| Author | Message | ||
     Devil_car |
Hi guys! My M2 started leaking at the rear exhaust pushrod tube. I thought, no big deal, I'll just pull the rocker box and replace the seal. It's not as easy as it seems... that gasket and the lower retainer design is terrible. It seems nearly impossible to get the gasket inside of the retainer without it bulging out. Seems like each retainer should have had at least 2 if not 3 screws, and a generous lead in chamfer would go a long ways... Doing a search, it looks like others have tried to fix with the HD parts many times only to end up with leaks over and over again. I don't really want to put it all back together again to only find out I have another leak. My question for you is... Should I try to make it work with the factory design, or should I bite the bullet and go with either a NRHS or Zippers collapsible design with the billet base? If I go this route, which is better??? I didn't want to install collapsible pushrod tubes, but reading multiple threads it looks like this may be the best bet. Any tricks to making the factory design work? | ||
| Jim2 |
You can just replace the base plate with the NRHS billet base. It's still a bit of a pain to get it all together but much easier. I actually used a tiny spot of superglue to hold the new seals in the billet base plate to aid lining it all up, but be very careful if you try this. The seals have to be pressed in a little before a spot of glue or they will be glued into the wrong position and will be deformed when you tighten the base. Also, if you try this make sure you have some extra seals on hand. If you mess-up the first time you will not be able to re-use that seal. Your not trying to glue the seal in, just trying to tack it in place. Five or six extra hands would be helpful too. | ||
| Vecchio_lupo |
I just lived this nightmare with my S3. I replaced the stockers with NHRS billet bases and spring tensioned tubes. the whole set up was reasonable and a straight forward install. You do however need the pushrod tube installation/spreading tool that they sell. (Message edited by vecchio lupo on January 28, 2013) | ||
| Mcelhaney14 |
My X1 leaked from the pushrods before I took it apart and I found that 3 of the 4 gaskets were bulged out. I kept the stock set up but when installing the seals I made sure the seal was seated in the retaining ring on the side by the bolt. I then started the allen bolt in and snugged it. As it held pressure on the seal, I used a small screwdriver to work the seal into the retaining ring. Since I did this, I have not had a seep of oil out of the pushrod tubes. | ||
| Lakes |
Just rebuilt my top end and new rings, used a James gasket kit, no leaks have 4,000k up already | ||
| Devil_car |
Thanks for all the input guys! I'm being cheap (or maybe stupid), but I decided to try the stock setup again, since it did work for 11 years. I used super glue per some advice read on BadWeb and from Jim, which I also read on various threads found over the internet. The gaskets stayed in place when I pulled them over the pushrod tubes and bolted down flat, which is a huge improvement over my first several tries! It'll probably be several days before I get to fire it up and see if it worked (have to go on business travel)... I did the rear cylinder last night, since that is the one that was leaking. Since I am this far, I'll probably just do the front, too, since the rear gaskets were hard from years of heat exposure. Hopefully, I'll get lucky and it'll work! One observation... I'm beginning to wonder if the base plates without the collapsible pushrod tubes are still being sold. Looking at NRHS's site, American Sport Bike, and Zippers, I am not seeing them. I haven't called anyone to verify, though... | ||
| Rsm688 |
Let me know what you find out about the billet bases, I am about to replace all my top end gaskets as well. Ive never had my pushrod tubes off before so we will see how it goes getting the seals in right as from what yall have said it sounds like a royal PITA | ||
| Splatter |
Hammerperf has them  | ||
| Bluzm2 |
NRHS and American Sport Bike have them. Go with American Sport Bike, they are BWB sponsors and are REALLY good folks. Didn't see them on the web sites but I know they have them. Drop Al a note at American Sport Bike. Brad | ||
| Devil_car |
Got them all installed using the stock setup, but I forgot to pick up new exhaust gaskets and fiber washers for the external rocker box screws. I'll have to pick some up on Monday, so I can finish the job and find out whether I get to do it over again or not... If I end up running into issues with leaking, I'll definitely hit Al up for the bases... I typically buy from him, as I appreciate that he and Joanne still support the Buell community and BWB. | ||
| Devil_car |
Everything's been installed for a couple of weeks now, and so far no leaks. I've had several blasts to 100+ including a 120 excursion this week. Keeping my fingers crossed that I won't have to mess with them again for a while. For future reference, here's how I did it: 1. I cleaned everything thoroughly with isopropyl alcohol. 2. I installed the seals into the bases after applying 4 drops of super glue on the base. I did one at a time. 3. I let the super glue cure for approximately 5 minutes before handling the base/seal assembly. 4. I lubed the pushrod tubes with Sil-Glyde. 5. I slid the base/seal assembly over the tubes to approximately 1/2-inch above the bottom of the tube. 6. I installed the top of the pushrod tubes into the O-rings in the head. You might as well install new O-rings while you are doing this job. 7. I careful slid the base/seal assembly down onto the crankcase aligning the pin with the hole in the base. Then, as best as I could, I held the base down with one hand while tightening the screw, making sure that the base came down flush with the crankcase. Hopefully, that will help someone else in the future. Now to clean up the oily mess below the starter... | ||
| Rsm688 |
Thanks for the walkthrough on it, gotta do mine as well. Do you happen to have the part number for the seals and o-rings? | ||
| Hybridmomentspass |
I HATE the stock push rod tubes, such a pain I will be swapping out for one piece units (already have them) for this race season | ||
| Rsm688 |
Hybrid, what tubes did you go with? | ||
| Hybridmomentspass |
still got stock units right now | ||
| Devil_car |
The part numbers are as follows: O-rings - P/N 11190 Base Seals - P/N 17944-89 |
