Push Rod Tool----again!

[alanp]

Sorry chaps to raise this topic yet again but I'm convinced that my push rod tool (comb) isn't correct. I spent 3 hours yesterday refitting the rocker box and time after time the exhaust push rods did not line up with the rocker cups. I even roped in my wife to hold the torch while I held the mirror and a bent wire to get them in the cups. (Bet this is an easy job with the engine out of the bike!).
I've done a search but can't find the post which gave us a drawing of the tool for me to check it against mine. Can anyone recall the post and let me know where the drawing is or can post the drawing up for me please?
Thanks
Alan

[bsa-bill]

Bit fuzzy but you'll get some idea from these pics as to sizes.
Are your tappets free to slide sideways a little, just thinking maybe their sticking a bit

[WozzA]

Remember the 2 outside cutaway's are for the Rocker box cylinder head studs...
the push rods fit on the inner 4 cutaways..   
Dont ask me how I worked that one out...   
Muskies drawing..

[RichardL]

Now you can take Wozza's  picture, scale it on a photoocopier or drawing program, and use it as a pattern to make a new tool. Or, as Mike667 once told me, "Crap, Richard, they're only 10 bucks!" ( but who can wait?)

Richard L.

[alanp]

Thanks guys. I checked my comb and it's as per the drawing posted. Knickers!
Ref. Bill's comment - maybe my rockers are too far sideways/offset about the centre line....I think they are spring loaded together from the outer ends with spacers in between so maybe the spacer washers are wrong I ask myself. I'm not sure how I can check that. Life would be so much easier if the engine was on the bench and I could look inside properly to see what was up i.e. what the misalignment between the push rod ends and the rocker cups actually looked like. Ah well.

[bsa-bill]

Go here
http://www.draganfly.co.uk/data/pdf/ListB3.pdf

Good ol Draganfly

[Rgs-Bill]

MICKEY MOUSE COMB--again!!!!

I had a Brit bike mechanic here in town, say that when you put the rocker box back on ( his quote>>( "I am going to do you the biggest favor ever"), he took his push rod comb out of his tool box, and made an exact tracing of it for me, so I could go home and make one out of a piece of galvanized flashing , or heavy or sturdy cardboard.  So I did, and the thing worked like crap.  So I took out my roll of mechanics wire and cut 2 pieces 8 inches long , and made a pull loop on the end of one of them, and made a push loop on the end of the other one, because for mine all of the push rods work best (space and vision wise) from the front of the bike.  Piece of cake, line up the one you need , push the rocker cup down over it, and turn adjuster with fingers, until it can not fall out.  Now do 3 more same way, works far better than that stupid push rod comb, which is a pain in the  "ARS"

                                  BILL

[Seabee]

Alan,

If your rocker is in alignment with the valve stem, then they must be installed properly.

Joe

[ShaunMac]

I used mine to get them in a rough position but back the adjusters right off and use my finger to feel them in whilst rocking the rocker.

[RichardL]

I just did mine a week ago. Pushrods were fine in the rocker-arm cups and the valves were moving in the right sequence. However, when I went to make the final clearance adjustments I noticed the adjustment screw on the left exhaust was much further above the end of the rocker than the other screws. This was clearly not right. I loosened that one up and wiggled the pushrod around a bit and then things went into place. I believe the problem was that the lower end of the rod was riding on the lip of the tappet and not actually in the tappet cup.

Richard L.

[ShaunMac]

Had a similar scenario. Now pop a little bit of grease on the push rods when putting them in the followers.

[muskrat]

Oil in the follower cups and a twist of the rod when seating them acts as a suction cap. I can lift the followers off the cam with the rod. BUT I have had that happen too.
Cheers

[alanp]

Alan,
If your rocker is in alignment with the valve stem, then they must be installed properly.
Joe

Thanks Joe, you're right, the rockers must be installed properly if the adjusters are central with the valve stem. I hold my head in shame for not realising that one. Refitting the rocker box can mess with your thinking!
By the way the gaskets I fitted this time are the copper gaskets from our friend in Arizona, www.coppergaskets.us. I was fed up with the paper ones squashing and distorting and the tappet clearances changing if I retightened the box down when they start to leak. However, we'll see how they go.
Thanks for all the replies everyone.
Alan