Big Ruckus Valve Adjust

[Phil_R]

Took a few pics and a couple notes during the 600 mile valve adjust on my BR.


Left-side body cover removed for access to sparkplug, timing hole cap, valve adjusting plates, and lock bolts.


Belt Case Air Cleaner Duct / Left crankcase cover... removed for access to drive pulley / crankshaft nut (22mm).


Copper based anti-seize lubricant (Loctite C5-A) used to lightly coat sparkplug threads.


10mm wrench on lock-bolt securing intake valve adjusting plate.


Sparkplug removed... 18mm sparkplug socket.


Tools used for valve adjust...


Valves adjusted, covers back in place, ready for test ride.

600 mile valve adjust:

Note: This valve adjust procedure isn't exactly by-the-service-manual... end results are identical. If you are not comfortable with, or unsure of this procedure, do not attempt! All bolts, sparkplug, etc., should be threaded all the way in without using a wrench... wrench is for final tightening of fasteners.

I have/use the factory service manual... you should too! Engine must be cold before beginning valve adjust procedure... I prefer overnight cold.

Remove left-side body access cover, and belt-case air cleaner duct / left crankcase cover. (3 x 8mm bolts, 2 x #2 Phillips screws) Remove sparkplug... (18mm socket) Remove timing hole cap. (large screwdriver)

Place finger over sparkplug hole, rotate drive pulley counter/anti clockwise until pressure is felt, piston is coming up on compression stroke. Use flashlight to watch for T mark inside timing hole while slowly rotating pulley. Align l next to the T with notch in timing hole.

If you pass the T/l mark, simply rotate (counter/anti clockwise) the engine until you feel pressure at the sparkplug hole, and begin again. Do not rotate the engine backwards... if it takes a few tries to get on the mark, so what.

Now that the l (next to T) is aligned with the notch in the timing hole, on compression stroke... time to adjust valves. The adjusting plates are marked IN (for intake) and EX (for exhaust)...

Start with the intake valve, loosen (10mm) lock bolt, move adjuster plate (up) away from the exhaust adjuster plate until resistance is felt. Stop, look at the graduations marked on the adjuster plate, now move the adjuster plate inward (down) one graduation... tighten lock bolt, intake valve adjusted.

Move to exhaust valve adjuster plate, loosen (10mm) lock bolt, move adjuster plate (down) away from the intake adjuster plate until resistance is felt. Stop, look at the graduations marked on the adjuster plate, now move the adjuster plate inward (up) one graduation... tighten lock bolt, exhaust valve adjusted.

Apply light coat of copper based anti-seize lubricant (Loctite C5-A) to sparkplug threads, carefully thread sparkplug into engine, replace sparkplug cap / ignition wire. Replace/install timing hole cap, replace/install covers removed earlier.

Test ride...

[Dandy Dan]

Awesome write up Phil! It's nice that we are starting to get some good Big Ruckus tech on here.

Thanks ;D

[chanito]

I knew it, Florida is a great place for ruckus tech ;D ;D
Thanks for the how-to

[demingr]

Nice write-up Phil. Can you comment on any changes in the ride after the initial valve adjust? I'm taking mine in for the 600 mile service, but have noticed it has been idling a bit rough since 400 miles or so. Noisier too. Hope to see it become a little smoother - and hopeful a bit faster off the line. thanks Rob

[Phil_R]

demingr said:

Can you comment on any changes in the ride after the initial valve adjust?

I feel that my BR runs pretty good... but I'm not sure if it was the 600 mile service, or the additional 1000 miles since then. I adjusted the idle-mix after a warm-up ride immediately following the valve adjust. So... correcting the initial lean mix may have had a more noticeable effect than anything else. (But I can't say for certain which had more effect, valve adjust or idle-mix.)

[leek]

Good morning Phil. I have a question about the valve adjusting on the BR. I have the service manual and have followed it along with your method as a double check. Two weeks ago I adjusted the valves on mine and my wife's BR. I took them both for a ride, and could hardly get over 50 mph and off the line was terrible. I did note where the plates were before I started the adjustment. I took both bikes back to the original factory setting and they run just fine. I have been playing with it and figured that I can't back off a full notch from the resistance felt when moving the plate. I have both backed off just a fraction of a notch on each plate. Do you have any suggestions or has anyone elst had this problem. I guess its just me?

[Phil_R]

leek said:

Do you have any suggestions or has anyone else had this problem.

Since this problem is occurring on two separate machines, I would first suspect "technique"... Make certain you move the adjuster the equivalent of only one graduation. (line to line, middle to middle, etc.) Rotating the engine "back-wards" instead of counter-clockwise would cause a problem... as well as adjusting on exhaust stroke, instead of compression stroke.

Note: counter-clockwise, like you are trying to loosen/remove the 22mm nut.

[lecat]

I am have an issue with valve adjustment too. I followed the service manual instructions regarding crankshaft and index mark alignments but when I move the adjusting plates outward I don't feel the "resistance" I'm supposed to be feeling. The plates move totally outward. The Intake adjuster plate is stiffer than the Exhaust adjuster. I can't quite get the proper adjustment. Am I doing something wrong or missing a step?The manual and other posts offer vague references to the procedure so I've reset to factory settings but I don't feel the engine is running at optimum performance. The bike has about 1500 miles on it and I've tried several times to correctly adjust but I have always reset to the original setting for lack of satisfaction. Can anyone offer a solution short of "take it your Honda dealer". I can't stand the set-up at my dealership.

[spongella]

Here is my experience:

I just adjusted my BR valves at 628 miles using both the shop manual's and Phil's instructions. I like Phil's better because he has the good sense to tell us to put our finger over the spark plug hole and turn CCW until we feel pressure coming out of the hole - this is a very important thing, because you want to adjust the valves when the piston is TDC (top dead center) on the compression stroke, not the intake stroke. Feeling the pressure on your finger shows that the piston is on the upstroke and that both the intake and exhaust valves are closed.

At TDC of the compression stroke both valves are closed, and this is where the rocker arm end is not touching the top of the valves. There is a very tiny space separating them, which is important to have, and is called the clearance. It is at this point that you make your adjustments, as this clearance has to be a specific amount. Most engines require that you use a feeler gauge of a specific thickness and actually measure the distance, but the BR engine has sort of built-in feeler gauges which are those adjusting arms that you move until you feel a resistance. This resistance is the rocker arm end touching the top of the valve. When you move it in one graduation, you are actually setting the tolerance.

Always make sure your engine is cold when adjusting the valves. Cold meaning it hasn't been running at least several or more hours. Letting the bike cool overnite is good. The reason for this is that the valves expand when hot, and if you adjusted them when hot, then you'd have more clearance than you should. Usually the tolerance for exhaust valves is more due to the fact that the valve gets much hotter than the intake valve, but lately I have seen that the tolerances for both valves tend to be the same in today's engines.

Also, once you align the "I" mark with the notch in the timing hole, look into the adjusting hole cap to make sure the groove in the hole is aligned with the groove in the camshaft - get a flashlight and put on your glasses for this!!

Also: The flywheel has both a "T" mark and "F" mark on it. Use the "T" mark for valve adjusting.

++++++++++++Results++++++++++++++++++++++

I started up the engine after setting the valves and installing the plug (plug was slightly carbonized so I cleaned it off with metal brush). I took it for a test drive and had her up to 55mph with no problems, runs like a top.The engine ran fine, and I reset the idle speed to 1510.

Oh, make sure your plug has the right gap, don't take for granted that it was set correctly by the last person.

When reinstalling the body cover, footrest and belt case cover apply a little anti-seize paste where necessary. I found that the body cover bolts and footrest bolts were stuck on pretty hard due to oxidation, so the paste will help in the future.

Hope this helps, let me know how others have done.

Spongella

[Eztravler]

Can someone post a picture of this marking and we're the T & I are at. I turned the crank but do not see the Cam shaft move. am I looking in the wrong hole?

[BR]

The timing hole is on the right side of the bike. Above the oil fill cap