BlueSky

Time for a rebuild I think.

I think the risk of getting the virus is higher than other risks to you but you know your situation better than I. I'm not traveling because I don't want to stay in a motel that many others may have stayed in maybe spreading the virus. Camping is not that appealing at my age.

Put a can of seafoam or gumout with PEA in the gas for a starter. There is a "shotgun" method to partially clean the carbs that some use. Do a search for details.

I think a hand held mity-vac would be a good tool choice to remove the excess oil. I bought one a while back and I use it to remove the brake fluid from the reservoir when I flush the brakes. It has been very handy in bleeding the brakes too on my autos and bikes. I luvvs that tool!

Seems to me that you would be better off by leaving the existing weights on the tire and putting in maybe less beads to make up any imbalance that was left?

When the recession hit in 2008, I bought a used Remington 1100 semi-auto 12 gauge at a gun show for home defense. I removed the plug to increase it's capacity and it sits in a handy position in my house. I don't shoot that much and prefer to let the gun load itself. I don't want to have to think about pumping the next load if some buttholes are trying to break in. I don't want to have to use the AR15 due to its penetrating power. I might knock off a few neighbors as well as the intended. P226 for backup.

I have bought a handgun from budsgunshop.com. Might check with them.

I'm pretty sure that thicker oil will reduce the whine because my RSV doesn't whine as much at first when the oil is cold and thicker. It then gets louder as it heats up. I don't know if the thicker oil is better or worse for the engine? I think the only sure way to get rid of the whine is to trade it for a Goldwing! And I'm too cheap for that!

I rode the RSV to the inspection station and then out and about putting about 50 miles on it. It's running well. The ride would be more pleasant without the gear whine/chirp but overall it's a great bike I think.

I checked the RSV's air filters yesterday. I wasn't even sure where they were and didn't know there were two of them. If I counted correctly, there are 26 screws or bolts that have to be removed or loosened in the case of the air inlet clamps, two rubber grommets, and one push pin to deal with. But, now I know how to remove them. I also changed the rear gears lube and adjusted the back rest. This occurred after getting the rear brake to work and flushing the front brakes. Time to ride it to the inspection station in order to get a new license plate sticker. Still haven't changed the coolant. The manual tells you to remove lots of stuff to get to the engine plugs. I just want to drain the radiator and refill. I see the drain plug but how much stuff do I have to remove to get to the fill cap? The manual just states to use ethylene glycol coolant. Is there a particular coolant that is needed? Can I use the long life or the stuff that needs changing every two years? Thanks!

Hey Poppa Phil, How's that beautiful 2003 RSV running?

From what I have read, the 5.2 and 5.9 engines in that vintage truck are very reliable but the transmissions were a little on the weak side. That looks like a nice truck and I wouldn't hesitate to buy it if it checked out. Look underneath for rust. It may have been a transplant from the rust belt. A truck that old should have needed new paint but you never know what might have been covered up. I have a 2002 F150 that I had painted recently because the condition of the paint on the hood and top of the truck was getting really bad with some rust showing up.

Kudos to you Freebird for being such a hard working dedicated person. But, you are in charge of your schedule. If you don't want to work weekends, don't schedule any installs on the weekends. Around here, when I need some home repair done that I don't want to tackle such as rot repair on the fascia boards on the eaves of my 2 story house, it takes months to get on someone's schedule and they don't work weekends.

I reassembled the master cylinder, installed it, and bled the system using my mityvac and pumping. The rear brake works great now. It was indeed the bellows on the bottom of the reservoir blocking flow. Evidently, it doesn't take much to pull it from its location under the cover of the reservoir. I had ordered a master cylinder rebuild kit from partzilla.com two days ago. According to their web site it had not shipped so I called and asked that the order be cancelled. They said it had been shipped but would refund the money I paid and not to worry about returning it. I was speechless and could only say "okay". Never heard of an online vendor doing that. So, if anybody needs a rear brake master cylinder rebuild kit for their RSV they can have it for shipping cost.

BINGO! I think you just solved the problem! The rubber bellows was on the bottom of the reservoir. I think it was blocking any fluid from draining down to the master cylinder! Thanks! Now I sorta feel dumb! I've been doing brake jobs for 60 years on my autos and am quite familiar with the master cylinder on those but went dumb on the bike.

I made sure the reservoir didn't go dry. It's weird in that it started out with very little pedal and very little brake and plenty of fluid in the reservoir. After bleeding it a few pumps, it had a full pedal and the brake was working. Then after bleeding some more it quit pumping any fluid and there was no pedal and no brake. I found my mityvac and used it to pull a vacuum on the caliper and pumped the heck out of the pedal and no fluid came out. It does sound like I pumped the reservoir dry, but that didn't happen. A MC rebuild kit is on the way. I'll let you know how it turns out. If there was an obstruction in the line to the caliper there would have been full pedal. When I disconnected the reservoir tube at the MC, the remainder of the fluid in the line gushed out, so I don't think there was an obstruction in that line. Has to be the master cylinder bad seals. Famous last words! Ha! OR, the tiny orifice in the MC that feeds the fluid from the reservoir to the MC could have been plugged??. The supply line is large but the orifice is small. When I disconnected and removed the MC the fluid in it came out all of its orifices and that could have flushed the crud out that could have been blocking the feed orifice? I wonder if I put it back together if it would work?

Those side vents in good shape are very rare and overrated. My 89 has a perfect set but they don't stay closed when needed. I've seen some Ventures with plates installed in place of the vents and they look like a better solution in my opinion. Install the plates in hot weather riding and take them off for cool weather riding.

Well, I removed the rear brake master cylinder and it looks okay with no corrosion pits that I could see. There wasn't anything that was blocking the fluid flow. So, I ordered a rebuild kit from partzilla. They hit me for sales tax even though their business is in another state! It's a really simple device and it appears that the only parts really needed are those two rubber cups that push the fluid. But, you can't order just those. The manual states in order to get it off, to remove the brake pedal and disconnect the brake line. Looks to me like the foot peg/pad has to come off too so I took it off. That made it a lot easier to remove the brake pedal with the master cylinder attached. Now, I have to wait for parts. Even with the bike on the stand that Sylvester was kind enough to sell to me, it still requires a lot of lying on the floor. Ain't as much fun as it used to be at 76 yrs old!

You can tell her that ya'll have tried two 3 wheelers and didn't like either one!

My RSV's rear brake was barely working. Today, I finally got around to trying to repair it. I bled the rear brake using the old pump the pedal and release the pressure at the caliper and it appeared to be working well but I kept bleeding it hoping to get all the old fluid out of the system and it quit pumping fluid. Now, I have no rear brake at all. Soo, I suppose I need a new MC or I have to rebuild it. Partzilla has a rebuild kit in stock but a long delivery on the compete MC. Have any of you RSV owners had to rebuild your rear MC and how did it turn out? I wanted to use my mity vac to see if I could pull more fluid through the system but could not find it in the garage!!! Thanks!

Are the needles and seats from Japan? or china?

Just don't do what the Baptist minister of our church did when he locked his keys in the trunk of his old chevy. He shot the lock out with his 12 gauge! I was a teenager at the time and couldn't believe it! That boy had a temper!

Partzilla sells the Yamaha o-rings. That kit is probably made in china since it doesn't say. I'd want Japanese or OE parts. I bought K&L carb parts that were okay that were made in Japan. Today I read a post on the kawasaki forum from a Kawa ZN1100 owner. He said he rebuilt his petcock several times before he bought Japanese parts and repaired it to last. He was adamant about not using chinese parts.

Are you sure your volt meter is accurate?

I use starter fluid on all my lawn tools and occasionally have used it on a motorcycle. After sitting those tiny carbs get plugged to some extent and I used to yank the cord dozens of times to get them to start in the spring and during the summer sometimes. Now, if it doesn't start on a couple of pulls of the cord, I remove the air filter, spray a little starter fluid into the carb and it fires up immediately. They usually will stay running or restart once it fires the first time. I don't have the patience to deal with stuff that won't start any more. I also put a couple of ozs. of Gumout with PEA in the gas mix to try to keep the carbs clean. Non-ethanol gasoline of course.