Valve Adjustment Caps

ensoniqdude · Post by **ensoniqdude** » Tue Sep 09, 2014 10:01 pm

Gents,

Trying to check the valves on my 65 305 Dream.

Seems the valve "caps" are all frozen in place. From the looks of things, the previous owner messed up at least one with a pair of vice grips and put a small dent in the front fender using some sort of tool.

Any tips or advice on getting these off? Pretty noisy and I want to check things out before I ride any further.

Thanks!

mike in idaho · Post by **mike in idaho** » Wed Sep 10, 2014 5:04 am

About all you can do is go after them with a 6 point socket and a breaker bar. It dosent help much to heat them up because the aluminum cap will expand as fast as the metal in the head.

R100 · Post by **R100** » Wed Sep 10, 2014 5:58 am

I gave mine a squirt of penetrating oil overnight (for a few nights), then the 6-point socket as Mike said, but with an air impact gun.
Try to get those threads very clean before re-installing. A bit of never-seize might help in the future.

mike in idaho · Post by **mike in idaho** » Wed Sep 10, 2014 7:57 pm

One mistake people make is to overtighten the caps, they only need to be tight enough to partially compress the o-rings. If the outer part the cap is touching the head the caps are too tight. Snug is fine they won't come loose.