You’re a fantastic resource. Just this morning, California time, I removed my rear shock to service it, something I would have never thought of before I watched your video on it. Fortunately, I had to remove the rear wheel to have the tire replaced with the same Kenda you recommended in a previous post. I’m not sure where to drain the 7 weight, 125cc, fork oil, but the service department at the dealership can enlighten me some more. I’m real appreciative of your thorough explanations, thank you very much. One of these days I’ll learn to synchronize the carbs. Jesse
thanks Jesse. You remove the air hose to the shock, turn the shock upside down and let it drain overnight if possible, let it drain into a measuring cup if you can go to a dollar store and get one for a dollar. Then note how much oil you get out, and put that amount back in. Mine took whatever I said, in the video, I think it was 124 cc, a guy from Sweden said that he got a little more out of his. that oil in the shock really gets caulked. That’s why it turns black. I was going to lube the chain on a race bike during a 24 hour race. I was in years ago, my duty, for the first pitstop was to lube the chain. I put my hand on the shock. Well, I was stooping down to spray the chain, and it burned my hand, that is how hot those shocks get so they do Cook that oil .. I changed my oil in the shock about A year later, and the oil that came out was also very dark and it only had about 2000 miles on it. Don’t forget to Loubier washings with white lithium grease, especially where those two dog bone linkage plates slide together. They were a source of a squeak I was chasing a couple years ago. They were dry.
@@Jodyrides hey there. Turns out that I had 160 cc of fluid in my rear shock. Because of my size and weight, I got 10 weight fork oil to accommodate my 6’4”, 230 size. Anyway, just wanted to update you on the amount of fork oil I got.
thanks for the update on the amount of oil you got out of your Royal star venture shock.. as for the forks. I contacted Dave Moss , The motorcycle suspension guru in Australia.. I explained to him my weight and The way I ride and the roads that I ride on and the speed at which I ride.. I asked him for advice on fork, oil, weight and amounts.. Dave pointed out that the amount of oil can be adjusted to personal preference depending on the ride you want.. he suggested 20 weight fork, 5 inches down from the top of the fork tube with the fork tube completely pushed all the way into the bottom of the fork leg - slider.. in the Yamaha owners manual that everyone gets with their bike when they buy it new. On the maintenance chart with all the recommendations for what needs serviced and when. In the forks oil section, Yamaha says that the fork oil never needs changing… As far as going by the owners manual and the shop manual service recommendations, I tend to overdo it. I will change the oil sooner than recommended in the engine, I will change brake fluid and clutch fluid sooner than recommended, they never mention changing the shock oil. so your manual says you never need to change the fork oil, and I disagree with that just says I disagreed for this reason- These machines have air suspension. We put air into the suspension forks and shock. Depending on where you live, and depending on whether or not, you have a dryer system attached to your compressor to take the moisture out of the air, you are putting air that has condensation in it in your shock and forks every time you put air in. that air with condensation in it.. Water and oil don’t mix. I don’t know what the effect of having water in the forks and shock is, but that moisture will definately make fork springs rust.. that rust flake off and get moved around in the forks which are like a piston sliding up / down inside a critical precision machined matched set of parts with lots of stress ..fork oil gets cooked and contaminated.. adding water and corrosion from rusting fork springs cant do any good that i can imagine.. dave moss recommended changing fork oil in any motorcycle at 5,000 miles ( i think that was his recommendation) every time I changed fork oil in any machines I ever owned, that stuff came out, looking like graphite/black with streaks of silver gray liquid in it.. when I drained my Venture shock for the first time, that oil was black. Obviously cooked. When I changed The shock oil in my Venture for the second time a year later, it was black again. The oil I put in was 20 weight, synthetic, fork, oil, transparent blue in color. I don’t know if that was residue left in the shock from the 13 years since the shock was new being mixed in with the second batch of clean oil. But I did feel a difference in the ride after the first oil change in the shock. you mentioned that you got 160 cc of oil out of your shock on your royal star venture. I wonder if a lot of that difference between my 124 cc and your 160 cc could have been added moisture just from condensation in the air..?? I keep putting off changing my fork oil for one reason or the other. But I am going to do it and I’m going to make a video. It’s not that tough. It looks like I have to remove the front part of the fairing to get at the clamp bolts for the forks, if you do that yourself make sure you loosen the caps on top of the fork tubes. While the forks are clamped into the clamps on your steering stem. Because trying to get that cap loose after you have your forks on the bench is almost impossible, unless you clamp them in a vice between two pieces of wood. Just make sure you loosen, not remove, but just loosen the nuts on top of the fork tubes before you completely slide them out of the steering stem.. i’m just going to turn the forks over and allow them to drain them. I’m not going to remove the fork tubes from the fork sliders if I can help it. I never did venture forks before, so I don’t know how they go back together yet,. But, if you have to remove the fork tubes, you have to sort of slide hammer the seals wipers, and the fork bushings out like a slide hammer. And there’s where the problem arises if you don’t have the tools for re-inserting the fork bushings… I have some fork, bushing replacement tools for tapping the bushings back into the top of the slider below the fork seals. but I just want to change the oil.. I’m not going to replace the fork seals for the fork Dust wipers. So I’m not gonna disturb them. I’m just gonna remove the forks and turn it upside down and pour the oil out, then I’m going to remove the spring, compress the fork tube down into the slider and refill the forks until the oil comes up to within 5 inches of the top without the spring in there… you have to make sure that you pump the fork tube in and out of the slider to remove all the old oil.. then again to remove the air that will be trapped down in the slider before you declare them filled to within 5 inches of the top with the fresh oil at which time after the air is all out, which may take a little time to allow the air bubbles to escape, after pumping the forks in and out. Then extend the fork tube ,reinsert your cleaned, fork, springs, use dielectric grease on the O-ring on the cap of the fork to before you install it, put a little bit of fork oil on the outside of the fork tubes so that it will lubricate the dust seal and the fork seal a bit.. Then just slide the forks back into the steering stem at the same height that they were in originally, and torque the bolts with a torque wrench. While you’re at it, clean and relubricate your dust seals protecting your front wheel bearings, and feel the rotation of your wheelbearings with your fingers to make sure that they are rolling. Nice and smooth… it’s really not a difficult job. I believe you just have to remove the front of the fairing around the headlight from behind the fairing near your speaker grills. I’ve never done it. But that’s how it appears to me to get to the clamps that hold the forks in the steering stem. 5 inches from the top of a compressed fork tube all the way down into the slider without the spring in there. Dave recommended 20 wt fork oil as a starting point. He said you can try Les oil next time, you can try different weight oil. But he stressed the fact that that oil is shot after about 5000 miles. I’ll make a video when I do mine..
@@Jodyrides you’re welcome on the 160cc. Your explanation on servicing the forks was a very interesting read. However, my understanding of motorcycle mechanics is limited to basic maintenance, like what I learned from you and others. Servicing the forks comes out to roughly $600. USD, labor alone. Unfortunately, I don’t have the time nor the tools along with patience to take on such a project, but thanks for explaining it though, I like knowing what’s being done. BTW, I’m in Southern California, 45 miles east of Los Angeles so not much humidity when I add air to the forks as compared to other locations like Florida, as an example. I am planning on updating the spring to progressive ones while they’re servicing the forks. What’s your opinion on the different brands? Are there rates on spring? I’m 6’4”, 230 lbs. so I want to make sure I get the right equipment for my personal dimensions. I’ll also make sure that the fork oil is around 20 weight, like you mentioned. Thanks again for your in-depth explanations, it makes for very enlightening reading. Jesse
I bought a set of analog gauges off ebay and I tested them by hooking all four together and pulling a vacuum with my hand held mityvac and they all read the same. I did buy the most expensive ones on ebay but I suspect that they are all made at the same factory in china.
I guess they’re OK as long as you test each one one at a time on just one vacuum port on one manifold at a time to see if you get the same reading for that one cylinder on each gauge.. I thought about buying the most expensive ones. I had a set of snap on the vacuum gauges years ago. But back then even offbrand gauges. worked about the same.. I have seen other mechanics suck all the mercury out of their mercury gauges accidentally. By running the RPMs up and then letting the throttle snap shut.. that’s when you have the highest vacuum, and it sucked all the mercury right into the engine. I just saw a video last week when I was trying to find out how to get the water out of my mercury. I learned a few things about mercury. It is not that dangerous to handle. One of the demonstrators actually stuck his whole hand in a large vessel of mercury. I heard a woman it was a doctor of something say that you could probably even drink some mercury and it wouldn’t kill you. I thought she was a little bit responsible for even mentioning that. But they say that if you heat mercury, the fumes will kill you. So I gave up on that possibility of heating the mercury to get the water out of it. But the thing that really was interesting about mercury is, what it does to aluminum… these Crystal Lake forms start growing make a science fiction movie, and they keep growing whenever mercury and aluminum meet.. that made me remember. The guys that I have seen suck all the mercury out of their gauges accidentally into their engines. I wonder whatever happened inside those engines
@@Jodyrides I bought the MotionPro manometers first off ebay and they had bubbles in the fluid. I called the manufacturer and was told I needed to buy a refill kit. I sold them really cheap to someone on the forum. Then I bought the 4 gauge set that I am pleased with.
Informative video. I just picked up a 2008 RSV with 34k miles I wanna do a valve adjustment, I found a cool guide online, but no videos... Do you happen to know where there are any videos For it online? and not in scandinavian...
thanks. I have seen several videos, showing how to adjust the valves on these ventures, the same process I am sure is the same for the Vmax, and every motorcycle Yamaha makes with this particular engine. One thing I can tell you is, these valve shims are the same standard size for the 70s Kawasaki, 903 and 1000 KZ and some other engines.. i’m pretty sure they also fit suzuki engines, not all of them, just some of them, at least I think they do.. another thing you want to keep in mind if you do your own valve adjustment which is not really that tough. make sure you have a large sheet of paper and draw a sketch of the exhaust and intake valve locations on that paper. Mark which way is facing forward on the engine, and, record the size of the clearance for each valve… you don’t need to pull the shims out with a magnet, but if you do, record the numbers off of the shim, and always always put the shims back in with the numbers, facing down away from the camshaft. Because, if you have the numbers facing up that are etched on the shims, they will get worn off by the cam and you won’t know what size that shim is without measuring it with a micrometer. another reason to do that recording of the shim numbers and the clearances is, you may be able to juggle, shims, move them around from one valve to the other to get two separate valves within specifications. You may have a shim that is a little too large on one valve, and you may have another valve that the shim is too small, and you may be able to switch them to put both of them in the correct clearance.. another thing to remember is, if you do end up changing shims, you will have to re-synchronize your carbs. That changes when the valves open, and how long they stay open so that changes the carburetion sinc.. so, if your Yamaha dealer doesn’t have the shim you require, you can get shims at a Kawasaki dealer and maybe even a Suzuki dealer. The guys to talk to there would be the mechanics. Because they will have lots of shims somewhere in their toolbox like I do .. I have a random selection of shims from my days as a mechanic at a Kawasaki shop, and I had a 1973 Kawasaki, Z 1/903, and my first venture was a 1986 it took the same shims, as did my 2002 royal star, Yamaha venture, and my current Yamaha 2008 royal star venture.. The reason you need to check your valves to make sure they have enough clearance is, the only way your valve can cool, especially the exhaust valves, is by staying closed for a millisecond and transferring it heat to the valve seat when it closes.. it’s not as critical on the intake valves, because they get cooled on every intake, stroke with Incoming gasoline, that is relatively cool, but those exhaust valves, they never get coolant from incoming gas.. while you have the fuel tank off, and the intake, Plenum, put in a new set of spark plugs, because you have to pull the plugs to rotate the engine to bring each camshaft up to TDC to check the clearance when they are completely closed. Don’t buy your NGK spark plugs on eBay. There have been a lot of fake counterfeit, NGK, spark plugs stories coming out on the Internet about people that bought the spark plugs on eBay because they were a little cheaper, and they ended up coming apart and destroying The engine.. if your motorcycle dealer is not close, I have been buying my NGK spark plugs at advance auto parts stores. They are an NGK dealer, and they will have them for you later in the day if you catch them early in the morning, or they will have them the next day, seven days a week, and they’re usually open till 8 PM. One way to see if you have a Kounterfeit NGK, spark plug is.. if the ceiling washer on the spark, plug comes off easy, it’s fake why are you have everything apart, make sure you have a tube of dielectric silicone grease you can get at an auto parts store or Lowe’s or Home Depot. Completely coat each sparkplug wire from the coil all the way down to the spark plug cap, and I use a Q-tip to put a little bit of that dielectric grease inside the spark plug cap where it touches the spark plug insulator.. The spark plug wires are in a very hot, hostile environment, right at the top of the engine, and they get baked, and they end up drying out and starting to crack. When you have cracks in a spark, plug wire, they develop what is known as voltage leak. Those are the kind of spark plug wires that if you touch the wire, while the engine is running, you will get wrapped with 10,000 to 30,000 Volts.. it is a weird sensation, and it gets your attention at the speed of light. before you pull your spark plugs, and before you pull your valve covers, make sure you blow the whole entire area off above the valve covers and around the spark plugs so you don’t get dirt inside your engine just by bumping wires above the top of the engine and spark, plug holes.. don’t use any spark plugs, except for standard normal nothing fancy NGK spark plugs. You can buy the most expensive spark plugs on the market, but they’re not going to give you higher voltage, spark, only a new set of ignition coils can give you more spark voltage… I have never had to buy a new valve cover gasket when I do the valves on my Venture’s because they are more or less like a nitro. Oring type material… actually, checking the valve clearance is the easiest part of the job. You just have to pull the spark plugs so you’re not fighting engine compression, and you turn the engine over with the correct socket on the end of the crankshaft. I never check the timing marks on the end of the crankshaft to see if I am at top dead center. I guess technically I should, but I just turn the engine over until the cam lobes are aimed straight up away from the valve shims.. before you even start that job, go on eBay and buy yourself the tool for keeping the lifters down so you can extract the valve with a magnet using a tiny ice pack type pic to lift the shim up enough so that the magnet can pull it out. There are two styles of tools for holding down the edge of the lifter… One of them is shaped like a question mark, that one how old is down both valves at the same time, and the old style one holds down a single lifter at a time, and you need to clamp that to the edge of the head as you hold it against the lifter and tighten the clamp. I go for the one that is a simple curved handle about 5 inches long. You should be able to find that tool on eBay used for under 20 bucks.. I would also try to locate a source for a selection of valve shims before you start the job so you don’t have to wait and search for a shim for a week or two. well, you have things apart, that would also be a good time to put in new paper, air filters, the stock ones, not those K and in filters. I have a video on TH-cam showing how much stuff gets through those. Sure they pass more air, they also let 10 times the amount of particulates get through at the same time… good luck, it’s not that tough of a job. I checked my valves about 3000 miles ago, and they were all well within specifications, otherwise I would make a video showing the process. good luck
You’re a fantastic resource. Just this morning, California time, I removed my rear shock to service it, something I would have never thought of before I watched your video on it. Fortunately, I had to remove the rear wheel to have the tire replaced with the same Kenda you recommended in a previous post.
I’m not sure where to drain the 7 weight, 125cc, fork oil, but the service department at the dealership can enlighten me some more. I’m real appreciative of your thorough explanations, thank you very much. One of these days I’ll learn to synchronize the carbs. Jesse
thanks Jesse. You remove the air hose to the shock, turn the shock upside down and let it drain overnight if possible, let it drain into a measuring cup if you can go to a dollar store and get one for a dollar. Then note how much oil you get out, and put that amount back in. Mine took whatever I said, in the video, I think it was 124 cc, a guy from Sweden said that he got a little more out of his.
that oil in the shock really gets caulked. That’s why it turns black. I was going to lube the chain on a race bike during a 24 hour race. I was in years ago, my duty, for the first pitstop was to lube the chain. I put my hand on the shock. Well, I was stooping down to spray the chain, and it burned my hand, that is how hot those shocks get so they do
Cook that oil ..
I changed my oil in the shock about A year later, and the oil that came out was also very dark and it only had about 2000 miles on it. Don’t forget to Loubier washings with white lithium grease, especially where those two dog bone linkage plates slide together. They were a source of a squeak I was chasing a couple years ago. They were dry.
@@Jodyrides hey there. Turns out that I had 160 cc of fluid in my rear shock. Because of my size and weight, I got 10 weight fork oil to accommodate my 6’4”, 230 size. Anyway, just wanted to update you on the amount of fork oil I got.
thanks for the update on the amount of oil you got out of your Royal star venture shock..
as for the forks. I contacted Dave Moss , The motorcycle suspension guru in Australia..
I explained to him my weight and The way I ride and the roads that I ride on and the speed at which I ride..
I asked him for advice on fork, oil, weight and amounts..
Dave pointed out that the amount of oil can be adjusted to personal preference depending on the ride you want.. he suggested 20 weight fork, 5 inches down from the top of the fork tube with the fork tube completely pushed all the way into the bottom of the fork leg - slider..
in the Yamaha owners manual that everyone gets with their bike when they buy it new. On the maintenance chart with all the recommendations for what needs serviced and when. In the forks oil section, Yamaha says that the fork oil never needs changing…
As far as going by the owners manual and the shop manual service recommendations, I tend to overdo it. I will change the oil sooner than recommended in the engine, I will change brake fluid and clutch fluid sooner than recommended, they never mention changing the shock oil.
so your manual says you never need to change the fork oil, and I disagree with that just says I disagreed for this reason-
These machines have air suspension. We put air into the suspension forks and shock. Depending on where you live, and depending on whether or not, you have a dryer system attached to your compressor to take the moisture out of the air, you are putting air that has condensation in it in your shock and forks every time you put air in.
that air with condensation in it..
Water and oil don’t mix. I don’t know what the effect of having water in the forks and shock is, but that moisture will definately make fork springs rust.. that rust flake off and get moved around in the forks which are like a piston sliding up / down inside a critical precision machined matched set of parts with lots of stress ..fork oil gets cooked and contaminated.. adding water and corrosion from rusting fork springs cant do any good that i can imagine..
dave moss recommended changing fork oil in any motorcycle at 5,000 miles ( i think that was his recommendation)
every time I changed fork oil in any machines I ever owned, that stuff came out, looking like graphite/black with streaks of silver gray liquid in it..
when I drained my Venture shock for the first time, that oil was black. Obviously cooked. When I changed The shock oil in my Venture for the second time a year later, it was black again. The oil I put in was 20 weight, synthetic, fork, oil, transparent blue in color. I don’t know if that was residue left in the shock from the 13 years since the shock was new being mixed in with the second batch of clean oil. But I did feel a difference in the ride after the first oil change in the shock.
you mentioned that you got 160 cc of oil out of your shock on your royal star venture. I wonder if a lot of that difference between my 124 cc and your 160 cc could have been added moisture just from condensation in the air..??
I keep putting off changing my fork oil for one reason or the other. But I am going to do it and I’m going to make a video. It’s not that tough. It looks like I have to remove the front part of the fairing to get at the clamp bolts for the forks, if you do that yourself make sure you loosen the caps on top of the fork tubes. While the forks are clamped into the clamps on your steering stem. Because trying to get that cap loose after you have your forks on the bench is almost impossible, unless you clamp them in a vice between two pieces of wood. Just make sure you loosen, not remove, but just loosen the nuts on top of the fork tubes before you completely slide them out of the steering stem..
i’m just going to turn the forks over and allow them to drain them. I’m not going to remove the fork tubes from the fork sliders if I can help it. I never did venture forks before, so I don’t know how they go back together yet,. But, if you have to remove the fork tubes, you have to sort of slide hammer the seals wipers, and the fork bushings out like a slide hammer. And there’s where the problem arises if you don’t have the tools for re-inserting the fork bushings… I have some fork, bushing replacement tools for tapping the bushings back into the top of the slider below the fork seals. but I just want to change the oil.. I’m not going to replace the fork seals for the fork Dust wipers. So I’m not gonna disturb them. I’m just gonna remove the forks and turn it upside down and pour the oil out, then I’m going to remove the spring, compress the fork tube down into the slider and refill the forks until the oil comes up to within 5 inches of the top without the spring in there… you have to make sure that you pump the fork tube in and out of the slider to remove all the old oil.. then again to remove the air that will be trapped down in the slider before you declare them filled to within 5 inches of the top with the fresh oil at which time after the air is all out, which may take a little time to allow the air bubbles to escape, after pumping the forks in and out. Then extend the fork tube ,reinsert your cleaned, fork, springs, use dielectric grease on the O-ring on the cap of the fork to before you install it, put a little bit of fork oil on the outside of the fork tubes so that it will lubricate the dust seal and the fork seal a bit.. Then just slide the forks back into the steering stem at the same height that they were in originally, and torque the bolts with a torque wrench.
While you’re at it, clean and relubricate your dust seals protecting your front wheel bearings, and feel the rotation of your wheelbearings with your fingers to make sure that they are rolling. Nice and smooth…
it’s really not a difficult job. I believe you just have to remove the front of the fairing around the headlight from behind the fairing near your speaker grills. I’ve never done it. But that’s how it appears to me to get to the clamps that hold the forks in the steering stem.
5 inches from the top of a compressed fork tube all the way down into the slider without the spring in there. Dave recommended 20 wt fork oil as a starting point. He said you can try Les oil next time, you can try different weight oil. But he stressed the fact that that oil is shot after about 5000 miles.
I’ll make a video when I do mine..
@@Jodyrides you’re welcome on the 160cc. Your explanation on servicing the forks was a very interesting read. However, my understanding of motorcycle mechanics is limited to basic maintenance, like what I learned from you and others. Servicing the forks comes out to roughly $600. USD, labor alone. Unfortunately, I don’t have the time nor the tools along with patience to take on such a project, but thanks for explaining it though, I like knowing what’s being done. BTW, I’m in Southern California, 45 miles east of Los Angeles so not much humidity when I add air to the forks as compared to other locations like Florida, as an example.
I am planning on updating the spring to progressive ones while they’re servicing the forks. What’s your opinion on the different brands? Are there rates on spring? I’m 6’4”, 230 lbs. so I want to make sure I get the right equipment for my personal dimensions. I’ll also make sure that the fork oil is around 20 weight, like you mentioned. Thanks again for your in-depth explanations, it makes for very enlightening reading. Jesse
I bought a set of analog gauges off ebay and I tested them by hooking all four together and pulling a vacuum with my hand held mityvac and they all read the same. I did buy the most expensive ones on ebay but I suspect that they are all made at the same factory in china.
I guess they’re OK as long as you test each one one at a time on just one vacuum port on one manifold at a time to see if you get the same reading for that one cylinder on each gauge.. I thought about buying the most expensive ones. I had a set of snap on the vacuum gauges years ago. But back then even offbrand gauges. worked about the same..
I have seen other mechanics suck all the mercury out of their mercury gauges accidentally. By running the RPMs up and then letting the throttle snap shut.. that’s when you have the highest vacuum, and it sucked all the mercury right into the engine. I just saw a video last week when I was trying to find out how to get the water out of my mercury. I learned a few things about mercury. It is not that dangerous to handle. One of the demonstrators actually stuck his whole hand in a large vessel of mercury. I heard a woman it was a doctor of something say that you could probably even drink some mercury and it wouldn’t kill you. I thought she was a little bit responsible for even mentioning that. But they say that if you heat mercury, the fumes will kill you. So I gave up on that possibility of heating the mercury to get the water out of it. But the thing that really was interesting about mercury is, what it does to aluminum… these Crystal Lake forms start growing make a science fiction movie, and they keep growing whenever mercury and aluminum meet.. that made me remember. The guys that I have seen suck all the mercury out of their gauges accidentally into their engines. I wonder whatever happened inside those engines
@@Jodyrides I bought the MotionPro manometers first off ebay and they had bubbles in the fluid. I called the manufacturer and was told I needed to buy a refill kit. I sold them really cheap to someone on the forum. Then I bought the 4 gauge set that I am pleased with.
Video starts @ 7:03
Thanks for the information, going out to do mine now!
Cheers!
Lol i just started it now just waiting for my new shims in the mail... good luck
Great video Jody!
Great video. Thanks
Informative video. I just picked up a 2008 RSV with 34k miles I wanna do a valve adjustment, I found a cool guide online, but no videos... Do you happen to know where there are any videos For it online? and not in scandinavian...
thanks. I have seen several videos, showing how to adjust the valves on these ventures, the same process I am sure is the same for the Vmax, and every motorcycle Yamaha makes with this particular engine.
One thing I can tell you is, these valve shims are the same standard size for the 70s Kawasaki, 903 and 1000 KZ and some other engines.. i’m pretty sure they also fit suzuki engines, not all of them, just some of them, at least I think they do..
another thing you want to keep in mind if you do your own valve adjustment which is not really that tough. make sure you have a large sheet of paper and draw a sketch of the exhaust and intake valve locations on that paper. Mark which way is facing forward on the engine, and, record the size of the clearance for each valve…
you don’t need to pull the shims out with a magnet, but if you do, record the numbers off of the shim, and always always put the shims back in with the numbers, facing down away from the camshaft. Because, if you have the numbers facing up that are etched on the shims, they will get worn off by the cam and you won’t know what size that shim is without measuring it with a micrometer.
another reason to do that recording of the shim numbers and the clearances is, you may be able to juggle, shims, move them around from one valve to the other to get two separate valves within specifications. You may have a shim that is a little too large on one valve, and you may have another valve that the shim is too small, and you may be able to switch them to put both of them in the correct clearance..
another thing to remember is, if you do end up changing shims, you will have to re-synchronize your carbs. That changes when the valves open, and how long they stay open so that changes the carburetion sinc..
so, if your Yamaha dealer doesn’t have the shim you require, you can get shims at a Kawasaki dealer and maybe even a Suzuki dealer. The guys to talk to there would be the mechanics. Because they will have lots of shims somewhere in their toolbox like I do .. I have a random selection of shims from my days as a mechanic at a Kawasaki shop, and I had a 1973 Kawasaki, Z 1/903, and my first venture was a 1986 it took the same shims, as did my 2002 royal star, Yamaha venture, and my current Yamaha 2008 royal star venture..
The reason you need to check your valves to make sure they have enough clearance is, the only way your valve can cool, especially the exhaust valves, is by staying closed for a millisecond and transferring it heat to the valve seat when it closes.. it’s not as critical on the intake valves, because they get cooled on every intake, stroke with Incoming gasoline, that is relatively cool, but those exhaust valves, they never get coolant from incoming gas..
while you have the fuel tank off, and the intake, Plenum, put in a new set of spark plugs, because you have to pull the plugs to rotate the engine to bring each camshaft up to TDC to check the clearance when they are completely closed.
Don’t buy your NGK spark plugs on eBay. There have been a lot of fake counterfeit, NGK, spark plugs stories coming out on the Internet about people that bought the spark plugs on eBay because they were a little cheaper, and they ended up coming apart and destroying The engine..
if your motorcycle dealer is not close, I have been buying my NGK spark plugs at advance auto parts stores. They are an NGK dealer, and they will have them for you later in the day if you catch them early in the morning, or they will have them the next day, seven days a week, and they’re usually open till 8 PM.
One way to see if you have a Kounterfeit NGK, spark plug is..
if the ceiling washer on the spark, plug comes off easy, it’s fake
why are you have everything apart, make sure you have a tube of dielectric silicone grease you can get at an auto parts store or Lowe’s or Home Depot. Completely coat each sparkplug wire from the coil all the way down to the spark plug cap, and I use a Q-tip to put a little bit of that dielectric grease inside the spark plug cap where it touches the spark plug insulator.. The spark plug wires are in a very hot, hostile environment, right at the top of the engine, and they get baked, and they end up drying out and starting to crack. When you have cracks in a spark, plug wire, they develop what is known as voltage leak. Those are the kind of spark plug wires that if you touch the wire, while the engine is running, you will get wrapped with 10,000 to 30,000 Volts.. it is a weird sensation, and it gets your attention at the speed of light.
before you pull your spark plugs, and before you pull your valve covers, make sure you blow the whole entire area off above the valve covers and around the spark plugs so you don’t get dirt inside your engine just by bumping wires above the top of the engine and spark, plug holes..
don’t use any spark plugs, except for standard normal nothing fancy NGK spark plugs. You can buy the most expensive spark plugs on the market, but they’re not going to give you higher voltage, spark, only a new set of ignition coils can give you more spark voltage…
I have never had to buy a new valve cover gasket when I do the valves on my Venture’s because they are more or less like a nitro. Oring type material…
actually, checking the valve clearance is the easiest part of the job. You just have to pull the spark plugs so you’re not fighting engine compression, and you turn the engine over with the correct socket on the end of the crankshaft. I never check the timing marks on the end of the crankshaft to see if I am at top dead center. I guess technically I should, but I just turn the engine over until the cam lobes are aimed straight up away from the valve shims..
before you even start that job, go on eBay and buy yourself the tool for keeping the lifters down so you can extract the valve with a magnet using a tiny ice pack type pic to lift the shim up enough so that the magnet can pull it out. There are two styles of tools for holding down the edge of the lifter… One of them is shaped like a question mark, that one how old is down both valves at the same time, and the old style one holds down a single lifter at a time, and you need to clamp that to the edge of the head as you hold it against the lifter and tighten the clamp. I go for the one that is a simple curved handle about 5 inches long. You should be able to find that tool on eBay used for under 20 bucks..
I would also try to locate a source for a selection of valve shims before you start the job so you don’t have to wait and search for a shim for a week or two.
well, you have things apart, that would also be a good time to put in new paper, air filters, the stock ones, not those K and in filters. I have a video on TH-cam showing how much stuff gets through those. Sure they pass more air, they also let 10 times the amount of particulates get through at the same time…
good luck, it’s not that tough of a job. I checked my valves about 3000 miles ago, and they were all well within specifications, otherwise I would make a video showing the process.
good luck
how far are you from bradford?
147 miles