TOPIC:

swest wrote: Turn the head upside down and fill the chambers with gas. You will know in an instant which valves are bent.
Steve

or stand the head on its edge, intake up or exhaust up, and fill the ports with thinner. You will quickly see fluid leaking out of a valve head/seat if it's bad.

Alright so I was able to swing to the hardware store and pick up some penetrating oil so im soaking the stuck valve caps overnight.
While those are soaking,...ive wanted to raise the shocks through the triple tree to lower the front a couple inches. Ill be adding shock spacers to preload the springs. Not a big fan of the progressive shocks. I really would like to swap out the triples and shocks from a modern bike like a zx but I don't have the money or know how. Still, Gave it a more level appearance that im looking for.

Garbosh wrote: Alright so I was able to swing to the hardware store and pick up some penetrating oil so im soaking the stuck valve caps overnight.
While those are soaking,...ive wanted to raise the shocks through the triple tree to lower the front a couple inches. Ill be adding shock spacers to preload the springs. Not a big fan of the progressive shocks. I really would like to swap out the triples and shocks from a modern bike like a zx but I don't have the money or know how. Still, Gave it a more level appearance that im looking for.

You could try hammering with a screw driver in the notch to rotate the buckets (they're never perfectly round, and there should be some orientation with the most clearance) and using a (very) powerful magnet to pull them. If that doesn't work, you might try finding a dowel of the same diameter as the bucket and hammering on that. If that moves the bucket down further but doesn't free it, then you can at least cut off the valve head and then hit it with a punch from the other side. I imagine the valves are probably bent anyway and the guides ruined up as well. if not already, then they probably will be by the time you get the buckets out.

Did you fill the chambers to see if the valves leak?
Steve

I would be VERY careful about raising the fork tubes through the triple tree; "a couple inches" is a lot. Remember that as you do that you reduce the amount of travel before the lower fork tubes, fender, etc. come in contact with the bottom of the tree. That would be a really bad thing if you hit a large bump or pothole. Check out the total fork travel in the specs and make sure you leave at least that distance between the tree and anything that can hit it. As an example - on the KZ650 the front fork travel is 5.5 inches. Ed

Yea today I will be applying more penetrating oil and trying to get those caps out. I really think its just the caps that seized but I will still be trying the leak test after Im able to get the caps out. As far as the triple tree goes, I knew that while I was doing that which is why ill be putting a spacer in the shocks to preload the springs. Ive reached all that already and read about it in other forums, otherwise I wouldn't have done it.

Alright, well the shim buckets are to snug. The valves themselves go in and out fairly easy...but I can't get a good enough grip on the small bucket lip. So ideas? I was thinking I could get a small pointless dent puller to pull out the buckets...any other thoughts?

The idea above about spinning the buckets just enough to get them free. Take a punch or screw driver and tap on them to make them turn.
Steve

Use a small rubber plunger (suction cup) to pull them out. Ed

I was able to get the one to turn with a flat head, I was able to get it out 1/8 of an inch more with one person pulling and one person tapping the bucket slot. I think ill have to find someone in town that'll let me borrow there dent remover. Its a suction cup, that gets epoxied to the surface, then you attach it to a pole that has a sliding weight that you pull to the end and the weight pulls out the dent. that's the only safe thing I can think of... other then trying to heat it up with a torch and let expansion contraction do the trick because that has the potential to warp it.

I'd pop it back down and bounce them with wood dowel and hammer. Might try heating up around them while doing it. I wouldn't worry about warpage unless you use a blow torch.
Steve

I had a 1x1 piece of wood that fit perfect and I was popping the valves in and out, in and out. Also put oil in the bucket area and did it over and over again. they are pretty snug in there. The valves don't have problems moving up and down, so Im sure its not them. I just think that maybe debris got down in the shim buckets with no oil and seized up. Im going to jump on ebay to see how much those pullers are. Plus I could always use it for my car haha.