TOPIC:

I was going to chirp in on another thread but I didn't want to highjack the thread and I feel that this Liska gear deserves a separate thread.

I have some concerns and reservations regarding this aftermarket gear to replace the tensioning gear on the KZ1300.

Fist, Morse designed this particular chain drive system to accommodate high loads and high speed chains for transmitting power through transmissions primarily. There are many advantages to using chain drives over direct gear drives but the older conventions of roller chains were not able to handle the higher loads, so there was a need for a new chain drive system and Morse came up with this one.
By design, one off the principals was to have a quiet drive system so a lot of work went into the design of the gear profile and the link profile to achieve a near silent drive system and they achieved their goal. They labeled their new design for the chain a "Silent Chain".
If you look inside most modern transmissions you'll find Morse Silent Chains and gears. The gears are all metal gears and yet the transmissions are Silent. You won't hear the chains whirring around inside the transmissions because by design they're "SILENT".

for those of you out there with your stock chains and gears, you don't hear chain noise do you??? The drive chain between the crankshaft and the secondary shaft is also a Morse Silent Chain and you don't hear that one either do you??So for those of you who have gone ahead and put in the LISKa gear and report that it's noisy. Some report that it's noisy for the first 100 miles and then it gets quieter. Why?? What happened in the 100 miles and why did it get quieter. Did the gear wear in to the profile of the chain? Or did the chain wear in to the profile of the gear?
Scares the shit out of me. Did anyone get in touch with Liska and discuss the noise of the new gear? Remember it's a silent drive system.
I feel that due to the reporting of these gears being noisy,that the Liska gear is an unacceptable replacement at this point. I think Liska needs to be made aware of the reported noise that members are experiencing so they can investigate and redesign the profile of the teeth on their gears. Until they produce a replacement gear, I'll not be buying one.

If you're interested in reviewing info on the Silent Chain, please follow this link. www.emersonindustrial.com/en-US/document...Form_8586E_Sec_I.pdf

A valid concern, Kawboy. Consider the 2 following points:
1. Kawasaki used plastic gears in the engine for noise reduction. One therefore must wonder why Kawasaki chose a plastic cam chain idler gear if the chain is indeed silent.
2. Maybe the plastic gear wears in to the chain profile and makes no noise while "breaking in" because it is softer than steel.

Allegedly, Kawasaki changed the composition of the later production plastic idler gears and eliminated the rapid wear that was common on the early production version. I suspect this change came about at approximately the time the Voyager 1300 went into production.

Here is something else to think about. In the 1960's and 1970's, U.S. domestic automobile engines often had plastic teeth on the camshaft gear for noise reduction. The cam chains were Morse silent chains. Why the need for plastic teeth to reduce noise with a "silent" chain?

The plastic teeth would start breaking off at about 60,000 miles. The chain would not jump as the plastic teeth were overmolded onto smaller cast iron teeth. The engine would lose low end torque and mpg due to the cam timing being retarded. The cure was to install an all cast iron gear. There were plenty of the solid cast iron gears available. If they were noisier than a nylon toothed gear, you could not tell it. The cast iron gear and the Morse chain would last almost indefinitely.

Thought I would throw my two cents worth in. Firstly I understand exactly what you are saying Kawboy and also understand your concerns.
I have fitted a Liska idler gear and in all honestly I believe that the bike is not any noisier than when I had the original plastic gear in there.
Not saying that it may not cause issues down the track, just saying I don't think it's any noisier.

I'd be interesting to hear from others who have installed the Liska gear to see what they report. The engines on these are quiet. The clutch basket on every one I have heard makes more noise than anything else.

I've said this in another thread but for sake of discussion I will add it here. I put Liska timing gears in place of the rubber roller on the tensioner in my kz650 and replaced the top idler( that was a metal gear with a rubber core) with a Liska part as well.

Right away I noticed the noise, even at proper chain tension it sounds like a loose chain, anything under 4,000rpm and you here it clacking away. Keep in mind my little 650 has a roller chain not a hy-vo like the 13's. It is pretty clear why Kawasaki used plastic and rubber components.

In general my experience as a mechanic plate-link type chains (HY-VO, Silent chain, etc) have a limited life span. In high performance engine builds, they will often be replaced by a double roller type chain. I know this is not possible with the 1300 so I would simply say that regular service and inspection is a must with these engines and that they will require periodic service and replacement. They are a high wear part and just like anything else in the engine they can wear past their service limit. I don't think using a steel roller is going to change that fact.


here is a timing chain for a "boss" 302 from ford racing...



BMW uses a timing chain like this in their air head motorcycles, they run 100's of thousand of miles on those engines.