gasgasman is right. My 07 gasser has the threads but no nut. my 01 and 99 gassers did not have the treads.

I saw this thread this morning and this is what I came up with to take up the extra 'slack' in the mechanism. I only took off the powervalve cover, and didn't fool with taking the transmission cover off.

I made this from a small spring I got for $.50 at the local hardware store. I cut a small notch into the powervalve shaft with a Dremel. I then looped the end of the spring around the allen bolt. The spring tension itself is very light and only keeps the shaft from flapping around. Hopefully it won't delay the valve opening by much if at all.

I will report back in a few hours after a test run.

Test ride done: It was ok......

It delayed the hit a little longer then it hit harder.

The powervalve was quieter.

The spring popped off toward the end of the ride.

If I need to JB weld it into the slot for the day in the trails to make a full determination.

That's interesting. Maybe it might be easier to do something similar on the RH side - more bits to attach a spring to... you've got me thinking now!

On a second note, anyone realize that the bearings in there are interchangeable with rollerblade and skateboard bearings? :D

That is not the same thing at all as far as removing free play. You adjust the free play out as discussed, and then play with PV shims if desired. What you did is what the Trusty PV cover does, in one direction.

Just to be clear, if someone wanted to adjust shims and free play, they would need to drain the coolant, remove the pipe, take off the water pump, clutch and transmission covers correct?

Yes, you have to remove the primary side cover, but if your actuator plate is on the stop with the engine off then there is no need. If the plate is off the stop, there can be excessive movement and rattle, and in severe cases a softer low end as the PV is open slightly. My '03 was way off like this, but it is rare.

OK< as of this morning, I looked at both sides after taking the pipe off. On the right side where the hook/arm comes up and works the valve, there was a little triangle piece that was next to an allen bolt stop.

The valve was not resting on it, but was hovering about 4mm away from it. I could look into the exhaust port and by working the mechanism a little I could get the valve to move further toward the piston and the triangle piece to hit the allen. If I let go, it opened back up again.

So you would recommend me take the case cover off and shim this up so it stays closed? I do have a noticeable rattle in the lower range when accelerating slowly.

That is exactly what I'm referring to, and you can correct it with the adjustment. Its an adjustment of the arm in the mechanism on the shaft via a setscrew, not a "shimming". The "triangle piece" is the actuator plate.