Valve service suggestions

[dcstrom]

Maybe Greg the Pole has owned Buells in the past and that is where he is getting this pivoting idea.

ac

Or Ducati Desmos... at least the air-cooled ones. You pivot the engine so the rear head can be removed for adjustment. I have a feeling that in the later ones, you have to drop the engine (one reason a valve adjust cost $1200 or thereabouts).

 

[greg the pole]

Actually AC that is the best thing to do. It is a pain and as Greg said it takes time to remove all the relays and connectors. But then you can feed the main wire bundle out the right side and out of the way. It is then WAY easier to get the valve cover off and on. I tried it both ways because it seemed like too much work the first time. But the second time I pulled it all out and it was less work over all.Greg and I talked but for everyone else, no you don't have to remove the sprockets. That section of the manual is a generic removal of the cams and includes taking them apart but you don't need to do that to change the shims. Because you will never really need them unless you pull the cams and it is way easier to do with the cams out. I used a dremel tool to cut a thin line and then put a dab of white paint to make them easy to see. Kind of hard to do installed.

Thanks Jaeger. Will check the clearance tonight, if I don't get into the beer too early.
Otherwise, i'm good with the adjustment. Will pull the clutch cover off, and the front engine plate (four bolt one).
Way too lazy to unhook the various electrical do-dads that I installed, cover came out easy enough. See how it goes back in.

 

[Mzee]

Is every American a mechanic ???

 

[rlasater]

Is every American a mechanic ???

No, but most of us have stayed at a Holiday Inn.

Sent from my DROID RAZR HD using Tapatalk

 

[greg the pole]

Or Ducati Desmos... at least the air-cooled ones. You pivot the engine so the rear head can be removed for adjustment. I have a feeling that in the later ones, you have to drop the engine (one reason a valve adjust cost $1200 or thereabouts).

No buells or ducati's.
Just jap stuff. I think i'm on my 15 or 16 bike.. lost count.
I finished up the valve adjustment last night. There's no need to drop the motor.
It's tight, and somewhat annoying, otherwise doable.

 

[scudrunner]

No buells or ducati's.
Just jap stuff. I think i'm on my 15 or 16 bike.. lost count.
I finished up the valve adjustment last night. There's no need to drop the motor.
It's tight, and somewhat annoying, otherwise doable.

Thanks a million for that write up you made. It doesn't seem as bad now as I was fearing. I need to check mine in a few thousand miles and I don't dread it nearly as much. ::018::

 

[greg the pole]

no worries.

I'll do a sum up this morning on the blog.

 

[jaeger22]

Way to go Greg! Have you run it yet?
Nice write up and pictures on your blog. http://www.thetenerist.wordpress.com/
I know what you mean about retracting the tensioner being a pain. I just could not do it with my hands, too much tension. (or too weak hands!) I put it in the vice with some leather padding and turned the body as I squished the piston in with the vice. Took a few tries but I finally got it.

 

[greg the pole]

I tried that, and it kept slipping.
I was just about ready to throw that piece of crap across the garage.

clutch cover needs to go in, tb, air box.
I have a small window of today and tomorrow where the temps are above freezing, afterwards, it's all over but the crying.

I spun it twice, and rechecked the clearences. spot on.

thanks for the help.

 

[RED CAT]

OK. After watching Greg the Pole do most of his takedown, I tackled mine today. 3 1/2 hours to get to the valve cover and get it off. A real bitch. Checked the valves. Up to 5 hours. All Exhaust shims need replacing and 1 Intake shim. 45,000kms. Got everything marked as Greg showed me and zip tied the cam chain in a few places. Ready to release the cam chain tensioner and pop off the cams tomorrow. Scary. ::001::

 

[jaeger22]

Red, Sorry to hear you have to do the adjustment but it does make me feel better about the fact that I had to do the adjustment. It looks like am not the only one that had to adjust on the 26K mile check. That makes 4 of us now if this is your first check.
It is a bit tedious but you can do it. Just don't fall into the cam chain guide trap that got me or you will get to experience the fun of pulling and rebuilding the motor. :'(
Feel free to PM me if you have questions. Or I am sure Greg would help also.
Best of luck.
John

 

[RED CAT]

Greg and I feel that the 1st Check should NOT be skipped as some riders are suggesting. Maybe the 2nd one as things will have settled in by then. ::001::

 

[Koinz]

Greg and I feel that the 1st Check should NOT be skipped as some riders are suggesting. Maybe the 2nd one as things will have settled in by then. ::001::

I totally agree with this. As the valves find their place on their seats, they will change minutely. I don't expect to have to change them again if I have to move them into the middle of the range. . The BMW Boxer was similar. Initially they got tight, but afterwards they didn't change much. That being said, I'm not looking forward to ripping into the S10.

 

[Karson]

Anyone ripped into their S10 who's also done a KLR? Are clearances a similar PITA, or worse?

I can't imagine the valve cover clearance being any tighter than what I ran into with the thumper, yet still be able to take it off.

 

[RED CAT]

Even my KTM 950 Adv was a piece of cake compared to my S10. This Valve Adjust thing is a lot of work but it can be done. I'm only 1/2 way there. Have to buy shims now. Then hold my mouth just right and put it all back together and hope all goes well. Marking everything is a must. Bring the Whiteout. A lot of stuff has to be disconnected and come off. You really get to know your bike.

 

[avc8130]

Even my KTM 950 Adv was a piece of cake compared to my S10. This Valve Adjust thing is a lot of work but it can be done. I'm only 1/2 way there. Have to buy shims now. Then hold my mouth just right and put it all back together and hope all goes well. Marking everything is a must. Bring the Whiteout. A lot of stuff has to be disconnected and come off. You really get to know your bike.

I agree! I did my buddy's KTM last month and it was EASY compared to my S10 I did today.

What a royal pain in the butt!

Getting to the valve cover is easy and straightforward enough. Getting the valve cover off is a mess because of the ALL of the wires on the right side. Why Yamaha didn't put a nice big connector to make the side panel pop right off is beyond me.

Checking the valves was easy enough. ALL of my exhaust were tight so I pulled the cams and changed the shims. I put a 2 witness marks on each cam sprocket and the cam chain. When I put them back in I zip-tied the chains to the sprockets before they had the chance to jump.

The biggest absolute NIGHTMARE of the job is the stupid cam chain tensioner. OMG what a piece of crap design. I messed with it for quite a while until I found something that seemed to work well. A 13mm socket in a 3/8 drive rathet allowed me to "turn and push down" at the same time without constantly losing my progress. Getting the stupid circlip to catch was another nightmare.

With the cams back in, and the tensioner released (another treat) I spun the motor around probably a dozen rotations to make sure everything felt nice. Then I tackled the 2nd biggest nightmare: getting the darn valve cover back on. I used a bunch of grease to hold the gaskets in. That worked pretty well. There just isn't enough space for this to be enjoyable.

I am just about together. I have the forks out to change the oil and I also serviced the steering stem bearings.

I WISH I did the opposite and took the swingarm off first. I plan to service the linkage and pivot bearings. If I had done that first, this motor would have been laying on my bench. If/when I make it to 52k, I WILL pull the motor. Doing this job with the motor in the frame is just too frustrating. If you combine the valve adjustment with a linkage service you are pretty close to the motor out anyways.

ac

 

[Karson]

Good post, ac. My initial question a couple posts up sounds like apples to oranges. ???

I never read anywhere that the right side panel needs to be finaggled. How "off" are we talking that right side needs to be? I assume quite a ways since you mentioned wires...

 

[avc8130]

Good post, ac. My initial question a couple posts up sounds like apples to oranges. ???

I never read anywhere that the right side panel needs to be finaggled. How "off" are we talking that right side needs to be? I assume quite a ways since you mentioned wires...

To do it "right" without struggling, the right side panel needs to be laying on the floor.

More importantly, the bundle of wires that sneaks through the frame and then feeds EVERYTHING needs to go.

I honestly can't believe how "un-serviceable" this setup is. Everything else on the bike is so easy to work on, I can't believe how badly Yamaha missed the mark on this.

ac

 

[RED CAT]

I totally agree with all of the above. Struggling with the cam chain tensioner. Tried the 13mm socket trick but can't get it down far enough. Tomorrow is another day. I think the best way to handle this bike is to sell it just before the valve adjust and pickup a low mileage one. Really is a poor design in this area. Too bad, otherwise a great bike. I wouldn't recommend trying this unless you are very mechanically inclined at least.

 

[avc8130]

I totally agree with all of the above. Struggling with the cam chain tensioner. Tried the 13mm socket trick but can't get it down far enough. Tomorrow is another day. I think the best way to handle this bike is to sell it just before the valve adjust and pickup a low mileage one. Really is a poor design in this area. Too bad, otherwise a great bike. I wouldn't recommend trying this unless you are very mechanically inclined at least.

That talk came up. This was the first time in my entire life working on a motorcycle that I legitimately did not enjoy myself.

I wonder what a dealer would charge.

I could tell, though, that without a shadow of a doubt if I would have just pulled the motor it would have been enjoyable.

Except that darn tensioner! I want to find the guy who designed it and smack him. It is tough to get it down far enough. If you still have it out, could you do me a favor and take a few measurements?

I need to know diameters of the tensioner and the step on top, as well as how tall the step is.

ac