shim bank

I don't know if this has every come up before but I belong to a Suzuki GS site and one of the members keeps a shim bank for all the users of the forum. Has this forum ever given any thought about having a shim bank for it's members? The shims are free to users of the forum and all you have to pay for is shipping to get them to you and back to the bank. I am a member of the shim bank since I had a bunch of extras in my shim case and I took a few of the sizes I needed in exchange. I know these shims are expensive to purchase and the bank seems to work for the other site. Even users that had not sent in shims are allowed to take them out of the bank if they agree to send the ones they take out back into the bank. I know I have extra's of certain sizes and would be willing to donate them to the cause or maintain the bank for this site.

Thanks to all

 

Yup, Brad's got one in Connecticut, I've got one in NY, Len Chacal can supply anyone with brand new ones.........there's others out there, too. We got it covered, but thant for watching out for us! If the shims you have are 29mm shims, I'd accept them to put into the bank. In the xj circles we call them the 'shim pools"

PM me and I'd love to work it out with you!

Dave Fox

 

I thought shims shouldn't be reused because they might change slightly in size. I think I read it in Fitz's valvecheck writeup. I could be wrong on the place I read it though....

 

There can be a miniscule (read 'near microscopic') amount of wear. However, that variance that can be present will most likely be accounted for in the new size of shims anyway. What I mean by that is:

If you are measuring and trying to put your bike clearances to the bear minimum of the acceptable clearance, then yes, putting a slightly worn shim in can actually put you over the line into 'out of tolerance range'. BUT....if you are aiming to go to the widest side of acceptable range, you're going to absolutely fine, and you're going to get the greatest amount of mileage out of the bike before needing to swap the shims again, since you will stay in spec until the clearances decrease enough to FINALLY go past spec.

Do what you want.

Dave F

 

Dave does a GREAT job running the shim pool - easy peasy lemon easy - find out what you need, send a deposit, swap em, mail em back in the same envelope, and boom, get your deposit back.

Tis a great thing he does and makes not a penny off it and does it purely to help others.

He also just acquired a bunch of NOS yamaha shims that he sells CHEAP, only a few bucks more than the aftermarket shims from len.

I was going to go with new shims per fitz's recommendation, but in the end, could just not afford it. I figured it would be better to have my valves in spec with used shims rather than out of spec. so far all has been well and they have been clicking along happily

So go for it!

 

if you are wary of the shims wearing, just double check the thickness with a micrometer. bingo.

just dont sand them down, cause thats just sketch.

 

I will be doing my shims soon so can you give me more info on who Dave is?

 

??

Dave, (hogfiddles) , is the guy with like 17 bikes whose post is just 5 replies above. Send him a PM (private message) when you know which sizes you need and he'll be more than glad to help you out.

 

bookmarking for later

 

PM on the shimbank sent to you Dave.

 

PM'd.

DaveF