Harley-Davidson And Similar Pushrod Engines

• 1). Pull the sparkplug wires off the plug so the engine will not start. Remove the spreader bar in the center of the pushrod tubes.
  
  
• 2). Raise the lower half of the left pushrod tube and secure it up with a suitable piece of wire. Rotate the engine by bumping the starter until the valve lifter is down completely.
  
  
• 3). Loosen the lock nut and turn the top adjuster bolt until the pushrod has no up-and-down play. Do not overtighten. As soon as the play is removed, stop and hold the upper adjuster bolt and tighten the lock nut.
  
  
• 4). Do the same for all four pushrods followed by lowering the push rod cover. Make sure the gasket is good on the bottom of the cover. Replace the spreader bar.
  
  

Foreign Overhead Camshaft Engines

• 1). Disable the ignition or remove the sparkplug wires. Remove the valve covers. Rotate the engine with the starter until the first valve to be adjusted has the rocker arm sitting on the heal of the camshaft lobe. The heal is the lowest part of the lobe.
  
  
• 2). Loosen the lock nut and back it off three or four turns. Use a screwdriver or small wrench (whichever is applicable), to turn the center screw, which is in contact with the camshaft lobe.
  
  
• 3). Insert the appropriate feeler gauge (to match the valve lash requirements for your year, make and model bike) between the camshaft and the adjuster screw. Tighten the screw just until it provides a small amount of drag on the feeler gauge as the gauge is extracted.
  
  
• 4). Hold the adjustment screw in position and tighten the lock nut. Continue with the rest of the valves keeping one thing in mind -- the exhaust valve will be inline with the exhaust manifold. Since the intake valve has a different valve lash than the exhaust, make sure the right valve lash is applied to the correct cylinder.