Triumphrat

FlatFourOne · 11-28-2007, 01:53 PM

Hey kids, I'm wondering when your bike had its first valve adjustment and how much you were charged for it (if you took it to a shop). THANKS so much.

whoa · 11-28-2007, 02:06 PM

12k check. All shims but one were replaced. Cost was around $225.

mecscc · 11-28-2007, 02:26 PM

I had mine checked at about 13000. All were in spec. It cost $68. If they would have had to replace shims it would have been $68X3 plus the cost of the shims, shop fees, etc., about $270 was the max they said it would cost.

Monte

CAPTDON · 11-28-2007, 02:31 PM

Sounds like a pretty good price if they reeally did all but 1!! Ill be curious when the time comes which I hope is a long time from now!! You did yours @ 12000 mi? Did they sound loud?? / like even tap-tap. Buds BA has (seems) the 2 exhaust valves- left side are out. A real even distinct tap tap tap- on just those 2 only?

raproe · 11-28-2007, 04:09 PM

I did mine at 12,000 miles. All the exhausts were loose and three of the intakes were loose. Cost was $6.19 x 7 for shims from Bike Bandit since I did the work myself. The top end was much quieter afterwards.

Rich

ohiorider · 11-28-2007, 04:13 PM

CaptDon - checking them is easy. You've had a bunch of sports cars, so I'm sure this would be a piece of cake for you. I think most of us have found that the valves loosen up instead of tightening up, but I don't know if each bike's valves are going to react the same. I personally wouldn't depend on it. I ck'd mine shortly after I bought the bike (used) with 4100 miles on her. Again at 12K .... no problem. When I was experimenting with indexing the cams, I took the time to swap out the shims that were running loose. That was at 21,500 miles. At that time, I changed all shims to bring valve clearances back into spec. All eight were outside the loose side of the spec. I was able to reuse a couple of them by switching their positions. Picked up the new shims at a Kaw dealer for $5 apiece. You cannot get quite as close with them because they don't come in as many thicknesses as Triumph offers, but I was able to use them to bring things back into spec.

Bob

Baltobonneville · 11-28-2007, 06:22 PM

I apologize ahead of time for this dumb question, but does the valve adjustment use a single shim only, or can you stack multiple shims?

thrux351 · 11-28-2007, 06:31 PM

single only-they're thick and the clearance is minute.

ohiorider · 11-28-2007, 07:36 PM

Measuring the valve clearance is not complex. Replacing the shims isn't difficult. But there's two parts of this job that could ruin your day.
1. I could not believe how difficult it was to break loose the blankity/blank Torx head bolts that hold the cam caps in place. Others here will attest to this. And as I recall, they're only retorqued to 10nm (approx 7 lb/ft or 84 inch/lbs). Who would've thought ..... such lightly torqued bolts could get stuck so tightly? Although the poster who is looking for a new head hasn't said why the cam cap and piece of cylinder head on his bike broke off as one piece, I wonder if the problem occured when he was attempting to remove a cam cap?

2. Making doubly, maybe triply, sure that you've covered all possible places where a small part could fall into the insides of the engine. Small parts could be crush washers or banjo bolts from the cam oil lines, or one of the cam cap dowel pins.

You will want to consult either the Triumph or Haynes Manuals, especially regarding the sequence for cam cap bolt removal and refastening.

Bob

budmike9191 · 11-28-2007, 07:46 PM

yes sir. the torx head stripped out and things proceeded to go from bad to worse...lol...am still looking for a head for a 2006 bonneville T-100.