to before I got it, but nonetheless I didn't want to bother taking it apart and doing the valves or any deep maintenance at the time. I was kind of in a rush to get it up and running again, which .. after this experience am definitely learning that taking my time is necessary, especially if I haven't done something before. But yeah, the engine was listed as running so I just put it in and it's been running surprisingly great actually. Just recently began having issues with starting the bike on colder mornings and I read that the intake valves were probably out of spec, which they definitely were.

Also, kudos for your replies. You seem to be the only one commenting on my stuff in these tech sections. Much appreciated

 

@ProoN No worries man, glad to help when I can. For the crank and the camshaft, the chain can be anywhere. As long as the #1 is at the top. Take the plug out of the cylinder and put a long screwdriver into the hole. You can watch the piston rise up, and when the driver stops moving up, you're at the top. The marks on the crankshaft help as well. I think the challenging part is getting the camshafts aligned correctly with their marks and then getting the chain and all the sprockets in place with no (virtually no) slack on that right side. There is no chance to get it 180 out, or even 360 out. The crank turns 2 times for every rotation of the camshafts. So if the cams are in the right position, then the crank will be too. The crankshaft doesn't know if it is on it's 1st stroke or the 3rd, it just depends on where the camshaft is in it's rotation. If the cam is opening the intake valve, then it's the intake stroke. If all the valves are closed, then its the power stroke.

Hope that helps a little.

 

So still working at this. Replaced the cam chain guide this morning which literally only took a few minutes but am still having issues with the cam chain and timing it correctly on the cams.

I mark them, both the chain links and cams on the intake and exhaust, tighten it all down (cam chain tensioner as well), spin the crank a few times and my sharpie marks never line back up. It all goes back to TDC, lines on the cams and crank line up with the head and such but my sharpie marks never do. Would they eventually after like 20 cranks or something? I've only tried maybe 5 spins or so on the crank and all the other lines actually do go back to TDC which leads me to believe it's actually timed correctly but not sure. Any help?