Vickersguy

Welll, I got the year wrong. Midway thru 85 is correct, not 84. Reread my last post. On a bike with 2500 miles on the clock, there will be no failure. You are wasting your time looking for it. I have 38,000 miles on my 83 and 2nd gear still fine. IF you are looking for a way to talk the guy down, this isn't going to work for you. Explain to him, you need new tires, brake lines, piston caliper seals, carb work and so forth. What is he asking ?

Like I said, the problem was fixed on late '84 bikes. If this one has a high serial # it has the hardened split washer that fixed the failure point. That cut off number is somewhere on the forum.

Well, If you are a normal rider, this will not be a problem, 2nd. gear will not fail you. The transmission will start to pop out of gear between 35,000 and 45,000 miles. If you ride about 2200 miles a year, which is about average, you will be faced with this crisis in about 16 years. If, however, you get real excited and ride more the first two years or so, you can get there faster. You might face the 2nd. gear failure in 10 years. I have 38,000 on the clock and my 2nd is fine. I don't ride much. If it fails, I don't care. One of the guys here used to buy bikes with failed 2nd. gears cheap and would put 100,000 more miles on them with no second gear function at all. He's just run the bike up to about 40 mph in first gear, then shift to 3rd. Don't worry about 2nd gear.

Oh yeah, tires... Well I run Shinkos. They have plenty of stick and that trumps long life in my book. Low price too.

OK, Ray First of all, color me Bright Green with envy. What a find ! 2500 miles ??? Not even broken in ! We need pics you selfish SOB ! I can't even imagine ! OK, gotta calm down... Wheeew, deep breaths... OK, OK,, About the wheel bearings. The grease in those bearings is 40 years old. 40 years of evaporation, hardening, soap coming out of the oil in the grease. Moisture, oxidation and so forth. The ability of the grease to form boundary lubrication is certainly degraded. They may well last several thousand miles but they will fail without being relubed. As for valve stems, check for corrosion where they go through the wheel rim, and install short stems, metric stems, for the wheel. Rubber ones would be fine, I'm sure. Don't tell me what you paid for it, I'm sure it would give me heart palpitations. Oh, and check to be sure the brake fluid isn't draining down on that rear master cylinder from the reservoir. They are really pricey, and you want to save yours from damage.

As I see you are looking at the tech forums, I will add a list of things you should probably " renew " Tires don't forget the valve stems Brake lines: they are 40 years old. Don't trust them. Rebuild the brake calipers. Their seals are 40 years old as well. Probably the front and rear brake master cylinders. Carbs, Wheel bearings fuel filter and gas lines check to see if the right front engine case guard has worn a notch in the pipe elbow for coolant grease the control cables and speedo cable, but not too close to the speedo. ( the grease tends to travel ) The output from the alternator goes to a plug to the left side of the bike. It tends to burn up. Hard-wire across the plug. Take lots of pictures of your carbs when you get them out of the bike, before you take them apart. Lots of pics. If you only took 10, that's not enough. You'll need them to get it back together, trust me ! Let us know if you get it. Tom

Hello Ray, Welcome to the forums. I see you've not purchased this motorcycle yet. A 1984 bike can be a wonderful adventure. However, most of the adventure will be dependent on your mechanical ability. Parts, with the exception of the rear ( foot ) brake master cylinder, seem to be available on e-bay. Even the special tool to hold the valve cup for a valve shim change can be found. You did not state the mileage on this particular bike, but the low mileage you did mention is a good thing, probably. I think the date that the second gear thrust washer change was in late '84. The last 4 digits of your serial number will let you know if your potential bike is beyond the range that had this particular issue. The tech forums hold some gems of information for you, but like most forums, you will have to spend some significant amount of time finding those snippets which are relevant to your particular problems. Some would appear to be really helpful and some are less so. I found the advice on setting carb float levels misleading as I found the result of following the advice left me with a very lead condition. This is beside the point. A 1984 Venture is a highway munching machine. While they handle fairly well, pushing them hard on twisty roads will give you some speed wobbles. Not at normal speeds, but pushing this bike hard on twisty corners is not it's best use. It is in no way a sport bike. It's a touring machine built for highway comfort. It's much more comfortable than a BMW of similar vintage, but the BMW will ride circles around it on the twisties. It's big and heavy. It is also lighter, faster and more nimble than a 1984 Goldwing. I could spend some time discussing this bike. I have restored a 1983 so I have some idea about the maintenance issues. I'll let you lead on this.

Before you drill holes and zip tie stuff together, remember all the cool stuff you can do with epoxy and fiberglass. West System Epoxy has some excellent tutorials online and most of the broken tabs can be recreated with fiberglass. You can look at my bike, no visible damage to the plastic yet there are very few places that have not been repaired. I even reproduced the mushroom shaped pins that push through the rubber grommets to hold on the side panels. Fiberglass is tough stuff. Its stronger than the plastic you are repairing. The broken tab on that lower fairing section connecting the right and left sides is a perfect example. You can recreate that tab using the other side as a model. You can drill it, file it, sand it, paint it. What's not to like ?

Sorry, re-read your post. It's that you bought an "86 gear set, not an '86 Venture.

Good to see you again ! Now, check the frame below the water pump and clutch cover for the date code. Should be next to the serial number. Your new machine has the wrong headlight for an '86. I believe Yamaha changed the headlight design on the "86, and you have the earlier style of the '83 to '85. The last 4 digits of the serial number will let you know if you have the soft thrust washer. If the second gear is already bad, then you have an '83 to mid year '84. Let's see !

Re-reading your post, I forgot to mention that the original rear shocks were legendary for their reliability. I'm not saying that its not a good idea to have a spare, but the originals seem to last forever. It could be that your speedo drive on the front wheel might have a bad ratio for your speedometer. Perhaps one from an earlier model will fix that. That's all I got tonight. Keep us up to speed !

OK. I like your project bike, even though I'm horrified by the paint scheme you are proposing ( lol ). Bear with me here for a bit as I'm unfamiliar with the post 86 Ventures. Your original 83 brake anti-dive system was activated by hydraulic pressure . Each anti-dive valve was hooked up to the front caliper next to it. I suspect that the newer model you have is similar. One side would be electrically hooked to the handlebar brake stop light switch and the other to the foot brake stop light switch. One commenter suggested that with progressive springs, that entire system is unnecessary. I agree but short of taking your front end apart I do not know how you would check. Two other things you should know, if you haven't figured it out yet,: The front end of the 86 and up bikes used a larger diameter fork tube than the earlier bikes and it is more ridged and stronger than the earlier design. ( So you should keep it ) In addition, you do not have the original brakes on your front end but the much better calipers from one of the later Yamaha "Ninja" type bikes. Something like a YZ1000 . Some person with more knowledge will step in shortly to identify the exact model or you can wander through the hundreds of posts here to find it. Your calipers look nothing like the calipers on my 86 parts bike. If you cannot get your air suspension system running, I have a spare one. Many people here have spare parts they might donate for the cost of postage. PM me if you want it. There is one more dreary and sad thing I must inform you of. In the FACTORY MANUAL, for 83 to 85 Ventures , the intake and exhaust valve clearances are REVERSED. This means that the exhaust valves are too tight and the intakes are too loose. If you intend to keep the bike you must check this. If you doubt me, check out the used motors on e-bay. It is frequently noted the compression is low and this is why.

Oh yeah, a quick note, after examining your photos, I note that your right front engine guard is way too close to the plastic elbow that supplies coolant to the pump. As the engine is rubber mounted, it can vibrate against this pipe elbow and cut a notch in it. Bend it out so there is some clearance between the pipe and the engine guard.

By the way, your Puch is stunning !

It would appear you have a well maintained example of an '83. I do note that you have an '86- and up front end with the electric anti-dive system.The clutch cover with the intact lettering suggests you have a keeper. Its just beautiful. As for the "clunking" in the front end,, that may be the result of incorrectly set steering neck bearings. You should lift the front wheel off the ground while you have it on the center stand and check for slop in the front end. E-bay is your friend. Most parts, with the exception of the ignition system and the rear brake master cylinder, are usually available, eventually, if you keep your eye peeled. I'm a fan of the gold of the original but that's not important. Epoxy and fiberglass will fix 95% of the plastic issues. Another fine fix you may have in your upgraded front forks might be the bleed nipple up by the hazard light switch. Hopefully you have one there. To add detail to the Cow Puc or Puc Puc comments, he bought Ventures with bad second gears for short money and then, without fixing the second gear, ran the bike out to 200,000 miles. He did this several times and did over half a million miles on these no second gear bikes. I will share a pic of mine.