Triumphrat

flybiker251 · 03-07-2007

Stopped too fast in my driveway, put my foot down in a pile of dry leaves, the forks rebounded, my foot slid on the leaves and down I went. Major damage was a broken turn signal. The point of my story is that it took an hour and about 35 fastners to release one side panel of the fairing. Couldn't believe how convoluted the whole process was. Now that I'm this far I'm thinking about going whole hog and checking the valves. I'm 500 away from the check anyway. How difficult is it to button the valve cover back up without it leaking? Sure would hate to have to uncover and reseal.
Flybiker :???:

Mark62 · 03-07-2007

Sorry about the drop. You have joined the club of those bikers who have dropped their bike as opposed to those who will.
Be careful removing the valve cover. There is a minimum amount of clearance and the gasket will hang on the studs sticking out of the head. Same thing going back together.
Mark

bigern2300 · 03-07-2007

The gasket is generaly reuseable. If you can keep it stuck to the valve cover during removal, the easier it is to install. Most important is apply a good quality silicone sealent in the half moon areas of the head where the cover seals. These areas are prone to leak, even with a new gasket. Dont over do it, just a nice, thin bead starting at the flat edge before the half moon, down thru the half moon and up on the other flat edge. Bigern

ervdrvr1 · 03-10-2007

Flybiker,
When you remove the valve cover, take seal all the way off the valve cover. Remove all old silicone from valve cover and seal. Clean off oil residue(I used nail polish remover-evaperates dry). Apply a thin beed of silicone to the groove in valve cover(I use permitex high temp black). Install seal and allow to set overnight. If the seal has rubber runners from the perimeter to the sparkplug doghnuts, cut them off. Makes it easier. When re-instaling valve cover, put a small dab of silicone at the corners of the half-moons, use your finger to smear a THIN layer of silicone to entire front edge of head and around front corners. Be mindfull of the half moons when installing. They want to catch on the valve train. Overall, a fairly easy job as long as you let the silicone set up overnight on the valve cover seal.
Hope this helps.
Erv

flybiker251 · 03-12-2007

Thanks for the imput. Sorry for the delay. My home computer doesn't recognize my password so I can't respond on the weekend. The Trophy is scattered all over my garage although it is an organized scatter. Can't believe how many screws and bolts it takes to put this thing together. Bet it cost a fortune to have the valves checked at a dealer. I may still get to find out if I can't get this bike back together. Luckily I have a very good dealer close by. I have only done a preliminary check on a few valves last night and have found three out of six to be tight. I decided to wait until today to really check all of them as I usually do my most screw-ups when I am tired. Hope all of this has a happy ending.
Flybiker :razz:

ervdrvr1 · 03-15-2007

Flybiker,
Yea, you save $200-$400 in labor alone, plus the time waiting for the mech to actually start working on it. You will either have to buy the special tool to remove the shims, or remove the cams. I'm cheap, so I remove the cams myself. Takes a little longer, but not hard at all. While you have it apart, it's a good time to do all the other maintenance on it. Chassis lube, steering head bearings lube, fluid changes, et all. For me, it's all a Zen experience and keeps me up-close and personal with my machines.
Take your time and have fun.
Happy Trails,
Erv

flybiker251 · 03-16-2007

Erv, The valve cover came off and went back on fine. Found 5 tight valves. Bought some new shims and they went in easily enough. I did buy the tool to remove the shims without removing the cams. My dealer was impressed that I would tackle this. I'm a chemistry teacher and I guess I look the part. So far all the fairings are going back on with only a few problems. I have enjoyed the whole experience. I used to turn wrenches but that was 20 years ago. Iguess if I can adjust the Trophy the Legend will be a piece of cake.
Flybiker

jimballard · 03-21-2007

Hi Flybiker,

Silly question: Did you remove the side panel just to change the turn signal?? It can be done without removing any panels at all. Believe me, I'm an expert at replacing the signals and the bag lids. Just for the record, if you need a bag lid, all Triumph gives you is the lid..you have to re-use all the old hardware and find new rivets. I believe that they are 5/32 in diameter and not easy to come by. I found mine at a glass shop that does aluminum windows and cars.

Welcome to the club: Jim

flybiker251 · 03-22-2007

Jim,
Sometimes there is a steep learning curve when doing something for the first time. I've never been accused of being overly bright. I have removed all the panels and tank so many times that I may hire myself out just to strip Trophies to their frames. All has gone well with this endeavor except that I now have a vacuum problem with the petcock. As soon as that is sorted I feel I will be on the road again. Thankfully my wife thinks I need two bikes so I still have my Legend to fall back on. Usually I ride the Legend in the summer and the Trophy in the winter but because it's in the mid 70's now the weather isn't too bad.
Flybiker

Tooth · 03-22-2007

Hey Fly
sorry to hear about the drop...we have all been there....some of us several times......I have a thread on here some where about a $4200 5 mile/hour fall........Jim is right about finding bolt sizes and fittings for the fairing......I spent a 1/2 hour at Loews going through specialty bolts......Fairings are like women.......high maintenance when you hurt them, expensive and exasperating to fix but oh so beautiful to look at.......good luck.......