Hello,

I have real trouble removing the shims as I'm trying to measure their thickness. Using the right tools to depress the bucket and shim is spinning freely but not coming out. I used a dental tool, compressed air, tapping on it. No luck. Working on two bikes simultaneously with same issues. I had dealt with it once before and also had a struggle (same procedures and shims eventually came out but it took way too long). Does anybody know of any other tricks? Thanks in advance!

Hi Allemande

You could try a squirt of contact cleaner or something similar to disperse the oil and clean around under the shim, it’s the suction effect of the oil holding it there. Do that a few times & blow around it, then get the pick back in there to flick it out. 

Regards

Dan

Definitely a fussy job.  A squirt of compressed air can pop them out but other than trying this out once I stick with wiggling them out with an old dental pick.  There is a notch in the valve shim bucket that will allow you to get in at the side of the shim.  Doing this lots will definitely give you the opportunity to speed up.

I also used carb cleaner spray without luck. Will try again tomorrow. There has got to be a better way!

You could try a magnet on a stick of some sort, it may assist? Try to spin the shim while trying to pop it out to help break the suction. 

Regards

Dan

allemande wrote: I had dealt with it once before and also had a struggle (same procedures and shims eventually came out but it took way too long). Does anybody know of any other tricks? Thanks in advance!

Although some riders can do a valve shim replacement with nothing more than a screwdriver or psycho-kenesis, when I'm using the compression and holding tools it helps me to remove the shims from specific directions, too. Clymer's tip in this diagram has always worked for me. I use a telescopic magnet that has a small tip and it grabs them right out of there.

Carb spray cleaner will just replace engine oil with a thinner oil - it won't destroy the suction. Now brake cleaner... that will dispose of the oil holding things down.

The tools I bought from the guy in the US didn't do the job properly for me. The bucket depressor tool worked fine but the other part that hold the bucket down was missing about a mm which meant the bucket came back out just that bit too far. Couldn't get the shims out no matter what I did and I was at it for a good day before I worked out what was going on. Had to weld a bead along that edge and then shape it back down to the correct size. Shims then came out easy peasy.