Hi guys doing my first ever chain replacement in the morning and just had a couple quick questions. I'm replacing the chain for 2 reasons, 1. I don't know what abuse the current chain has taken under the previous owner or what quality it is, and 2. It is right on the service limit of 319mm for 20-link length.

I have purchased EK ZZZ 530, 120 links which came with the following master link:

Here are the questions:
A. I can't find a 'master link' on the currently installed chain to knock out, am I looking wrong or could it not have one and I should just choose anywhere to grind off / push the pin out?
B. How much of that white grease should I be packing into the joint before I slide the X-ring over? Should it be basically full?
C. The rest of the new chain is somewhat covered in that white grease, should I be cleaning it all off as I normally would before installing and lubricating?
D. I would also like to confirm that the proper chain length should be 118 links? this would mean 58 link plates plus the master link?
E. Is there any torque setting I should be using for flaring the rivets on the master link pins at all or just go by the service manual measurements for width between outside of link plates? (i.e. 22.4 - 22.55 mm)

Sorry if some/all are stupid questions I just like to be fully informed before I try something new, especially something that can fail horrifically if done wrong.

Any/all information is appreciated, thanks in advance!

* Last updated by: redimp on 7/5/2014 @ 7:29 AM *

Here are the answers:
A. This is a continuous link chain. If stock, the OEM chain is 116 links. Yes, grind out the link and not count but lay it over the other sprockets, push the axle forward and all that, find where the master will hole link, no winding up using a master and a half link. This is a powerful bike so you take your chances with masters not continuous links.

B. This chain is pre-white-greased. No packing needed, just install grease off the plastic to an the master's pins with it. This is not an OEM chain, correct? Those seals may be for the swing arm of another bike. See how that swing needs lubing?

C. The master pins and link holes need the lube from that package. Squeeze in the holes, rub on the pins and o-rings.

D. 116 is for the 14 and 118 is for the 14R. This would mean, install the new ground off link pins into the new ground off chain and old ground off chain link. You have on continuous open chain, now begin to lace the old chain out and feed the new chain in. Do not make the pin fall out or it won't clear coming around and such.

E. Torque is for thread pitch. On a chain link, it's how wide did I squeeze the pin as it mushrooms out but has a limit before the pin cracks around the limited crush or spreading out of that diameter. As far as the push of the plate in, this is a feel fit because you do not have the link that may read how far the pin comes out of the plate? But if you take the link and move it as like the other links and feel that drag, no hanging up, that is where the plate rests, not collapsing the rings over the rollers in other words, look at the parts and study it.

F. Look at the concave tip at the end of the master's pins. That is all that mushrooming out and it's just enough not to make the pin slide out. The plate shows no excessive-drag against the o-rings and rollers. This will take that whatever that pro-something or something-pro tools have that pin crushing tool.

G. I'm going to force you to step on the squid carpet all red and in the face.
a. I look the squid when I change a front tire and leave the bald rear tire on expecting the same mileage from the front is equal to the rear (baldy). I don't get it or you are thinking like a squid even if you swapped back and left the front alone, it still says I rolled out the dealer door spinning both tires at the same time means equal wear, or STEP to the music with equal miles prove me wrong, see me stepping a toe on that carpet.
b. I am going to rub my hands together, can't tell the other hand was warming up equally with the other, but I'm too much of a squid to think I did not rub down the sprockets equally, now I wipe only half of my ass, here comes the new undies, the shit was I thinking like a squid?
c. I am stepping away from that carpet, I better order new sprockets, I question the chain.

H. If I have the manual, I know my pin to pin measurement stretch, correct?
a. I guessed at the chain, no measurement, I just have this 'feeling' of abuse or I assume you can see something going on there.
b. I did not check. I've ridden enough and seen enough chain wear, don't assume, I didn't think of wearing the chain out, causing a whaa-whaa-hi-low wear effect, my chain should run like a round wheel, not an egg shape spin.
c. I need to sell the chain in this package, eat this as experience, I now waste tool money on sprockets, and if I have the book, I want to buy a torque wrench all in the cheap seats so I get this swing arm back on, no grinding, no special tools but maybe the locking nut, but I have a brass drift and won't miss or I find one by pro-something and use that as the torquing the frame against the swing arm tool, [I don't have the book open].

Signed,

NOLTT (you are half way on that red carpet with the chain alone, nice shoe)

* Last updated by: Hub on 7/5/2014 @ 8:59 AM *

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Lol Hub, I've been reading this forum for months now and I thought I was getting the hang of hub-speak but you kinda lost me around the squid talk. I have inspected the sprockets both front and rear and both look good (even round shape between teeth, no sharpening effect on tips).

Thanks for the clarification on chain length, I kept reading 116 links on here but service manual for my ZX-14R (downloaded from here) said 118. Now I know the reason for the discrepancy.

I'll be trying my best to not be a squid on the red carpet...

I figure if I am laughing at the truth someone else is too. Hub-speak is all about going beyond the shop manual. It's about the concept of the hand rub. You are saying to me, I rubbed both my hands together as if I were a sprocket and chain. What you should see is that no matter how you try to justify the other hand [did not] warm up equally to the other, half of the rubbing parts did not warm up or wear equally either.

That is the same concept I use with the tires. Both tires rolled out the door and roll equally we look at both tire stems think. No matter how you think the tires look, you are missing the rolling of the wheels equally is the heat, one steps (front) one wears flat (rear) = EQUALLY.

That comes back to, "I question the original owner if he ever 'keyed' his wear pattern after all those tire changes, the sprockets look fine?" Step on the truth one more time, we bring up a variable of a wear pattern that chain now rides in. How about we have a wear pattern that when that bike was first rolled out the door with the tires, did not the chain come around to the same tooth we count how many times for argument sake, it takes 65 times we line up a link to a tooth again. How many times did the [same] tire changer not KEY the link to tooth back in? Do you see how that chain/tooth will begin a new wear pattern?

If we change the shims on the bike, do not key the cam to chain the same way, this will cause a new wear pattern. The engine becomes noisier if not. Go find a GM transfer case noise issue and it's not timing the same hi-vo chain back to the gears on the transfer case. The noise is heard after a rebuild under the floorboards does it come. So says the bulletin. Been there, done that.

As long as that red carpet is out there, how simple all this sounds logically or not, rather not hear the engineers call it with cars, you are not looking at the tooth to roller like I do we see wear for wear. Lets say those U's have 1/3 of the wear, we agree there is some wear. Whereas, my new chain's pins and new rollers look like this:

NewUsed:

1. My tooth or the U has to look horizontal think so we see the pull and out of the hoop.
a. I am a new chain, so my rollers are centered, no galling as the pin moves and the roller stays put in the tooth. Do we see the one hand is the link's one side of the pin about to roll on the inner part of the roller?
b. Those two arch's rub on each other up to a certain mechanical degree. So when that chain breaks, it's usually the pin imploding on itself because it lost half that pin's side or diameter.
c. So my new roller is going to arch out of the 1/3rd deeper U wear the roller caused.

2. My roller still has to ride up the tooth before it hits that one wall side of the U that wore out you do not see.
a. At a traffic light, the cars leave and we feel a bump over that, or say turn 4 of Daytona has a bump because the cars accelerate away and wrinkle the asphalt at that exit out the corner.
b. Look at how that roller ramped up the tooth and if that did not move metal, I'll eat it and the bump at turn 4.
c. So are we not assbackwords no matter how I say it, we see wear patterns of both chain and tooth at both pin, on the inside against the roller, and the roller against the sprockets riding up out the deeper hoop and steeper curve?

3. I am now about to place a new chain over a worn tooth. If I X to Y some angles, my roller is not home in the U of a new [shallower] pocket.
a. My roller rides up a little bit before it hits the wall.
b. My roller is deeper in the pocket of the U, because of the metal moved (wear).
c. My pin now has to travel more, more arch is eaten at more pin, not less pin as when new against new.

I think the effect is the chain wears faster times this worn arch at a used, semi-used tooth angle.

I am on the carpet OR:

1. New/Used = Half on.
2. NOLTT you run #1 as is = Both feet.
3. New/New = Both feet off the Red Carpet. Not one smell of ocean current.

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When you count those 20 teeth or 12" plus/minus or in mm, it is saying, I have half my pins sheering off, this is how I grow. I have a string around the last pie and that round pie reps a pin, and the string reps many pies up against each other of that string's U length. If I cut a pie in half, then cut in half each of the other pies, they are touching again, see how long my string or the U became?

With each link, those 2 pins in that link rep a pie cut. When the links call for a stretch measurement to be within a certain mm length, it's that pie shaving down the one side before it reaches half or that pin snaps. So if you want to see pin or chain wear, go to that measuring page of the chain and see if you are within spec of the chain?

If the chain wore past serviceable limit, then so did the sprockets take a beating not being lubed that much either. Wear are we with the old chain's serviceable limit or is it off the bike already? It's your bike in the end. However you put it back together is your justification.

I change wear against wear once I question one wearing part on another. Wheel bearing goes, out goes the other. Headlight bulb in the car? Both have practically the same hours to burn so it calls the ball too. You do what you need to do.

Signed,

'Ain't my bike'

* Last updated by: Hub on 7/5/2014 @ 1:26 PM *

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Alright I'm with you now, long story short:

If the chain has reached it's serviceable limit it is likely the sprocket(s) has also undergone some wear that may or may not be noticeable. A new chain on a somewhat worn sprocket will cause undue wear in the new chain therefore the sprockets should also be replaced when installing a new chain.

I agree with your logic and I haven't broken the old chain off yet so I'll wait on some new sprockets before I go for it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47dtFZ8CFo8&feature=kp
"so I'll wait on some new sprockets before I go for it."

... serviceable limit it is likely the sprocket(s) has also undergone some wear that may or may not be noticeable.

Serviceable limit means, 'Pleasantly worn out.' My cam lobe looks perfect; no galling; no lines, but a perfect looking mirror finish... Until I measure it. It has lobe characteristics, but no longer pushes the valve deeper in the head, or stays open longer: it is so worn out past that tiny window. My cam looks like a used sprocket, I'm going to use this cam with my new head.

This is one performance bike you do not want to fail under you no matter that speed, let alone the torque getting you there on such short notice. Seeeeeeeeee NAP!

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A. I can't find a 'master link' on the currently installed chain to knock out, am I looking wrong or could it not have one and I should just choose anywhere to grind off / push the pin out?

There is usually no "masterlink" in chains anymore. Not unless it is on a dirtbike. All factory chains are continuous, all links are the same and none are easily rempoed by unclipping them. That was the old days.

B. How much of that white grease should I be packing into the joint before I slide the X-ring over? Should it be basically full?

You can't overdo the grease. It is meant to be filled with the white grease. That is the only internal grease it will ever have in it's life so grease it good. Any extra will squeeze out when you press the pins through to connect the chain. Grease all the parts of the connecting links.

C. The rest of the new chain is somewhat covered in that white grease, should I be cleaning it all off as I normally would before installing and lubricating?

I didn't. It flings off readily. You might as well wipe it with a dry rag after you install or go ahead and do a thorough cleaning, then lube with wax.

D. I would also like to confirm that the proper chain length should be 118 links? this would mean 58 link plates plus the master link?

That sounds about right but it varies according to what size sprocket you have. You'd have to count the links on an OEM chain to determine what the correct number is. You could just install the wheel where you want it and wrap the chain around the sprockets to determine where you want to cut it. I have one more link in my chain than I really needed. Figured thagt would be better than cutting it too short. The wheel base is just a little longer and the chain weighs an ounce or so more.

E. Is there any torque setting I should be using for flaring the rivets on the master link pins at all or just go by the service manual measurements for width between outside of link plates? (i.e. 22.4 - 22.55 mm)

I did not use a torque wrench. My EK ZZZ came with spacers that are meant to be placed between the inner and outer plates and that will definitely prevent overtightening the riveting tool. Make sure you get a good mushroom. That is a matter of judgement. I can tell you I tightened pretty hard to rivet the pins so that they appeared reliable. My ZZZ also came with a rivet head gauge to determine proper rivet head size. It's foolproof. Hope your chain came with this stuff. I think I heard someone say theirs did not have the spacers or gauge.

This ought to help if you have not already finished the job.
SPROCKET / DRIVE CHAIN REPLACEMENT

Looks to me like I recorded the stock chain to be 116 links for the Gen 1 ZX-14. So I concur with Hub on the chain length. If you are going to go to a larger rear sprocket, might want to consider a little longer chain. The Stock length should work with a few T up in back and a 16T front. If you're changiong sprockets, might as well do it now. Personally, I think that is an excellent idea any time you change the chain. I can tell you, I needed to adjust my old chain with a new rear sprocket very often for about 10K miles. No biggy but needless wear. If you're not expecting to swap wheels around and change gearing a lot, best to change the sprockets and the chain together and wear them in all at once. I'd do it unless your sprockets look in really good shape cuz the EK is probably going to outlast your bike.

* Last updated by: Rook on 7/6/2014 @ 7:11 PM *

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Thanks Rook

I've read that guide of yours multiple times (great work on all those guides btw, a lifesaver).

At this point I have no plans to change the stock gearing, I ordered OEM sprockets (17/42) and am just waiting for them to arrive before swapping them in with the new chain.

I'm coming to this bike from probably a very different experience level than most, having only ridden bikes for about 14 months and the first 12 months of it only riding a learner bike the V-Star 650 (~40 HP) ;). This bike was a shaft drive as well so very little in terms of typical bike maintenance. Given the HUGE step up in power this thing will still give me a ridiculous shit-eating grin when I wind the throttle on for some time to come with stock gearing/settings. Maybe another year or so I will look at things like flashing ECU/different gearing/other performance mods but for now, I'm stoked.

* Last updated by: redimp on 7/6/2014 @ 9:31 PM *

Yeah, I had ridden a cruiser for a year before getting the 14 and owned a little dirtbike when I was a kid. The short gearing is not as noticeable as it might seem unless you are used to being on the throttle hard a lot. I can feel the difference between my busa with stock gearing and the 14 with 17/45 gearing. under normal throttle, I feel the difference taking off all the time. After I'm on the move, the bike feels more aggressive but it is controllable. I think it's more touchy in cornering with the lightweight wheels I now have and also the flies out may be a contributing factor there. It gets difficult to tell the true effect of all these mods after they are done for years and new ones have been added.

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