Chaharly Posted August 27, 2014 #1 Posted August 27, 2014 Hey there guys! I have a 99 Royal Star Venture with 29000 miles on it. When i bought it last year with 20k miles I replaced clutch fluid, brake fluid, spark plugs fuel filter and engine coolant. Now I'm wondering since I've hit 30K and the bike is so old what are some things i can do for this milestone. Are there any chassis bearings i need to grease? What about specs and tolerances that i may be able to check. Any info would be great! I guess what I'd like to do is get a maintenance checklist put together of everything i can grease or adjust or fiddle with. Thanks guys!
bongobobny Posted August 27, 2014 #2 Posted August 27, 2014 Hi CJ, glad to see you posting! Well, the answer to your question depends on just how much money you want to spend! As far as the engine goes, pretty much nothing more than an oil change and new plugs, and a carb tune. Unless the bike is hard starting I would not worry about a valve adjustment yet. These engines are pretty much bullet proof and last a long time, like 10 times what you have on it already. Due to the age, you may want to consider replacing the front springs and flush the shock oil and replace. The same goes for brake and clutch fluid, something that should be done every 4 - 5 years anyway. Same applies to the engine coolant. Inspect your rear shock for leakage and replace the shock if it is leaking. Grease the splines on the driveshaft. Due to age only you may want to consider replacing all wheel bearings, swing arm bearings and neck bearings as with age grease tends to turn into glue. Inspect vacuum lines and replace any that are hard and brittle. Same goes for coolant hoses. Other than that just ride the puppy and take care of problems if and when they come up...
Chaharly Posted August 27, 2014 Author #3 Posted August 27, 2014 Hi CJ, glad to see you posting! Well, the answer to your question depends on just how much money you want to spend! As far as the engine goes, pretty much nothing more than an oil change and new plugs, and a carb tune. Unless the bike is hard starting I would not worry about a valve adjustment yet. These engines are pretty much bullet proof and last a long time, like 10 times what you have on it already. Due to the age, you may want to consider replacing the front springs and flush the shock oil and replace. The same goes for brake and clutch fluid, something that should be done every 4 - 5 years anyway. Same applies to the engine coolant. Inspect your rear shock for leakage and replace the shock if it is leaking. Grease the splines on the driveshaft. Due to age only you may want to consider replacing all wheel bearings, swing arm bearings and neck bearings as with age grease tends to turn into glue. Inspect vacuum lines and replace any that are hard and brittle. Same goes for coolant hoses. Other than that just ride the puppy and take care of problems if and when they come up... Awesome! I was thinking about replacing the bearings anyways because of the age. I had the carbs synced last year and my mechanic told me that it was running great. So it sounds like at 30K its just basic stuff. Which is awesome! I need to get it on my pop's bike lift and just spend some time with her. Where would you suggest getting the bearings?
Chaharly Posted August 27, 2014 Author #5 Posted August 27, 2014 no mention of drive shaft oil???? Ahh youre right! I replaced that last year too!
V7Goose Posted August 27, 2014 #6 Posted August 27, 2014 I'm gonna advise things very different - first of all, your best guide is the service schedule in the owner's manual. That said, here is an important change to it - the manual for those old bikes specified an extra long oil change interval - DOUBLE what the newer 2nd gens call for - although the engine did not change, the spec was cut in half in either 2004 or 2005. I cannot remember if the current spec is 3,000 or 5,000 (and I'm too lazy to go look it up right now), but make sure you follow the oil change spec for 2005 or later RSVs. Next, the valve check/adjust was due at 27,000 miles - you are due, and I personally think it is very important to have this checked. Unfortunately, that job is pretty expensive (typically $500 or more at a dealer). Lots of information about this in older threads. I doubt if you need to think about replacing swingarm or wheel bearings, but you absolutely DO need to do the swingarm bearing adjustment. Steering head bearings are a different issue - I'd bet big $$ that they are very loose, and at 30,000 miles, probably damaged if they are. Unfortunately, greasing these bearings is also a very big job, so I ordinarily recommend the quick adjustment we have defined here on the site and see if there is still any play in the bearings when you rock the bottom of the forks. But with the age of your bike and the amount of time it has sat, I'd recommend you juts plan on doing the full job to grease the bearings, and be prepared to replace them if needed. Still, the only way you will know if they need replacement is to properly adjust them (using either the "swing" test or the correct torque value, and then carefully feel for play in the bearings by push/pull on the bottom of the forks (as described in the service manual). Again, lots of info on this in older threads. You MUST replace the rotted vacuum caps on the intake nipples and carefully inspect the two vacuum hoses for cracks. I also strongly advise you pull the carbs and properly clean them and adjust the float levels - if that has never been done, they are set very high from the factory. And with the amount of sitting that b ike ahs done, I wouldn't trust those carbs without a proper cleaning, no matter how good you think it may be running now. For the same reason, pull the petcock and fully drain the tank to look for water and rust sediment. Make sure you replace the fuel filter. Your brake and clutch fluid is WAY past time for replacement - this is NOT optional. In addition, if the rear pads have not been changed, yolu probably already have disc damage there - again also see older threads here for all the info. There are probably a hundred other things I would go through if you had the bike here, but those are the things that first come to mind. Good luck, Goose
Chaharly Posted August 30, 2014 Author #7 Posted August 30, 2014 Thank you for the info. I think I'm going to do the valve adjustment myself. Which means i'll be doing research a-plenty. I want to replace my front wheel bearing because for whatever reason my dad thought it was loose and tightened it without a torque-spec. It squeaks now at slow speeds and I think I'm just going to buy all new bearings and spoil my girl. And honestly anything else you can think of will really help. I really want to make her sing!
V7Goose Posted August 30, 2014 #8 Posted August 30, 2014 There is no way to tighten the wheel bearings, so I do not understand your post. It is very common for the front brake pads on this bike to make noise at low speed after a lot of light use - generally that clears right up after you get up to decent speed and use the front brake good. Goose
Chaharly Posted August 30, 2014 Author #9 Posted August 30, 2014 There is no way to tighten the wheel bearings, so I do not understand your post. It is very common for the front brake pads on this bike to make noise at low speed after a lot of light use - generally that clears right up after you get up to decent speed and use the front brake good. Goose This was awhile ago, maybe it was no big deal. I'll look tomorrow before i go to work and try to figure out what the heck he tightened lol
djh3 Posted August 30, 2014 #10 Posted August 30, 2014 I think the spec on oil change for my 09 is 4k. Valves are a big job, but if your going to do it yourself you can save some coin. Skydoc I think has a kit to loan out if you get gaskets off him. Also flyinfool is making the special tool.
Venturous Posted August 30, 2014 #11 Posted August 30, 2014 FWIW. I recently did my valves for first time at about 105,000. All the intake valves were within in spec and a few exhaust valves were out by 0.02 or less. Not sure I would say valve adjust is really necessary at 30k... but YMMV
Venturous Posted August 30, 2014 #12 Posted August 30, 2014 Maybe he simply tightened the axle bolt to spec? Which... in a way would kind of adjust pressure on the bearings.
Chaharly Posted August 31, 2014 Author #13 Posted August 31, 2014 Maybe he simply tightened the axle bolt to spec? Which... in a way would kind of adjust pressure on the bearings. It was the axle bolt but he overtightened it
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