dna9656

JacobJJ; It isn't THREE OR FOUR it's "3/4", apparently it can be mixed with either... but here's even more info; the bike was last registered in 16 but acc. to the PO it was last ridden 5 years ago. So I figure that any brake fluid is toast, but the clutch handle has no resistance in it when you pull the handle so not only is it prolly empty, it's full of air too. In any case the bottle of 3/4 he gave me is too old to use unless it was purchased VERY recently. I don't understand why we don't use hydraulic fluid instead of brake fluid, hyd. fluid or even transmission fluid seems to be a better application than some thing you have to change every 2 years. I am only wondering about this as applied to motorcycles, I just don't see brake fluid getting THAT hot on a bike, I mean the load is way less and application time is way shorter than would be with a 2000 lbs. (and greater) vehicle; but I use what the engineers specify. I don't understand how any fluid from the clutch can get into the engine/trans case as the slave cylinder is outside of the case(es), is some portion of the cylinder capable of leaking into the case(s)?

Picked up an '88 Venture today. Met with the (now) POs 103 miles away with trailer on the Avalanche. Via E-Mail the guy tells me "all" it needs is the brakes adjusted, (adjusted? now I know he's no mechanic) the oil changed... OK I figure I can ride it home but this is NOT my first used bike purchase, so I took the trailer. First he tells me it's using DOT 4 brake fluid, then gives me a quart of DOT 3/4 brake fluid. Can (do?) they use 3/4 fluid? We go to start it, the engine is cold, so I choke it and hit the start button; it's dirty so you have to push it hard to get it to make contact (ok no biggie) I read the articles on overhauling the buttons and have done it a few times! He says the cruise control works but the after market radio never did work. I notice the CPU, clock, gear indicator is blank, he says that's the reason I'm getting the bike $700.00 less than book. I have SEVERAL indicators from my parts bikes all 1985 and older. The brake light doesn't work. The clutch has no fluid in it so you can't use the clutch. I know there are articles here on the forum for cleaning switches and bleeding the brakes and clutch, I took off the false tank cover to see the fuses. The fuse holder is there and intact however it's missing the accessories fuse. I installed one and still no CPU etc. display. I checked the fuses for continuity and power on both sides, all that is good. There is an after market wire with a fuse clip (for tubular fuses) on the end of it under the fuse box cover but it's not connected to a fuse. I'm assuming the 40 amp in-line fuse is good because the head/tail light come on and it starts/runs. There is another connector (after market) that the PPO (Prev, prev. owner) had installed to power his wife's electric riding clothes. The brake light doesn't come on. Might this be a DOT 3/4 issue? the brake fluid (could the fluid have destroyed the rubber in the master/slave cylinder and this is why the clutch won't disengage? Has the fluid leaked out because it's DOT 3/4?. Filling/bleeding the clutch; I can follow the book and the articles on the forum for that. There is a bleeder valve to the right of the ignition switch, is this for the brakes? It's not on any of my other bikes.... All help, responses, and hellos will be much appreciated! Doug It's good to be back!

Kevin; Ok, long time no been on the forum. Here's my latest bike purchase: 1988 XVZ13JYA2LWE02JA003243 Salt Lake Silver and Andrew Gray. Doug

The color chart here on this site (http://www.venturerider.org/history/rsv86/rsv86colors.php) shows it as 1988 silver U/UCSalt Lake Silver/Anthony Gray... who the hell is Anthony Gray?

I never heard of a Vixen model.... what can you tell me about this? The owner says it's an '88....

It's "OFFICIAL" the CFO here said I can buy a 1988 Venture next Saturday!

There is a guy in Kingston, WA. that you should talk to, http://www.richscustomseats.com/ You can send him seats for mod/upholstery. He did my seat. He has overnight guest rooms for those on the road.... He uses a gel pad, you can get the seat modified, heated....

Gather up $279.00 to $300.00 and go to harbor freight and get the big motorcycle lift; I have 2 of them, one for my rider and one to strip parts off the 5 parts bikes I have. The lift has a removable section of the deck under the rear tire, for $300.00 or less you just can't beat it. Get a motorcycle chock (you'll see one on the HF page for the lift) they have 2 at HF; I have both, they both work well. I bolted the chock to the lift with 1/2" bolts. That dinky thing they provide with the lift is a POS. I'd post a link but my browser won't let me copy it. Want pics? Just ask!

As Patton said (sort of) "God will allow me to fulfill my destiny!" I am so tired of lawyers who are trained to look at the person defending themselves (and) or those they love (or others) as guilty for firing their weaponsto be presumed guilty rather than innocent. I just shouldn't allow myself to get started. My prayers and hopes are with you. Doug

Yep that's the guy and the place. He's in Kingston, WA. Across the Sound from Seattle. All day affair and now does seats without the butt. You can mail him your seat. http://www.richscustomseats.com/

A gift from my beautiful wife! It's real leather; made by a screamin', smokin' hot upholster at Rich's in Kingston, WA. He's got a web site and does take orders through the mails. He ain't cheap. He has nice place for customers to stay (sleep) while there seating needs are exceeded. They are sleeping rooms with a common area to include a kitchen, internet and cable TV. When I got my seat, my wife had worked a 3rd shift the night before so after fitting her part of the seat to her he sent her upstairs to the rooms where she slept the rest of our time there. No charge. Our Anniversary is on my birthday, so for those two events, Sweetest Day, Christmas, AND Fathers day (for the next 3 years) I got this seat! The driver's part is heated as she don't ride in the cold and I do!

Update. Something _hit the bed. Battery is grave yard dead. Something made a "click" sound, like a fuse blowing, but fuses check good. I had a stall at a light, it wouldn't start, the starter wouldn't turn over like it should. I'm thinking 2 brush starter syndrom. Pulling starters this weekend, the 4 brush starter from old #1 , and starter from the 3 wheeler, install 4 brush starter and 6 gauge wire on 3 wheeler. Hopefully end of problem.

Well I rode the 3 wheeler tonight! Yee Haaw! With the 2nd gear toast it just isn't the same! The drive shaft from E-Bay showed up today, it looked better than the pics in the ad so I put it in right away. The brakes still have some air in them but the brakes work well enough, I have to change the windshield out with the one I bought through JC Whitney, the one on it has so many micro scratches the glare from on-coming head lights blinds me. There are some warning light issues, the regular light telling you head light is ok and on low beam doesn't work and the head light seems to be intermittent, the temp gauge is inop; I'm betting the drain valve is in the wrong position; isn't there an article on the forum on that? The outboard wheels' bearings have just a tad of play in them, I'm betting they weren't properly packed with grease either so I'm looking into all these things tomorrow. I will post new pics then too; showing my re-upholstered and heated seats. You'll also see I dumped the rider's floor boards too; they made shifting to awkward. This winter I hope to have the other project bike up and running so I can tear this one down and fix the 2nd gear issue. I hope to post some pics of it tomorrow as well.

No; so far as I know there are no COMPLETE kits. There are some kits that have more parts than other but no COMPLETE kits. Skydoc_17 is a source for parts/services and very good advice. He used to get a pretty good kit when they were available but the availability seems to be an on again/off again situation beyond his control. There are kits on E-bay from time to time for carbs in the same family as ours but they are NOT complete as Yamaha had some proprietary mods done to the carbs (is my understanding) and they don't support the carbs anymore. There are some carb shops on the Internet that deal with Micuni (sp?) carbs and they MAY be of $$$ help $$$ too. Oh I have treasures in the parts bikes. My plan is to partially repair the body parts leaving any holes that need to be drilled to the new owner of said parts. There are techniques to restore many of the commonly broken areas on these parts. I recommend you read all the tech library articles, the "common things to look for", and the "poor man's fixes" sections. Many of your questions are covered in these areas to some degree and you'll get a basic working knowledge of the bike's idiosyncrasies. http://www.venturers.com (org?) is another forum that has similar articles and features you should check out. That forum isn't as active as it used to be but the info is still there and there is SOME activity there. My advice is to stay away from pro (dealers) as much as you can; they get around $100.00 per hour and still don't fix some stuff. I change my own tires for example. The tools to do this are available on Amazon. Parts; ALWAYS check Amazon, Partzilla.com, Boats.net for parts. They buy dealer stocks or obsolete parts and offer them on ebay (where you might get a better deal than on their web sites) from time to time. Read the forum(s) and you'll learn all the places to check and who supports our hobby. Be sure to patronize the places that support us all you can, that will help keep their support.

I have lots of spare parts (4 parts bikes) on hand) PM me if you would like to know more.

I went through some of this, I posted my exp. Balls Are Best has some bearings too.

You might check the ign. pick up coils for resistance, should be 100 ohms, they are located inside the L/H side case but you can check the resistance at the plug fwd of the fuel filter location. Dingy says the Ignitec do not pick up a weak/low signal from these.

What kind of shape are they in?

Here's the "other kind"; I pulled this out of the old #1 bike; looking good! So this is going in tomorrow!

How woowd! (rude). Yes I have heard of coils becoming thermally sensitive. Anthing with a winding (coil) can do this, runs fine till it gets warm. In my case the bike is stone cold. Dingy says that the coils may have a low output the TCI can see but the Ignitec can't. Also the 6 pin connector by the fuel pump/air ride selector (aft of rider's left knee) can be dirty or have bad contacts...

P/N 26H-81670-10-00 Listed in the Parts Catalog under the Generator System though it is a part of the IGNITION system. Located INSIDE the Starter Clutch/Fly Wheel/Generator (L/H side engine) cover. Purpose: Sends signals to the Ignition for spark timing. Should be approx. 100 ohms resistance. The impulse from some coils are too weak for some after market ignitions (Ignitec) but the stock ignition (TCI) senses the weaker signals ok. Anyone test these yet? If so what technique did you use?

Yeah that was my judgment too; TOAST, sourdough! I just checked the parts catalogs and found the 1300CC bikes use a different shaft as well. So I was wondering if a 86 y/m rear wheel/differential assembly be used on the 83 to 85s (the 1200CC bikes)? Just curiosity, THAT would be pretty cool.... I know some pretty S/H machinists that have the capability (at home) to do the machining, but then I suppose if it were really necessary you COULD file it to shape...

To paraphrase "The Blues Bothers I" I got both kinds; good and bad" right here! I have 6 VRs here; ONE that runs another ONE I have hopes for and FOUR parts bikes! When I was on active duty I saw a large truck axle repaired on which the end of the axle (about 2" of splines) were broken off with "Belzona" a kind of epoxy. I wonder if this can be used to repair the drive shafts and gear coupling... as they are obsolete.

Pulled the rear wheel today to check for grease and general condition of the drive shaft and differential. See the pictures below. I am changing out the rear tire and wheel, along with the front too. These tires are both made in 1012 so that's on but the tires on the other bike are newer and the drive shaft and pinion are in way better shape. You'll have to enlarge the picture to really see just how chewed up the teeth are; I think they are burned a bit too. So even though Yamaha doesn't list a servie interval for greasing the drive shaft, conventional wisdon dictates that EVERY time you remove the rear wheel, Inspect and GREASE THAT SET OF GEARS!!!