Everything about this bike is a massive production... I don't know if I will check the valves again. I may just ride the crap out of it until it self destructs then part it out and buy a Tenere or something else. If the bike was still in production I would probably have a different mindset.
Great stuff-----did you pull the cam chain tensioner to do this----------I don't think you mentioned that. I've always had to on other bikes. Was it a racheting mechanism----or just spring loaded ????????-----maybe oil pressure pumps it up ??????? Thanks Mark
You do need to pull the cam chain tensioner to do the job. It is spring loaded and easy access. BTW, to do my valves I just bought a shim kit from Wiseco for about $60. It has all the shims you will ever need for a single cylinder. Did anyone else have problems with fuel tank swelling? I had my Terra apart for about 2 weeks because of a shipping delay on my shims and had a hell of time getting all of the bodywork to fit properly again. It appears that having my tank in a position where it was not being compressed by the frame allowed it to expand and cause problems. All the gas here in CT is 10% ethanol and also caused the tanks on my KTM adventure to swell.
Gas in the US is almost exclusively ~5-15% ethenol, now. The breather tube on your tank didn't prevent swelling, or is the fuel tank breather a one-way valve to only allow air in as the tank empties? This seems unsafe to me - a breather should be two-way, which is why the Evaporative cannister is placed on the bike from the factory. I'm no expert, so correct me if I'm wrong. Either way, I may leave my gas cap off if my bike is pulled apart for a few days.
Is the service manual in pdf form somewhere? I thought mine was on the flash drive the dealer gives you but I misplaced mine in a move. I assume yo have to remove the cams in order to change the shims?
The USB only had a basic user manual. Look around in this forum, there is a link to a workshop manual.
Whats up Guys, Well "I loaded em up in da wheel barrow" and tore that sucker down to front end and frame n motor. Sure is a lot of screws.... got body parts lyin all over my "Old Guys Garage". Looks funny as hell there on the lift stripped to next to nothing....I had come up on 1000 miles and its about time for another oil change and past time for the "first" service....It is a daunting task....disassembly, and all those small screws are not ferrous metal either.... This thread was very helpful on several counts...specs, and such....I'm not intimidated by taking the bike apart or putting it back together, hell I grew up in auto body shops taking cars apart and putting them back right was second nature to me....As someone said this is a screwy design, but most sport bikes require lots of tear down to service them as well...Like they are made to ride not service... On a side note, I decided on side racks and a top rack for my Terra and got the BRR Moto side rack set, Berg mentioned to me they would probably cease business in 6 months.....so if you got his racks in mind best make a move. The look and description of the Nomadic Rack clicked with me and mine came by USPS this morning and its a very nice design and is set to be equipped to accept a Givi top box if desired. Now to get out to the garage and do some clearance measuring.... Rod
Loosen the exhaust everywhere but the cylinder. Pull the mufflers off. This gives enough flex for the subframe to tilt down. Remove the throttle body via the hose clamps Take the air filter out before the bike is on the lift Tilt the rear subframe down with the gas tank still in the subframe. Doing that it wasn't too bad to get the cover off the cylinder. Two of my valves are out of spec. I'm going to reshim today. I'll let everyone know how that task goes. Thanks to the pioneers of this thread for doing the hard work first so everyone else can take advantage of the learning curve.
As I said, two were out but I reshimmed all 4 to be the same at the tight end of the clearance spectrum. The cams will be out of adjustment by a tooth somewhere if you install them, then install the chain tensioner. So double check the cam position before and after installing the cam chain tensioner. I think titling the subframe with the tank still in is key. Enough room to work but not so much taking apart. I think if we all keep working together, we can take advantage of the learning curve and make this a better process.
I hit 6600 miles and just tore the bike down to check the valves. No change. Nada, zip, zilch. Nearly 6000 miles later and my measurements are, Intake between .006 and .007 inches. Exhaust between .016 and .017 inches.
I have Safari long-range tanks, less screws & bits to take off, GPR single can also makes life just a little easier - removing the throttle body, allows cleaning the idler unit - fortunately in Australia we don't need to remove the "canister" It appears that these motors are so good that valve clearances every 20,000klms will make life easier There are lots of BMW's virtually same motor with more than 100,000klms without problems Change the oil (full synthetic) & filter regularly is the secret
I just got the bike all back together. I did adjust the clearances to their upper spec. I may not check them again for quite some time. I'll see how I feel after a couple years.
I waited until 11,500 to have my valves checked, and they were in spec. My mechanic which is German born and loves BMW motorcycles and only works on them, told me that my bike(TR650) will have the same valve check intervals as a BMW GS650, every 36,000 miles. He said to have them checked again at 36,000 miles. By the way, he charged me $450.00 to check them.
1 did mine at 18,000klms, all four at upper end of clearance, therefore no valve seat regression & everything looked perfect - I can see no reason to inspect again till 40,000klms I do change the oil regularly, aiming for 10,000klms, however I always change the oil & clean the filter before a long ride, looking at the maintenance log, on average the oil does 7,000klm, I also have an aftermarket magnetic sump plug The oil cooler gives me an extra 200ml of oil - 2.20 litres in total I'd have preferred wet-sump with 4 litres of oil It's quite a task checking valve clearances, based on an hourly rate $450 would be reasonable
FWIW the G650GS does not have 36,000 mile valve check intervals. They call out for the same 6,000 mile intervals that our TR650's do. Now perhaps your mechanic himself recommends 36,000 miles based upon his experience, but that's not the BMW spec.
I'm just going off what my mechanic told me, he has worked on the BMW 650 singles since they first came out in 1997.
Thanks for the write up, it really helps create a picture of the activities that need to be performed to check and adjust the valves. I just reached the 10,000km / 6,000 mile maintenance interval and called up the official Husqvarna dealer where I got my bike from. When I asked how much he charged to perform the whole 10k maintenance procedure I almost got a heart attack. He quoted me 600 euro's (685USD) on labor alone! Now I am contacting other Husqvarna dealers here in the Netherlands to see how much each of them charge. If those quotes are similar then I'll just perform the valve check myself and disregard the one year of factory warranty I still have on my bike. That does save me 600 euro's directly :P.
I think about 6 hours labour charge is normal for the TR650 valve check. I believe that many riders are skipping the scheduled valve checks if the bike is running ok and not exhibiting any symptoms that the valves may need adjustment (hard starting etc). I had the valve check done on my TR650 at the 10k service, and they were all within tolerances. I skipped the check at the 20k service and soon the 30k service will be due but I will hold off until the 40k service for the next check.
I had the cases split at about 25,000km to deal with a gear box incident. Valve clearances checked on rebuild. All were ok.
Guys, I did mine the hard way, to get to the valves without any degree of difficulty, however one must all but dismantle the motorcycle.... Everything from the handle bars back, body work, gas tank, air box under seat tray and the wiring loom must be moved and should be supported out of the way...Not to mention exhaust cans and loosening the manifold....well I did that to get some wiggle room.... For what took about 15 minutes a days worth of work...So the high labor charges are probably in line with the amount of work to be done.. Thankfully the next service is like 12k kilometers out , I did my first service at about 1500 hard run miles....I did do several oil changes and just recently received a new air filter from E bay.... hopefully the fix for stumbling will come soon as April I got to go to a nice rally up in Tenn the bike ran well enough but was hard to idle and would stumble and chuff quite a bit prior to getting warmed up good....Good luck to all on the update Rod
