Hey guys, I am new to the forum but was just wondering if anyone could walk me through changing the rocker box gaskets, or if anyone knows of any write ups anyone has done on here about changing them. It doesnt seem as if it is all too difficult, but I dont want to get into it and be lost.

Also, my sportster is leaking oil down behind the oil tank down onto the swingarm....anyone have any ideas on what to begin checking? Thanks!

 

Well do you see oil comming from the rocker or on the cylinder head?? Since you said it's dripping behind the tank onto the swingarm, your leak may be at the oil tank. If its from the rocker youll definately see some oil residue on the rockers and head. So anyhow for the rocker removal........unbolt top cover and slide off, then take off middle rocker spacer, if you do both rockers at the same time......make sure you don't mix up the middle rocker spacers as they each have an umbrella valve which needs to be on the intake side of the rocker box. Then remove your spark plugs to releive compression and put the bike in 5th gear, then for the rocker your working on, roll the bike till you see both valves closed, then you can unbolt the lower rocker. With the lower rocker unbolted, wiggle it around a little so you can grab the pushrods and pull those out(keep track of which pushrod is which, the intake and exhaust are different, and they're marked with 2 and 3 stripes that are brown and red if I remember). Then with the pushrods out of the way you can slide the lower rocker cover out. From there use a razorblade to carefully clean the gasket surfaces......then put everything back together in reverse order. Then for the new gaskets,....the most important one is the lower rocker to head gasket which is the most likely gasket to fail, the new one should be metalic with rubber coating, so make sure they don't give you a fiber gasket. The upper gaskets are all soft rubber, and ussually you just reuse the old ones as they normally aren't the problem, although new ones aren't that expensive. And if you don't wrench that much, i'd recomend using a torque wrench for atleast the lower rocker, i don't have my manual with me right now, but just ask if you need torque specs. Also when you put everything back together, be carefull to make sure the gaskets stay in place as you tighten things back up.....sometimes the upper gaskets which are soft rubber tend to jump out of the grooves a little if your not paying attention. So that's just the basics of removal, if you have any questions just ask, and we can give you more detailed answers.

 

Alright very good. I am going to try to do the rocker gaskets at one point this week...and yes, I have a leak dripping down on the head...but it seems to be coming from right out of the rocker box cover and dripping down the front left corner of the front rocker box, and down onto the ground. I also have a leak coming down dripping from behind the oil tank I believe.

And yes, torque specs would be good. Thanks!

 

Drum, those directions are for going all the way down to the head gasket, which if he's going that far down, he'll need to replace the base gasket.
He should be able to leave the bottom portion of the three rockers on and just replace the four rubber gaskets above that bottom plate leaving the pushrods in place too.

As for the oil on the swingarm, it probably leaked out of the oil tank vent/over flow tube. I had that happen one time a couple years ago but never really figured out why it happened. I just cleaned it up and it hasn't happened since.

 

Am I the only one that thinks spending $60.00 for a Service Manual is the intelligent thing to do if you're planning on working on the motor?

 

No, you're not the only one. I bought one after my local Indy got tired of me borrowing his.

 

I think thats a bit deeper than he needs/wants to go.

And dsturch1, Buy a friggin manual jsut in case some one gives you the wrong advice.

 

Hell no, The first mod for everything I own with a motor was a Service Manual.

 

My directions only deal with complete rocker removal....this DOES NOT remove the cylinder head, therefor you don't need to change a head and base gasket. The lowest gasket worked on is the lower rocker to head gasket.......this is not removing the engine head. And he didn't say where exactly his leak was on the rocker, so i gave complete rocker removal instructions.....and like I said earlier....the lower rocker to head gasket is one of the most likely gaskets to fail out of the set. But I'm sure he'd have enough common sense to not go any further than he needed to go if his leak happened to be on the upper rocker portion.

Anyhow for torque specs on the rockers, 1/4 bolts are 10-13 ft-lbs, 5/16 bolts are 15-18 ft-lbs. And use a kriss-kross tightning sequence....first just seat all bolts hand tight, then torque to proper values in sequence.

 

You need a service manual and if you aren't mechanically inclined don't do it, the valve cover on the rear cylinder is a real stinker to get on and off, you have to turn just right to get it out and back in, I have done it many times and I cuss it everytime I have to do it.