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So I had cracked the housing on my Tacho side-cover (not sure of the actual name). I bought a new one from another member with the housing in perfect condition. Today I went to take the old one off and replace it. I got the old one off with "relative" ease. However, I cannot for the life of me get the new one in, even though its the same piece. It seems to be catching on another part of the engine as the pictures below illustrate. I didn't want to force it in without anyone's advice. Does anyone have any ideas to offer in helping me get this back in.
Here's the spot and the arrow/circle shows where the new tacho housing is hitting:
Here is the new housing and where it is hitting:
Again, my noobness shows through. But I would greatly appreciate any advice of you experts. Thanks guys.
PJ. You're the man. Should've known you'd have the answer. What's the process for doing that? The engine isn't pulled right now. Do I have to pull it to accomplish that?
All, PJ answered the "why" to my question regarding why I couldn't get the tacho housing back on. However, it is the "how" that I am struggling through now. I've been trying to figure it out from my Clymer manual, but it explains it in terms of having the engine pulled and disassembling it. I was wondering if there is a way to keep the engine in the bike and proceed that way.
As you can see above, I was having trouble getting my new tacho cover on b/c (as PJ noted) the cam was being pulled down and I couldn't lift it up high enough to slide the new tacho on. I though solving this would be as easy as popping off the cam chain tensioner:
However, that did not do anything. It is still stuck in place. Additionally, the left rocker arm pin on that side won't budge one direction or the other and the right rocker arm pin turns freely as shown:
Plus, I cannot use the rotor to turn the engine at all. Won't budge one iota and is stuck here:
My thinking was that before resorting to having the engine pulled out or even taking the head cover (which I'm not sure I can do without taking the motor out anyway), I should take of the points assembly/spark advancer and side covers to see if I could even up the tension that way. BUT I wanted to check with you all to see if you had any advice first as I am still somewhat of a noob still and don't want to make any rash decisions that could have been fixed easily. I'm assuming these are all related, and are hopefully not bigger problems. The bike ran fine before this all went down. Please let me know what your thoughts are. I appreciate it. Thanks guys.
Sorry to say, but I believe you'll have to pull the engine, take the valve cover off and remove the cam gear to cam shaft bolts in order to get enough slack to center the cam shaft and replace the tach housing. :-\
Yes.
If you check left side, it's probably on or close to TDC. (I didn't take a look at rotor pic yet)
The intake valve is being pushed down.
I would put a tube on end of rocker shaft, couple of washers and slowly draw it out.
With pressure off you should be able to lift cam.
Even if you remove engine, you'll still have same situation so you may as well continue. Remove points plate and advancer mechanism , then you can see drive pin and check cam timing is OK.
Basically, you should hav set it TDCC on right cyl before you started
Exactly. I realized that I should have done it at TDC after the fact, even when reading up more about the tensioner. I just sort of jumped in. But learned a valuable lesson. PJ, are you saying to pull that stuck pin out? I'm not sure i quite understand your reference to a tube and washers. Should the tube be used to push the pin from one side out? Thanks again for your input!
Nope, you find a tube with inside diameter slightly larger than the outside diameter of rocker pivot, slide it oer the 'extension' use a couple of washers and slowly pull it out of head by tightening nut on outside. Add washer as needed so you don't 'bottom out' and break something (when you run out of thread)
I don't remember if there are thrust washers or just springs locating rocker arm, whatever, don't loose them inside engine
PJ I will followup later tonight to make sure I have what youre saying down before I go ahead. But first, is there enough clearance to get the cam cover off between the engine and the frame? Would that be a better way to get at it?
If you pull the rocker piviot shaft out of the head, how do you line it back up with the rocker arm inside the rocker housing when reinstalling it? I pulled the points housing off mine to replace the gasket and the shafts came out with the housing. I had to pull the motor, remove the cam cover and remove the cam gear bolts like I stated before. That was the only way it would go back together.
Remove shaft, fit bearing housing/tach drive.
Check cam timing.
If it's good,
Turn motor to TDCC on right cylinder
Remove cam bearing housing, reinstall shaft, re-fit bearing housing
Pretty simple really if you think about it for more than 3 milliseconds :
PJ, after thinking about what your suggestion was, I understand it to be this:
Is that setup correct. Also, I think I can remove the cam cover while the engine is in the bike. Will this help? Also, what will happen to the rocker when the pin is pulled? If I have the cam cover off, could I just grab the rocker after I pull the pin out? Also, I'm having trouble getting the points housing off the other side. If I take the cam cover off and go about things the way you suggest, do I still have to get that points housing off? Let me know what you (or anyone else) thinks. Thanks!
Your understanding of pj's process is correct. The cam cover will not come off without pulling the motor and you won't need to do so if you follow pj's instructions. As for getting the pin back in the rocker, once you have the right cyl. back at TDC you then remove the tappet adjusting cover and move the rocker arm around with your fingers to line it up again to re-insert the pin. The pin has lobes on it so you will have to turn it around as needed to find the low spot when trying to re-insert it. PS. why are you trying to remove the points housing?????? pj's instructions didn't mention anything about that.......he said to just remove the points plate and advancer mechanism, NOT the whole points housing! Your removing the points plate and the advancer mech just to see the pin location and make sure the cam is still timed right and that the timing chain hasn't jumped a tooth.
Thanks Glennwood. Are you positive you can't take the cam cover off while on the bike. I found this somewhere on another site and it looks like this guy pulled it off:
Also, thanks for validating my sketch of PJs theory lol ;D . My question is, I know how to time the bike with the points on and check the valves etc., but how do I make sure the timing with the points and advancer mechanism taken off . Could you explain that?
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