Mate thats the exact same problem i'm having. Thanks so much!!
I actually thought about putting a washer in place although wasnt sure this was the right thing to do.
Rodbox, i'm thinking about following your lead and changing the sprockets. Did you also change the chain as well? If so could you supply me with an ebay link of some sort as to where i can purchase these?
Cheers
Matty
Matty - these are some notes on setting up your chain and rear wheel which I did for somebody else earlier in the thread - these procedures should work pretty well. If you change your sprocket - you should really change your chain as well.
Expect your chain to loosen a little as the bike is ridden.
To tighten it:
1. Loosen the rear axle nut
2. At the rear of each swing arm close to the axle nut, find the wheel adjusters.
3. Depending upon which model Hummer you have, the wheel adjusters will either be a screw and locknut type - or a rotating toothed cam.
4 If you have a screw and locknut type - first loosen the locknut then start to undo the screw a little at a time. As you undo the screw, it forces the wheel backwards in the axle slot - thus tightening the chain. Make sure you undo the adjusting screw on each swing arm the same amount - so as to keep the wheel and axle evenly aligned.
4a - If you have the rotating toothed cam type - just rotate the cam to force the wheel backwards and thus tighten the chain. Opposite the cam's teeth you will see a metal pointer, which acts both as a reference mark and a tooth lock. This makes it easy to ensure that both wheel adjusting cams are set the same, since all you have to do is count the number of teeth to the pointer.
5. When the wheel and chain tension are set correctly (20mm - 25mm of free play), you can then re-tighten the axle nut. Note that the axle nut needs to be tightened to around 60 to 70Nm on the torque wrench - which is pretty tight. This level of torque can actally force the wheel back further in the slot than the adjusters are set - causing the chain to be too tight.
6. To stop this happening, fold a rag and jam it between the chain and the rear sprocket, by rolling the bike backards. This forces the wheel forwards onto the adjusters - thus ensuring the wheel remains in the correct position whilst the axle nut is re-tightened.
7. Roll the bike forwards to remove the rag - your chain tension should now be correct. If you lift the bottom of the chain with your finger (somewhere around the middle) you should ideally get about 20mm - 25mm of free play. Note that it is better to have your chain a little loose rather than too tight. A chain that is too tight will damage both itself and your sprockets in a real hurry.
Since you are asking this question, I'm assuming you haven't replaced your Chinese chain with a good quality alternative. If this is the case - I would strongly advise you to get a DID 428 NZ replacement chain ASAP. The Chinese chains don't last long - and a breaking chain at speed can be catastrophic and really scary.
If you have the toothed cam type wheel alignment system - be sure to use the rag to force the wheel against the cam lock when tightening the axle nut. Sometimes it looks O.K. - but close inspection will show that in tightening the axle nut, you've actually pulled the wheel away from the cam lock. The rag will stop this happening.
I bought my DID chain from my local Honda shop for $75. You can get them on e-bay for about $35 - but by the time you pay freight, you may as well have gone to your local store.
47 tooth sprockets are available from Tomahawk or Atomik.
56 & 16 tooth sprockets are available from Bataycan on Philippines e-bay.
The address is listed earlier in this thread. These guys do a lot of good gear - so you might want to list it in your favourites.
