It's Easy To Forget..

[Amber Lamps]

I was just reading my service manual to decide if I want to do my own valve clearance adjustment or have the stealership do it. It's amazing when you actually look at it and realize how much maintenance you're supposed to do to these bikes. Bleeding the air from the cooling system,clutch adjustments, cable lube and adj,etc. I'm sure that 90% of bikes don't get 20% of this stuff done! BTW if anyone can tell me how,I'll send you a copy of the manual. I have it on my computer and on cd. I know from owning an '01 and an '03 GSXR that they aren't very different and you wouldn't be able to use all of the torque figures but some of the info should be helpful.

[Dnyce]

do it yourself unless its free or you dont know what you're doing.

if you dont know what you're doing-tell em you're gonna watch em when they do it. that way u can do it next time

[Mr Lefty]

Originally Posted by Dnyce

do it yourself unless its free or you dont know what you're doing.

if you dont know what you're doing-tell em you're gonna watch em when they do it. that way u can do it next time

true... but in some cases you dont' have anywhere to do it... like say an apartment that doesn't allow working on vehicles... my place in california fined me $50 for change'n the oil in their parking lot. yeah I moved a week later

[Dnyce]

always get a place on the 1st floor-roll the bike in the apt, closer to the beer lol


good point tho...ive torn down a car engine in my apt parking garage, never had a prob, but i did a brake job on my friends bike at his apt-manager bitched like crazy. wasnt making noise, hadnt spilled any fluid yet, wasnt even a ritzy upscale place, and we werent visible, we were in the back, around a corner, in his designated parking spot. wtf?

also make sure you got the right tools 4the job-a ten min check up turns into 2hrs of rage simply because you dont have the right tool and you're tryin to rig something.

[Gas Man]

Here's my POV on doing things yourself and I'm a person of always doing it myself on my bike.

1. nobody cares for your bike more than you
2. why pay somebody else to fuck up your bike when you can do it for free
3. a service manual, some mechanical skill, some tools, and time is all you need

[Amber Lamps]

Originally Posted by Gas Man

Here's my POV on doing things yourself and I'm a person of always doing it myself on my bike.

1. nobody cares for your bike more than you
2. why pay somebody else to fuck up your bike when you can do it for free
3. a service manual, some mechanical skill, some tools, and time is all you need

I totally agree! My only misgiving is not having a proper place to do this kind of work and yea,I wish I would have gone first floor. Everyone else who owns a bike here keeps it in the house!!! Not to mention running the puppy up and down the stairs 7-10 times a day!

All I need is the feeler gage and a set of shims and I'm sure I could do it. I'll call and order the parts today! I'll need the o-rings,seals,shims,etc. Ofcourse that's the other "fear" that I'll miss something that the stealership normally does. Kinda like the guy who changes his own oil on his car but never lubes the chassis or checks the other fluids.

[azoomm]

Originally Posted by Gas Man

Here's my POV on doing things yourself and I'm a person of always doing it myself on my bike.

1. nobody cares for your bike more than you
2. why pay somebody else to fuck up your bike when you can do it for free
3. a service manual, some mechanical skill, some tools, and time is all you need

Fuck-an-aye

The only thing I haven't done on mine are valves and belts, they freak me out. I just ordered the DVD to walk me through these desmo scary valves.

I keep a check list in the garage for each of the bikes - what maintenance, when... that way I know what was done and when, and what should be done and when.

I would encourage anyone that has collected tools over the years to take an inventory from time to time. A friend of mine had their garage broken into and got cleaned out... it was only then, when they needed to replace things, they realized how expensive tools are.

[ceo012384]

This writeup isn't for your specific bike, but the method is exactly the same. It's a tricky job, but doable:

http://www.r6messagenet.com/forums/s...rget=%22_blank

And yes, personally, I'm with you and GM. I'll figure it out myself, and if I really get stuck, ask a buddy. No way I'm paying a dealership.

[No Worries]

Checking the valve clearance is easy and fun. Changing the valve clearance is more involved since the camshaft(s) has to come out. My old Suzuki uses a shim on top of the bucket. A special tool levers the bucket down and the shim is replaced with a thinner or thicker shim. My old Honda uses an adjustment screw on the valve rocker. The camshafts stay in place.

Most newer bikes have the shim under the bucket, on top of the valve. All the clearances are checked and written down, the crank is rotated and done several more times until all valves are checked. If any are too tight or too loose, the crank is set to TDC, the camshaft sprockets are loosened and the cams slid out. The buckets of the loose or tight valves are taken off, the shim sizes are read, or if they are wiped off, the shims are miked, and new shims are inserted to get the correct clearance. The cams are slid back in, checked to make sure the exhaust and intake aren't switched, are in the correct time, and you're done. You definitely need the manual for this.

[Amber Lamps]

Originally Posted by No Worries

Checking the valve clearance is easy and fun. Changing the valve clearance is more involved since the camshaft(s) has to come out. My old Suzuki uses a shim on top of the bucket. A special tool levers the bucket down and the shim is replaced with a thinner or thicker shim. My old Honda uses an adjustment screw on the valve rocker. The camshafts stay in place.

Most newer bikes have the shim under the bucket, on top of the valve. All the clearances are checked and written down, the crank is rotated and done several more times until all valves are checked. If any are too tight or too loose, the crank is set to TDC, the camshaft sprockets are loosened and the cams slid out. The buckets of the loose or tight valves are taken off, the shim sizes are read, or if they are wiped off, the shims are miked, and new shims are inserted to get the correct clearance. The cams are slid back in, checked to make sure the exhaust and intake aren't switched, are in the correct time, and you're done. You definitely need the manual for this.

yep it's alittle daunting to say the least! You're exactly right,btw,about checking being easy. Now I'm trying NOT to chicken out and do the shim job myself. A few other factors making me think twice about doing it; stimilus check=free $$$, shop will do the job for $200-300, I suspect I have a bad/broken spring-if so extended warranty will pay for whole job. OOOO desisions,desisions!!! Oh well,it'll wait until after Memorial Day!