KTM 450/530 EXCR Valve Adjustment Guide

Courtesy of Paochow.com

Tools required: A set of quality metric 6 point sockets and ratchets (I’ve done this with just a Craftsman ¼ ratchet set and used the wheel to turn over the engine) box wrenches, allen wrenches/sockets, torque wrench (having two; low torque under 25ft/lb), oil, shim kit/access to additional shims, feeler gauge, calculator, magnet, rags, flashlight, digital camera, and beer.

Time required: First time this may take you an hour or so, especially if you have to swap shims. After you’ve done it a few times, simple valve checks take about ½ hour or less.

1. Clean your bike, Having a clean bike is easier to work on and prevents dirt from falling into the engine. I prefer to jack my bike up, but you could get by without doing so.

2. Remove the seat via one 8mm fastener located under the rear fender. Pull up hard on the seat to remove it.

3. Remove the gas tank via three 8mm fasteners, two in front on the radiator shrouds and one from under the seat. Disconnect the fuel line. Splay the shrouds to the side and lift the tank free. Disconnect the horn and place it aside or simply let it hang.

4. Clean the area under the tank to prevent dust from working into the engine.

5. Disconnect the crankcase breather tube from the head, you can either do this at the head itself or at the T junction. I used the T junction as it is more accessible.

6. Also remove the rubber tank mounts.

7. Remove the 4 10mm bolts securing the valve cover. Carefully remove the valve cover to the left side. Note: it may be necessary to turn over the engine slightly to remove the cover. To do this: Place the valve cover back into position and turn the engine over slowly with the rear wheel (6th gear), starter (ignition off) or kickstarter. Do not try to turn over the engine with the valve cover partially removed, you could break the cover.

8. Rotate the engine to TDC, this can be done several ways, either using the electric starter (ignition off), kickstart, or by putting the engine in top gear and turning the rear wheel. Make sure the ignition is off for all methods. TDC is where the exhaust lobe faces away and slightly down from the exhaust valves and the intake lobe faces away and slightly down from the intake valves. Both of the rocker arms should have a slight play to them at this position.

9. If you are really anal like me, you can use the locking bolt located down below the waterpump to determine TDC. To do so don your safety glasses as oil can spurt out. Then simply remove the bolt, turn the engine over slowly while looking through the hole with a flashlight. Eventually right after you see the intake valves drop, you will see a notch in the flywheel indicating TDC. Check to make sure the cams correspond to #9. Then remove the thick washer and then use the bolt to lock the engine in position. However since you don’t need to pull the cams to remove the shims so this step really isn’t necessary.

10. Use a feeler gauge to check the clearance for the between the rocker arm and shim on the two intake valves. Clearance should be 0.10mm-0.15mm. The feeler gauge should have a slight drag when inserting/removing on the correct measurement.

11. Use a feeler gauge to check the clearance for the between the rocker arm and shim on the two exhaust valves. Clearance should be 0.12mm-0.17mm.

12. If the clearances are in spec, you are ready to start reinstalling, so write down the clearances and skip to step 21. If not, write down your clearances and proceed.

13. Now you will remove the rocker arm of the valve that is not in spec. First stuff some rags into the cam chain opening so that nothing falls in the abyss. Then remove the 10mm fasteners on each side of the rocker arm.

14. Next remove the cap (8mm hex) on the right side of the head.

15. To slide out the rocker arm shaft, I gently threaded a M6 bolt partially into the shaft and used it to extract it.

NOTE: When removing the exhaust rocker arm shaft you may have this problem where one of the bolts can not be removed as it hits on the tank mount. This seems to be limited to the 530 models..

If you look at this picture you can see how high the bolt needs to go to clear the rocker arm shaft.

At this point you have 4 options…

1. Call the dealer.

2. Cut the bolt and replace with a shorter one.-don’t like the idea of cutting metal over an open engine or putting in a shorter bolt.

3. Start removing engine mount bolts and try to rotate the engine. I’m not sure if this will work, but it’s worth a shot.

4. Cut approx 5 mm off the tank mount (painted white in second pic), it isn’t threaded near the tip anyway. Use a spacer when reassembling.

My clearances were still in spec, and I was merely trying to determine future shim sizes, so I marked the area needed to be removed from the tank mount, and will contact the dealer prior to trying options 3 and 4.

Once this is fixed you can proceed normally.

16. Now slide the rocker arm out of the way, you will now have access to the shims. Carefully using a magnet remove one of the shims. Don’t remove both at once or you will lose track of which is right and left.

17. Using a micrometer measure the thickness of the shim.

18. Then use the following formula to calculate the new shim size. Make sure all of your calculations are in the same unit (in or mm). Put the new shim on top of the valve and reinstall the bucket.

New Shim Size=Measured Clearance – Desired Clearance + Existing Shim Size

19. Install the new shims and measure, calculate and swap the other shim if necessary. Then place the rocker arm back into position, oil the rocker arm shaft and slide into position and reinstall the two bolts and end cap. Torque the two bolts to 15 Nm and the End cap to 10 Nm.

20. Repeat 13-19 for the other set of valves/rocker arm if necessary.

21. Reinstall the valve cover and torque the four 10mm bolts to 10 Nm.

22. Don’t forget to hook up the breather hose.

23. If you used the locking bolt in step #9, make sure you remove it and reinstall it with the thick copper washer.

24. Double check your work and reinstall the tank (three 8 mm bolts) and seat (8mm bolt). Don’t forget to hook up the gas line and turn the petcock to on.

25. Go ride.

Feel free to post any comments/corrections.

11/20/07: I’ve had several emails regarding where to buy shims. The easiest is likely your local dealer, especially if you only need a shim or two. However if you need multiple shims or want to build up a mini shim bank, head down to your local Harley Davidson Dealer. The Harley Davidson V-rod and Buell 1125R both use 10mm shims, and since both are considered performance engines, the shims they use are of equal quality to those in your KTM. The shims they sell are available in half sizes which aren’t even available from KTM (i.e. 2.425mm) The best part is the price, only $2.40 a shim, less than half of what KTM charges, meaning you can make a 20 shim mini kit for only $48. Here are the part numbers for the most common shims you will need…

Part# Shim size (mm)
18666-01K 2
18624-01K 2.025
18667-01K 2.5
18625-01K 2.075
18668-01K 2.1
18626-01K 2.125
18669-01K 2.15
18627-01K 2.175
18670-01K 2.2
18628-01K 2.225
18671-01K 2.25
18629-01K 2.275
18672-01K 2.3
18630-01K 2.325
18673-01K 2.35
18631-01K 2.375
18674-01K 2.4
18632-01K 2.425
18675-01K 2.45
18638-01K 2.475
18676-01K 2.5
18639-01K 2.525
18677-01K 2.55
18655-01K 2.575
18678-01K 2.6
18656-01K 2.625
18679-01K 2.65
18657-01K 2.675
18680-01K 2.7
18658-01K 2.725
18681-01K 2.75
18659-01K 2.775
18682-01K 2.8
18692-01K 2.825
18683-01K 2.85
18693-01K 2.875
18684-01K 2.9
18694-01K 2.925
18685-01K 2.95
18695-01K 2.975
18686-01K 3