10,000 mile valve clearance check

gR3yWolf

Turbocharged
Joined
Dec 28, 2006
Messages
657
Location
Johnstown, PA
Ride
'07 Classic
The developing trend seems to be that very few bikes have needed any shims for the valves.
 
I have done it. Hint - Remove the tank completely.

Also, there are some small washers on the airbox that are easy to drop

Unbolt the coils and move them out of the way.

Get a new set of plugs if you want to change them at this time. Not much wear at 10K miles though.

Jack the rear wheel off the ground so you can turn the engine over with the rear wheel. Put it in 5th gear to do that.

Other than that, just follow the manual procedures.

Oh, it took us about 4 hours and we did not know what we were doing


Take a lot of pictures and you can do a nice write up for the group.


Tom
 

That dealer has to be incompetent. My dealer is about 90 miles away. I hauled it over in a trailer cold so he could do it in one day. I believe it was about a 4-5 hour service. I had one shim that needed to be replaced. How will it effect your warranty if you do it yourself?
 
I've checked mine and it should only take about 2 hours if you already know your way around under the tank. Main obstacles are to remove all that crap on top of and around the cam cover. Just a time consuming pain.

If adjusting valves is needed then that is the more complicated part and you should have experience taking out and installing cam shafts and chain adjusting (or have someone experienced with you) cuz they'll need to go out to replace the shims. Should add 2 to 3 more hours on top of the checking part... if you already have the correct sized shims on hand, which unless you have a complete shim kit, you will have to order them once you know the sizes you need from the checking part.
 
I haven't seen a shim kit available for the Rocket. If you find one, let us know. It would make the valve adjustment go a lot faster. At 12k miles my valves were ok though some were very close to being out of spec. By the 30k service a good handful were out of spec, most too loose which isn't so bad as being too tight. Gonna be it and miss. Hopefully you'll be in spec.
 
Well, if you do find that it needs a shim, you could trailor it to the dealer to have the shims changed. Since it would be all open, that would save the dealer the time and you the cost.

I wonder if one could make a tool to depress the valve enough to pull the shim and replace it? Aren't most other shim and bucket bikes done that way? Seems that there should be an easier way than pulling the camshaft.

Tom
 
Hi
Can not understand how valves can be to loose? Then they must have been far out of spec from factory! Checked and adjusted valves at 10k. on my -05 Rocket. 4 valves too tight, the rest within spec. I guess there are no shim kits for Rockets, shims are the same as on earlier Triumphs. (and Honda, Kawas).
The work itself is very straight forward. The Rocket engine is very simple in its construction. But of course, service manual is needed, at least for torques values, and to set valve timing correct.
 
I wonder if one could make a tool to depress the valve enough to pull the shim and replace it? Aren't most other shim and bucket bikes done that way? Seems that there should be an easier way than pulling the camshaft.

Tom
Click to expand...

I had the same thought before. But when you open up and see the construction of the cylinderhead, then it is obvious. No way to change a shim with camshaft in place.
 
I'll be taking my '07 in for its 10K next week...we'll see how it goes. I ain't ready to do the work myself, yet. :shock:
 
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