well i'm ready to adjust my chain but i have one little st00pid question. i've never done this before and i was woderin' if i'm supposed to adjust it with all 4 wheels on the ground or should it be suspended (no load on swing arm)? any advice?

 

All I know is the manual doesn't say anything about lifting the swingarm. I adjusted mine after about 6-8 hours. Seems to work great.

 

that's kinda why i was asking. i always thought that the swing arm had to be suspended when adjusting chain slack.

 

I'm wondering when you adjust the chain if you measure the slack from the sproket guard to the rear sproket or the up and down play in the chain. 30-40 mm's is not much and the length of the chain from the sproket guard to the rear sproket is way more than 30-40 mm's. I think it means the up and down motion. I really wish the manual explained it better. The picture looks like it wants me to measure the length of the chain but then again they do show it in an up and down motion. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks allot.

 

I don't have a Z yet, and I never have a tape measure when I want to adjust the chain, but here is what I do.

This helps if you have an extra hand. Have the heaviest person push down on the rear grab bar while the onter inspects the chain. Somewhere between relaxed to compressed state the cain will get tighter, I adjust mine where there is just a slight amount of slack at its tightest state.

I have seen and aslo been guilty of guesing on the amount of slack thinking I had enough and when compressing the rear suspension, the chain would be very tight at some point during it's full travel-VERY BAD. I went through a set of axle bearings on a new 300EX in six months because I wasn't giveing it enough slack(and I am pretty good at guestimateing measurement).

With the systm I stated above, I have put over 1k and many hours(1 1\2yrs) on my second set.

Just my system, works for me. YMMV

 

I adjusted my chain now. Before it was very loose and now its snug but not tight.