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Gearhead

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Everything posted by Gearhead

  1. Gearhead
    Yup, I follow the spec. Jeremy
  2. Gearhead
    I have a question about stator load. In systems like ours where the magnet is permanent, doesn't the stator always put out the max that it can, and the regulator dump the excess to ground? If so, then does heavily loading the electrical system really make any difference to the stator? Jeremy
  3. Gearhead
    Squidley, I'm sure this info is out there but I couldn't find it just now. What kind of rear tire blew out on your bike? How old was it, and did it just shred? Jeremy
  4. Gearhead
    The key info is the tach dropping to zero while the engine is still running - it's electrical. I'd bet dollars to donuts it's in the wiring from the pickup coils to the TCI, or in the TCI itself. As Don said, water exacerbates those problems. It's happened to me twice, two different bikes, both water-induced. On the Virago there was bad insulation on the wires coming out of the LH case cover. On the Venture it was corrosion on the TCI connectors under the battery. Jeremy
  5. Gearhead
    I'm not sure if you're saying you accidentally leave the lights on when parked or if it just runs down due to insufficient charging in city stop-and-go driving. If it's the former, the relay is your answer. Run the main power to the relay right off the battery, thru a fuse or circuit breaker. Then trigger the relay off the ACC fuse. Better yet, trigger the relay off the headlight. That way your extra lights will shut off when you hit the start button, like the headlight does. The trigger wire can also go thru your toggle switch. If your problem is the latter mentioned above, that's trickier. Check out the charging system, certainly. All connections on these old bikes are suspect. Just a little corrosion can cause significant voltage drops which hurt charging performance. Even when everything is hunky-dory, these bikes don't have huge charging capacity. I have a pair of 55W driving lights. With those on and with steady driving I am OK. But add the 3-amp draw of my heated grips and I am marginal, even in steady driving. City driving will catch up to me with just the driving lights, resulting in push-starting the beast. I need to install 35W bulbs in my driving lights to reduce the load. Jeremy
  6. Gearhead
    Mine has it, old-style (beefy) Superbrace did not help. Jeremy
  7. Gearhead
    I'd like to add that since they are right under the battery, they are susceptible to acid getting on the connectors, causing corrosion and poor contact. That happened with mine. As long as everything is in order, the battery tray is sound with it's drain connected, that should not happen, but you know, stuff happens. Installing an AGM battery should end this problem. Jeremy
  8. Gearhead
    So I did the brush-plate-ground-wire mod. It's pretty much how I envisioned it, as I described above. Here are a few specifics. There is plenty of room in the end cap. Both brushes fit in one "hemisphere" (misused, but the best I can think of), so the other is just free space between the commutator and the cap. My ground wire is around 2" long, 12 ga, ring terminals soldered each end. One end is under the existing screw that secures the ground brush lead (the brush that is not isolated from the plate). The wire then goes maybe 120 degrees around thru the empty space to a screw I put in the end cap. I drilled and tapped for 6-32 and installed with Loctite a 1/2" long screw from the outside. The ring terminal goes on the protruding end inside, with a lock washer and nut, also with Loctite. I made the wire go as far around the circumference as possible to allow some extra wire length while installing the wire in the cap and the cap onto the starter. I did notice that the 3 bent ground tabs weren't bent up very far for firm contact, and the mating surfaces were pitted. I cleaned them up and bent them more for better grounding that way as well. This is the most promising opportunity for improvement I've seen so far, thanks Squeeze! I'm also resoldering the ends of the batt cables and supplementing my ground wires. I got the t-stat changed out. As some noted, the new one does not have a jiggle valve, which I think is just a one-way air bleed to prevent entrapped air. The new one instead has a tiny indentation in the sealing surface of the moving element. In other words, a tiny leak. I'm assuming it's for the same purpose. Still on the centerstand, though. I'm installing zerks in the rear suspension linkage, changing out some of the bushings, have to finish with the rear wheel bearing...it never ends! Jeremy
  9. Gearhead
    I just mounted my starter before Squeeze's excellent suggestion, but haven't put anything else on like the t-stat, so I can pull it back off easily and do the wire. The brush plate is the main ground path for the starter, from there to the end cap (thru the bent tabs) to the engine case thru the mounting bolts. I wish there were a pic of the actual wire inside, but I visualize a short piece of 12 ga wire with a ring terminal on each end, one under a screw in the brush plate and the other under a screw in the end cap, and tucked into the end of the cap upon assembly. I'll also put a little extra bend in the tabs and clean up their points of contact. I'm about to go out to the garage and tackle it, so I'll let you know how it goes. As for the t-stat, my problem was not getting the cover and it's o-ring out (I did order new ones, BTW), but getting the t-stat itself out of the housing as it sits in a rubber gasket or holder. Jeremy
  10. Gearhead
    I was just considering the parts I have and looked again at the pic posted here http://www.venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?t=26657&highlight=jeremy by okscooter. The assembled pic on the right shows the seal driven into the bore where the needle bearing goes. Is that right? In which case, my needle bearing is not driven in far enough because it's pretty near the top of the bore. Can the needle bearing work its way out of there, or is that due to a PO not installing it properly? Do the parts go in as shown on the left, with the Collar inserted big-end first? That's really all that makes sense given the assembled pic. Thanks, Jeremy
  11. Gearhead
    If you use Loctite, make sure it's the right kind as they make an adhesive for everything. I just had a bearing - seal guy make me an o-ring for the water pump cover as he didn't have the right size. He took a larger one, cut some out, and used some Loctite product (404 maybe) to glue the ends together. After about 30 seconds curing with me going, "Is that gonna hold?", he pulled, stretched, and deformed that ring, with no problem in the bond. He said it will break elsewhere before the bond breaks. Jeremy
  12. Gearhead
    Hi Y'all, I'm changing my rear tire and have some questions. I've done the tire once before on this bike but don't remember noticing these things before. First, the grease between the wheel and final drive spline is NASTY. Now, I'm sure I put some fresh grease in there last time, but I must not have bothered to clean the old stuff out. Now it all looks like old stuff. That doesn't happen on my Virago - it always comes apart looking pretty good in there. What is your experience? Next, there is an oil seal in there in a strange place that's not in the parts diagram, and I think a PO fitted it. It's a standard, spring-backed double-lipped seal. If you have the wheel off and look into the female spline in the final drive (from the RH side), in the center there is a collar that protrudes 1/4" or so, maybe 3/4" in diameter. It's stationary (doesn't turn) and the axle comes thru it. The seal is fitted onto that collar. There is no bore for the OD of the seal to fit into. It appears the part of the rear wheel that houses the needle bearing sandwiches the seal against the backside of that female spline bore so that the seal turns with the wheel, and the seal surface rides on the stationary collar. What this would do (if it actually seals) is separate the grease in the needle bearing from the nasty grease in the spline area, which could be a good thing. Anybody else seen this in their bike? Finally, I pulled the final drive to lube the spline ends of the driveshaft. As in my Virago, it came out with the driveshaft attached. The manual shows the driveshaft staying in the swingarm, and pulling it separately. It also shows greasing both ends. Since mine is assembled, I can only see the forward end splines. What's up with that? Thanks in advance for your suggestions, and for bearing with my long post. Jeremy
  13. Gearhead
    It'll be on one end or the other. The plug wires might have tags on them. That doesn't affect the carb sync, though. Find the one the the throttle cable goes to, and it should have the idle speed thumbscrew. The other 3 sync to that. As you sync, move outward from that carb. It will probably be in the middle, so "outward" will mean one carb in one direction and two carbs in the other. There will be a little screw in the linkage between each adjacent pair, and that screw opens or closes the next one relative to the first one. I hope that makes sense. Usually the screw has a spring on it to keep it from turning randomly, but I've seen them with lock nuts as well on an old Wing. Do you have a gage? Connect the 4 hoses to vacuum ports on either carb near the mounting stub or on the mounting stub itself. On some carbs you have to remove a plug screw from the carb and install temporary ports. Start and idle the engine; I like to set it at a fast idle, mabe 1200 rpm. Ajust the linkages to bring all the vacuums the same within an inch or so. If the vacuum on a carb is too high, it needs to be opened more and vice versa. Make your final adjustments with the engine warm, and re-adjust the idle as you go. Does this make sense? If you were in Tucson you could come on over! Jeremy
  14. Gearhead
    OK
  15. Gearhead
    FWIW, it used to work for me, probably before the server changes. Don, you probably already know this. Thanks to you for the continued work on this forum! Jeremy
  16. Gearhead
    I finally pulled the thermostat housing and starter off my VR. My starter drags when hot, so I wanted to clean out the brushes, etc. Plus, I had a SLIGHT coolant leak out of one end of the elbow. I can't say it was a fun job. I realized the RH head pipe was in my way so I tried to remove it; couldn't get it out of the collector, but it did move forward enough to work around it. Well, you know how these things go. But nothing got broken, I have some factory parts in shipping and matched up all the o-rings at a bearing shop. I just bought a NAPA 156 T-stat as recommended by y'all. Mine was working OK, but while I'm in there... Somebody (forget who) said to be sure to ask for the "heavy duty" version. I did and the guy tried a couple ways of cross-referencing it, but it ended up that the number 156 only refers to one t-stat - there is no heavy duty. Did most of you just get the plain ol' 156? Also, I can't get it out of the housing - the rubber gasket is stuck pretty tight in there. Any suggestions? The starter has a bearing in the back by the brushes. Does it come off the shaft for cleaning and lubing? It's not really that dirty in the starter, I don't think cleaning is going to solve the hot-cranking problem. How much are those fat battery cables? Jeremy
  17. Gearhead
    Any idea what's wrong with the search feature? Jeremy
  18. Gearhead
    The E3 doesn't wear decent, it wears excellent - you're not gonna touch that kind of mileage with any other tire, in my experience. Good choice. You asked about front vs. rear. I've wondered the same thing. They are different in tread depth (rears are deeper). I think the profile (curvature) might also be different. A front would probably wear out quickly on the rear, but I wonder what it would be like to put a rear on the front? Probably wouldn't handle well. Jeremy
  19. Gearhead
    Well, I did, but you know, girls talk to each other all the time... If you're alluding to what I think you're alluding to, that did cross my mind, just checking... Jeremy
  20. Gearhead
    I buy all my tires from Ronayers.com. Prices and service are good. I am on their email list and they run specials every month or two. I ordered one tire that I knew was needing replacement in the next few months during a special and saved shipping - 12 bucks. Another time, they ran an overstock special on the exact E3 for the back of the Venture, so I grabbed one as it, too, was coming due for a change. There is an old system of tire sizing that used letters to denote the width. I don't for the life of me know why, but Dunlop, in their infinite wisdom, offered the Elite 2 tires for years with mixed sizing - some sizes in letter sizing and some in number sizing. They have seen fit to carry that tradition on to the E3 tire. Check out this site: http://www.webbikeworld.com/Motorcycle-tires/tire-data.htm You can see that you need the E3 in MU90-16. I ran the Pirelli MT66 on the front of mine, in the absence of a suitable E3. It's got maybe 12,000 on it and still going. It's not gonna give excellent mileage, maybe 15K, but it is cheap at around 60 bucks. I've run them before and the handling is good. I might try the Avon next. Jeremy
  21. Gearhead
    "Sporty Women"?? I'm not familiar with that term... Jeremy
  22. Gearhead
    Add my 87 to the list, as well as other bikes I've heard. The 83 and maybe 84 had a problem with a thrust washer wearing too fast, but Yammy fixed that. When the clutch is engaged in neutral, the trans input shaft is turning and some of the gears are as well. They are all freewheeling in neutral, but just the fact that all this machinery is moving makes a little noise. If it's bearing noise, it will let you know as the miles accumulate. I had a ball main bearing go bad on my Virago. It took about 5000 miles to go from the "do I hear something?" stage to "dang, I gotta stop riding this thing". Jeremy
  23. Gearhead
    Are there other aftermarket shields for the VR that offer a vent? Jeremy
  24. Gearhead
    Well, this bike is a heavy load! Actually the needles didn't fall out, just the inner race or "collar". The needles are captive in a cage. I could simply slide the collar back in and go, there's no evidence of bearing damage. I just figure while I'm in there I want to clean it out and repack the grease. Thus the challenge - how to effectively clean the outer race - needle - cage assembly while in the wheel hub. Jeremy
  25. Gearhead
    Hi y'all, When I pulled the rear wheel on my Venture the inner race of the needle bearing on the LH side fell out, exposing the needles. I want to clean up the bearing and put in fresh grease. However, I can't get the needle bearing and its cup (outer race) out of the wheel without damaging it. Any ideas on how to clean the bearing while installed in the wheel? I wonder why Yamaha elected to use a needle bearing there instead of a sealed ball bearing like on the other side? The rear wheel on my Virago has no needle bearing. Seems like a strange solution. Jeremy
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