Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums General Tech 12,000 miles and shims

Just booked my bike in for the 12000 mile shim check, on the 17th to be done on the 18th as it has to be cold, he has said it will cost £40.00/$80.00 is this about right or is this really cheap.

mine said up to £150 maybe less other one said 2 hour job that should be about £100 booked for 20th

they were checked about 15000 miles ago and were all right, but now sounds like they are too noisy

Will see what mine are like next week, hopefully good, I told him he can use VMAX shims which he has plenty of

I just checked with my not so local dealer about 1 1/2 hours away and they quoted me a price of $200 to $250. Sounds to me like your getting a bargin. Wish I was brave enough to try to do the job but I am kinda of leary. I just turned 13,000 miles on my bike but I gonna wait until after my vacation to have them done. I priced the parts to do the job myself and its about $100 but that includes the shim removal tool from Triumph. Of course I may not need to use some of the gaskets so it may be cheaper. Maybe when I get ready I'll send a shout out to see if any member close to me has done this and willing to teach me.

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shim removal tool

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Far as I know, there is no shim tool for our bikes and the cams have to be removed to replace shims. Be careful you don't get stuck with a tool you do not need.

Yes, there have been posts about 'alternative' tools but when questioned further, all users of them have then given caveats about using them.

It takes no time to remove and install the cams. I wouldn't do it any other way....

Checking the clearances is a snap. Actually changing the shims around has several caveats. You should review the valve adjustment post in the Tech Vault.
http://www.bonnevilleamerica.com/forums/showthreaded.php?Cat=0&Number=103089&page=0&vc=1

hardest part of the job is making sure everything goes back in the correct spot, oh and geting those darn cap bolts loose

Frank

Dennis,it is a very simple job if you have any mechanical ability at all.

Frank,why are those cap bolts so tight? they only get torqued to 10nm.I was worried that 10nm would not be tight enough.

Luckily, the intake cam has a groove in the shaft in the middle of the cam and the exhaust cam doesn't so they are distinct!

Scott, I figure over time with heating up and cooling down, the cap bolts tighten. I've done my valves a number of times and am always careful about torque on them and every time I loosen them, they give a loud snap as they break loose. Steady, even pressure on them is my best advice. You will either break them loose, or break the torx bit!

btw, I would not attempt this job for the first time without the shop or Haynes manual.

Be sure to cover all the holes when you break those cap bolts free. Ive seen many sheered torx bits, and I dont believe they would get along very well with your motor.

For what it's worth, my '05 Speedmaster valves were just slightly worn outside of spec at around 17,000 miles.

I'm off to Gengras Triumph in Hartford, CT for an oil pipe O ring and some valve shims, both of which they have IN STOCK. The parts guy said: "Bring a micrometer, as the stamped shim sizes may not be exact... a Triumph dealer with parts on hand, that knows about shim markings. Me likey. This is the second of two transactions with Gengras where they had the Triumph parts on hand. The first was for rear brake pads, which I wanted JIT as it was a warm weather brake job, and so I paid a little more than aftermarket linings jut so the downtime would be minimal.

Glad to hear that Bucky, I am pushing 15,000 now and will surpass it when I go to the NE Rally and have been putting the adjustment off due to lack of shim availability here locally. I have been hoping to go until it gets too cold to ride then tear into it.

The Triumph dealer was a might short on shims. The Yamaha dealer 5 miles away had all the shims I needed down to 0.05mm increments. He even had an odd 2.880 where I needed a 2.879. I should able to get much closer to fully lifted valves thanks to the Yamaha shims. If I recall, the Triumph shims are offered in a much more limited choice of 0.25 mm increments. I could be wrong.

As for the famous Triumph cam gear tool, in that there wasn't one readily available to me, and I wanted to finish the entire shim job in around 24 hours, I ground down a couple of inch long Torx bits into dual tapered plugs to hold the split gears together. The Haynes manual does a good job explaining with photos why the tool or plugs are required, and shows how to make a home-made plug.


After rolling the engine over 20 or 30 times with the rear wheel last night, I ended up with all 8 at or near 15 & 25 mm of clearance. Air in. Air out. Air good!

On a side note, I was pleased to see it doesn't take very long for oil to get up through the cams. I had oil coming up through the caps at a half a turn or so. I suppose these oil pumps must hold a prime pretty good.

Well got my bike back the shims did not need doing, but it is nice to know. And it only cost me £30.00/$60.00.

He has said to take it back after doing a further 3000 miles and he will then check it, but if I think it needs doing before hand to just take it in.

44000 miles -7 shims replaced cost with parts 143£ and feels like running stronger and valves are quite now