Valve Adjustment. Necessary?

[bigbird]

In my mind, they check and tighten every nut and bolt, as well as a ton of other stuff, but maybe all they really do is the valve check and oil?

If you think they check and tighten every nut and bolt as well as a ton of other stuff, you are living in a dream world.
Most work will be done by a teenager who is not a trained mechanic and who has no clue about the intricacies of motorcycle engines. His previous experience might be sharpening a lawn mower blade and changing the oil on his Briggs and Stratton powered lawn mower.

If the shop is fortunate enough to have a trained and experienced tech, he will be busy doing major work such as carb rebuilds, brakes, electrical diagnostics, etc. Your first oil change, valve check, and anything else will be better off done by you. The valve check and adjustment is definitely within your realm if you have the service manual. You're not dealing with shim under bucket valve adjustment here, it's just screw and jam nut. Very simple.

As they used to say at Home Depot, "you can do it, we can help".
Go for it and save a ton of money as well as knowing it will be done correctly.

[Activator]

OK! I'm convinced! I've been doing minor to medium-level work on cars, bikes, motorcycles and my John Deere nearly all my life, so this should be cake. I do have the shop manual, as well as a metric feeler gauge, torque wrench, etc., etc.

Thanks!

[bigbird]

OK! I'm convinced! I've been doing minor to medium-level work on cars, bikes, motorcycles and my John Deere nearly all my life, so this should be cake. I do have the shop manual, as well as a metric feeler gauge, torque wrench, etc., etc.

Thanks!

There you go. Good for you.
With what you describe it WILL be cake.
Save me a piece!

[robber57]

One minor caution: make sure you have enough time the first time, start on a sunday morning or so.

Putting the head cover back on is a bit fiddly, getting the rubber gasket correct between head and cover takes a bit of practice and you want to be sure to get it right otherwise it will probably leak oil.
Its not a job want to do the first time in a rush.

[Activator]

OK. Warning noted! I will definitely not rush. I'm pretty meticulous by nature, but I will be extra careful to do everything correctly, especially concerning the gasket.

[ambientscape]

Appreciate if someone here post some photo's of the process. I know it's on the manuals but just fancy some photo's by the members here...

[Arbiter]

Has someone did valve adjustment by yourself?

[robber57]

I did, Bigbird did it also and maybe some more members.
Its not that difficult provided you stay patient and have the necessary tools, also the service manual is a good help.

[bigbird]

Pappy (Mike) also does his own valve adjustments. With a single cylinder, 2 valve, SOHC screw and jam nut arrangement, it couldn't be simpler.

[Activator]

So I finally got around to doing the valve adjustment today. (700 miles) It took about an hour and a 1/2 from opening the manual to tools back in the box and bike back together and running! At 1st it wouldn't start and I was worried I messed something up, then I remembered that I took off the spark plug wire!! Old habit from working on lawn mowers. Duh!

All in all it was fairly easy, but if I didn't have quite a bit of experience doing light work on cars, bicycles, motorcycles and lawn mowers, I think it would have been a bit more challenging. Little things... like the manual doesn't say which valve is the intake and which is exhaust. I figured it out because the bottom valve is where the exhaust port is, so that had to be the exhaust valve. Easy if you know a little about how an engine works, not so simple if you don't have a clue!

Probably the biggest annoyance is that you have to remove so much bodywork! I got around it with deft fingers and a little patience. All I removed was the front inspection cover, and I loosened the lower body panel on the left side, but didn't remove it. Why they put the belt cover under everything is a mystery. I was able to get a box wrench in between the bodywork and loosen the inner bolt, then removed it with the tips of two fingers. Got the bolt back in with some long, needle nose pliers. Tedious, but do-able.

Removing the timing hole cap was a bit difficult. It was very tight, and it's made of SUPER-soft aluminum. Luckily, I stopped as soon as I realized that a regular screwdriver wouldn't get it done, and I used a small electric impact wrench to loosen it without doing too much damage. I used the impact wrench to put it back on as well.

Getting the timing mark at the right spot was also tedious. 1st of all, the nut you need to turn to move the crank is on the left side of the bike, but the timing hole is on the right! I found an old mirror in the garage, and propped it up on the right side, angled so I could see the timing hole. Then it was just a matter of turning the crank bolt until I saw the timing mark align. NOTE: use a ratchet and short 19mm socket, because there's not much room to turn the bolt, and it takes quite a few turns until the timing mark is lined up AND the #1 is on the TOP of the cam! (READ the manual carefully on this!!) Also NOTE that the timing mark lines up right after the point of highest compression, so while you're fighting to get the nut to turn against the compression, the timing mark suddenly appears - then disappears as you fly right past the point of compression! Arghhh. Took a few times around until I got it ALL lined up right! LOL

Checking the valves is also NOT that easy. There's just NO room to get a full sized feeler gauge in there without bending it a bit. I checked and re-checked a few times, making sure the feeler was as a flat as possible. The intake valve was perfect, the exhaust valve was just a hair tight. Literally a 16th of turn counterclockwise and it was perfect. I probably could have left it, but after all that work getting to the valves, I wasn't going to just do NOTHING! Ha, ha!

I managed to get everything back together with no drama. The valve cover gasket had stayed perfectly in place on the engine (it didn't come off with the cover), so it was no problem getting the cover back on an aligned. WATCH for the little loose piece of metal tubing at the bottom! I bumped it while checking the valves, and it fell out! Luckily I heard it fall into the belly pan and replaced it in it's proper hole.

All in all it wasn't as bad as I 1st imagined, but it was definitely NOT for someone without any big or small engine experience. I am very meticulous, and I kept all the screws in order, noted how parts fit together before setting them aside, and generally triple-checked my work at each stage.

In hindsight, it was fun! My 1st valve adjustment ever! Now that I am "experienced", I'll definitely do it again when the time comes.

Note that I also changed the oil to the forum-recommended Shell Rotella T6. I propped the bike between a doorway in my garage so I didn't have a problem with the kickstand being in the way. Very easy.