Hi All

I'm replacing the base gaskets on my 2012 990 SMT. I noticed that the intake tappet buckets on the rear cylinder are marked at the cam contact points and feel rough when I move my finger over them (see top buckets in picture below). All other buckets (including front cyl) are smooth. See top buckets in pic below:



Any ideas ?. Worth running some fine wet n dry over the marks ?.. or no point ?. Everything looks well lubricated.

Note: I use 10W50 4T Cross Power Motorex fully synth. I service bike every 6 months or 3500km (or whatever comes first). I warm the bike up to 5 bars idle every time I go to ride it. I'm the 1st owner. Bike has only done 37000km.

Picture isn't working.

Those look terrible, I wouldn't be re using them and I'd be trying to find out what's caused it. How's the cam surface?

Are the valve buckets plated on the LC8?

To my untrained eye I'd say it looks like pitting from a coating is coming off.
I'd pull those buckets and try to look at the them under a strong magnifying glass, just to see if those marks were caused by the surface flaking away or by a foreign body being pressed in.

An enlarged pic of my damaged bucket. Yes, Rich, looks like the coating is flaking off. Another SMT owner has reported the same fault at 40,000 miles.

BTW Motogoon, the dreaded circlip ordeal wasn't that bad. You (and a few other posters) made me panick a bit with your base gasket posts. So, I ordered an insertion tool from eBay which didn't work

Sent ya a pm

Hi All. Bike repaired and back together. Shakedown ride tonight. All is well. Some new rubber in a few days and I'll hit the hills http://www.ktmsmt.com/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=11853

I'm also producing a video of my repair since there doesn't appear to be any tube/vimeo videos of pulling down an LC8. This will take some time, because it's a lot of snipping video and merging with photos from phone. I'm about 20% complete. Watch this space.

J