Hi guys, Someone told me a trick for holding the push rods in the head while assembling , I have totally forgotten what he told me, any ideas please, cheers Tone.
My wife is usually called…
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Without a third hand of on…
Without a third hand of one's own an extra pair from an assistant makes it much easier when removing the head, one rod alwasy seems to slip through my oily fingers.
I just refitted my headon Saturday, the trick on re-assebly is to cut 2 short strips of plastic milk bottle, punch a hole and add a piece of string, Roll up & insert these between the pushrods, these'springs' will hold the pairs in place while you fiddle & curse the head into place. Once the pushrods are in the tubesuse the string to pull out the plastic & voila the rods will drop neatly into the cups.
I use strong elastic bands to hold the tappets onto the pushrod tops after fiddling them into place with a piecce of welding rod (run themover the head to the studs), then snug the head down..
I'm just irritated that the randomclank (which I thought might be a sticky valve)after the last rebuild (a few weeks ago)is still there 
Good Luck,
Mike
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I have a small hoist in my…
I have a small hoist in my garage which serves two purposes. Firstly it is used as a safety harness. Then I can lean the bike over to drain the oil tank or get at difficult bits under the engine/gearbox.
The second main use is to suspend the cylinder head while pushing the push rods up inside. This allows me to hold a pair of pushrods in each hand and then move the head into a reasonable alignment for bolt bashing.
I like Mike's recycling of plastic milk bottles to aid in this horrible task. Will try this out on next rebuild.
The rubber band tip does not work so well on early Dommie engines with the thinner pushrods as the rockers can move to a point where the ball ends can jump out of the cups. A good dose of grease can help as an alternative.
It always pays to triple check that the rods are 100% correctly positioned. Check by turning the engine until each pushrod cup can be seen above the rockers. Using a torch and small dental mirror helps with this.
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My wife is usually called in to assist with this hideous operation as it's much easier with an operator on each side. The commonly used trick involves four elastic bands, one looped around each rocker set and holding the pushrods as far into the head as they will go.
The clearance that Norton designed for getting the pushrods into the tunnels is far too tight for comfort and it's just one of those Commando characteristics that you come to hate. One slip and it's a bent rod and yet more cost. Been there, done it.
Last time round I assembled the whole engine/gearbox setup outside the frame and then put it in as a unit. So much easier, but only if you are having everything apart in the first place.