Idler Chain coming apart

[DerekF]

Hi Guys,

I have a 2005 avenger 300hrs. I may find something is wrong when I take things apart but I thought I would post this question to see if something obvious is happening.
Three times in 10 minutes I have had the masterlink in the idler chain come apart. 3 times! The first time I thought I had just not put the masterlink key in properly. 5 minutes of riding later and it happened again. I put a new chain on it, then was very careful to put the masterlink on properly. 5 minutes of riding, presto the chain came off again.

Any ideas? Bearings?

Derek

[azz7772]

what do you you mean by came off, the whole chain off the sprocket or the master link came apart do you have a pic?

[DerekF]

The master link keeps coming apart, then of course the chain comes apart. The link is being put together correctly, so something else is causing the master link to come apart, like sideways pressure from play in a bearing. I am looking at the machine right now to see if that is the case. Will update............

[Mike]

Do you have the opening on the spring clip facing away from the direction of rotation so that it gets pushed back on as the chain rotates? Also, have you tried putting the master link in from the opposite side of the chain so that the spring clip is on the other side?

[DerekF]

OKay, I got it. Well this is a good one. My master links were indeed coming off for no apparent reason. Hadn't had a problem with them before. Here is what was happening.

Last season I noticed a weird noise while coming back from fishing, kind of a wobble sound. I look into the engine compartment and noticed that these bolts (#12 on the schematic) were loose. Because they were worn rounded a bit I took the brake disc assemble apart and checked the bearings, etc. AND I PUT NEW BOLTS IN THE ASSEMBLY. (Key point here). The number of the bolts is (HHCS, 1/4-20 x 1/2” Gr8 Zn) so I went and bought the exact same bolts. However, these new bolts were less than 1mm longer. No big deal, the clearances seemed okay so I installed them and all was good all year.

So, what is the problem you ask? Well, the master link that I was using was the cotter pin style for this past year, and I just recently was servicing the machine and replaced the masterlink, TO A KEY STYLE. No big deal, right, well those 1mm longer bolts now just touch the key, putting pressure on it, which makes it pop off right away, then the master link falls off.

You could not set this up better if you tried!

Thought I would let everyone know just in the one in a million chance it happens to someone else here.

Derek
Brake setup.jpg