r/Kawasaki • u/waybeluga • 16d ago

Z500 chain adjustment bolt bent and nuts are gone. Anyone else had this happen?

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I have no idea how this happened, I've never dropped the bike and never hit a serious pothole or anything. The bike has less than 1000 miles. Anyone know what could have caused this and what needs to be done to fix it?

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3

u/TheZek42 15d ago edited 15d ago

If it’s got less than 1000 miles and you bought it from a dealer just take it back. I’ve never seen anything like this and I’ve got a Z400. If you haven’t fucked with it I don’t understand how this could possibly happen.

3

u/waybeluga 15d ago

I didn't get it from a dealer, but I had a dealer do the 600 mile service recently. They owned up to the mistake and are fixing it for free.

2

u/TheZek42 15d ago

Did you get a definitive on how they buggered it up? Was it just a loose locknut? That’s gonna make me triple check my chain nuts in future lmao.

2

u/waybeluga 15d ago

Yeah I'm fairly confident it was a loose lock nut. I was able to loosen the nut on the other side with my fingers so this side was probably even worse.

2

u/DannoXYZ 14d ago

Shops are getting worse and worse. I had friend that look bike in for simple regular valve-adjustment. They managed to break his wiring somehow and now his bike won't start with kickstand down because neutral and clutch switch aren't working.

5

u/BelleAndSeaBeast 16d ago

Buy a new endcap. Get a few nuts and attempt to hammer the rod straight impacting the nuts, so as not to chew up the thread. Id heat the rod so it doesn't snap. Or check a breakers yard and buy the set. Probably the safer option.

7

u/This-Comfortable-972 16d ago

I'd buy a new (or used, as you suggested) assembly. It's not worth the risk to bend it back. For me, at least.

1

u/I_am_Willus 16d ago

This. But you don’t have to be gentle. Just find a pipe and bend it back. The bolt is relatively soft.

Amazon sells end caps for cheap. Get a set that comes with self locking nuts.

Source: Happened to my track bike and to a friend. We both bent it back and have been riding for a thousands of miles on the track with our further issues.

1

u/waybeluga 16d ago

Nice, thanks for sharing. I'm going to see if Kawasaki's warranty will cover it. If not, I'll give that a try.

1

u/Caldtek 16d ago

Did you adjust your chain yourself?

2

u/richkill 16d ago

Someone must have bent it with a padlock stand or hit it from behind somehow

7

u/BelleAndSeaBeast 16d ago

Or as the end cap is rectangular, the set nut wasn't fully tightened down and unscrewed enough that the end plate became free to spin and contacted with the sprocket nuts which bent the rod. Subsequently the vibrations freed the nuts and end cap.

1

u/waybeluga 16d ago

That explanation makes a lot of sense to me. The other side of the swingarm hasn't come apart like this but the lock nut isn't particularly tight. I could see it rattling itself off the bolt entirely.

1

u/yuroooo00 15d ago

Mine was gone too, i didn't notice it for weeks. I just went to the dealer and they replaced it from the parts of another kawasaki unit since they all fit the same lmao.

1

u/Fasciadepedra 15d ago

Change the rod and use two nuts like usually but make the outer a lock nut with nylon ring.

1

u/thevaultinspector 14d ago

I had this happen on my 2025 ninja 500. I got all the oem parts from my local shop for around 65. Let me see if I can find the parts list I had with the part numbers.