Valve Spring Failure

[FLSTFIDave]

Was just cruising along at 50 mph on Long Island 850 or so miles from home, and heard metallic racket and engine died.  Coasted to side of road.  Cant rent a truck out of NY one way with out 3 weeks notice and 2800 dollars one way.  Used friends truck to get her home.

I have 28,155 miles on this build.  Its a 130".  At any rate the root cause was a exhaust valve spring failure on the rear cylinder.  Spring was a very clean break, no missing pieces or chips.  Valve smacked piston several times, then bent.  Guess it could have been a lot worse.

[Fugawee]

Ouch...that sucks.
$2800.00 for a one way truck rental is nuts.  Many years back My Bike blew an engine up on I-95 in North Carolina.  I had to rent a U-haul cube van one way to get it back to CT.  At the time it was around $400.00, which I thought was outrageous at the time.  The U-haul rental place gave Me the "cream of the crop" cube van.  The real "pride of the fleet".  They couldn't wait to get that POS off of their lot.  The exhaust system from the muffler back, fell off in Virginia.  Had to go to another U-haul place and get it fixed.  More time wasted.  Then, just after the Delaware Memorial Bridge in New Jersey...I had no brakes.  Nice.  I had to wait for a Tow Truck in a rest area on the New Jersey Turnpike to bring it to another U-haul place.  A little more time wasted.  I wasn't real happy about the tow with a "hook", because of My Bike strapped down in the van, now on an angle.  No discount given for the inconvenience.  They sent Me a survey about My experience...use Your imagination about how that got filled out.  It may have been a blessing in disguise that You weren't able to rent one.  At least You had a Friends truck to use.
Good Luck with the repairs.     

[VDeuce]

Wow, sorry to hear that. Any idea what valve springs they are? AV&V?

I'm also running beehive's in my M8 124 and that doesn't give me the warm and fuzzies...

So for repair, are you going to check the rod out? Replace the piston?

[Rodman]

Times like this makes me thinks 2 springs might not be bad....
Hope the piston took the hit and not the con rod!

[Don D]

What bends first, a .236 valve stem or a con rod? Anything is possible but I doubt it. Eyes on the ball

[Rodman]

Valve stem for sure....
Just hopin for his sake those piston hits were absorbed by the piston and the valve. Seeing the valve still in the guide and not broke off is very promising to say the least.....looks like the piston beat it up out of the way.

[FLSTFIDave]

Seriously doubt rod could be bent.  Marks in piston are very light, and not at all deep.  Really believe damage at was limited to valve and heads.  Everything moves freely and is tight.

Springs were not AV&V, i believe they were Manley.

[VDeuce]

Seriously doubt rod could be bent.  Marks in piston are very light, and not at all deep.  Really believe damage at was limited to valve and heads.  Everything moves freely and is tight.

Springs were not AV&V, i believe they were Manley.

Here's hoping you get it back together soon and running great! 

[OldMike]

A bit of bad luck but now maybe a chance to try some new things.

[joes124]

which cam/what lift?

[FLSTFIDave]

A bit of bad luck but now maybe a chance to try some new things.

Going back with same build, was a good stout motor, and I like the torque delivery.  Biggest change is the valve springs, going with Kibblewhite with titanium high lift ovate springs

which cam/what lift?

CR482, designed to work with stock springs per Wes.
intake   482       
ex.       480     

[HogMike]

A bit of bad luck but now maybe a chance to try some new things.

Going back with same build, was a good stout motor, and I like the torque delivery.  Biggest change is the valve springs, going with Kibblewhite with titanium high lift ovate springs

which cam/what lift?

CR482, designed to work with stock springs per Wes.
intake   482       
ex.       480     

Sound like a good plan!

I went with Fueling springs, lifters, FM pushrods TTS 200 cam, stock heads on advice from my engine guy here.
I like the power delivery, ease of overall manners of the engine for my type of riding (long rides).

I'll be interested to see how the bike responds with my gear ratio changes next week!

[Deye76]

A bit of bad luck but now maybe a chance to try some new things.

Going back with same build, was a good stout motor, and I like the torque delivery.  Biggest change is the valve springs, going with Kibblewhite with titanium high lift ovate springs

bet you'll be golden now Dave.
which cam/what lift?

CR482, designed to work with stock springs per Wes.
intake   482       
ex.       480     

[FLSTFIDave]

Busy day yesterday working with a good friend.  Heads on, valve-train adjusted, intake manifold back on, exhaust back on.  New plugs and plug wires, except the left front plug wire, only part that has not come in yet. Once its in, tank and seat go on and she is ready to go.

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[Deye76]

Know you can't wait fire it up. 

[FLSTFIDave]

Got the left front plug wire yesterday.  Took just about an hour to finish putting her together.  Fired right up.  Took a minute for lifter to pump up.  Rode her 62 miles yesterday.  Ran great, just like before the valve spring failure.  Hopefully I get much more than 28,000 miles before next issue