Checking my 06 valve clearances is something I will never do again.
This is the first time for the bike (6500 miles).
What took me about 10 minutes on my older XL took about 2 hours on this bike.
These are the steps to do the job:
Take off side plastics
Take off tank plastics
Take off seat
Take off tank (four tubes had to be removed).
Free up hoses/cabling over head-cover
Remove head cover bolts
Try to wiggle it out...not enough clearance.
Remove ignition coil, spark-plug
Still not enough clearance.....
Remove right fan....
Finally...head cover comes off.
Check clearance on four valves (this part takes about 2 minutes)
Put everything back together...I split two of the hoses, so had to replace.

Now the good news. Everything is in specs (although at the low end). I'll take it to the dealer in about 2-3K miles and let them make the adjustment. No way I am going through that again.

 

Ignition coil and fan removal is not needed to remove the valve cover. It does come out and go back in. It makes it easier if you pull the petcock out with the tank, just pull the one hose off of the outlet.

 

I did remove the fan for more room but not the coil. It's not nearly as bad as your making it out to be. m2c

 

My old KLR250 was pretty easy to get at but the part I liked on it was the fact that you could adjust the clearance right on the rocker. Each had a bolt with a lock nut to adjust clearance. Undo the little locknut and then adjust clearance with a screwdriver, and lock it back down.

 

Shoot, I've checked mine at least 5 times within 6000 miles on the odometer. Every time was dead on. Practice makes perfect.

 

It gets easier with practice! Just wait til you have to take the cradle out the get to the shims it is even more fun! HEHE Then you will want to put in a Bill Blue big bore kit, and on and on and on!

Dennis

 

Hey its only your time! Like someone said practice it takes me about a 1/2 hour to check and about 45 minutes for a change. If you ripped the stock fuel lines replace them with longer ones and you'll never have that problem again.

 

Good tip about the longer fuel lines. In my frustration I totally missed seeing that.
The valves checked out on the low end of scale....One of the exausts was just a hair within spec.
Any guesses as to when I need to take it in for adjustment?

Thanks

Pullin'

 

Owner's manual says 7500 miles.

 

Learn to do the adjustment. It's not that difficult and will save you $$$$$.

Ride on
Brewster