Chain Tension

   / Chain Tension #1  

Lloyd_E

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 15, 2003
Messages
1,498
Location
South Shore Nova Scotia Canada
Tractor
2008 Kioti DK 45 sc
I noticed my chain drive on the snow blower was slack the other day - not utilizing the tension cog pulley. I adjusted it and continued and within few minutes the chain broke. It may have been from ice getting between the chain and cog - who knows.

I replaced the chain with new and fixed the old one for back up. The manual doesn't give any info regard slackness or tension: ie: 1/8 to 1/4" play.

What do you folks recommend?

TIA,

lloyd

PS: I always grease moving parts prior, during and in between operations.
 
   / Chain Tension #2  
Approximately 4-6% of the drive's center distance. I would guess that you would probably need 1/4" to 1/2" vertical movement with finger tips between any two sprockets that are approximately 12" apart. Load (turn) the conditioning augers by hand so you have removed any slack from the chain on the bottom, feel the slack on the top.
 
   / Chain Tension #3  
Try measuring the wear in your old chain. The pin centers are standard (#50 is 1/5", #60 is 3/4", etc). Lay the chain out across a table with both end hanging off (to keep it tight) and measure the error in length over 10 links or more. This should give you an idea if it is worn out; I don't know what tolerance you should expect.

If you find the chain is worn then you might have to look at the sprockets for wear and replace if necessary. If you lube then this is probably not the problem (this would be a bigger problem on a spreader or other 'hard life' device). You might also want to check that the chain does not touch the side of any clearance holes, bolt heads, etc. Wear on the side is not good.

Did the chain break at the removeable link? Maybe it just was not seated properly or the clip got bumped off. You probably won't have any more trouble with it...

Cheers,
Mike
 
   / Chain Tension
  • Thread Starter
#4  
mwb,

The tension sprocket is located at the top, so the 'play' can be measured at the bottom.
I just tighten it and it has about a 1/2" play. I re-greased it as well. I did notice the rivet or pin was split - thinking that it was a design flaw and that it didn't go all the way through.

The unit is new - total of 6 hours on it.

Hopefully this was just a flawed link.

TIA


lloyd
 
 
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