DR600 valve clearance

[azr]

86' DR600. Ok, I'm frustrated. Went to do what I thought would be a simple job on the DR and I'm stumped now and need some clarification/help. I have a shop manual so it should be simple but I'm not used to these single 4 strokes yet. Valve clearance, get the piston to TDC compression stroke. Manual states to rotate the crank until the line marked T is in the middle of an inspection window, as well I am checking to make sure the intake valve opens as the piston goes down then as it comes back up it will be at TDC compression stroke. Both rocker arms at this point have some slack in them. All this tells me I am at TDC compression stroke. The adjust the clearances with a a feeler gauge. The first time I did this I started up the bike and hear ticking coming from the top so I figured I must have done something wrong. Went back in did it again and again did something wrong because the bike would not crank. Went in the 3rd time and made sure I was at TDC and adjusted everything, started the bike up and she's idling rough, stalls easily, etc..while I was setting things up I was worried I was on the loose side, so I opened her back up for the 4th time and when I go to measure everything they are all tight????? any thoughts on what I am doing wrong? If I back the adjuster all the way off so the rocker arm has play in it, am I supposed to adjust it in until the rocker arm has not play in it, and of course use my feller gauge to set it between the specs of 0.08-0.13mm. It shouldn't be this hard..... as always, appreciate the help to keep my sanity.

[Steve]

Almost makes you wish it had shims, doesn't it?

With threaded adjusters, I would loosen them, put the feeler in that you want, then snug up the adjusters and lock them into place.

Is it a 4-valve setup? Maybe you should use TWO feelers and do both intake (or exhaust) valves at the same time, like on the GSes.

.

[azr]

Yes it is a 4 valve setup. Good idea of two feelers, and I'll loosen them right off and then tighten them up to the feelers. I 'almost' wish it had shims...almost. Like I said this is pretty simple, so I thought, it really shouldn't be giving me this much grief.

[Steve]

The thought behind the "two feelers" method on the GS is that there is only once contact on rocker to cam, and the valves are offset a bit from the centerline. If things have worn a bit, the rocker would be able to twist a bit. Wasn't sure if your DR had the same setup. If each valve has its own rocker and cam lobe, it won't make any difference.

.

[azr]

ya the DR has one rocker for two valves.

[GregT]

Those things are usually easy...You have pulled the spark plug ? If you haven't it won't want to stay at TDC.
The other question is feeler gauges - you are looking at metric gauges right ? If you're setting it to .008 - .013in it is going to rattle a bit...

If when set correctly you grab the rocker at the valve ends - finger and thumb, spread hand - and try and twist it, that will show up any wear on the rocker shaft bearing. I've seen several DR's with worn shafts.

[azr]

no, no...using the correct gauge setting, haven't made that mistake for a number of years now, ha,ha.. Thanks for the tip on the rocker shaft bearing, I'm going to go back at it tomorrow morning so I'll check then. Sure appreciate everyone's help as always.

[tkent02]

If when set correctly you grab the rocker at the valve ends - finger and thumb, spread hand - and try and twist it, that will show up any wear on the rocker shaft bearing. I've seen several DR's with worn shafts.

The shaft wears? I would have thought the rocker would wear more.

[GregT]

The shaft wears? I would have thought the rocker would wear more.

So would i but the rocker appears to be harder than the shaft....

[8ball]

The shaft wears? I would have thought the rocker would wear more.

So would i but the rocker appears to be harder than the shaft....

Considering the shafts cost about $15 each, and the rocker assemblies are $50 each, that makes perfect sense....

[azr]

Well I redid the valves using 2 feelers at a time, much better method. Bike was hard as heck to start but aI did finally get it going but it is backfiring a bit and when it does she stalls. The bike's new to me so I decided to tear the carb apart and dip it overnight, new o-ring for the intake. Etc..etc... found the airfilter was over oiled etc... and of course two of the exhaust bolts broke but I've got lots of thread sticking out so I'll have a local weld shop weld a nut on the end, should be an easy fix I hope. This work will make feel more confident with the bike anyways.