Thats what im talking about buy a service manual save your money for tires or something.


<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: Wayne36

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: Dans 07400ex



mine is a local shop 1 hour charge 65 bucks sounds like dealers are diggin in your pockets.07 400ex</end quote></div>



Yep....and $136 for an oil/filter change. No thanks.

I would kick my own *** if I found myself paying these prices. Profit is not a dirty word but gouging comes to mind quickly.</end quote></div>

 

i dont have a honda put i whould take my bike to dealers. i seen how so meny of them will hire some young kids that almost dont know ****. at the place i get my work done at they chargered me 75 to adjust my valves on the raptor.

 

Is it necessary to adjust them after 20hrs. I think mine has 37hrs and i havent done it yet, i just havent had the time to get it done.

Is it something i need to get done ASAP or what?

 

My Foreman didn't need adjusting until it was up around 1000 miles. My Rincon was off a bit on the first check.

In either case, I'd do them at 20 hours and every 100 after that.

Getting the body work and tank off can be a pain, but once you've done a particular model once the next time will be much easier and faster.

A factory service manual is really worth having.

 

A value adjustment does not appear to be totally necessary, at least on the Rancher 350. Looking at the manual, the chart shows an "I" at 20, 100, and 200 hours for valve clearance. The I is for "inspect, clean, adjust, lubricate, or replace if necessary". There is an "A" for adjust but valve clearance has an I. There is I and A that was already mentioned in addition to C- Clean, L- Lubricate, and R- Replace. There is a star symbol by the valve clearance that state it "should be serviced by your Honda dealer unless you have the proper tools and service data and are mechically qualified". It kind of makes it confusing because it makes it sound like it should be taken in to just have it looked at and not necessarily be adjusted. So should dealers be just looking at it or should they go ahead and be adjust it since they are already looking at it.

 

Either way there going to charge per hour and then if it doesn't need adjusting they will bascially change the oil and charge 1.5 hours or however long it takes them to do it so if you have the money to take it to the dealer thats your choice but if you can check them your self thats what i would do i just learned my lesson from the dealer. Next time I will use a service manual next time the hardest and longest part of the service is removeing all the plastic pieces after that its just putting it back on.

 

It says "I" because if the valve spec is within spec, no adjustment would be needed.

Sometimes they will be out of spec and sometimes they won't, like my examples.

It really isn't that complicated or difficult. A factory service manual is a good investment, and having an experienced buddy there the first time is helpful.


On most Hondas essentially the process involves removing the tank cover, tank, and heat shield. Be sure to remove any dirt that could get in the motor, then take off the caps over the valves, and there will be a chrome allen plug on the side of the engine. Remove that, and the hole will serve as a little window to see the flywheel. Rotate the motor until a little T on the flywheel lines up with a mark in the window. This indicates the piston is at the top of it's stroke.

Check to see that there is play in both rocker arms. If there is, the engine is the proper position to check the valves. If not, the piston is top dead center between exhaust and compression stroke and the valves are slightly open in the overlap phase at that position, so the engine would need to be turned another turn until the T is back and there's slack in the rockers.

On some engines you may need a bent feeler gauge to get it straight into the gap, so you can accurately feel what's going on. Slight drag on the gauge as it moves through the gap would be what you are looking for, or you could try .001 thicker and make sure that doesn't go (easily). If you have to make an adjustment, double check the gap after torquing the lock nut to spec.

 

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: lzrj

A value adjustment does not appear to be totally necessary, at least on the Rancher 350. Looking at the manual, the chart shows an "I" at 20, 100, and 200 hours for valve clearance. The I is for "inspect, clean, adjust, lubricate, or replace if necessary". There is an "A" for adjust but valve clearance has an I. There is I and A that was already mentioned in addition to C- Clean, L- Lubricate, and R- Replace. There is a star symbol by the valve clearance that state it "should be serviced by your Honda dealer unless you have the proper tools and service data and are mechically qualified". It kind of makes it confusing because it makes it sound like it should be taken in to just have it looked at and not necessarily be adjusted. So should dealers be just looking at it or should they go ahead and be adjust it since they are already looking at it.</end quote></div>

By Inspecting it, they are already checking the clearance, so if it is out of spec then they are required to fix it per Honda. If they find something out of spec when doing a routine maintenance then they should notify you first to get your ok, then go ahead and do it, unless you've given them prior notification that you want the valves adjusted. I know we just adjusted my valves on my 05 450R, but I rebuilt my motor with an aftermarket piston, ported and polished head, and an aftermarket cam, and the valves had not been adjusted in almost 3 years. All four valves needed new shims, but nothing major, mostly just one size difference, i think one of the exhaust valves was two shim sizes different.

You would definitely benefit from doing it yourself, and it would allow you to inspect the bike yourself so that if anything is seriously wrong, you'll get a first hand look at it. It is not difficult to tear these things apart, and it can be done without the manual, the only thing the manual is truely useful for is torque specs. and clearances with + / - allowances.

 

Im sure its not that difficult to do but just listening to you guys it sounds complicated. I have never worked on internal engine stuff but only external items. So when I hear, play in rocker arms and .001 gapping and stuff I never dealt with, it sounds sounds scary that I might mess something up. Once I see it done once I learn fast and wont have a problem after. I hate paying people that charge way too much for something that dosent take as long as they say. I changed a piece out in my car for $85 and 20 minutes of time that the dealership said would cost $450 and 3 hours of labor. I just did some research on the internet for forums telling how to do it. Similar to lawyers charging two hours of work for only really doing an hour. Who's going to know otherwise.

 

On utility types that use screw type adjustments, it really isn't that complicated.

Do you know someone who is diligent and experienced in your area you could invite over? (Having pizza and beverages on hand might help).

I'll send you a PM with some specifics on the 350 Rancher.