Flyinfool

And here I thought that I left all of the gremlins south of the WI border on my test ride...... In another 45 minutes I'll know if this is heat related or not when I head home.

We may have to contact Rick to see if we can put together a group buy to get him to make some more. Mine is not cracked yet, but I know it is just a matter of time. Especially since that is the point that takes most of the force when I have to push the bike backwards.

For the 6 years that I have owned this bike, I always thought the rear brake felt soft and had very little stopping power. I have readjusted the brake peddle to as high up as I can get it, and had to push it down as far as my foot could go to get any decent stopping power. I have bled the brakes several times with no change. I just resigned myself to the fact that this bike does not have grate brakes and went on with life. Today on my way to work, it is a 25 mile ride that takes me 45 minutes, the rear brake was getting better and better with every stop, by the time I got to work the rear brake felt just wonderful. I really like the feel right now. BUT what concerns me is the fact that something is changing and I do not know what or why. It will now stop very well and with a LOT more authority using just the rear than what it ever had before using both brakes. I don't know if it just suddenly started working correctly and I just had crap brakes all of this time, or is something about to blow out. My first thought was that it is the well known issue with heat causing the rear caliper to lock up. But while at a red light the bike rolled freely forward or back. As soon as I got to work I put it up on the center stand and spun the rear wheel by hand and it was as free as it should be. I know it is overdue for another fluid change and I was planning to upgrade to SS lines and maybe de-link at the same time, so that will get me my fluid change. I was hoping that the SS lines would get me a less mushy feel to the peddle. Question is, what would suddenly make the rear brake work so wonderful? Do I have a problem that may suddenly leave me with NO rear braking system? What could have suddenly started working to fix a problem that I have had forever and just did not know I had? I will see if the brakes are back to normal for the trip home this afternoon which could indicate that it is a heat build up issue. I'm going to borrow a 5/16 wrench just in case it is a heat issue and I need to crack the bleeder. At least there are no wires involved with this issue........

Are all of the rubber parts compatible with either 5.0 or 5.1?

I took another 2 hour ride today, The bike was fine but I got overheated. I am now starting to get some confidence that I got it licked. I will ride it to every day it does not rain this week, we'll see how that goes

I almost was gonna take a ride up there just cuz and to help you look at it. What would the guy think if 2 ventures pulled up in his driveway? One the same vintage as his. It was to hot for me to go that far today.

Good find. I had been looking for this trim for over a month and never even thought of fleabay. A little pricy for just 8 feet, but if it really is a correct match.... I will know at the end of next week if it is really an exact match.

I did talk to J-Bird at MD and he thought he cold match them. I would prefer tape if possible so that I can have it under the clear coat.

The blue one that I have has a very poor finish on it, it is very badly scratched all over, with many of the scratches down to the plastic, and has some chips that will need to be filled. I am not even sure it it is a color that Yamaha ever used, it is a dark Navy blue. The old one has big chunks missing that I could not find at the "crash" site. I thought about painting the stripes, but that may be well above my skill level. The covers on the bike were painted once before and the pin stripes are tape, so they do or at least did exist at one point in time. The camera was mounted on a lon........ Oh never mind.....

Just don't dig it to deep or you will need a crash helmet to continue..... This "ditch" doesn't happen to be 3 feet wide X 7 feet long and 6 feet deep, is it? Warden may have found out you are looking at another bike.........

I am repainting the saddle bag lids on my 88 Venture. It is the 2 tone maroon color. I had a local body shop mix up some paint to match. I can not find a source for a matching pin stripe tape that goes around the edge of the lid. It is a double stripe, one of the stripes looks more gold and the other looks more copper. I have tried a couple of different local places that supply body shops, but none could match it. Anyone here know of a source for the matching stripe? I have a replacement lid, but it is blue, the blue seems to be slowing the bike down.......

That gremlin had some furry friends that were gnawing on wires. They are no longer with us either...... Hopefully that gremlin did not have any offspring while at MD. You might have brought gremlin lava home with ya.

:big-grin-emoticon: :big-grin-emoticon: :big-grin-emoticon: :big-grin-emoticon: :big-grin-emoticon: I took a 4 hour ride today and nary a hiccup. :dancefool: :dancefool: :dancefool: :dancefool: :dancefool: :dancefool:

Nope, I am riding an '88 Standard. But it was built in October of 87 and has a very low VIN, so it could be a rebadged leftover 87.

They may have used the best technology available 30 years ago, but modern springs have made things better and changed the needs of the machine. There are a number of things that were done back then that were considered new cutting edge technology at the time, but have not been used previously or since. Once I get my progressive springs in I will see for myself if the AD makes a difference. with the stock springs the AD is a noticeable benefit.

Crush washer goes under the head of the screw on the outside of the cover.

Well I have the bike back together, all of the safety circuits are hooked back up, new kill switch installed, clutch switch is working for the first time since I bought the bike. I did find another mouse chewed wire that I had to rerun, it was the power wire for the radio so it was not part of the original problem. It is late now and dark out, If it is gonna still show a gremlin in there, I would rather chase it in daylight. Tomorrow (Saturday) I am heading out for a long test drive. Hopefully I got all of the gremlins out of the bike and packaged up to send off in the mail to some far away place.......

at idle it is very possible that the full load of everything on the bike will be more than what the charging system can put out. The output of the stator goes up with RPM, and the draw of the solenoid also goes up as the voltage goes up. But the charging system output goes up faster than the draw goes up so you still see the increase on the voltmeter. Did that make any sense at all?

I am about 1.5 hours away if I can get my bike running and no one closer chimes in. I know there are a couple of members in that area. Mine will need a good shake down cruise.

I wonder if they pull you over and if you do not cite the law, they will write the ticket for running the red???

I could be all wet here. It is my understanding that there should be no connection from the stator windings to ground, this means that you must be reading through other components or you would show 0V on all three legs. I belive that what you are actually measuring is the voltage drop across the RR on each leg. This thery makes sense since the voltage readings that you say you have are the difference between the stator output and the regulated output. At idle the stator puts about around 20-30V the regulator outputs 14 volts and you are measuring about 5-15 volts. 6 V would be the voltage drop across the RR. If there were a diode in the RR that failed short, that leg of the stator would read a lower voltage because it would be shorted to ground for a half cycle, if a diode had failed open then that leg would read high because the power would not be flowing out to the bike for a half cycle. Granted IF the RR is known good then your method will spot a bad stator as a lower voltage leg, but it does not rule out a bad RR if you do not know where the problem actually is. Testing the stator unplugged is testing just the stator with nothing else to possibly skew the test and then you will know for certain whether the stator is good or not. There is a test for each of the diodes in the RR to test that they are all working correctly. Unfortunately there is no easy direct test for the regulator portion of the RR, only a process of elimination, if the stator tests good and the diode pack tests good, the battery load tests good, but the charge voltage is still not right then it must be the regulator section that has failed. I would love to test your burnt stator on my expensive ohm meter to see if it picks up the bad winding. If you still have it I will gladly pay the postage for you to send it to me for further testing.

The Wally world battery could be the issue by its self. I bought their cheapest one during a cold snap where it was the only battery left in the city in my size. It would often go dead in a week of sitting even though there was no significant draw. It did this in less than a year. The replacement can sit for a month in that same truck without being started and it cranks right up even at 3 years old. But I would still do a draw test to be sure there is not an issue. I have found things like a trunk light or clove compartment light that would not turn off or other weird things that should shut off but did not and were not easily noticable.

If that is the bottom hole of the rear cover on the left side of the bike, that is an oil drain for the transmission. If you look close the tapped hole in the block goes all of the way thru to the inside on just that one hole. There should have been a copper crush washer on that screw to seal it from leaking. I use a new crush washer every time I take that screw out.

I would start by trying to figure out why the battery was dead in the first place after just a couple of days sitting. Did she while driving an unfamiliar car leave a light on? When I was selling my truck I had that happen, someone turned on the interior lights and being in the day time I did not notice it, 3 days later when the next person came to look at it, the battery was dead flat. It is not that hard to find the draw. Disconnect the neg battery terminal and hook a 12V test light between the cable and the battery. If it lights you have a draw. Start pulling fuses till you find the one that turns off the light. Some cars have more than one fuse panel, don't forget any after market stuff that was installed. I will be normal for the light to be lit very dim. there are some things that must draw a small amount of power at all times. Things like the radio presets, clocks, alarm systems, possibly even the computer. But you should be able to park for a month and not even notice slow cranking even with those slight draws. This same procedure work to find a draw on a bike also.

I am not sure if this is a good test for the stator since you are still taking the measurement through the RR. I think a bad RR could have an effect on the readings done this way. The normal test is to do as above but to have the stator unplugged and test each combination of wires, ie 1-2 2-3 1-3. you will read much higher voltages, have your meter set on a scale to read at least 100 volts AC. Depending on RPM you will see anywhere from 25 to 90 volts AC. (Be careful, this voltage level can be dangerous) As mentioned the actual numbers are not critical, what is critical is that they all be very close to the same. The resistance check is a good check IF you have a good enough meter to see very small changes in a very low resistance. Resistance tests are done with the bike NOT running. Most inexpensive meters will not see the change unless it is a complete failure. I know my cheap HF meter will not see it but my nice Amprobe will see it with no problem. But even with a cheap meter, you can do a resistance check to from each of the stator wires to ground, if you get anything other than infinity, the stator has a grounded winding and is bad.