Sorry. Rocker End Float, Again!!.

[Our Gee]

About to check and adjust the Valve Clearances on my 2007 RT. The specified Rocker end float is quite a large variation. ie 0.05mm to 0.4mm
Does the gap tend to increase or decrease in service and what would be the optimum setting.
Also I note that the Camshaft Cap is held by three screws and one of the Cylinder Head Nuts. The nut has to be slackened in order to move to Cap to the required clearance.
I appreciate that this must have been done many times before but the thought of loosening and re-tightening such an important assembly on the original gasket does not seem to be a wise practice. (Old School Mech Fitter)
I suppose that I am looking for re-assurance by those in the know.
Also would the torque setting for this nut be as the original assembly torque ie 20Nm + 180 degrees.
Many Thanks

 

[Sot1200]

Rocker end float. The smaller the better. It makes for a quieter smoother engine. As for the cylinder head bolt not to worry. Follow the specs and all will be fine. From experience it's adjusted once. Never had to redo it on my bikes.

 

[Our Gee]

Thanks for the re-assurance Sot1200. Job now done and bike runs fine. Just one thing though. When adjusting the Rocker End Clearance the Haynes Manual and a couple of the helpful vids on U-Tube all show the clearance being measured by inserting feelers at the front of the assembly which was what I did. Then I noted that the up and down movement of the rocker did not feel like the .005" I had set it to. Looking carefully I could see that the clearance at the front edge was different to that at the rear of the assembly where it was much tighter. So it would be wise to check for disernable movement if looking to set the clearance at the lower end of the spec. Even 0.05mm (.002") can be felt and heard when lifting and lowering the rocker on it's shaft.

 

[G5RJO]

.

You have to set the VERTICAL float of the inlet AND exhaust rocker arms.

I do it with two feelers, one in each assembly then tighten the centre bolt to minimise movement on tightening fully. Nip all 3 bolts then torque as required after rechecking the float.

Roger.

 

[Our Gee]

Hi Roger,
perhaps I didn't make it clear when I refered to the "rear of the assembly". I have adjusted both inlet and exhaust rockers but what I found was a difference between measuring the gap at the "front" of the rocker and at the "back". I only measured at the back as like I said above it didn't feel like 005" of vertical movement which was what I had set it to.
In the end I rigged up a Dial Gauge to rest on the top of each rocker and by moving the rocker up and down I could accurately measure the end float and hence the clearence gap. It would seem that lots of folk set the gap to the lower end of the spec (.002") in order to achieve a quiet engine. If in doing this the gap is only measured at the front edge and the "assembly" is tighter at the back, then there could be a risk of not enough clearence. Hence it would be wise to always confirm that up and down movement can be felt. Even a couple of thou. can be felt and heard.