Valve Check On 2013

[SportsterDoc]

Thanks Guth and let me take this opportunity to thank you and your team for what you do and how it's done.

It was a curiosity thing for me, i had listened to the valves as we all do and thought i could hear one of them but......
Pretty sure the bike can do at least another 40.000 km before it needs looking at again, the main things i found to look out for are;

1 damaging the gasket when separating from the head ( i lifted it clear and pushed it all up with a long and thin screwdriver ) whilst taking it out of the frame since there is very little clearance and easy to nick it on the invisible cam-chain guard, i spent some time taking care this would not happen.

2 dropping sand into the engine which would go through the oil pump first and then spends it's life grinding away suspended in the oil shortening engine life, i cleaned the frame and all parts surrounding it before the cover was removed.

3 putting parts back the wrong way, i probably took 60 pictures and some video's and could not work out where a rubber strip went, so i left it out only to find later that it is placed under the connectors of the ecm, not essential but underlines my finding over the years that the assemblers at the factory do the best job in the life of the bike, everything done after they finish is going backwards, so i motivate myself to take as much time, thought and effort to try and equal their dedicated work.

4 in the unlikely event that you do need shims allow for the time required to leave the bike in a safe and clean state until said shims can be installed, also write down, date and the mileage together with the in and ex gaps for each valve and it's position for future reference so you can spot a trend should one develop, measuring the gaps is very easy and the time is mostly spent writing and rotating the engine , pictures are your friends.

5 the 4 cam bearing covers and the two cam shafts are identical and i would definitely mark them so each went back the exact same place for (lack of ) wear purposes.

You are saving a considerable amount of money and get a good feel for what's going on underneath you in return, plan ahead and have a back-out plan for when you need it, don't rush and make sure you are ready for the job.

And finally if there is a problem i usually make a coffee and think instead of making a wrong move, it is not a race, it is a time to be careful,
and observant, time well spent, trust me.

Well written, Max!