Rhino chain tension

[david3921]

So we know that these ATVs are sent with the chain too tight. I loosened mine when I set it up but think it's too loose now as I'm getting some noise. It's hard to tell since it has a tensioner. Should it be about 1/2" with the tensioner pulled away?

[Mudflap]

Just as on motorcycles the chain at the center of the span should deflect 10mm to 20mm with the center of the countershaft sprocket, the swing arm pivot bolt, and center of the rear axle lined up. That would be with the tensioner out of the way.

[Darth Racer]

Re-read this thread a bunch of times.. still have no clue what to look for. Any way of explaining this for noobers like me?

Been doing a lot of this the last 4 months.

[david3921]

Originally Posted by Mudflap

Just as on motorcycles the chain at the center of the span should deflect 10mm to 20mm with the center of the countershaft sprocket, the swing arm pivot bolt, and center of the rear axle lined up. That would be with the tensioner out of the way.

I actually tried this at set up. I diconnected the shock, aligned the sprockets, and set the deflection. It seemed too tight after I buttoned everything back up. Waiting on 2LZ to weigh in also.

[david3921]

So I dug back into this today. Here's what I did;

I put my motorcycle jack under the motor and raised the front making sure the arm of the jack didn't contact the tensioner.
I disconnected the tensioner.
Next, I loosened all 10 (yes, 10) of the nuts and bolts it takes to make an adjustment.
I then put a jack under the end of of the swingarm and lifted a bit to relieve some tension off of the shock.
I took out the lower shock bolt and swung the shock away.
I jacked up the rear until the swingarm was level.

This where the difference between a motorcycle and an ATV rear shows up. On a motorcycle, the front and rear sprocket pretty much line up with swingarm bolt when the swingarm is level. This is the point where the chain will be the tightest in it's arc. Not so on an ATV. The motor sits higher so the line between the front sprocket, the swingarm bolt, and rear sprocket (as Mudflap describes) is at a downward angle toward the rear.
At this point, I had to raise the front end some more to allow the rear to align. I used a straight edge to align everything, set the deflection at about 3/4", and then tightened everything back up. I found that the chain was still a bit tight after all this but the noise was gone. It's a new chain so I'm going to run it this way for a bit as it will loosen. On my next adjustment, I plan on setting deflection at 1" so it should be dead on.