Xj550 valve set measurement

Hi there everyone. I am new to chat forums, this being the first I have been a part of. Been lurking for a couple years now.

Now I require some direct insight into my problem.

last year I parked my bike, was running at the time. Left battery maintainer on it was never started. I returned to a non starting bike. I did a bunch of troubleshooting and have reached the conclusion that I need to do a valve set and then tend to the carbs.

however measuring valve clearance today I was only able to get a reading on 3 valves out of the 8!

the ones I could not get a read on were less than .0015 the smallest of the feeler gauges.
However I could still turn the shims and buckets with the lobe turned away.

so what’s my best approach? Buy an entire shim kit? As I can’t determine what size I need at this point. Any ideas??

sorry for the lengthy post, thanks for the help!

 

What's your ride? I ques if I couldn't measure a clearance with the smallest feeler gauge I would buy the current size shim added with the maximum clearance for that valve. Don't know about shim kits, I ride a 700X and shims are damn expensive...

 

start by pulling the shims and getting the size off of the back of the shim if no size a set of calipers will tell you.
for shims you can not measure you could buy 1 or 2 shims to reinsert then measure to a known size. something thin but not the thinnest.
once you know the size of the shim you can go by the chart to order replacments or swap the ones you can.
you will always need a place holder shim xj4ever sells them as well as shims the thinnest shim is a good place holder.

here is how to do it
Bigfitz's AIRHEAD VALVE ADJUSTMENT with Pics - parts I & II

 

XJ550H, just out of curiosity, what's a place holder?

 

plastic valve shim so you can pull shim put in the plastic one and continue to turn motor with out damaging the cam . it is nice when you swap around shims to where needed and to hold the place while you wait for new shim. you cam make some out of a good durable flexable plastic

does not have to be that thick

lets say you have 7 shims at same size and some are too tight to get a measurement and you have one shim thats 2 sizes thinner than the rest. insert a place holder and swap that shim where you need it so you can get a measurement

 

That's a need trick! Thnx for the info. Also makes me realize that in my answer I should have said current shim size minus the maximum tolerance... But using the method you describe saves you from buying unnecessary shims.

 

The airhead shims are cheap it is easy enough to pick up a smaller thinner shim on eBay for a couple of bucks just to have it around for every time you may need it. I keep them in a prescription bottle with a little oil in it they fit in nicely. Not like the nightmare of the x-bikes. The upside to the x is your sim checkers about every 20K miles as opposed to the airhead which is 5k Miles or yearly

 

Yeah removing the camshafts of the X is quite a job. Especially when after reassembling you find out that you're not quite satisfied yet and have to do it again Again, thanks for the info, learned something again. Hope the topic starter will benefited from it.

 

There is an x for sale near me for $800 looks like a really good deal I haven't looked at it directly yet. It's the valve job the valve shim change that really keeps me from just running out and buying one,

 

I would say buy it! I haven't got nearly the skills and knowledge you have and changing the shims is just time consuming but not difficult for me.

 

thanks for the advice on that place holder shim. Makes good sense! Anyone from Canada that has ordered anything recently? Wondering about shipping times from the states?

 

Also to be clear. The diameter of shims are 29mm ?

 

Yes