Amazing $3.99 Chain Tensioner Install Tool

lespaul · lespaul's Garage

I rebuilt my mechanical chain tensioners and they are rock hard. The problem was installing the tensioners in the chain box. No combination of clamps or other devices seemed to work. And I know there is a tool for this, but I did not have it and wanted to move forward.

So, I went to the local hardware store and bought this spring claim for $3.99.

I then took the rubber protectors off and set the tensioner in the clamp like this.

Then, the clamp and the tensioner went into the vise like this.

Cranked vise until tensioner compressed like this.

Took the compressed tensioner and clamp to engine and positioned in place.

Slid it in -- the clamp is so thin it slid right under the idler arm.

Held the tensioner in place and pulled the clamp out. Snap! into place.

Whole operation took about 90 seconds per side.

rbogh901 · 10-15-2014, 12:15 PM

Nicely executed post.

304065 · 10-15-2014, 12:17 PM

I would drill a hole in one handle of the clamp and attach a piece of string so I could yank it out from across the garage. . .

lespaul · lespaul's Garage

Thanks rbogh.

To 304065, I say "huh?"

I did think about dimpling the clamp ends with a punch to create little divots to keep the tensioner from slipping out, but it did not turn out to be necessary.

porwolf · 10-15-2014, 02:02 PM

So the clamp kept the tensioner compressed once out of the vise?

lespaul · lespaul's Garage

Yes. The clamp exerts a lot of pressure that the tensioner was not able to overcome. Yet, it required the vise to compress the tensioner in the first instance. So, it turned out that the clamp had exactly the proper amount of force to keep compression while also allowing the tensioner to be slipped into place in the chain housing.

wayner · 10-15-2014, 02:37 PM

I love it!

Thanks for posting that.

porwolf · 10-15-2014, 02:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lespaul

Yes. The clamp exerts a lot of pressure that the tensioner was not able to overcome. Yet, it required the vise to compress the tensioner in the first instance. So, it turned out that the clamp had exactly the proper amount of force to keep compression while also allowing the tensioner to be slipped into place in the chain housing.

Great, good to know!

RDM · RDM's Garage

Question: Do these tensioners not have the place to put a pin in and hold them compressed? My experience is with the oil-fed tensioners, which do. I kept the pin on my keychain, which came in handy when I had to rebuild the motor.

T77911S · 10-16-2014, 02:02 AM

if you dont have the pin the trouble is finding something that wont break once you put it in.
i dont think it was a 911, but i tried putting a drill bit, an allen wrench and other things in there and they all broke.

JohnJL · 10-16-2014, 03:41 AM

Nice hack.

pors1968 · pors1968's Garage

Great and cheap (3.99) toll .

lespaul · lespaul's Garage

RDM -- the non-oil fed tensioners do not feature the pin. There is a wire "clamp" that was probably thrown away when it was installed in the factory. I have seen threads where people found these or made their own -- but I like my spring clamp, and now I have an extra clamp around the workshop for other uses.