That Annoying Tick-Tick Sound
Alright, so this tick-tick noise coming from my Triumph Tiger 800 was driving me crazy. Sounded like tiny little hammers tapping away somewhere deep inside the engine, especially when the bike was warmed up. Ignoring it wasn’t working anymore.
First thing I did? Grabbed my basic toolkit. Popped the seat off – easy enough, just two bolts. Had a proper look around the top end. Listened real close with one of those mechanic’s stethoscopes, the long screwdriver kind, pressing it against different spots on the cylinder head. Yeah, the noise was definitely loudest right over the cam cover on the front cylinder. Sounded like a little drummer living in there.
Time to Get Stuck In
Knew this meant getting my hands dirty. Drained the engine oil first, put a clean pan underneath. Didn’t want oil everywhere later. Then, started stripping things off that front cylinder head:
- Yanked off the big rubber intake thing blocking access.
- Undid all those little bolts holding the plastic cam cover on. Had to be careful not to strip the heads.
Lifting the cam cover off is always a bit nerve-wracking. Don’t wanna scratch anything. Inside, everything looks shiny, greasy, normal. But here’s the thing: grabbed hold of one of the rocker arms. It wiggled way too much! Like, side-to-side loose, not just up-and-down like it should move when the cam pushes it. Ah-ha! Found the noisy bugger.
The Fix Involves Little Biscuits
Turns out Triumph uses these little metal biscuits underneath the rocker arms to set how much they can wiggle sideways. They call it an ‘axial clearance’, basically just how much sideways wobble is okay. Too much wobble = tick-tick-tick noise. My wobble was way too much.
Now, fixing the wobble involves replacing these biscuits. It’s fiddly work:
- Had to gently lever the camshafts up just enough to slide each old biscuit out. Terrified I’d drop something tiny into the engine!
- Measured the gap with feeler gauges. Mine needed biscuits a whole 0.4mm thicker – quite a jump. Guessing wear over miles just ate away at them.
- Slid the nice, new, thicker biscuits back into place under the rockers.
- Carefully eased the cams back down onto them.
Checked the wiggle again. Perfect! Nice and snug, just a tiny bit of free play. Bolted the cam cover back down tight with a fresh gasket.
Buttoning It Up & The Sweet Sound of Silence
Fitted the intake snorkel thing back on. Filled her back up with fresh oil – good synthetic stuff. Started her up… held my breath.
She cranked over easy. Idled smooth. And the noise? Gone! Just that lovely Tiger thrum. No more tick-tick-tick. Took her for a proper ride, got the engine nice and hot. Pushed it hard up some hills. Listened intently at every stoplight.
Nothin’. Pure silence from the top end. Felt awesome knowing I’d nailed it. Replaced a noisy, probably annoying part with just some patience, basic tools, and those little biscuits. Rode home with a big grin. Tiger purring like a kitten again.
