valve clearences?

[Septic]

Hi folks

Just a quick one

When doing valve clearences on a 1150gs should i have a light drag or a heavy
drag on the feeler gauge's

 

[Bronco Billy]

Very subjective.

I would encourage neither a light or a heavy drag.

Go for a medium drag........

 

[Possu]

Medium drag but tight enough so that the next size up feeler gauge won't slide in.

 

[ktdoghouse]

Ask these, erm 'ladies'........they appear to know a thing or two about drag.

 

[Gecko]

Yup , what Possu says is the right way. Most important is have the drag all the same - if you go light then all light don't have them feeling different or you'll get a disappointing result.

 

[Jon P]

The best desciption I heard was it should be like you are dragging the gauges over a magnet.........of course, what strength magnet would that be??

If unsure, go for light instead of heavy. Sometimes if I am unsure is I try the next size up and down to confirm my 'feelings'.

 

[Shurv]

I'd advise to have a " definite" drag, ie you can feela decent amount of drag, and make sure all are EXACTLY the same. Make sure also you do the throttle bodies at the same time and you'll have an engine as smooth as a velvet codpiece!!!!!

 

[Steptoe]

Doesn't really matter as long as they are ALL identical drag

 

[davegs]

Drag?

Doesn't really matter as long as they are ALL identical drag

Whats all this drag business, are you all comming out? duckys.

 

[trotsky]

Doesn't really matter as long as they are ALL identical drag

A colleague of mine suggested a way of standardising that works for me. Your mileage may vary.

Loosen the locknut and take the allen key back about a quarter turn. Move the allen key to about a two o'clock postion and make sure it can move round to the right without hitting engine bars or anything else. Put the gauge into the gap and let the allen key turn to the right under its own weight. The allen key will come to rest when the gauge resting against the other side of the gap stops the allen key turning any further. Gap set. Press on the allen key slightly to hold it in place and tighten the locknut.

That ensures that the setting will be the same in each case and you don't have to make a judgement on friction in each case. Easy peasy for the occasional mechanic who can't tell if the friction is the same each time.

 

[abclint]

hope this helps

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVplES7DROk

 

[ELIMINATOR]

1) Take your feeler gauges apart.

2) Pair up a size that can be duplicated with one of the remaining feelers.

3) Take the thickest 2 feelers gauges, clamp them over operation No. 2, but, have both of them overhang by10mm.

4) Slide the feeler gauge that you want to "get the feel for" into this gap.

there, now you know how it should feel.

If you have more than one set, you can put the correct feeler gauge in the sandwhich in the first place without faffing about making the gap up.

If you have a vernier or micrometer, you could set this to the size of the feeler you need to get the feel for.

What I did years ago, when I had a bike with difficult access, was to close all the gap, then wind the adjusment out 90 degrees. This was because I knew the pitch of the threads, just convert this to an angular rotation.

So anyone know the pitch of the screw on the GS?

I've not done it this way myself though

As another pointer for the "feel" for it, I'd also say that the correct gap should just be able to slide in and out with minimal resistance, wheras an oversize feeler gauge would have to be forced in. an undersize gap by comparison would be obviously a sloppy fit. I.e. you would check what is perceived as being the correct fit, by using the next size up and down as Go, and No-Go gauges.

(Not the correct engineering terminology in case anyone has a pop at me, A) Go correct size. B) No-Go Oversize. The Go in this instance should fit, but the N0-Go should not.

Engineering lesson over.

 

[King Rat]

I like the self tensioning Allen Key version....what a good way of teaching the lads while I am doing the clearances. They can then get a "feel" for how it should be as we do the service together. Far better than the subjective this is how it should feel, it will be different to everyone. At least with the torsional rotation of the Allen key being equal (or more equal than my hamfisted efforts) it should help to take out quite a lot of the human inconsistency. The resulting valve gap can then always be checked the old fashioned way of bigger and small guages being inserted, and not inserted, just to back up ones feel for it.