Do you do your own service?

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Originally Posted by Falko

I do most of my own wrenching on all my vehicles. By the time I get a ride to the repair shop and drop it off then go pick it up, I can have the work done. I was talking to a guy about that the other day when he mentioned repair shops having lower labor prices when compared to cars. I told him it was probably due to people being able to do their own work as bikes are easy. If the rates were really high, no one would take them in. Well, except BMW guys...

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The repair shop in my town is less than a quarter mile from my house. If the labor rates were lower, I doubt either of us would do any work on either of our cars. We used to live next door to a Subaru mechanic (Clayton actually went there this winter). His rates were low enough that Rob had him do a lot for us, mostly to save time.

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Originally Posted by RandyO

some of us don't use bikes as toys but use them as DDS instead

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And some of us work on our own bikes that are DDS's. The key, Randy, is to 1, enjoy working on them, and 2, have 3 spare bikes ready to ride if you break the first :D

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Originally Posted by mzdagrl

The repair shop in my town is less than a quarter mile from my house. If the labor rates were lower, I doubt either of us would do any work on either of our cars. We used to live next door to a Subaru mechanic (Clayton actually went there this winter). His rates were low enough that Rob had him do a lot for us, mostly to save time.

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Yeah, still haven't heard from him. And the Subaru is still using coolant.

I do all my service ,except for tires. I drop the rims and get the new tires.

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Originally Posted by TheIglu

Yeah, still haven't heard from him. And the Subaru is still using coolant.

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hmm, didn't know you were trying to get in touch. i'll prod him a bit via the faceyspaces.

I bring my vehicles to the shop to extract the remainder of the bolts that I sheared off in the frame. That's the only thing I'm not very good at.

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Originally Posted by TheIglu

And some of us work on our own bikes that are DDS's. The key, Randy, is to 1, enjoy working on them, and 2, have 3 spare bikes ready to ride if you break the first :D

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Yeah, still haven't heard from him. And the Subaru is still using coolant.

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Key 1 is my biggest issue!

I work on my own stuff and I do all my own stunts.

KB

I do the same as Trouble, suspension and big motor work I would send out but would have no issue with dropping the engine out of the bike to get it to the shop. I find that part to be surprisingly easy.

As for vavle adjustments I stripped my bike down to the engine but I paid Degsy to do the actual valve adjustment as I wanted it done right. I think I could do the next one by myself if I wanted to but I will most likely hire him again to do the actual measurements and re-buttoning up the engine. I think putting the cam shafts back in and getting them correct on the chain was the most difficult part of the whole process.

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Originally Posted by Trouble

I send out the suspension and big motor work. Checking the valves are as far as I go into the motor. I do pretty much everything else. The motor's out of the race bike now so I thought I'd take the time to do a thorough cleaning and tidy up the wiring.

http://i493.photobucket.com/albums/r...ps8989ecdc.jpg

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Originally Posted by scubasteveRR

I think putting the cam shafts back in and getting them correct on the chain was the most difficult part of the whole process.

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You can make that go much easier with a sharpie. I never bother with the factory marks, I just mark the chain, cams and crank as I find them, remove the cams for shim swaps, and put it all back the same way I found it.

yes, because I am a cheap son'ofabitch

While I am not good at many things, I am half-decent at turning a wrench sometimes.

That and I ride an Bandit for chrissakes. It's not like a Ducati where ya have to worry about shorting out the Continuum Transfuntionor.

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Originally Posted by Trouble

I send out the suspension and big motor work. Checking the valves are as far as I go into the motor. I do pretty much everything else. The motor's out of the race bike now so I thought I'd take the time to do a thorough cleaning and tidy up the wiring.

http://i493.photobucket.com/albums/r...ps8989ecdc.jpg

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Looks tidy. LOL

Man, I am jealous of that workshop...

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Originally Posted by nhbubba

Man, I am jealous of that workshop...

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wish mine had more light, brighter walls and it was cleaner...

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Originally Posted by Paul_E_D

Looks tidy. LOL

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It got worse before it got better...

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Originally Posted by nhbubba

Man, I am jealous of that workshop...

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You're welcome to use it any time you want. Too bad you don't live closer. I enjoy sharing it with others.

I know Deg's was mentioning something about white out and forgetting to use it. I assume this was for marking them.

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Originally Posted by stoinkythepig

You can make that go much easier with a sharpie. I never bother with the factory marks, I just mark the chain, cams and crank as I find them, remove the cams for shim swaps, and put it all back the same way I found it.

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Wirelessly posted

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Originally Posted by scubasteveRR

I know Deg's was mentioning something about white out and forgetting to use it. I assume this was for marking them.

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Originally Posted by stoinkythepig

You can make that go much easier with a sharpie. I never bother with the factory marks, I just mark the chain, cams and crank as I find them, remove the cams for shim swaps, and put it all back the same way I found it.

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I mark the cam sprockets with white out so i know i have the correct number of links between cam sprockets.

It is important to have the cams lines up in the correct spot when you take them out and reinstall them because if you just mark everything and dont worry about where the crank is in its cycle, the cam lobes and springs can cause the cam towers to crack or bend when you loosen them off.

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Originally Posted by Degsy

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I mark the cam sprockets with white out so i know i have the correct number of links between cam sprockets.

It is important to have the cams lines up in the correct spot when you take them out and reinstall them because if you just mark everything and dont worry about where the crank is in its cycle, the cam lobes and springs can cause the cam towers to crack or bend when you loosen them off.

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As long as the chain has not moved on the crank, and the the crank has not moved enough to make the chain markings at the cams move out of sight, the crank position becomes irrelevant. You just need to make sure the cam teeth align with the same teeth on the chain as before. On some bikes, this means marking both cam sprockets, the crank sprocket, and the chain in three places. On my bike, the cam chain cannot slip on the crank sprocket without splitting the engine cases, even if the chain is completely loose, so I only need to mark the chain in two places, and both cams.

I think he's saying to rotate the engine such that all of the valves are closed (TDC). This way there is little or no pressure on the cams.

I think..

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Originally Posted by stoinkythepig

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Originally Posted by Degsy

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I mark the cam sprockets with white out so i know i have the correct number of links between cam sprockets.

It is important to have the cams lines up in the correct spot when you take them out and reinstall them because if you just mark everything and dont worry about where the crank is in its cycle, the cam lobes and springs can cause the cam towers to crack or bend when you loosen them off.

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As long as the chain has not moved on the crank, and the the crank has not moved enough to make the chain markings at the cams move out of sight, the crank position becomes irrelevant. You just need to make sure the cam teeth align with the same teeth on the chain as before. On some bikes, this means marking both cam sprockets, the crank sprocket, and the chain in three places. On my bike, the cam chain cannot slip on the crank sprocket without splitting the engine cases, even if the chain is completely loose, so I only need to mark the chain in two places, and both cams.

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Youre absolutely correct and that is a perfectly good way to do it. I didnt mean to say that isnt right. Sorry for miscommuniation.

What i meant was that the manuals give you a loosening/tightening order for the cam tower bolts. That is based usually on a particular cylinder being at TDC on a compression stroke. This is because of where the cam lobes end up. Some will be compressing the valve springs and if you loosen those bolts first, the cam tower will have lateral force applied to it from the valve spring and that risks a cam tower crack. Does that make sense? Did i explain it right?

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Originally Posted by Degsy

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Youre absolutely correct and that is a perfectly good way to do it. I didnt mean to say that isnt right. Sorry for miscommuniation.

What i meant was that the manuals give you a loosening/tightening order for the cam tower bolts. That is based usually on a particular cylinder being at TDC on a compression stroke. This is because of where the cam lobes end up. Some will be compressing the valve springs and if you loosen those bolts first, the cam tower will have lateral force applied to it from the valve spring and that risks a cam tower crack. Does that make sense? Did i explain it right?

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I get it now, yeah that makes perfect sense. I am very careful about cam bolts and only use the torque sequence provided by the service manual after the bolts are all snugged down. What I do is a learned skill and perhaps best left to people that have done this sort of stuff over and over.

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Originally Posted by nhbubba

I think he's saying to rotate the engine such that all of the valves are closed (TDC). This way there is little or no pressure on the cams.

I think..

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That's not possible on an IL4 with a flat crank. Might be an option on a cross plane R1, not sure.

Wirelessly posted

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Originally Posted by stoinkythepig

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Originally Posted by nhbubba

I think he's saying to rotate the engine such that all of the valves are closed (TDC). This way there is little or no pressure on the cams.

I think..

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That's not possible on an IL4 with a flat crank. Might be an option on a cross plane R1, not sure.

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Yep. Not possible on an I4. You have to use the factory marks combined with the loosening order UNLESS you know what youre doing and have done it a bunch. Then you can do it the stoinky way and it works perfectly.

Hmm.. I guess that makes sense. I never touched the cams in the one I4 I had; it had old fashioned screw and lock nut adjusters.

Try to do most work myself, I take a pass on carb and heavy engine work. Although today I did send the ZZR out for a chain change,( I did the sprockets) since I didn't have a chain rivet tool and for the $44 they charged me to do it was worth it.