I adjusted my valves last weekend, and everything seemed fine. Then it started making an awful chatter sound yesterday, so I tore it apart, and found that the lock nut on the intake valve adjuster(on the rocker arm) is missing, causing the valve to be extremely loose and all the noise. My question is where the nut could have went to... it looks to me like it couldn't have gotten into the bottom end via the timing chain side. Is it likely that if I pull the cam out of it, that it will be underneath there somewhere?? I am not sure if there is an oil journal in there somewhere that it could have possibly fit through? Any thoughts or suggestions are greatly appreciated

 

You are probably going to have to pull off sprocket and pull out cam the head is kind of dished out below the cam shaft so the nut is laying under cam, it cant really get down into bottom end,cause the oil return hole in head isnt as big as nut, Its reall simple to reset the cam timing, just turn flywheel T mark in the center off timing hole plug and make sure pin on cam is towards top, line up line on cam sprocket with mark on top of head and reinstall camchain tensioner thats all thats to it, good luck.. 18 years as a yamaha mechanic, did alot of warrior top ends.....

 

i have seen one come off and get stuck in the valve cover, it was wedged between the little rib and the side of the cover. We just poped it out and screwed it back on. I thought the guy was pretty lucky.

 

Well, I took it apart tonight, pulled the cam out, and it's simply not in there anywhere!! I made sure to stuff a rag down where the cam chain goes down in the cylinder, and I can't find it anywhere, even with a telescoping magnet. Is it possible that it could have gotten wedged inside either of the valve springs? If it did that, that valve wouldn't open and close correctly though. Any other suggestions?

 

I don't see how the nut would have gotten into the bottom end, because with the valve cover bolted on, the entire cam chain area is closed off to the valve train entirely.

It's in the top end or was ground into nothing by the valve springs and/or the cam.

What does your cam look like?? The rockerarms??