1700 Cam Chain Tensioners

[NSASarge]

I had installed Cam Chain Tensioner EXTENDERS on my 2005 Nomad. It had about 40,000 miles on it when I did this and was told that 40-thousand was about the right time to do this. If it was ignored, there may be enough slap in the cam chain to wear a hole in the case! The tensioners had a total of 13 "clicks" travel and mine had only 2 "clicks" remaining when I installed the extenders. These extenders were simply machined cup-like-caps that were placed over the end of the tensioner after carefully cutting the "donut" off with a Dermel cutting wheel. OK ... Here's the question! Is this a problem with the 1700 Voyager? Has anyone done this? Does it need to be done? Who sells the extenders and how much are they?

I'm posting this on several forums.

[HMB Don]

David

I have 66,000 miles on my 2012 Voyager and have never heard any cam chain slap. Being that this is the flagship of the Kawasaki line up I expect that the 1700 engine should last a very long time.

[Terros]

Most of my bikes have had cam chains, and normally what I found was when the tensioner was out as far as it would go you needed to think about changing the cam chain.
Seems to me putting an extender could be forcing the chain way pass spec in wear and maybe too close to some part of the engine. The tensioner is there for a reason, AS IS, when we do something outside the spec who knows what damage or danger we may be getting into.
Bob