chain guide set ups

[skid jackson]

ltr doesn't make theirs anymore ...
my stock one is acting up and throwing my chain.
other than the recently posted do it yourself rig. what are you guys running for alternative chain guides. state side availability please.

[nhrider]

Stock! I had zero problems with it on the River Loop in Clough Sunday.

[PEB]

Find a dealer with thew LTR piece in stock. It is vastly superior to the oem guide.

[jhendr3702]

hey skid.... earlier this week there was an ltr set up on ebay, I had been watching it and it is gone now. I talked to les the other day at ltr and he told me his business was really changing and he was running very low on some products and out of some also and would take a long time to get anymore.
I wanted some of the pull rods and he was out of them and gofasters was also out.
A friend of mine here sells him the honda part of that setup, but that won't help without the rest of it.

[eff]

Stock. No issues.

Are you sure your rear wheel is aligned properly? Bent sprocket?

[REVERUP]

I run the LTR and always have. But TM Design Works makes a good one but you need the MC chain guide support bracket to run it.

Roscoe

[Boomhauer]

I have a Jeff Fredette (SP) chain guide on my 07. I got it from gofasters. So far so good with no problems out of it.

[skid jackson]

Originally Posted by eff

Stock. No issues.

Are you sure your rear wheel is aligned properly? Bent sprocket?

The first throw off was caused by a slightly bent hanger. I put some heat to it and hammered it straight again. The second throw off was at the rocky mt harescramble in a rocky uphill mud section. Hanger does not look bent. I checked alignment and things looked straight to me. Chain may be a touch loose ... I can get three fingers between it and the top of the swing arm. I usually run about 2 to 2 1/2 finger slack.

How do you measure alignment?? I usually spin the rear tire and eyeball the chain, use the little dots & lines on the adjusters and swing arm & measure the gap from the chain block adjuster to the end of the slot/cut out that the adjuster goes in.

[eff]

You do actually need to run the chain relatively loose. I check my chain tension by putting the bike on the ground and compress it by leaning over the seat and grab the chain to make sure it isn't too tight.

There are several ways to check alignment. I usually do what you do, but GMP posted a good little technique a while back. Since it's hard to measure from the swingarm pivot bolt, just measure from the point where the chain adjust bolts contact the swingarm to the center of the axle.

BTW you can take some of the slack out of the chain by adjusting the chain guide. It pivots on it's mount and can be used like an idler roll tensioner.

[rpduc]

There's a Fredette guide on my '05 MC and my buddy's '04 DE and they seem fine.

And here are some musings on the subject from a relative newbie...

As far as chain tension, my technique (which I found in a Husqvarna manual) is to put a ratchet strap over the back fender and compress the rear suspension until the countershaft, swing pivot and rear axle are in a straight line. By geometry this is the longest point where the chain would be tightest. I leave a "slight amount" of slack at this point. After you do this once you get a feel for how much slack you'd actually need with the "two-finger" method.

Another way to check alignment is to put a straightedge against the flat on the rear sprocket and aim it at the front. (easier with the chain off) Once aligned this way, for future reference, you can check to see if your marks are "on" and also verify whether the tabs for the chain adjusters are equidistant from the axle. IMHO the marks are "close enough" for a dirt bike chain... I'd think it would have to be way far off to actually cause a derailment.

I dumped mine in wet sand one time and so much sand packed into the chain that it felt like the tranny was locked. I tried for "awhile" and couldn't rock the thing into neutral... I thought I had damaged a shift fork or something. Anyway I finally started it in gear and worked the clutch enough to get moving and it freed right up. I wonder if on that uphill mud section you just got lucky and picked up exactly the wrong rock or enough mud to kick your chain? Wouldn't help to have your chain set too loosely in that scenario... I will say that it looks like it would be damn hard for the chain to jump with that Fredette guide in place.