Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums General Tech loose valves

Just checked my clearances at 14000 miles and found all but 2 intake valves over limits. The exhaust readings ranged from .305 to .330. the 2 intakes were .229 and .254. I was really supprised, I did'nt think they were that noisey. Don't have a dealer near me, so I'm just wondering where you guys get your shims and service guides from. I would like to order them over the internet and have them sent to me, but I'm open to other ideas. Is it true that the shims for the Kawasake, or Suzuki would fit? I'm sure that I could find one of those dealers in Bakersfield or Lancaster. I'm thinking that with all the info on this site I may be able to do this task without the service guide? Also will need the o rings and such for the X over tube.
Thanks a bunch,
Leonard

Leonard, I can scan and e-mail the pages maybe from the service guide if you'd like on Wed when I get back from Mexico. As for the shims from other bikes, I've heard ours are 29mm and others 25 or something like that, so don't know if they'll work or not. Palm Beach Triumph seems to be the best stocked out there according to Phil (Bonnyusa), which is different from most other Triumph dealers I've talked to, so they may be a good place to start, and Phil says they are tops for customer service.

leo,
I would steer you towards getting the manual to do the job, it's not that hard but it is safer. On my site, in the big bore section, you can get the pix and info to do it if you know how to wrench a bit. I also have a program to calculate the new shim sizes there somewhere.
Man, I should start charging for this info like Triumph does eeh?
Naa, never happen.

Greg, That would be great. Pat, I'm going to get a manuel, ordered 1 about 3 months ago from a dealer, would still be waiting but last time I checked with them I canceled the order. And yes, your site is a big help, made me decide to do it myself!
Greg, thats a great offer! I just put my Email address in my bio. If there is anything I can do for you here in California, just let me know.
Thanks again,
Leonard

Pat,

Not sure if this is a valve sound or something worse, or just a Triumph normal sound. It just recently started making the noise. I don't know if you can decern it on the clip, but it is different than a valve tick and it can be heard along with the valve ticks, much lower in tone. Let me know what ya'll think.

Engine noise

Got to go "back stage" at the dealer today with my friend to check on his rocket. The mechanic was telling me how few out of spec valves he's ever seen, like 2 ever. Sounds to me like any rattling we hear is probably normal, or at least not due to valves... Any thoughts?

By the way, a rocket with pipes sounds MEAN.

Well then I've seen almost as many out of spec valves as the mechanic.
I had 2 that were perfect, 5 that were borderline, and one that was too tight.
That was at 4500 miles. If I would have waited till 8000 miles like the manual says, I'm sure one or more of those "borderliners" would have been out of spec.

Also ... what a pain in the butt to adjust the valves on these things. Removing camshafts to do a valve adjustment just seems like way too much work for basic maintenance. I've always thought that the less you have to take something apart, the better. Especially engines.
On my other bike, all I have to remove is the valve cover ... and I never have to buy shims. Just adjust the screw and lock it with the nut. From start to finish it takes an hour, and it has twice as many valves.
Triumph loves to put these rockerless valvetrains in their bikes but I'll take the old rocker arm style valvetrain anyday.

?? Sounds normal to me. But wav files can be deceiving. If you had a valve that was way loose, you would hear it going "ticka-tacka" usually loud enough to distinguish it from other motor noises.
If the noise these motors makes bothers you, get louder pipes.

Hey Pat, I was at my dealer yesterday, since they are new, they have a real good stock of shims, so if and when I do decide to check my valves, should be a quick trip to the dealer for me!