cam chain, to replace or not

I know this has been asked before but i cant come up with what I need with a search so here we go again.
My bike is a 1982 xj750j with approx 38000miles on it and it has a noisy cam chain, now I know you folks think that I should be able to get some more miles out of it but I already tried to manually adjust it (auto tensioner)both by cleaning te adjuster as well as turning the motor backwards and i even pulled the bolt and springs out of the tensioner and pushed it in manually,(got a couple of clicks) the only thing I havent done was adjust the bolt that holds the rear tensioner blade in place although I dont Know what that would do to help.
If I must replace the chain should I also replace the tensioner blades as well and if so can I change the rear blade without pulling the cylinders as well.
I got the prices for the parts from yamaha and they are not too bad,$95.00 cam chain $85.00 rear blade $26.00 front blade and a new tensioner is not available the prices are in cdn funds could not find aftermarket.
Any thoughts welcome

P.S. sorry for any bad grammer spelling mistakes etc.

 

38,000 Miles is too early to have to replace a Cam Chain.
The thing lives in oil.
Be sure you have have adjusted the tensioner correctly.

Before you invest:

Do a Manual adjustment with the Cam Cover OFF.
Lift the Chain off the Guide Bridge between the two Cams.
If it "Lifts-off" the Guide Bridge ~~> You'll need a Chain.
Other components need to be replaced ONLY if they are worn-out and require replacement.

Before I would order-up any parts ... I'd pull the Can Chain Tensioner and Clean and overhaul IT!

Maybe after being cleaned-up, reset and reinstalled ... the tensioner will take-up the slack.

 

Thanx Rick for the quick response, when I set the valves the chain was loose like you described so at that time I removed the tensioner and cleaned it when I put it back on it clicked a couple of times but it did not take up all of the slack so I did it manually seemed to be fine then but when I started the bike and drove it a bit the noise came back.
So does that mean I should try to find another tensioner?
what do you mean by overhaul the tensioner?
Thanx again

 

watching this one as I am rather interested in the outcome. Unfortunately I have a manually adjustable tensioner and I have to take the darn carbs off to adjust mine. I may have to remove it to clean it, because after I adjust it, it works for a couple hundred miles, then it starts rattling when I get off the throttle. argh....

basically, I feel your pain.

 

Overhaul the tensioner.

Strip it down and lay-out all the parts ... like it was an 45-Automatic that needs to pass inspection.
Clean it, look for anything that might make it stick, lube-it-up and put it through a few "Cycles of slack removal" in hand.

Once you are satisfied that the thing is working right ... get it back on the bike for one last shot at taking-up the slack in your Cam Chain.

That said ... it's interesting to me that there would be an issue of Cam Chain slack without the bike having a few other signs of HARD -- damn near RACE Type signs of abuse.

Warped Clutch Drive Discs
Burned-Out Clutch
Noisy U-Joints*
Middle Gear Noise*
Chain Problems
Sprocket Problems
Over-heat related leaks
Road rash.

On the other hand ... replacing the whole works!
You'll have peace of mind.
And no reason to not want to open-it-up on the open road and fly.

 

Thanx again Rick, I did clean the tensioner very well and thought it was working well so I guess I will save my pennies and replace the whole works just for peace of mind in the mean time I will just take it easy and hope for the best.I will check again with the valve cover off just to be sure though.
Does a weeping head gasket seem like a sign of over heating or is it just old age?

By the way I was reading on TotalMotorcycle.com that this is usually the death of the xj series so maby that got me a little worried as well

 

Get a book that shows the torque pattern.

Re-torque the Head.

Remove all the Acorn Nuts according to the pattern.
Put some Motor Oil in a Tuna Can and find an "Artists Paint Brush"
Brush some oil on the threads of the studs.
Wipe the threads of the Nuts with some oil; too.

Put-on the Nuts and torque the Head incrementally.
12 Pounds. 16 Pounds ... and so-on.
Until you are re-torqued to specs.

 

Thanx yet one more time Rick.I will give that a try and see what happens.