What Did You Do With Your Commando Today?

Further investigations have put my mind at rest. This shot from when I first noticed

What Did You Do With Your Commando Today?

This was before I dislodged a small piece with my fingernail which I immediately recovered.


What Did You Do With Your Commando Today?

This part clearly fills the gap in the 1st photo. Its underside is highly burnished meaning it can only fit on the left of the break. Therefore it appears I’ve recovered most of not all of the parts and I’m in agreement with Matt that tearing the engine down is therefore unnecessary. Time to order some parts me thinks, wish me luck 🤪
 
Café au Lait said:
Further investigations have put my mind at rest. This shot from when I first noticed

What Did You Do With Your Commando Today?

This was before I dislodged a small piece with my fingernail which I immediately recovered.


What Did You Do With Your Commando Today?

This part clearly fills the gap in the 1st photo. Its underside is highly burnished meaning it can only fit on the left of the break. Therefore it appears I’ve recovered most of not all of the parts and I’m in agreement with Matt that tearing the engine down is therefore unnecessary. Time to order some parts me thinks, wish me luck 🤪
Click to expand...
Good Luck . After seeing your situation , both of my mushroom adjusters are to be removed this winter . Relief .
 
Haven't had any problem with my stock adjusters in 48+ years of ownership, even running with the 2S cam, sometimes we spend a lot of money replacing things that don't need replacing with so call upgrades/improvements, anyway glad you got it before it went further through your motor, no need to pull the motor down, just keep an eye on that magnet.
 
This is what fits as standard now and I understand for some time. I expect RobbSS can confirm here.
I’m torn as to what to replace with. Obviously Matt knows what he’s doing and his point about valve longevity I get. These look clearly beefier, the mushrooms on mine look so fragile, but replacing again requires rocker removal; I’ll find out how much of a chore that is soon.
Conversely, standard tappet adjusters from RGM are a doddle to replace but unlikely will ever need to be but consequent valve replacement over time certainly isn’t.
Don’t wish to start any kind of battle here, I’ve heard both sides and fully respect both offering it and have to take my pick
 
If it were me, and the adjusters seemed to be striking nicely on the valve tip I would replace with standard. I have to say, that mushroom shoulder looks pretty feeble considering that at full deflection it’s bearing the brunt of the valve spring acting against it.

Have you run a magnet around the area? It looks as though there may be more debris?


1731670080847.webp
 
In the interest of safety I would change the oil several times - get the bike up to operating temp, listen closely for rattles and thumps, change oil and filter and repeat
 
cliffa said:
If it were me, and the adjusters seemed to be striking nicely on the valve tip I would replace with standard. I have to say, that mushroom shoulder looks pretty feeble considering that at full deflection it’s bearing the brunt of the valve spring acting against it.

Have you run a magnet around the area? It looks as though there may be more debris?


View attachment 117309
Click to expand...
Having just changed the oil is clear enough to see there is nothing else in the at least were visible. I will be able to see more with the rocker out maybe even down the PR tunnels. The piece shown was removed by magnetising an old feeler gauge as it was lodged between the spring seat and the front of the casing so no room for any extended magnet, very simple.

Yes, the strike point is nice but I recall one of the inlets was off-centre. Valve ends look great, no dimples and I’m sure Matt would say that’s because of the mushroom type used.

I agree with you, the shoulder looks unnecessarily feeble unlike the adjusters he now uses. If mushroom type had no fear of failure then it would be a no brainier; fit and forget with little to no valve tip wear for many many miles, as mine @ 12.5k demonstrates.
 
nortonmargie said:
In the interest of safety I would change the oil several times - get the bike up to operating temp, listen closely for rattles and thumps, change oil and filter and repeat
Click to expand...
Agreed but if the piece I have fits exactly in the 1st shot and that I removed the second piece immediately after it came off then I have it all. This I will check when I remove the adjuster.

I agree with Matt that only minuscule fragments could possibly have evaded detection and will likely get picked up by the sump magnets. I will therefore drop the sump oil after each ride (winter will only get weekly 10 milers to keep him happy) to see.

I could off course get totally paranoid and strip the whole thing down 🤣 🤣 🤣
 
Last edited:
Would it make sense if there was a screen or magnet mounted at the top of the tunnels somehow? If a piece of anything broke off, a screen could save swarf failure
 
BERT said:
Would it make sense if there was a screen or magnet mounted at the top of the tunnels somehow? If a piece of anything broke off, a screen could save swarf failure
Click to expand...
Probably tough to do as the pushrods would have to pass through it - a screen would also be restrictive as the tunnels are a drain/ return path for the oil being pumped to the top end .
 
This has bee
cliffa said:
If it were me, and the adjusters seemed to be striking nicely on the valve tip I would replace with standard. I have to say, that mushroom shoulder looks pretty feeble considering that at full deflection it’s bearing the brunt of the valve spring acting against it.

Have you run a magnet around the area? It looks as though there may be more debris?


View attachment 117309
Click to expand...
Post 3131

I wouldn't blame the builder.

Café au Lait said:
Further investigations have put my mind at rest. This shot from when I first noticed

What Did You Do With Your Commando Today?

This was before I dislodged a small piece with my fingernail which I immediately recovered.


What Did You Do With Your Commando Today?
Click to expand...
Café au Lait said:
Further investigations have put my mind at rest. This shot from when I first noticed

What Did You Do With Your Commando Today?

This was before I dislodged a small piece with my fingernail which I immediately recovered.


What Did You Do With Your Commando Today?

This part clearly fills the gap in the 1st photo. Its underside is highly burnished meaning it can only fit on the left of the break. Therefore it appears I’ve recovered most of not all of the parts and I’m in agreement with Matt that tearing the engine down is therefore unnecessary. Time to order some parts me thinks, wish me luck 🤪
Click to expand...
Sorry I was away for work.
This was discussed back in 2016 on these mushroom adjusters. I think they are too hard. Glass hard. IMHO.
I did not experience the mushroom foot giving way but in my experience I found that I broke off a portion of the slot for the screwdriver area. "Just Too hard".
But that being said.... my 1st rebuild these never failed at the mushroom end and I put over 80 K miles on with no breakage😬. I was using a Mega Cycle cam close to stock configuration.
But now I plan to change them out to the 06-7546/b . and using a new Combat Cam.
This old conversation was when??? All that back when I had a forum text with Comnoz ....way back when. 9 years....
Post 3130 has the link.
YMMV
 
Last edited:
I picked up Norton from mechanic (needed to helicoil stripped stud hole in head) and rode home- he lives on a nice country road. Sunny but cool. Roads were dry. Traffic was not too bad. Norton ran fine. When I was unlocking the garage with bike idling in driveway, I noticed a little smoke coming from exhaust nuts. Rode bike into garage , turned off, put on center stand, checked oil and got out the exhaust nut wrench and a copper mallet (handy tool for smaller people) Left exhaust nut took about an eighth turn, right nut only an inch or so of play. 22 miles. Happiness is a smoothly running Norton
 
Happiness is a smooth running Norton and nothing needed to be tighten up or done after the ride lol, well for any bike for that matter, well that's my way of thinking, been a long time since anything has needed tightening on my 850 from any ride and its hard mounted, but I always lube the chain if needed after I get home from a ride while the chain is still warm, soaks up the lube better.
An old riding mate of mine is arranging an only kick start bike ride next month, its been a regular ride once a year but the rules have changed and if non kick start bikes turn up they have to have a kick start lever in their pocket or somewhere on the bike, not sure why they included that rule, maybe us old school riders are a dying breed and everyone turning to thumb start, how things have changed, but a lot of my old riding mates still have older British bikes without ES buttons.
Anyway a good excuse to get everyone together before Xmas.

Ashley
 
jan nelder said:
I read elsewhere that removing rocker spindles and replacing with 4mm rod or similar allows mushroom removal /swap more simply, without rockers having to be removed.
Click to expand...
Jan, I think you are referring to Ludwig’s very good method mentioned here…

Tornado

Post in thread 'Replacing Valve Stem Seals (in situ) Pitfalls?'

There are a few older threads on this procedure. Ludwig's write up and tool cobbling guide for in situ seal replacement:

I used his homemade compressor but went with the "rope trick" method to hold the valves up, not his sparkplug hole-holder.
  • Like

@Café au Lait if you are doing the replacement yourself, be sure to heat the head before pulling the rocker spindles, and also pay particular attention to the orientation of the spindles when reinstalling them.
 
cliffa said:
Jan, I think you are referring to Ludwig’s very good method mentioned here…

Tornado

Post in thread 'Replacing Valve Stem Seals (in situ) Pitfalls?'

There are a few older threads on this procedure. Ludwig's write up and tool cobbling guide for in situ seal replacement:

I used his homemade compressor but went with the "rope trick" method to hold the valves up, not his sparkplug hole-holder.
  • Like

@Café au Lait if you are doing the replacement yourself, be sure to heat the head before pulling the rocker spindles, and also pay particular attention to the orientation of the spindles when reinstalling them.
Click to expand...
ie which direction the holes face, of course.
 
Drove downtown and back , noticing the occasional pop sound from the right side exhaust . As I pulled into my street the bike suddenly stumbled and ran poorly . Removed the exhaust pipe to find the flared pipe tip fractured all around . Lots of carbon . The new J.S. flat floor insert was fine and remained where it should in proper position . New pipes soon , only sold in pairs if I recall . MK 111 .
 
cliffa said:
Jan, I think you are referring to Ludwig’s very good method mentioned here…

Tornado

Post in thread 'Replacing Valve Stem Seals (in situ) Pitfalls?'

There are a few older threads on this procedure. Ludwig's write up and tool cobbling guide for in situ seal replacement:

I used his homemade compressor but went with the "rope trick" method to hold the valves up, not his sparkplug hole-holder.
  • Like

@Café au Lait if you are doing the replacement yourself, be sure to heat the head before pulling the rocker spindles, and also pay particular attention to the orientation of the spindles when reinstalling them.
Click to expand...
Yes it’s my intention to do this myself. I’ve watched numerous videos on this job, both removal and reinstalling and Matt said he’ll send me a step by step procedural guide too.
In readiness I’ve ordered the removal tool, a spindle alignment tool and a blowtorch. It will be interesting if Matt suggests a method that allows removal of the adjusters without removing the rocker, Thackeray & plain washers. I can picture how that works and will likely save the fiddle of replacing the Thackeray in particular.
 
Last edited:

Similar threads

Schwany
What did you do with your P11 today. he he
2 3
Replies
45
Views
1,367
Schwany
Schwany
Shelby-Right
What did you do with your Triumph today .
Replies
10
Views
623
Matt Spencer
M
CanukNortonNut
  • Locked
Ok what are you getting for mileage with your commando.
2 3 4 5
Replies
93
Views
8,751
CanukNortonNut
CanukNortonNut
V
What did you do to your Norton today?
2 3 4
Replies
67
Views
5,529
Richard Tool
Richard Tool
Back
Top