Some ? about venture tensioner

[trbig]

But... it's not round.


Tod

[tinman905]

But... it's not round.


Tod

The first 4.5mm is round the rest of the shaft is basically round except where the notches are and another flat spot for whatever. There are no square corners so it's basically cylinder shape.

[bcknblkbird]

tensioner

i'd like to replace the one on my xj, what do i need to look for on ebay?thanks!

[trbig]

Yeah, you need the Venture adjuster. The other automatic adjusters stick out too far for the XJ. It has a cross brace right in front of the adjuster that the XS doesn't have. You could try to pick up one like the one I listed a few postings ago for the Raptor.. shipping and all was under $10.. and see if it works. All you need is for the bolt pattern to be close.. you can wallow out the holes a bit if needed.. and that it covers that hole in the motor.

Otherwise, do searches for Yamaha tensioner, Venture, venturer.. etc. and see if you can find one reasonably on there.


Tod

[Geezer]

The supply of Venture tensioners seems to have dried up. I was looking in some parts books and it looks like the XZ550 Vision takes the same tensioner. I've been looking on eBay but I haven't seen any there.

If they're the same, this should end the shortage since the 550 Vision had a bottom end problem and they all seem to fail early...

I'll keep searching and post anything I find here...

Geezer

[tinman905]

The supply of Venture tensioners seems to have dried up. I was looking in some parts books and it looks like the XZ550 Vision takes the same tensioner. I've been looking on eBay but I haven't seen any there.

If they're the same, this should end the shortage since the 550 Vision had a bottom end problem and they all seem to fail early...

I'll keep searching and post anything I find here...

Geezer

Here is a pair for sale "Buy it now"

http://cgi.ebay.ca/Yamaha-XZ550-XZ-5...item5d26f09776

[tinman905]

Here's another set

http://cgi.ebay.ca/Yamaha-XZ550-XZ-5...item5d26466c4c

[Geezer]

I don't know why I didn't find those when I searched for them earlier... Anyway the guy that has these is local to me and I sent him an eMail through fleabay. If he's willing to let me bring one of my Venture tensioners with me to match up and see if they're the same.

I know of at least 1 friend that needs one and I have 3 XS11's and only 2 Venture tensioners.

Geezer

[Geezer]

Vison tentioner update

I bought a pair of these off eBay and they should be here in a couple days. I'll post another update when they get here...

Geezer

[Geezer]

I might do a full right up with pix later but the 550 Vision and 535 Virago cam chain tensioners are a very close fit but not exact like the ones from a Venture or V-Max.

I tried it on my parts bike since the front end is off and the bike is on a lift jack making it very easy to get to the tensioner. The Vision tensioner has a different offset and seems have the cylinder rotated so the locking part is in a different place. At first it looked like it was going to be a slam dunk but I could only get one of the bolt holes to perfectly line up with it seated against the cylinders, With it further out the bolts will line up but tightening it up that way would be monumentally stupid.

The plunger piston, cap bolt and spring from the Vision tensioner will interchange to the Venture tensioner but the springs are a little different. The Vision spring is longer but not as stiff. It seems close to the strength of the original XS11 tensioner spring and should be strong enough for the job. Also the Vision tensioner had less play at the end of it's travel because of the longer spring. I don't know how likely an XS11 is to using up all the travel but it's worth noting.

Back in 1983 I swapped out a cylinder head on an XS400 and I thought then that the cam chain tensioner was the best design I'd ever seen, it seems now that it's being copied. I saw several from Suzukis and Kawies (as well other Yamahas) on eBay that look very similar. There was one from a Suzuki Bandit that looked almost identical... So if you're willing to do some work, finding a workable ratcheting cam chain tensioner for the XS and XJ 1100 is very doable. If you can't find a Venture tensioner and are handy with a round file and making gaskets, the Vision or Virago 535 tensioner will work.

Geezer