Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums General Tech valve adjustment

i am going to try to adjust my valves i have the triumph manual but is their any thing else i should know any short cuts or anything like that

Loads of information on this subject. Look in the tech vault.

TIPS:
Remove cam cover from the right
Don't pull the right cover. Instead loosen the spark plugs and put the bike in third gear and use the rear wheel to rotate the camshafts.
Use metric feeler gauges.

You can use standard ones if you are looking at absolute clearance, but they stink when trying to calculate actual shims needed.

Oh yeah, a micrometer is a must. Either use yours or use ask to use one at the stealership.

Good luck.

JB
I've only done this once so I'm sure there are other way more experienced folks than me, but here's a few tips I jotted down in my manual so i could remember them next time.
1) Manual says to remove the alternator cover however you can rotate the cams by just lifting the bike and turning the rear wheel with it in 5th gear. (Also don't have to replace the alternator cover gasket or risk losing some oil this way.)
2) Use metric gauges and micrometer.
3) Have the copper crush washers and oil feed pipe o-ring on hand. Took me 2 weeks to get a o-ring ordered.
4) Make sure you have the two retainer pins to hold the backlash gears in place.
5) See Dinqua's site for some good quality photos and the shim calculator. http://www.dinqua.com/
6) Use a good quality torque wrench that will read metric units preferably N-m. Have a couple extra Tx30 bits on hand. I went through 3 breaking the cap bolts loose.
7) Oh, and have couple cold brews standing by and take it slow.

Good luck.

My biggest problem, living in the boonies, has been getting shims. I think two shims were within spec, and I was able to rearrange three others. Of the remaining three that needed replacing, I was able to buy two at the local (yes, singular) Yamaha dealership but I'm having to rely on my compatriots on this site to get that last danmed shim.

After buying a number of T-30 sockets (that I broke attempting to crack loose one cam bearing cap bolt), a $116 micrometer, the special factory tools and all the gaskets and such, it's going to take me a couple more valve adjustments to recoup my sunk cost for this one valve job. And that doesn't even take into account the amount of time my bike has been down. That hasn't bothered me the past couple months when the high temp barely broke through freezing. But it's 60 degress and clear today and tomorrow and now I'm chomping at the bit.

If you think there's any chance you might trade the bike in before you put another 12000 miles on it, just pay the dealer. I don't plan on selling my bike ever, so I'll eventually recoup the costs.

I am approaching 12,000 miles. Has everyone who checked them need to adjust? I probably won't do it until the end of the season.

I don't know that a shim bank is the answer (it's been debated ad nauseum before), but I put my available shims on my profiles (click my name at left). Pat is sending me a shim and I think he said he wants the biggest one in return. I probably won't part with any of the others until my valve job is actually done.

I don't know if mine needed adjusting the first time as the dealer did it for me and I didn't ask. I was running a little late on that first one, about 13,500 miles. Now I'm over 30k so I'm running even later. This time most of them were REALLY TIGHT.

tight? I would have figured loose from wear. The valves must be beating thier way into the seats. Cams still look good at 30k?

Yeah, makes me worry how tight they were after the mechanic did the job last time (or IF he did the job last time). But everything else looks great.

I did mine at 12,100 miles. I had 1 exhaust out of spec and 3 Intake out of spec. One of the Intake had 0.00 clearance. With help from Moe (tools) and Joes Garage (Shims) I adjusted all 4 on the high side. At 13,800 miles I checked them again and found 1 Intake out of spec. Luckily I had the correct shim to fix it.

I didn't notice any difference in engine performance or noise before or after either valve adjustment.

Tom

well thanks for all the info.my exh valves has about 2 th.
to much and i got about 9000 miles on my 02 ba

Did mine at the beginning of the season, Took me a while to get it right. It's been a long time since I read a micrometer so that was part of the problem. Metric feeler guages would be a big help, otherwise it's like a go-no-go guage. I do have a stash of shims though.

If you look at the Triumph SCHEDULED MAINTENANCE CHECK SHEEET for Thruxton,Bonneville, Bonneville T100, America, Speedmaster & Scrambler, it lists the Valve Clearance - Check/Adjust period at Every 12,000 miles/20000 Kms 2 years*. With the "*" being "Whichever comes first". So if you are like me you should be checking the valve clearance every two years. I only put about 3,500 miles on my bike a year, so most of my scheduled maintenance will be time dependent instead of mileage dependent.

Tom

I read in the manual you can remove cams without distubing the timing chain and gear. Is that how you guys have been doing it? I also have seen the tool someone posted that lets you do them without removing the cams but they said just the outer valves. Has anyone been successful in doing them all without removing the cams?
This is comming up for me at some point this summer/fall.

Granted I had a lot of help, but I don't remember removing the cams being THAT much more work, ya know? Well... lots of people have had problems with the Torx bolts in there... but once those are free, the cams are easy.

You will have to remove the cams to gain access to the shims. There really is no way around it. It is best if you have the Triumph locking pin tool (Triumph P/N T3880330). This will ensure the cam gear and cam backlash gear stay in syn with each other when you remove the cam assembly. The tool will make re-installing the cam assembly very easy. You will also need to get two copper washers and a O-ring for the oil feed pipe.

Tom

I have a good idea what I need to do. I just remembered seeing a tool in another thread but who ever it was said they could only get to the outer valves. I am a mechanic by trade so I am not really worried about disassembly was just thinking it would save some time and maybe be a little easier. But from what I am seeing I guess it's off with the cams!! LOL
Thanx guys!

I wouldn't worry about it till you measure to see if you even need any shims. Then worry The only PITA you'll save by not removing the cams is the potential for breaking the bolts that hold the cams in.

Those cam bearing cap bolts are pretty fragile and don't take much torque over the factory recommended 10Nm. The banjo bolts are even more fragile.