2007 RSTD cam chain is tight while doing cam removal

[BlueChips84]

Okay, bit of a conundrum here...

 

I'm working on re torquing my my head bolts on my 2007 RSTD as there was an expired recall on this model year and I have been getting oil weeping from the head gasket but no coolant mixing. Turns out there are bolt clearance holes in the cams to tighten the heads so removal was unnecessary but nowhere in the manual or online mentio ed that...

 

Anyhow, I had the cam chain tensioner out(the one in the middle of the engine on the front bank) and this gave me enough slack to lift the chain with my finger but as soon as I let it go, the chain popped and snapped tight! I took out the other tensioner on the back of the engine that was not mentioned in my Clymer manual and tried again, same thing: chain retightened!

 

What is putting tension on the cam chain still? I managed to get the rear cams out and the chain is slack on the rear cylinders but still taught on the front two. I know when it snapped tight it threw off the front cam timing so I don't really want to turn it over anymore as I don't want the valves to hit the pistons.

 

Any ideas? One thought I had is the valve springs pushing the cams in opposite directions and causing the tension but I'll have to take another look. Had enough for tonight and will try again tomorrow.

[BlueChips84]

Never mind, I figured it out! 

Combination of the valve springs pushing the cam shafts in opposite directions and the loosened chain folding over and binding down in the crank case. Backed if off a bit while taking out the slack and it moved freely after that.

Something to be mindful of for anyone playing with the camshafts in the future.

 

Cheers,

Aric

[saddlebum]

[BlueChips84]

Already had both of those out, still had the chain taught but figured it out. probably caused the initial problem though before I removed the rearmost one.