Set and forget tensioner (For XJs too)

[Ivan]

One night in the deep recesses of my garage, I was looking over my Venture, and noticed the tensioners had the same bolt pattern and mounting flange as on the XS. I eBayed a set for $20, which is a pair, since the V engine has two chains. These have a plunger with a ratcheting mechanism with a spring. The plunger will move out, but not back. There is a plug on the outside of the tensioner with a spring under it. Installation is as simple as removing the plug and spring, pushing the plunger in, bolting it up (with the engine at the "C" mark of course), and reinstalling the spring and plug. I heard it ratchet into place, kinda sounded like a zip tie.

The pics:

The pieces



Plunger extended



Plunger retracted



Installed

[Geezer]

Great tip. I think we will now all be looking for some of these.

Geezer

[Geezer]

I decided to search eBay for one of these in the odd chance I would find one and I got a pair of them with shipping for 16 bucks and change.

One more upgrade to do over the winter. Woo hoo.

Geezer

[GARTHXS]

sooo?

is this better than the fz tensioner, it looks like a direct swap , how is the gasket surface , and bolt hole alignment?

[TDodge7]

yes , i just did the fzr tensioner and it needed to have about 1mm filed out of the outer edge of both bolt holes to work . but it's on now and working great . tho i'm interested in the venture ones if they're a direct bolt on .

[randy]

This looks like a cool mod, I just picked up a couple on fleabay.

[bikerphil]

That's a nice mod! It probably won't be prone to leaking oil or stripping.

[Ivan]

It is a direct bolt on setup. They changed from the 1200 to the 1300 in 86 on the Ventures, and mine is from a 1200 (83-85) and I am not sure if the later ones will work. FWIW the 1200 V Max uses the same engine with hotter cams and different carbs, so those should work as well.

Since there are two in each engine, you all could be nice and give the other one to a buddy.

[DGXSER]

Just bought one for a 1300 off fleabay. I'll let yall know how it fits.

[GARTHXS]

ok?

so I just searched fleabay and they are out , who wants to share

[randy]

Sure, I'll share when they come in, only got one bike anyway!

[DGXSER]

Yamaha part no 26H1221003 for the XVZ12, same part number for the XVZ13. Should work from either bike. I think I only got one, but mine was under $10 shipped.

Looks like quite a few on ebay, but no where near this pricing. more like $20 plus shipping is the cheapest, but that may be two of them.

[TDodge7]

i just checked , the 1200's use the same tensioner as the 1300's , also the same as the v-max . so you didn't have to file the bolt holes at all ?

oops , just noticed , dgxser beat me to it .

[randy]

I got a pair for $15 incl. shipping. garth, pm me your address.

[Geezer]

I don't mean to brag but I bought the whole cam chain, chain slippers and thew adjuster set for 16 bucks and change. When I told the guy to keep the rest and only send me the adjusters, he knocked 5 bucks off the shipping so now I'm 11 bucks and change into the pair. It's a good thing I have more than one XS11...

Geezer