Re: "The flakes"
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i changed my oil today, part of the flywheel removal process, looked at the filter screen..(hold your breath) there were beutiful silver/chrome flakes. i thinks it a boy.
in a couple months i'll post pics of my shredded rockers. in the mean time i'll buy up 16 of em. btw its a 9 year old 748
in a couple months i'll post pics of my shredded rockers. in the mean time i'll buy up 16 of em. btw its a 9 year old 748
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709 Posts
even two valve rockers flake. 
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8,737 Posts
All 16? Unless they are all bad I wouldn't waste my money. Usually the openers need changing the others can wait.Namor said:
Megacycle vs MBP? Depends on who you talk to. You might want to PM Buckelew on this issue, he is well versed in every angle of flaking rockers.
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14 Posts
what scares me about this is you could go 15k miles and never see a flake then BAM..... need work...
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8,737 Posts
You would think by 15K you would have escaped the dreaded flakers curse. Doing all those miles filled with flaking rocker anxiety syndrome and just when you thought it was safe to go on another ride, then BAM...need mental and financial help... Actually the condition should be recognized as a legitimate psychological ailment. I wonder if Psychology Today would be interested?color-rado said:
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we could prolly get govt subsidization for a survey and study on the subject. we could even maybe recoupe the coss of the maint on the bikes....
one question though, if you tear the top end of the bike apart (for winter) is there a way that you can Upgrade?!? your rockers to not have the problem?.
thanks
one question though, if you tear the top end of the bike apart (for winter) is there a way that you can Upgrade?!? your rockers to not have the problem?.
thanks
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1,604 Posts
What I do with my 916 and ST4 is check all the rockers at each 6,000 mile service interval. It is not that difficult to remove the opening rockers so you can get a good look at all the rockers. I only replace the ones that have actually flaked. It is usually the opening rockers, I have never replaced any of the closing rockers on my bike. So it may be one or two at a time. Many of them have dark wear marks on them, and those are most likely on their way out, but I dont replace them until the chrome actually starts coming off the face of them. Its an inconvenience, but what are you gonna do. I just accept it as part of the valve adjustment procedure.
To answer the previous question, the Megacycle rockers are much better quality and usually last the life time of the bike. Guy Martin in Canada also exchanges them and I have heard they are of good quality too.
Mike
To answer the previous question, the Megacycle rockers are much better quality and usually last the life time of the bike. Guy Martin in Canada also exchanges them and I have heard they are of good quality too.
Mike
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14 Posts
has anyone ever cryo, or nitrided the rockers to harden them up after removing the coating...thanks
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1,474 Posts
while I have a lot of respect for Guy Martin (MBP), I haven't seen impartial data to say that his plating is better than the flakey BCM replates I've seen, the flakey Ducati ones I've seen....but I can say that my Megacycles had 8500 track miles and no sign of wear. I've seen megacycle rockers with over 20k miles and no visible wear.Synergy said:
There have been a couple of reports of testastretta motors with flaking rockers - but it's damn few.
ST4's have even been known to flake rockers - but far less because those bikes usually aren't thrashed.
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1,474 Posts
Perfect reason to insure that you, or whomever checks your valves, pulls the cams and visually checks the rockers. Just checking valve lash won't tell you anything until it's way too late.color-rado said:
Pulling cams to check rockers takes an additional 20 minutes to remove and install.
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so if you inspect the rockers and then adjust the valves and drive.... 6,000 miles later and you change your oil and glitter.... what now? i mean it could ahve happend a mile after you changed the oil
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1,604 Posts
I think there is a progression to the flaking. It doesnt just happen immediately. First they discolor. Sometimes they can stay simply discolored but not actually flake for quite some time, in excess of 12,000 miles. I have talked with owners that have seen damaged cams from flaked rockers chewing them up. I personally have not seen that. I have changed out flaked rockers and the cams looked fine. My point is if you check the rockers and replace all the ones that have flaked, the wear incurred at another 6,000 miles should not damage anything else. I have talked with Jim Davis from Nichols extensively about this. They dont change out the discolored rockers, just the ones that have actually flaked.
I had a rocker flake on my 2V monster. I didnt know to check for it on the 2v bikes and it had flaked pretty bad. It had over 25,000 miles on it. The cam surface looked fine.
I also did a valve adjusment on a fellows 748 with 19,000 miles. I dont think the valves had ever been adjusted cause the timing belt was the original one. I replaced 3 opening rockers. One was the worst I had ever seen. The chrome was completely missing from a 1/4 in square patch. The cam looked ok. I could not see any appreciable wear.
Mike
I had a rocker flake on my 2V monster. I didnt know to check for it on the 2v bikes and it had flaked pretty bad. It had over 25,000 miles on it. The cam surface looked fine.
I also did a valve adjusment on a fellows 748 with 19,000 miles. I dont think the valves had ever been adjusted cause the timing belt was the original one. I replaced 3 opening rockers. One was the worst I had ever seen. The chrome was completely missing from a 1/4 in square patch. The cam looked ok. I could not see any appreciable wear.
Mike
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