Reply With QuoteI would recommend doing them. No point in digging that deep to have a 10 year old gasket leak, especially since it’s an XB. If this was a sporty, I’d say to roll the dice.
My $0.02 would be to do the cylinder base gaskets as well.
Thanks, I'm not gonna worry about the lower gaskets, It's just the rocker box leaking, so not going to go too crazy. There don't seem to be a lot of common leaks down low anyways.Originally Posted by 34nineteen
I would recommend doing them. No point in digging that deep to have a 10 year old gasket leak, especially since it’s an XB. If this was a sporty, I’d say to roll the dice.
My $0.02 would be to do the cylinder base gaskets as well.
Can that be done with just the engine rotated? I've been going off of general instructions thus far, but will dig into the service manual here soon.
It should be. When I did my last rotate, it was about 3-4 years ago.
Do the base gaskets. You’ll hate yourself if you get it back together and it leaks. You are 95% there anyways. On a job like this id just pull the motor entirely. It’s much easier to work on out of the bike. And with an engine rotation you are again 95% there to pull the entire thing. Very easy to do. Good luck
This ^^^^
I've never pulled engine completely, but since "mike lowary" mentioned that, I do remember thinking that when I do a rotation. I also remember when I had the forks, wheels and tail off my SS to send out for powdercoating, that pulling the frame off the engine seemed like it was only about 10 minutes away.
When you pull the rocker boxes off, if everything sticks together, you could disturb the base gasket and cause a leak. Also, if you do this, I feel the best way is the leave the piston in the cylinder. Just raise the cylinder up on the piston so you can see the wrist pin. Pull the circlip and push out the pin. Be sure to buy a new circlip and not reuse the old one.
I recently had an small oil leak at a base gasket. Due to unforeseen issues, I basically had to pulled and replaced the top end a few times.
1. Pulled top end off rear cylinder - replaced base gasket. Noticed head bolt was really loose. Upon torquing, the stud pulled from the case. Full stop. Start over
2. Pulled top end off rear cylinder - bought $125 timesert kit, and another top end gasket kit. Upon replacement the other stud pulled from the case. Full stop. Start over
3. Pulled top end off rear cylinder again - bought another top end gasket kit. Since it was apart, I was able to slide a wrench to check the head stud on the front cylinder. Yep, it spun also. Reassembled rear cylinder. All is good here.
4. Pull top end off front cylinder - install timeserts in both cylinder stud positions and reinstall.
This was all to replace a small dribble. Luckily, this was on my Sportster and everything was right there fully exposed. I cant imagine having to go through this on a XB.
I now have more Cometic decals than any person should have. LOL. Dan at NRHS was very good to work with on this.
I’m glad Dan took care of you on that. And that’s exactly how I pull my cylinders. Piston never leaves the jug
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