| Author | Message | ||
     Valhalha30 |
I'm trying to get as much information about the Rocker Box gasket repair as possible.... but I'm just getting more confused and feeling hopeless. I don't have any manuals, and while that probably would help me the most, I rather go to you guys first. Let's pretend I'm a complete dunce, and spell out everything I need and need to know. I'll tell you what I'm struggling with: -I NEED to know all the parts I'll need, gaskets, gromets, bolts, whatever. Every single one. Including tools. -I NEED to know what TOP DEAD CENTER means. Don't give me a warning about finding it, just tell me what it is so I know what it is and where to find it. (pictures may help if any of you have any) -I would like to know the most direct and easy way to get to the Rocker box without tearing my whole bike apart. -I certainly would appreciate ANY and ALL tips and tricks for making this process as easy as possible. I know this is quite demanding of me, but this process is quite demanding for me. I need as much help as humanly possible for me to get this right... so I'm begging you all, please please help me out. | ||
| Swampy |
OK, Relax...take a deep breath.... Find a service manual, ask EZblast he can help you out. The process is simple, go to a H-D(spit) dealer and tell them you need a rocker box gasket set for a 2004 Sportster, jsut for one cylinder(it doesn't matter the front and the back are the same) it should cost about $40. Remove the fuel tank and clean the top of the engine. Remove the 4 small rocker cover screws and remove the cover, remove the screws one turn at a time in a criss cross pattern. When you have the cover off you will be able to see the rocker arms and pushrods, 4 large bolts going through the rocker arm pivots, two small allen head bolts and 3 hex head bolts. Find TDC by doing the following: Remove the spark plug Put the bike in 4th gear and push it forward watching the rocker arms and what they do, you will see them go up and down, watch for the front valve(exhaust) to go back up and the rear valve(intake)to go down. When you get to the point that the intake valve goes down and then back up again continue to roll the pike forward until you see the exhaust valve just start to move down...Stop now roll the bike backwards a little bit until the exhaust valve goes back up to the top again. Remember the exhaust valve is the front valve and the intake valve is the rear valve. The valves are what the rocker arms act on they are the round discs with the springs under them. Yo umay have to do this a couple of times if you don't have a complete understanding but as you watch it you will be able to understand the following: As the engine rotates the piston goes up and down in the cylinder, the valves let air in and air out. As the piston goes down on the intake stroke the intake valve opens to let air/fuel in, as the engine continues to rotate the piston comes up to TDC (Top Dead Center)which is the compression stroke, as the engine continues to rotate the piston goes back down which is called the power stroke and then as the engine continues to rotate the piston goes back up and the exhaust valve opens in what is called the exhaust stroke only to repeat the 4 cycles. So once TDC is found the pressure is off of the valves and it will be easier to take the rocker box off(the bolts and rocker arms under the rocker cover. First remove the 2 allen head screws, then remove the 3 smaller hex head screws. remove thes 5 screws one turn at a time in a criss cross pattern. The next thing you need to do is to remove the 4 larger bolts holding the rocker arms and box inplace. They must be removed one half turn at a time using a criss cross pattern until the tension is removed. Once they are loose you can remove them all the way and you will need to remove the push rods. There are two, one for the intake and one for the exhaust. Wiggle them out from under the rocker arm and set them aside, but REMEMBER...the exhaust pushrod(the one that goes to the front) is longer then the intake! Don't mess that up! Once the pushrods are removed you will have the clearance needed to remove the rocker box. Remove all of the gaskets and discard. Clean all of the mating surfaces and remove and discard the 4 paper gaskets under the screw heads that held the rocker cover on(the first 4 screws removed)Install the new gaskets making sure that the rockerbox gasket is installed the correct way, you can tell because you will see one side of the gasket is marked "Front" the other side is marked "Rear" You want the "Front" up. Set the rocker box gasket on the cylinder head, set the rocker box on the gasket, wiggle the pushrods into place, then begine to tighten the rocker box bolts down slowly in a criss cross pattern. Continue to tighten until the correct torque is achieved(Help me here somebody, I don't have the numbers memorized) After the rocker bolts are tightened install the 3 hex head bolts and tighten them in increments to the correct torque using a criss cross pattern. Install the two small allen head bolts and tighten them to the correct torque. Install the rocker cover gaskets, the inside and outside, and install the 4 new gaskets/metal washers on the rocker cover bolts. Leave the original metal flat washers in place just slip the new washer/gasket on the bolt. Tighten those 4 bolts using a criss cross pattern to the correct torque incrementaly. Install your spark plug and run!~ The engine may knock or rattle for a little while due to the cam followers draining down, but eventually it will stop and everything will be hunky! Also, before you do ANYTHING make sure you identify where exactly the oil is coming from, that may mean removing the fuel tank, cleaning the engine, replacing the fuel tank and running until the leak is discovered. I don't want you to replace the rocker cover and find out that the crank case breather was leaking!...which I forgot to mention...this would be a great time to retoute the crank case breather hose to discharge to someplace other than the air box. Remove the air box drain plug and locate the TEE that connects the hose between the rocker box cover, the air box and the drain tube. Remove all three hoses from the TEE and plug the short piece of hose that runs into the air box with the plug you removed from the air box drain tube. Go to the local auto parts store and find a splice to replace the TEE(going from three hoses to two hoses) and connect the two hoses toghether. Now the crank case vent should run from the rocker box straight down to the end of the hose with not kinks or plugs! Your engine will thank you. Good luck Let us know how you do. | ||
| 50w |
I know it's been said to get a service manual, they are cheap, I just bought a service manual and a parts manual from ebay, both delivered to my door for under $30. Money well spent. | ||
| Roblast |
Thanks Swampy! Although I'm not the original poster, I think this is a great explanation & I plan to make use of it. I've been having oil leaking from 1 of 3 places, and I'm having real trouble tracking it down. I've cleaned the engine & still can't figure it out. Any help is appreciated. Here's what I know: The oil is on the front "fins" and I see it dripping off the bolt that secures the "do not remove" bracket to the engine. Could oil leak from this bolt? I've replaced the PCV(?) breather thing on the top of the engine, as the old one didn't fit very tightly. It still leaks. The Blast is a 2008, so it doesn't have the paper rocker box gasket, but that could still be an issue - correct? I can't seem to isolate the #$%@&^% leak & it's making me crazy! How do I figure this out???!!! | ||
| Swampy |
Roblast, There is a grommet that holds the breather elbow into the rocker cover. They wear out. The rocker cover has an "inside" oring that can leak or the leak can be from the inside of the rocker box gasket, clean inside the hole in the center of the rocker cover then ride and recheck. Check that grommet out, if the elbow is loose replace the grommet! The grommet is cheap and plentiful! 2008? I had to replace the gaskets on the 2008 Ulysses, so no doubt, some day or another EVENTUALLY YOU ARE GOING TO HAVE TO REPLACE THE ROCKER BOX GASKETS! LOL!...except on my old Sportster, that was hermetically sealed! | ||
| Valhalha30 |
Thanks, Swampy. I think that my gasket is good and now i think that it's the breather. I wrote to you a bit ago about it being loose and leaking. How exactly do i fix this? you mentioned a grommet? | ||
| Roblast |
Yes, Valhalha30 - the PCV pushes into a gasket in the rocker box cover. Buell part # 17606-00YA - but there should be a corresponding H-D one… Piece of cake to change if you pull off / move the tank. Then it's just lift PCV, pull out grommet, put in new one, replace PVC, replace tank : good to go Swampy - When I replaced the PCV, I also replaced the grommet. Is the "inside o-ring you're referring to the part the manual calls the inside gasket? I assume so. When you say to clean inside the center hole in the rocker box cover - is that with the cover on or off? Seems like if I have to pull the cover, I might as well just replace the rocker box gasket. Yeah I know, nothing is forever… except my lack of time for such tasks.  | ||
| Swampy |
The inside gasket/oring I was referring to is the rocker cover gasket. There are two gaskets for the rocker cover the inside one and the outside one. The rocker box gasket goes between the cylinder head and the rocker box. | ||
| Roblast |
Sorry : Service Manual - Section 3 page 34 Part 14 or part 17? Also clean w/ Rocker cover (part 5) on or off? Seems like if I pull off the cover, I've gotta replace the gaskets, so cover on, I assume… | ||
| Valhalha30 |
Thank you, Roblast & thank you Swampy. Heading to the dealer to pic up a new breather and grommet today. Mine is sloppy loose. Hope this is the simple fix that I need. | ||
| Swampy |
Valhalha30, did you get the email I sent you? | ||
| Ezblast |
Nice job guys! EZ | ||
| Valhalha30 |
Well, I got the parts ordered a few days ago from an HD dealership.... after one dealership rejected the order 3 hours after I ordered the parts, which still annoys me. The PCV turret valve (the 90 degree elbow thing connecting PCV breather hose to the Rocker box) and grommet for it are supposed to be delievered to my front door on friday. hopefully. @ Swampy, no, I did not. The email account of mine is acting really weird lately, I'm sorry, I know it's an inconvieniance. I appologize again, but if it's easier for you, you can just post what you wrote on here, because that'd be easiest for me. | ||
| Swampy |
Um...I...uh...am not allowed to post it on here... | ||
| Valhalha30 |
Oh. Really? lol. | ||
| Ezblast |
Really - lol - so we pm EZ | ||
| Valhalha30 |
....Oh...... So, I got the parts yesterday. I'm either going to do the replacement today or tomorrow. Shouldn't be hard. How far down inside the rocker box does the turret valve have to be? My current one is loose and doesn't give me anything to gauge how far it needs to be down. | ||
| Valhalha30 |
Replaced it... Wish somebody could of warned me of the possibility (at least) of the old grommet becoming vulcanized and just crumbling instead of "popping out real easy" like I thought and was lead to believe. I got two crumbs both the size of toe nail clippings inside the head....I took a shop vac to it in hopes I could suck them out.... I couldn't see them inside the head or in the vac's pan, so idk if I got them out. I hope the valves destroy the grommet crumbs or my engine's heat, or my piston beats them up into oil.... wish I had a warning, so if anyone wants to do this repair/replacement, this is a warning. When pulling out the old grommet, be VERY CAREFUL and gentle as possible to avoid getting any chunks or crumbs inside the head. Oh, and here's the parts numbers too, cuz a person looking on doing the replacement will need them: Turret Valve, PCV - 17607-00Y (its the 90 degree elbow thing) Grommet, Viton, Black - 17606-00YA I'm not exactly mad, I'm just frustrated and stressed out now because I am not sure what kind of ill effect the POS grommet chunks will have on my motor. Won't know til I ride it I guess..... I don't even know if my fix was worth all this crap. I haven't ridden it since the repair and the oil change. I'm worried about riding it... I have a ticking time bomb now. (Message edited by valhalha30 on May 10, 2013) | ||
| Blueblast |
If I'm not mistaken, it is simply a matter of taking the top rocker box cover off with a few screws, then fishing out the garbage from where it landed. I wouldn't chance lunching my engine if one of those pieces of crumbled rubber happened to block an oil passage... | ||
| Ezblast |
Use a keyboard vacuum and suck it out - EZ |
