Removing the Cam Ladder

[Bedifferent]

I successfully did mine last winter using Fred's technique. Made the compressing tool from his drawing. Also made the screwdriver tool another guy demonstrated. They worked great. A small strong neodymium magnet helped get the shims out once the bucket was depressed.

Nice job on the tool and Illustration!

 

[TURBO200R4]

JMO
My bike had 6000 miles when i bought it when cold it had a tappet noise. being lazy i just ignored it and let it warm up in the morning and it stopped that after about 4000 miles. so i am thinking based on one bike that the clearance gets closer as the bike gets more miles.
if i set mine i will favor the max clearance if i do mine.

 

[EasTexRIII]

so i am thinking based on one bike that the clearance gets closer as the bike gets more miles.

I know you probably know this Turbo, so I'm putting this in for those who don't :

Yes, over time as the face of the valve has continually "beat" into the valve seat it, gets to where it sits deeper into that seat, as the seat & valve face wears away it causes the valve stem to ride higher up in the head, putting the top of the stem closer to the cam lobe so you now have less of a gap & need a thinner shim between the cam lobe & valve stem top than the one that is currently in there

if you just look at the valve on the right & see that line that is angled to the right at the bottom. that's between the valve "face" or lip edge & the head that it settles up against. (disregard the gap) As they wear, that valve will sit deeper into the "seat" or head & if its sits deeper, obviously the top of the stem will sit up higher because the whole valve moves up. The top of that stem is where the shim sits between the stem & cam lobe, showing why you would need a thinner shim for as you say: Max clearance

 

[Rocket Scientist]

JMO
My bike had 6000 miles when i bought it when cold it had a tappet noise. being lazy i just ignored it and let it warm up in the morning and it stopped that after about 4000 miles. so i am thinking based on one bike that the clearance gets closer as the bike gets more miles.
if i set mine i will favor the max clearance if i do mine.

I would go for max clearance on the first shim job, then go for optimal from then on. Again, based on one engine (mine).

 

[TURBO200R4]

I am glad that we have people that take the time to explain i do not mine at all and i think that it is great especially with pics. i wish i had more free time and could explain things the way that some of u do.

 

[Ugarte]

I sure do like the idea of maxing out the valve clearance, but the cam ladder bolts have defeated me, at least while the engine is still on the frame. I have used heat with a heat gun, and tapping the bolt and no go. Taking a torch to the bolt scares me, i just evision very bad things happening like lighting wiring on fire. There is not much room to work especially on the intake side, and even on the exhaust side the frame interferes. Fred's shim removal tool looks great but you still have to take out a cam ladder bolt to do it.

On my bike with 103k miles the only valves out of spec (too tight) were the number 3 exhaust valves. On the intake side all were at or near min spec. So yes they do get tighter but it seems to be a slow process.

I am thinking that, since i waited so long, the big problem was the freezing of the cam ladder bolts and not so much valves out of spec. Probably a good idea to at least loosen the cam ladder bolts and retighten, in the proper sequence, at every 20k valve check. That is what I would do knowing what i know now.

 

[EasTexRIII]

I am glad that we have people that take the time to explain i do not mine at all and i think that it is great especially with pics. i wish i had more free time and could explain things the way that some of u do.

So what you mean is you wish you eff'd off at work as much as I do

 

[Idaho Red Rocket 3]

Ugarte since you only need to do 1 exhaust valve, try making and using the screwdriver tool to depress the valve bucket. You will need 2 people to do the job that way.

 

[leatal]

I know you probably know this Turbo, so I'm putting this in for those who don't :

Yes, over time as the face of the valve has continually "beat" into the valve seat it, gets to where it sits deeper into that seat, as the seat & valve face wears away it causes the valve stem to ride higher up in the head, putting the top of the stem closer to the cam lobe so you now have less of a gap & need a thinner shim between the cam lobe & valve stem top than the one that is currently in there

if you just look at the valve on the right & see that line that is angled to the right at the bottom. that's between the valve "face" or lip edge & the head that it settles up against. (disregard the gap) As they wear, that valve will sit deeper into the "seat" or head & if its sits deeper, obviously the top of the stem will sit up higher because the whole valve moves up. The top of that stem is where the shim sits between the stem & cam lobe, showing why you would need a thinner shim for as you say: Max clearance

I wonder if the factory sets them to max clearance. Has anyone found the clearance to be too much?

 

[EasTexRIII]

I wonder if the factory sets them to max clearance. Has anyone found the clearance to be too much?

Dunno bout factory, but yes. Some have had too much clearance also