Venturous Randy

And you say who is Lari White. She actually had an extensive country music career, but most will remember her from the last scenes of the movie Cast Away. She was the one who Tom Hanks delivered the package to and then talked to when she pulled up at the intersection and her last words were "Good luck cowboy" She was 52 and died of cancer. Randy

That was an interesting read. Randy

This is interesting as I spent over 15 years with a company that made fan motors for the appliance industry. I was their Corporate Quality Manager and they were producing 65,000 motors a week. They were Morrill Motors and were bought out by Regal Beloit. When I was with them they had four plants in three states. Now, they have about 1/2 of one plant left and most went to China. When I was with them, the cast iron frame motor was known as a 20 year motor and the aluminum frame motor was about a 15 year motor. I have heard now that they are a five year motor at best. If you haven't thrown the motor away, I would be interested to know if it was a Morrill Motor. Randy

The system that has the fuse problem needs to be researched. If that system is isolated in the schematic, it will become more obvious where to look. Looking at all the wire bundles is fine, but the focus on the noted system is where the problem will be found. As far as the leak near the clutch slave cylinder, are you sure it is brake fluid you are seeing and not oil from a seal where the shaft goes into the engine? Randy

Well, this morning I was able to get into my email just fine. Randy

This all started when I was doing a Windows update. Then I went into my Comcast email on trying to do a paypal for a car part. Then it told me I needed to go into Chrome, I use Windows edge I had to update my email password Now, when I try to get into my email I get this and then this I never did get the update to go thru and cancelled it. Randy

In my life I have never bought a new fridge. In the few times I have bought another one, I have picked up a nice one off Craigslist where someone is moving and either they were not taking it, or their new buyer had their own. What I have bought has only been a couple years old and I paid probably 20% or less for it compared to what the original purchase price was. I do realize that in your neck of the woods, a lot of stuff is just not available locally. Randy

Two other things that I found helpful is with the cable housing thru the hole in the frame, put a zip tie around the cable so it will not drop back out thru the hole. This way, the cable assembly does not fall to the ground if it is loose from the speedometer housing. The other is once the instrument cluster is in place and the big plug is connected to the back of the CMS, I will use a zip tie to wrap around the wire bundle to a frame rod above it. It does not have to be pulled tight, but just enough to take the weight or pull down off the connection point where it connects to the CMS. I feel with reducing vibration and pull at the connector, it helps reduce the stress related to the solder joints in the CMS. Randy

As many times I have had the instrument cluster out of a 1st gen, I never thought about trying to do it with the chrome strip and the windshield still on. After watching that video, I am glad I never did try it that way. Randy

I am on here every single day, multiple times, unless I am on a trip or camping and don't have service. I have three forums I visit, with VR being my family one and three news pages I read. I am on Facebook, but I don't pursue anything on my own, but occasionally get stuff from a friend or family. In my opinion, FB has been the worse thing that has happened to this forum. I am not part of the FB group and feel that the routine participation here has really dropped off because of it. Randy

There is a sleeve/bearing in the back of the speedometer where the cable sticks in. It is a blind hole, so to get grease in the needed area, you have to go from the outside and use pressure to get grease around the sleeve, or take the speedometer out and going in from the inside to get grease down to the bearing. I have used a very thin screwdriver to put dabs of grease around the bearing and this works, but putting grease in by pressure is better. I made the following fixture which worked great for me and if you read the whole thread, there were recommended mods from what I did. Either way, it works and if you encounter a squealing speedometer again, you don't even have to take it out to fix it. The first thread had pics, but if you need to see them, maybe Don can reattach them. Randy http://www.venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?36254-Lubing-the-speedo-on-a-1st-gen&highlight=speedometer http://www.venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?46080-Speedometer-squeal&highlight=grease+fitting

It seems to be much more prevalent to happen when it is cooler than normal. And, I would say 15 degrees is pretty cool. Randy

Dry sleeve in speedometer, I betcha. Randy

In the 150,000 miles I have put on my 83, I got stranded one time and was towed. I had taken a ride over into KY alone and the bike was running great. Then, I started getting some jerking and pulled into a shopping center to check it out. It would sometime start and run a few seconds and quit cold, so I suspected it was electrical. After checking everything I could think of, I called a member on here and he was able to pick me up and get me home. After checking for power everywhere, I narrowed it down to the red power wire in the connection on the TCI. Evidently, the terminal had sprung open enough to feed intermittent power to the blade. One thing I feel was a plus out of this was when checking power to the TCI, I was finding a bit less than 12 volts with the switch on. I ended up cutting into the power wire and used it to power a simple relay to deliver 12+ volts from the battery. The bike ran better after that. This was about a $3 mod. Randy

Dan, have you had a set down talk with the Patient Advocate? I don't know if it will do any good, but with my ear drum injury, I did and I have filed a tort claim due to the injury. I am also filing a disability claim due to hearing loss from being around jet engines and the ringing I have in my ears. Randy

On the 11th Day of Christmas my Hardley gave to me 11 spokes a dangling. Randy

I routinely use this to ask questions. So far the VA has been pretty good about working with me. Randy

Don, can you restore these pictures? I have all these old pictures on an old laptop that is locked up with ransomeware that I did not store before it got locked up. Thanks, Randy http://www.venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?22817-Left-side-radio-holder&highlight=radio

Thanks Don and puc. Another thing you can see in the pictures is the weld line where the legs were shortened. One other mod you will need to do on shortening the legs is to deal with the spring tightness. The way to fix it is to put the "C" shaped metal strip in a vice and hammer on the end of it making the distance between the holes a little closer. BTW, this can also be a fix if your center stand is not pulling up tight enough. In reading the old post, I remember that we did not weld a stud on the side, but put a sleeve through the leg with a bolt through the sleeve and wheel. We felt this would give more strength and for as many years and times it has been used, it has worked. Randy

This is the thread about the wheel mod on the center stand, but it no longer has the pictures attached. Maybe Don can pull them up if he sees this. Randy http://www.venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?27026-cjg004-centerstand-wheel&highlight=centerstand

As far as the center stand, the mods I made have worked great. Shortening it makes a big difference on putting the bike up, and especially since I did not run max air pressure in the rear shock. As far as the steel wheel on the foot, this goes back many years ago when I had the shock support/frame collapse. I have no doubt that the poor welds on the 83 frame and the fact that I used to walk the bike around while on the stand caused the problem. I was fortunately to have a good friend that builds race cars that is a great welder help me out. He welded a rod on the side of the foot that with a steel wheel that is about 1/8th inch or less lower than the foot allowed my 10 year old grand daughter to pull down on the trunk rack enough to lift the front wheel and easily spin the bike around. It is also not enough to cause the bike to lean any. As far as rolling off, I have never had any issues with feeling it was not stable. Somewhere on here I have several pictures of this mod, but I don't know if I can find them. As far as the frame repair, there was a write up in the 1st gen tech section. I would take some more pictures, but the bike is on the center stand sitting up against the house in a tight spot. Randy

Thanks puc and it is so great to see you on here. We all missed you. What you are saying is exactly what I am talking about and I guess I need to start thinking about posting it. If I was going to do that, I would probably make it a two-fer and throw in the 85 also. MY grandson bought an 83 off one of our local members, but I am not encouraging him to get into riding as he is about 25 and has a 17 month old daughter. He also almost lost his right leg after a very bad crash on a CBR600 Honda several years ago that could have cost him his life if he had lost his cell phone. He was out of site down a bank and would have bled to death his injuries were so bad. Randy

Great comments Carl and you do understand where I am coming from. I hate to give the bike away, but it is heart breaking to see it just sitting there not being used and loved. It is a good bike and with a little TLC, it could be a bike that someone could get a lot of enjoyment out of. I still see people buying these bikes without a clue what a 1st gen Venture is all about and how to do anything with it. I also have an 85 that I bought for my son that is serial # 5,000 +, so it is after the trans fix. My son bought an 86, so it is just sitting in my garage taking up a lot of needed space. Here is a pic of our three bikes together. Randy

Pretty much me to a tee. I came to the conclusion I was just not as comfortable on my bike, with the weight, being inseam challenged, having a riding partner that was not comfortable any more and just so many idiots on the road doing everything but paying attention to driving, plus, I found another fun loving vehicle with a Miata. For the relay on the TCI, if you measure the voltage that is actually going to your TCI, you will probably get a bit less than 12 volts. If you look at the schematic, you will see it goes thru several other things first. By using that lowered voltage to power a relay, you can have 12+ volts to your TCI. It does help. Randy

For the last two years my 83 Venture has sat on the carport covered up and has not been started. I guess like a lot of people, I feel like my bike is special and to put it on Craigslist would just be another old bike for sale. I bought the bike 21 years ago and have put about 150,000 miles on for around 170,000 total. But, I don't really think of it as a high mileage bike because I have maintained so many of the wear items. And, the bad things that are generally associated with an early MKI are not an issue, because they are much better than when the bike was new. I was sitting here the other night and started listing changes that I have done on the bike and even with a big list, there are probably several more. This is the basic list. new front tire Avon R6 calipers MKII forks MKII calipers SS brake lines Progressive springs MKII headlight Assembly including all needed frames + Halogen bulb LED halo ring around/behind glass New head bearings Radio holder custom made of metal Radar detector with dedicated power switch built in Fog lights wired independent of main fuse Relay to have 12 volts to TCI that is mounted on air filter housing MKII TCI with corrected vacuum routing Air horns Engine has approximately 30K miles Still have old engine that was very strong 4 brush starter 2nd gen transmission V Max final drive makes 2nd gen trans perfect for low end acceleration and highway cruising Rear wheel bearings replaced Frame has gusset rods welded in at center stand support and much stronger than stock Noted in VR frame repair data Center stand shortened 1/2 inch for much easier use Center stand has steel wheel welded on right foot so bike can be spun around very easy on smooth concrete Jardine mufflers Corbin seat that has been scooped out and is very comfortable Kuryakyn forward highway pegs very comfortable and adjustable Bikini side panels that open up engine and make highway pegs more comfortable Complete extra set of stock lower plastic and side panels painted to match Custom purple pearl paint with ghost flames that with a little work could be very good Light bars around trunk and mufflers with 18 LED lights Speakers built into trunk lid with bottom of trunk reinforced Trailer hitch available As you can see, there as been a lot of upgrades over the years. My son has an 86 and my grandson has an 83 that they are not riding also. I'm open for suggestions as you guys can appreciate the changes that have been make.. Randy