Arghh! Rocker Arms

[TurboOtter]

What a trial putting the pins back in these. Must be some trick I don't know, sure need alot of pressure to compress valve springs. Managed to get it done tho. Rejet the carb later today after lunch.

[rottenralph]

You should turn the engine so there is no pressure on the rockers and then it will be easier or let them bleed down first. Had the same problem myself till I turned the rear wheel far enough to make it easy.

[barry1967]

Uh, why did you take them out?

[TurboOtter]

to change the sh***y leaking factory gaskets for good ones. Had a leak pestering me all of last year

[barry1967]

Ok, I guess I didn't get your post.

Did you take the rocker shafts out of the lower rocker box and then try to put them back in after the box was on?

Or are you just talking the assembly as a whole was a bitch?

[TurboOtter]

just getting the pins back in.I don't know why i didn't think of turning whaeel thru as they are hydraulic lifters. Uh, just learnin as I go. All in all after doing it once, the next time will be a breeze. As I said ealier, I am doing the jets, and I just about S**T myself when I saw the invoice for the SE Hi Flow fliter kit. $172 CDN. Oh well gotta pay taxes:-(

[Turbota]

I am confused. With a leaky lower rocker box gasket, I would assume you would just remove the lower rocker box and change that lower gasket ... The rocker arms just stay in the rocker box since they are held in place by those large pins ... I just can't understand why the rocker arms need to be removed in the process?

[TurboOtter]

I guess I shouldn't have listened to mechanic, or more than lileky I missunderstood. Wouldn't be the first time. Well one thing about it, i got to clean the alumn. covers good anyway

[Turbota]

Glad it is working out for you .....

Tip #1: Get a Harley-Davidson Service Manual for the bike!

P.S. Glad to see another pilot here. :)

Retired Fed civil service UH-60 IP / fixed wing, rotary wing

[thunderpaw]

P.S. Glad to see another pilot here.

Been a while, but various puddlejumpers-just cause I always had wanted to. Had a '46 C-140 and an Acrosport I.

Kim

[Turbota]

C-140!

Jeeeze, last time I tried to land a taildragger, I damned near ground looped the thing. Scared the Bejesus out of me! :)

[thunderpaw]

Jeeeze, last time I tried to land a taildragger, I damned near ground looped the thing. Scared the Bejesus out of me!

The Acro was even more fun...totally blind to the front on final and it dropped like a stone when power was cut :D

Kim

[cantolina]

I forgot to mention in another thread that my Sporty cost me my ticket! lol

I have only several hours on a Cessna, but I was HOOKED!

Not as hooked as on my Sporty, but I will DEFINATELY go back to it.....

[TurboOtter]

You want to see fun with a taildragger,that otter in the photo with the Walter turbine in it. On wheels---- stand on the brakes--- 100% torque----- tail raises up roll 10 feet and you are airborne. 72 knots and you go up at 2000 fpm. Pretty good for a an old working girl 37 years old. BTW the otter in the post is the last one of the line May 13 1967

[DannyZ]

:tour
Hi!

I'm installing a chrome cover set on my wife's 2003 Hugger.
I've got the gears and gear cover in place but when I wnated to fit the rocker covers they seem to be "bouncing" on the valves and pushrods. They do this on both cylinders and turning the engine with the rear wheel doesn't make a lot of difference. Maybe this is because the tappets are still filled with oil? What do I need to do here, or can I just tighten the cover bolts and force the lot into place?

Thanks,
Danny

[Turbota]

Like I posted in the other thread that you asked this question in:

Just removing the 2 upper rockers covers could not have had any effect on the pushrods, rocker arms, lifters (tappets) or anything else. Hey, you just remove the 4 bolts holding each upper cover on, and pull the cover off.

There is no way just removing those upper rocker covers changed anything else. It would be no different than taking the valve covers off of a small block chevy .... Nothing underneath the valve covers is effected at all.

If the top of the rocker arms were not banging against the bottom of the rocker cover before you removed the cover ... they sure are not going to hit it after you put the cover back on.

[raysheen]

I forgot to mention in another thread that my Sporty cost me my ticket! lol

I have only several hours on a Cessna, but I was HOOKED!

Not as hooked as on my Sporty, but I will DEFINATELY go back to it.....
that would just about describe me too! I always tell the mystic tale of $28 per TACH hour wet for a C-152 in my college flying club...no one seems to believe me that price could be had as little as 4 years ago...oh well...the area that I'm in now costs $144/hobbs hour so I'll be on my sportster for a few more years! :)

[TurboOtter]

Turbota: I had to change the lower gasket, on the cylinders to fix an oil leak, and replace factory paper gasket with a metal one. On the rear cylinder there was no way I could see to remove lower cover without removing rockers. There are 3 bolts and 2 hex head screws holding iton and the rear bolt was impossible for me to remove otherwise. Now the front cylinder lower rocker cover could be removed as a peice, but there is still pressure on the tappets. There is probally another way to do it, but I am learning as I go. I have auseless Haynes manual, so I am going to invest in a HD shop manual and parts book
asap. I like to do things myself and the only way to learn is to do it. Plus the fact that the nearest HD mech is 4 hours away.

[m0trh3d]

The best way that I have found to install the rockers is to install them off the engine then instal the entire assembly on the engineand then tighten the three 7/16 bolts down in increments untill it bleeds the tappets down and then torque them to specified torque

[barry1967]

The best way that I have found to install the rockers is to install them off the engine then instal the entire assembly on the engineand then tighten the three 7/16 bolts down in increments untill it bleeds the tappets down and then torque them to specified torque

Using the 3 7/16 bolts to draw down the base probably isn't a good idea. They are small bolts and it would suck to break one.

As far as the rear base, it can be removed without pulling the rocker arms. It takes some finagling to get them in and out but putting the shafts in after is a PITA.

Either way you got it done. Congrats.

[m0trh3d]

quote:
Using the 3 7/16 bolts to draw down the base probably isn't a good idea. They are small bolts and it would suck to break one.

It would suck that is for sure.. But I have doneit on numerous occations..

But everyone has there way of doing things....

[barry1967]

Wasn't a bash, just a suggestion.