Chain falling off despite all efforts..

[BMPoland1993]

Hey there Forum!

Been having trouble lately with the chain on my buggy/gokart, which keeps falling off. Seems to be some mysterious reason for it, since I have tried all types of "taughtness" (means how tight the chain is), have aligned the converter sprocket with the main perfectly and have checked for damage or excessive wear on both sprockets. I use a 420 chain on a 54 tooth rear sprocket.

But what puzzles me most is that the chain falls off at low speeds most of the time, when doing at most 10km/h.

Is there anybody out there who has experienced similar problems, and knows what to do?

Thank you!

 

[Karttekk]

How old is the chain? Are there any binding links? Are the teeth pointy on the drive sprocket? Generally a 1/2" or so of play in the chain is enough. Do you have 420 sprockets and both the drive & driven?

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[Dingocat]

I had a kart with bad axle bearings, got it aligned perfectly and tensioned but because of the bearings the axle moved and the chain would pop off.

 

[BMPoland1993]

The chain is relatively new. Installed it a month back. There is one binding link. 420 sprockets all round, may need to check the axle bearings because they're quite old now and have been giving me grief and had to re lube them.

I have positioned the main sprocket a bit more accurately.

Although I don't know why I have been able to ride my gokart for 45 minutes a couple days ago and the same the say before etc and no chain problems, when suddenly chain falls of at 10 kmh.... !

 

[madprofessor]

Had a chain I tensioned up perfectly, even tighter than I really wanted, but it would jump teeth badly under acceleration. Had to fix a couple of faults to get it right.
First was me trying to eliminate any and all possible vibration when originally mounting the motor. Used some Azusa motor mounting grommets and also some mounts I cut from Home Depot rubber stoppers (not as firm), mounted both under and over the motor base to "float" like a car's motor mount would, just with thru-bolts. Kept having to tighten bolts more and more until the stopper rubbers basically squished out, when under load the chain (going straight down from CVT) would compress the rubber, making the chain slack for that moment. Ended up tossing all but the thin hard Azusa grommets on the underside only of motor.
Second was the 17" long X about 8" wide motor mounting plate I made from sheet steel. Same type problem, the 1/2" angle on one side of plate didn't stiffen it enough, would bow down under load and slack the chain, then it would come right back to very tight when let off. Eventually got that stiffened up enough.
If you think the chain's right when not running, look for what might be happening only when you give it throttle. This would indeed be the most pronounced at the slowest speeds when you start to throttle up.

 

[Karttekk]

"The chain is relatively new. Installed it a month back. There is one binding link."

Relatively new and a binding link are both signs of the chain needing replaced. There shouldn't be any binding links if the chain is relatively new. Sometimes if you have to guess what's wrong, guess cheap. A chain would be the cheapest place to start if everything else checks out. Align your pulleys with a straight edge.