[dkeven]

I am near my 12000 mile valve check and wondered about doing it myself. Thoughts are about the buckets or shims, are they readily available or dealer only items that cost an arm and a leg. And how about reusing the gasket on the cover, I know they recomended changing every time on the R bike but wasn't really necessary. Have searched the archives and printed out the procedure listed there. Any other pointers from you more experienced K people. I am a wrench by trade just not on motorcycles. Thanks for any tips. Don

 

[rickd]

I believe you can only get the shims from a dealer. I would say that if the cover gasket is in good shape and you are nice to it, you can re-use it, with some oxygen sensor safe gasket sealer.

 

[andyl]

From max bmw fiche, looks like about $14 bucks each. I am debating upon doing my 12k valve check myself as well...take video of it for me would you

No Part Number Description Qty Each
08 11 32 1 461 906 cam follower (2,50MM) NA 1
08 11 32 7 666 042 cam follower (2,50MM) buy 1 $14.00
08 11 32 1 461 907 cam follower (2,55MM) NA 1
08 11 32 7 666 043 cam follower (2,55MM) 1 Call
08 11 32 1 461 908 cam follower (2,60MM) NA 1
08 11 32 7 666 044 cam follower (2,60MM) buy 1 $14.00
08 11 32 7 666 045 cam follower (2,65MM) buy 1 $14.00
08 11 32 7 666 046 cam follower (2,70MM) buy 1 $14.00
08 11 32 7 666 047 cam follower (2,75MM) buy 1 $14.00
08 11 32 7 666 048 cam follower (2,80MM) buy 1 $14.00
08 11 32 7 666 049 cam follower (2,85MM) buy 1 $14.00
08 11 32 7 666 050 cam follower (2,90MM) buy 1 $14.00
08 11 32 1 461 915 cam follower (2,95MM) NA 1
08 11 32 7 666 051 cam follower (2,95MM) buy 1 $13.80
08 11 32 7 666 052 cam follower (3,00MM) buy 1 $14.00
08 11 32 7 666 053 cam follower (3,05MM) buy 1 $14.00
08 11 32 7 666 054 cam follower (3,10MM) buy 1 $14.00
08 11 32 1 461 919 cam follower (3,15MM) NA 1
08 11 32 7 666 055 cam follower (3,15MM) buy 1 $14.00
08 11 32 7 666 056 cam follower (3,20MM) buy 1 $14.00

 

[RRG]

I did a 36,000 mile valve check a couple years ago. Not difficult to do. I only had two valves out of spec 1 to 1-1/2 thousandth so I left them alone. If you do need to change shims, I have seen a detailed instruction at either Pirates How-To section or a Gunsmoke How-to. It did not look real difficult, just very detailed in determining what shims you needed to buy or swap to get things right. The bad part is you do not know what size shim you need until you have things apart. Not too bad if you have a dealer nearby.

 

[voxmagna]

I think you do the checks and then make a judgement as to whether you need to dig deeper. Personally, I worry about clearances under spec 'cos as the seats wear, that's what happens, but over spec by small amounts generally just causes a bit more noise.

If you are planning to dismantle to re-shim, find out if a local dealer will swap out and exchange shims removed from other bikes. I'll bet if you follow all the tech instructions, drive the bike a week and re measure, you will not get exactly the same clearances. So dig in on excessive errors, not small deviations from spec. - the bike won't go any faster!