As I'm waiting for a +.060 piston and subsequent rebore I thought I'd have a go at putting the rocker box back together.
I managed to find all the relevant washers, put new o rings in the grooves heated the casing and hey presto everything went in just as it should ...
Except ....
The clearance is so tight that the o rings were sliced in half!
How do I get the shafts in without wrecking the rings?
Thanks
I think these are like unit triumph twins?
If the rocker box is warmed in the oven and the lead in radius is well lubricated they should slot in ok (I had a couple of o rings do what yours did before I cracked it.
Thanks Neil.
I did warm the casing but clearly not enough!
I'll give it another go.
Hey Stubaker - would be good to know how you get on. I'm having a similar issue with my C15 rocker spindles. I sanded the lead in on the casting so it was nice and smooth, applied lots of oil and heated the casting in my workshop oven to about 150C. Several attempts all resulted in the top of the o ring being shaved off.
I also managed to mess up one of the washers tapping the spindle in so will be ordering some more washers and a bunch more o rings shortly.
Had another go at mine today. I smoothed out the entry into the rocker box a bit more, heated the rocker box to 150C and put the spindles in the freezer. Still shaved the tops off a bit so I decided not to worry about it. I've been watching Michael Wallers (Britannia Motorcycles) videos on his C15t copy build and I don't think he even changed the or rings when he rebuilt his rocker box.
I also had another go at mine, same result, same conclusion!
The spindles are such a tight fit I don't think there'll be much of a leak. I'm more concerned about the valve lifter shaft!
Good to know I'm not the only one in this position. Only time will tell!
Valve lifter shaft.
I had a b44 with the similar valve lifter and the shaft was very wobbly in the rocker cover.
I managed to find a small phosphor bush, similar to bantam cam bushes and fix securely in the rocker cover.
Worked well
I was planning on replacing the rocker seals on my b44.
I was hoping to do it with everything in situ. Just tap out the spindles until the seals are exposed, replace the seals and using the oil feed nuts and some washers, pull the spindles back in place. Possibly using some sort of guide.
However after reading comments here, it's not quite the easy job I thought.
Out of curiosity, has anyone tried the method I was thinking about?
It might help a little if you use Silicon Grease on the Butylic O Rings. It is much more slippery than ordinary grease or oil.
Hey Frankjan, I don't know what the B44 is like but the C15 is tricky as the thrust washers and spring washers are different diameters sue to steps in the spindle. It's possible to think that the spindle is stuck by friction when in reality one of the washers is out of concentricy and butting up against the shoulder. If you think its just friction you force it and ruin the thrust washer. No prizes for guessing how I found that out! Fitting the spindles was extremely fiddly for what looks like a simple job!
There is a service tool that slides over spindle and locates the O ring,but even then its not uncommon to sliver bit of O ring , it's possible the new O rings are to fat any way ,measure how much o ring petrude above spindle ,
Sometimes I have altered the grove in spindle to accommodate,
Thanks kernow Pete. That was something I had considered and now you've confirmed it.
Not really a big issue at the moment, so probably leave it for now and do a proper job.
Roy stated that there is a service tool available, does anyone know of a part number or supplier?
Roy... 'Sometimes I have altered the grove in spindle to accommodate,'
It's always a bit of a challenge to make a new lathe tool out of High Speed Steel Stock...!
BTW... I don't think metric O Rings would have been used by BSA.
Well my C15 spindles don't leak. Even with the top of the o ring shaved off on fitting. Been for a few rides and bone dry.