Topic: CB550F - rocker arm shaft removal?

[altaic]

Hi all,
I'm in the process of making a snazzy cafe racer out of a '77 CB550F, currently stripping the engine down for cleaning and inspection. But I'm currently stuck... well, the rocker arm shafts are stuck.

The Honda shop manual only says, "Screw a 6 mm bolt into the rocker arm shaft and remove the rocker arm shaft from the cylinder head cover," as if the rocker arm shaft just pops out when you screw that bolt in (this is patently false). I have tried many forms of tugging and tapping to no avail (even tried using a socket and the bolt to gently pull the shaft out), and I'm leery to use a lot of force when I don't know the design of this shaft.

I noticed, however, the manual makes no mention of the four studs that go through the cylinder head cover at the end of each rocker arm. The studs appear to be cut away on one side to hug the shafts, however they also do not move with any sort of tugging and tapping. I also noticed that the threaded ends of the shafts have a slit that looks like it might be for a screwdriver (also not mentioned in the manual), but I suspect they may be just for shaft positioning or something since the positions are symmetrical.

Anyhow, I have a Clymer manual coming in a few days, but I was hoping someone here would help me out in the meantime. Anyone know how to get these damned things out without damaging anything?

Cheers,
altaic

[bryanj]

Those "studs" should have a nut and washer on them to tighten them in, having removed those just tap them downwards carefully same as the cotter pin that holds the pedals on a pushbike.

You will then be able to remove the shafts with the 6mm bolt.

This was a mod from Honda on late 550's to stop the shafts rotating and wearing the cam cover holes

[MRieck]

 I've use a shop press to remove those 4 wedges. They require a fair amount of force to remove them

[altaic]

Awesome, thanks for the replies. I was thinking of threading on a long nut and using an arbor press to push them out. Maybe hit the cover with a heat gun or torch? I'm planning on sandblasting it later, so I don't care about the paint.