windrider1983

This was all good info - I had seen other posts on the MC rebuild a few years ago but couldn't find them, so this was quite helpful (I also had a rear brake lockup recently). Thanks to Squidley for the conversation also. I was wondering if anyone knew why there was not a diagram that showed the parts inside the proportioning valve portion of the MC? And if there is a rebuild kit for it? I was able to clean mine up - the rubber boot on the copper piece still seems good, as well as the o-ring on the big 19mm cap bolt. What if those were rotted or if the spring was too rusty to clean up? Or has everyone been lucky and not needed to replace any of these? Or have they just scrapped it at that point and split the rear from the front brake and eliminated the part altogether? Just curious...

One would think that after owning this bike for 27 years, I would instinctively know the most basic of the safety features - but give Larrydr a cupie doll - the kickstand WAS down and that was why it was shutting down when I was putting it in gear in the garage on the big stand (duh). The transmission seems fine now that I can put it in gear. But the brake is definitely hanging up - so the first and simplest diagnosis was the correct one - stuck brake. So now I just need to pull it apart and determine why. I replaced everything but the piston on the brake about 4 years ago but have not put a lot of miles on it since then (and all local travel) - and it has only been out twice this year until I got the speedo lubed up. The comment about the washer on the wrong spot on the rear axle makes me curious, though I thought I was pretty careful to put everything back the way I found it when i had the wheel off. Thanks for all the thought you folks put into this and the suggestions. Certainly a big relief that the transmission is not the culprit.

Clarification - The rear wheel is not currently locked up. The bike is on the big stand and the rear wheel will turn. I can start the engine (in neutral of course), squeeze the clutch, and tap down into first or lift up into second, and the engine dies without ever releasing the clutch.

I was road testing the lubricating of the odometer yesterday evening (used the info in an earlier thread about making a zerc fitting - seems to have worked) - so the odometer whine was gone - was happy about that. But while cruising up the freeway at 70 mph, enjoying the silence, the bike suddenly starting lugging and losing speed, dropping to 50 almost before I could tell what was going on. At that point I tried to downshift and as soon as I pulled in the clutch it seemed like the rear wheel locked up (screeching and tire smoke). I was in the process of downshifting to 4th so I continued that, popping the clutch and it seemed to at least get the wheel moving again but continued to struggle. At this point I was in the left lane in traffic trying to get over and out of the moving lanes and fortunately caught a brief break in the flow and got to the berm - when i pulled the clutch again, the rear wheel again locked up. I somehow worked the gears and the clutch enough to get to a very quick but controlled stop and the engine stopped at the same time as the bike. It would start and idle normally, and rev normally, but dropping it into first or second immediately caused it to stall (instantaneously). Needless to say, called AAA and I was back in my garage about 2 hours later. Is this definitely a transmission issue, or possible final gear in the rear hub (it did seem stuck initially when we went to roll it up on the tow truck ramp, but it did start rolling then), or something else? Not sure where to start.

Final (I hope) conclusion to this thread - everything is back together, it started relatively easily and runs great. Flushed both the oil and coolant systems with new fluids and oil filter, then drained both and filled with new again (and another new filter). Shortly thereafter, we had a break in the Ohio weather and I took it out for the first time in nearly a year and it felt good. The rear brake needs adjusted badly (or it has air in it) so that needs some attention, but NO LEAKS anywhere that I can see. Thanks to everyone who provided assistance and advice.

I asked that same question early in this thread, and was told yes. Having removed it with the carbs off, I can't say for certain that it couldn't be done with them on, but it would be difficult. You would have to disconnect the steel oil lines (with the banjo fittings) from the cylinder heads, and be able to crack loose the 6 bolts holding the asembly to the crankcase. Those came loose fairly easily with a socket wrench working from above (with plenty of room for applying leverage), but not sure you could get a good byte on them coming in from the side. Another tricky part would be setting the unit back in place and keeping the new gaskets properly aligned. If that is not right, then you are back to square one. Having done it the 'easy' way (pulling the box and carbs), I might try to get it loose first and see how far I could get, but be prepared to fall back to the original procedure.

Surprisingly, I found no problems with the carb boots and the diaphrams were all good, so we decided to put it back together today. We reinstalled the distribution module with the new gaskets, and then reinstalled the carb assembly. After attaching the throttle cables, we noticed that the throttle was no longer returning freely - sticks especially after twisting it wide open. We cannot see where we have anything connected wrong. Is it possible we stretched one of the cables and it needs adjusted? Or other likely suspects? I have not found an adjustment procedure in the manual, but still looking. Addendum before anyone had a chance to respond - on a hunch we unclamped the carbs, pulled them loose, and reseated them without clamping - and the sticking throttle was gone. Seemed like something was applying a small warp to the linkage and causing it to hang up a bit. After reclamping the boots one at at time and checking the throttle in between each, we got it to an acceptable point. Airbox is back on, though I am missing a spring clamp to complete the install of the service bulletin noted above (bought the ones noted in the bulletin, but did not realize one of the originals was missing) - will try to find one tomorrow.

Thanks for all the info - it is as Prairehammer indicated - the update to the breather box and drain tube was never done on my 83. I have ordered the parts needed - the updated breather hose, the t-fitting, some clips. I will re-use the small drain line as indicated in the bulletin - it is still pretty flexible, even after 37 years. And I will seal the boots, as stated in the bulletin. After that - take a look at the carbs. Thanks again!

Of course, minutes after I posted the 3 questions, I stumbled onto the Air Filter parts diagram and found the breather tube part[TABLE=width: 64] [TR] [TD=class: xl66, width: 64](90445-11699-00)[/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE]

I started working on the twinkie today - got the carbs out, removed and cleaned up the twinkie, and now have a few questions. 1. The Crankcase breather tube is bad and needs replaced. Cannot find a diagram with that part on it. It appears to be a formed hose but not sure. 2. The tube coming out of the crankcase housing that feeds the pressurized oil fitting has an o-ring on it. It looks OK, but would make sense to replace it if I knew what size it was or the part #. 3. When I reassemble the twinkie with the new gaskets, is it appropriate to coat them lightly with a gasket sealer, or best to leave them as is? Thanks for any info or opinions.

Thanks for the info - that is exactly what I needed to know. And while the coolant does not appear to be contaminated, the oil most certainly has to be - the level is completely above the view window - which it was not when I put it up for the winter. So I have drained the coolant (so it doesn't leak anymore into the lube system), drained the oil, and put a piece of tape over the ignition. I haven't planned when I will start the project yet - is there any harm in letting it sit for a while in the present condition? Once the gaskets are replaced, should the engine be flushed to remove any residual coolant from the lubrication system? Sacrifice 4 quarts of oil and a filter - run it for a few minutes and then drain it all out? I am thinking it may be an opportunity to rebuild the carbs as well, but have not looked at the cost of the rebuild kits yet, or everything that is involved with that. It currently runs pretty well, so probably not absolutely necessary, but with 85K they are probably due. I have decided to purchase Big Auggie's 89 Royale so I can still get some riding in this season (plus it is a good upgrade from the 83), and I may have a buddy interested in the 83 once it is running again. Appreciate all the info provided so far (and I am impressed by the Google Drive link, btw). Mark.

I have an 83 Venture(stock, not a Royale), and I have a small coolant leak. It has been very minor and originally only would be noticeable over the winter - I would keep an oil pan under the bike with a couple of paper towels and they would be damp by spring. Last summer it started to leave a drop or two overnight - that is when I started looking. BTW - I had rebuilt the water pump and replaced all the hoses a couple of years ago, so it is not the water pump or related O-rings or fittings. Over this past winter, it was worse – I lost what was in the overflow reservoir plus a little more. It appears to be coming from the front side of the crankcase breather box (I assume that is what that cigar-shaped assembly that sits between the cylinders is). Over a period of several days, the small hollow depression on the front side of the block, visible from the left side, will slowly accumulate green antifreeze (only when the bike is sitting on the big stand. When leaning on the kickstand, it runs down the left side, one drop at a time). I have checked all the lines coming out the top of that box and none have any residue or liquid at the fittings or clamps. The only conclusion I have been able to come to is one of the two gaskets leaks when it cools off. If it leaks when it's hot, it is so slow that it is burning off before you can see it. Does anyone have any experience with this? Can the bolts be retorqued? If so, what is the correct torque (haven't been able to find it in the manual). What would be involved in replacing the gaskets? Can it even be done without removing the carbs, or more? Besides the couple of hose fittings, there is a banjo fitting with two chrome tubes running to the front and back cylinder housings - I assume those are coolant lines, but not sure - is there a write-up on this site that explains what each of these lines are for? I just like to understand what I'm looking at. I did put a small socket on the bolts on the left side to see if there was any play in them, without putting too much effort into it – I fear snapping one of them off and having a real mess – but they wouldn’t budge. Since it seems to be worse when it gets cold, I even tried setting a ziplock bag of ice on the top of the assembly and after half an hour or so later, tried to tighten the bolts on the left side again. The bolt closest to the outside edge did budge just a tiny bit, but the two in the middle still did not move with the pressure I was using. The first picture shows the well about half full of coolant, and the second shows a bit of coolant just under that bolt housing to the left of the well. Thoughts?

Glad it helped. Hopefully you will get many miles of trouble-free cooling out of it.

I was searching for info on first gen side panel vents and didn't see any recent posts. My right side melted recently when it came partially detached from the panel and tilted inward when I parked it - got too close to the cylinder head and most of the louvers melted, along with the rail they plug in to, and the turn wheel. Very sad, because it was in great shape (except the tabs were all in various degrees of broken and repaired, which is why it came loose). Does anyone have a new or used one they would be willing to sell? Thanks, Mark Miller (Windrider1983)

Thanks to all for their comments. I did pull the cable and sleeve. The sleeve and cable looked wet, but I blew the sleeve out with brake cleaner and let it hang for a while. I was able to squirt some lithium lube up into the speedometer fitting. I did the same with the sleeve and reassembled it all. Took it out for a test ride and the howl kicked in about 60 MPH, but quit after about 30 seconds and never returned that afternoon. Of course it was in the afternoon and warm. I rode it to work the next morning when it was cooler, and it did start again as I hit the freeway, but again it quit after about 30 seconds. I have not been out since then, but will see what happens. If i can put a couple hours together, I will pull the instrument cluster see if i can do a better job of getting the lube into the bearing. Seems like the next step, unless someone has one of those fittings they are willing to part with. But now that I know what it is, I am not concerned about riding it. Still got a month or two if Ohio weather cooperates. Thanks again. Mark.