Chain and sproket wear?

[MuppetMule]

I would like a few clues on the signs of chain and sproket wear.

Does the front sproket teeth round off on one side as the motor pulls it and would an indication of chain wear go by how far it has streched, ie, the further back the wheel is on its adjusters would mean the chain has stretched alot?

Am i on the right lines and are there other signs to look out for?

 

[Oldschooldeathwish]

you can just tell the sprocket is worn out by looking at the teeth. In sevear cases the sprocket on the engine side will start to lean in the opposite direction of rotation. the same can happen with the rear sprocket. if the chain has stretched you can try removing 1 link to tighten it back up

 

[Jaybird]

There are two main reasons the teeth on the sprockets start to show signs of hooking or pointing.
The first and most commom reason for this is that the chain has elongated in pitch. When the chain and sprockets are new, they both have the exact same pitch. When the chain starts to change in pitch, due to wear on the pins and bushings, the sprocket teeth get deformed becasue the chain no longer rides in the valley of the tooth as it did before. It now rides up higher on the working face of the tooth. The higher it rides, the less tooth meat there is to handle it. So, it deforms accordingly.

Another reason for tooth deformation is that folks tend to not adjust their set-up properly. If you have the chain tensioned too tight, this will place an undue stress on both the chain and the sprocket teeth when you land from a jump. Bad tensioning can also wear out your wheel bearings and shaft seals.

It may be a common practice for some to simply remove a link once they have reached the end of their adjusters, but this is a bad move to make. If your chain has stretched that much, then it is far beyond time to change it out. Taking a link out to get your adjustment back can lead to a snapped chain, broken bike parts, and sore body. No offense, oldschool....but that is a bad recommendation.

 

[KTM Mike]

One way to really check a chain and sprocket for wear is to grasp the chain and the rear most part of the rear sprocket. Pull the chain away from the sprocket. If it pulls out excessively (say more than 1/2 of the height of one of the sprocket teeth) it is worn out.

Always replace chain and sprockets at the same time. I do find that on my KTM, fronts wear out way quicker - so I do replace a front sprocket alone. Typically I get two fronts to one rear.