Jump to content

Venturous Randy

Supporting Member
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    6,488

  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    1

 Content Type 

Everything posted by Venturous Randy

  1. Venturous Randy
    Here are some threads that you may either can click on or copy and paste to open. RandyA http://www.venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?t=2410 http://www.venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?t=9026&highlight=gear+undercut http://www.venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?t=2410&highlight=gear+undercut
  2. Venturous Randy
    Scott, according to how much the leading edge of your 2nd gear dogs are worn, you may have to bring them back square and it also helps if you do an undercut. This causes the gears to actually pull together in a load situation, rather than push apart and "jump". I did the undercut on mine at about 45K miles and if I had known at the time that the thrust washer had been improved on and was harder and thicker, I would have replaced it rather than just flip it over. I still got 60K miles out of it before I decided to go back into it and replaced the entire gear set with one from an 86. I was getting the noise you described, but the bike still had not "jumped" in 2nd under a heavy load, and that also included pulling a 450 pound camper. If you are interested in doing the under cut, there are some on here that have done it and have had good success. This whole job is a lot of work as you have to remove the engine and turn it upside down and split the case to the crank centerline. Another thing you will probably need to do is to either replace the forks or straighten them as they are usually bent some. Again, I just straightened mine up and they worked fine. Another option would be to watch ebay and pick up a gear set, just make sure it is 86 or later. Just let us know what you want to do and we will walk you thru it. RandyA
  3. Venturous Randy
    I have to agree with Steve. I used to check and there was never anyone there. I have not tried in a while. I will try again. RandyA
  4. Venturous Randy
    I gained about a pound a month while in the Air Force for four years. I got out and lost about half what I gained. Then I started to college and gained 60 pounds. Since then a few more pounds. Yeah, I can wear my hat, but I do still have my dress blues, just for the heck of it. RandyA
  5. Venturous Randy
    Folks the thing we are seeing with the toy industry is just the tip of the iceberg. In the 35 years I have worked, after four years in the military, most all of it has been in the Quality Assurance/Quality Control area of manufacturing. I spent over fifteen years for a company that made electric motors for the appliance industry with the last eight being the Corporate Quality Manager over four plants in three different states. Their product was the small motor usually used as the condensing fan motor in refrigerators, water coolers, coke machines, etc. When I left, they were producing 65,000 motors a week. Without naming names I will say that the largest customer's name started with a "W" and ended with an "L" and they made refrigerators and a lot of other appliances. At the time I left, the price of the OEM motor to them was about $7 each. If it was an aluminum frame motor, it was generally a fifteen year motor and if it was a cast iron frame motor, it was generally a twenty year motor. That means that under normal circumstances you did not have to replace that motor for about fifteen years at a cost of $75 to $100 bucks, if the refrigerator was still worth it. This included the service call. The motor sold to the general public for about $30 from a place like Granger. Several years ago, this famous customer decided they wanted to get motors from China and save a few buck on each refrigerator. Now the motor they are using is about a five year motor. Therefore, for them to save a couple of bucks, it would cost the average homeowner up to $200 to keep that refrigerator running over ten years. But then again, they are hoping that by five years you will want another new $1,500 or more refrigerator anyway. To put this into human perspective, the company I worked for had a plant that employed about 200 people (largest county employer) in one of the poorest counties in east Tennessee. This company had some of the most loyal employees that put out some of the best quality. The return rate on their motors was less than one tenth of one percent. That is less than one in a thousand, and historically half of those returns were customer induced problems. Now that plant is closed. After that company, I worked for a company that made aluminum and zinc castings. They also had three plants and then spent millions building a plant in Mexico. One of the castings they made was the case for the Tremeck six speed transmission that went onto the Corvette. They paid seventy cents per hour for labor to make parts for a transmission to go into a $60,000 car. That company ended up closing three plants including the one in Mexico. I have now been with a company that makes tank type water heaters for over four years. Now, almost everything that we use other than the tank and jacket comes from Mexico or China. The only reason they are still in the US is the physical size of a water heater. It absolutely breaks my heart to see what this country is doing with their manufacturing. One of these days it will be just one big service industry. RandyA
  6. Venturous Randy
    Scott, you just described my bike before I replaced my gearset with the entire gearset out of an 86. Mine was not jumping in 2nd as I did an undercut on 2nd gear about 60,000 miles earlier, but I did not replace the thrust washer, I just turned it over. When the thrust washer gets worn enough, it will start making the noise you described with it on the side stand then go away when you bring it up straight. But it will get worse as it goes along. Jeff will fill you in on all this. These are several options on the repair and it does not have to cost a lot. It just has a lot to do with how mechanical you are or your friends are. Let us know on what you want to do and we can walk you through it. RandyA
  7. Venturous Randy
    I envy you man!!! Good luck. RandyA
  8. Venturous Randy
    Hey thom, you bragging or complaining? I seem to know too many people around here these days looking for a job. Maybe they need to come to Florida. RandyA
  9. Venturous Randy
    Being a Seventy Day Adventist, I was aware of several SDA C/O's that served in Vietnam as medics and they were truly in the thick of things. You can't get much closer to the front lines than being a medic. As noted, they did not have a problem serving their country, and did it proudly and heroically, they just wanted to do it without them having to kill another human being. RandyA
  10. Venturous Randy
    The best thing to do is go to Wally World and buy some Industrial Strength Velcro. Take the rubber grommet off and cut and fit a piece of Velcro on the flat area. Then put a piece of matching Velcro on the panel. I gar-ran-tee you it work as good as the pins and grommets ever did!!! RandyA
  11. Venturous Randy
    The last I heard, those gaskets are a little on the pricey side at Yamamomma. With a little care, you may be able to use the old ones. I put Jardines on my 83 about 10 years ago and they are still in very good shape. I really like the way they sound, even though they may be a little louder than when they were new. RandyA
  12. Venturous Randy
    DJ, you may have to take the tire/wheel off and take down to the pond and stick it under water. My first suspicion would have been the valve stem, but you say you looked at that. Also, 5 pounds a week is not a big leak and may be tough to find if you don't submerge it. RandyA
  13. Venturous Randy
    About six weeks ago I got a speeding ticket in my wife's Maxima and I had a choice of either paying $95 for the ticket or $100 and taking a four hour defensive driving course and the ticket not going on my record. Given the last ticket I got was about seven years ago and the one before that about thirty seven years ago, this ticket probably would have not hurt my insurance, but I chose to take the course. One of the things that was highly stressed was that when you encounter a crazy, rude or stupid driver was to just get away from them. If you felt the driver was impaired or driving aggressive, use your cell phone and call the cops. There are just too many crazy people out there that feel invincible when in their vehicle and you NEVER know what they may do. In this case I was on the bike and I went from about 40mph to less than 20mph as I crested the hill. I could see the top half of her car and I never did see her turn her head to her left. If I had been in a cage and not anticipated this, I would have hit her at about 40mph in the door and could have killed her. I believe that riding a bike has helped me be more aware of those around me, even when I am in the cage. In this case, I do believe I scared the crap out of her and I hope the next time she comes to that intersection she will stop and look before she turns in front of someone. RandyA
  14. Venturous Randy
    I have been watching one on ebay that is ceramic coated. It was at about $25 for the first five days then went to $78. I was just getting ready to bid on it and with-in the last five minutes it went to $128 then with 30 seconds it went to $202.50. So, I hope someone else enjoys it. RandyA
  15. Venturous Randy
    she was not going to stop. After spending several hours moving millions of leaves to the side of the road for leaf pickup, I decided to take a little ride and enjoy the mid 60's degree day. About three miles from the house I was on a nice back road going about 40mph and as I came to a slight rise in the road that has a road coming out from my right just over the top of the hill, I noticed the top half of a car coming toward the intersection. I immediately slowed down and just as I crested the hill, the car blew thru the stop sign and turned toward me. I layed down on the air horns and let them blast. If I had not anticipated the car doing that, I would have hit it right in the driver's door. I think I startled the woman as she almost ran into the ditch on the other side of the road trying to get out of my way. I am real glad I was paying that close attention, because she sure was not. RandyA
  16. Venturous Randy
    Nope, it was going up faster than I could count my money!!! RandyA
  17. Venturous Randy
    I live in premiere riding country. I am in north east Tennessee, twenty miles from VA and thirty five miles from NC. People come from all over the world to ride the Dragon and we have roads around here that make the Dragon look like an interstate. I am about 90 miles almost due east of Knoxville. We have very moderate weather here as it is cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter than farther north. With in thirty miles we have mountains that have elevations above 6,000 feet. I also live about five miles from Jonesborough, which is the oldest town in Tennessee and at one time was the capital of the state of Franklin, but later changed to Tennessee. I live about fifteen miles from Watauga Lake which has 109 miles of shoreline and is over 300 feet deep. It is also the 3rd cleanest lake in America. RandyA
  18. Venturous Randy
    Here in the mountains of east Tennessee, we invented them!!! RandyA
  19. Venturous Randy
    I have been watching one of the Mark's exhaust collectors for a few days and it was staying pretty low. I came back on a few minutes ago and it had jumped to $78 with less than five minutes to go. I decided to bid about $100 on it and went back to refresh with about a minute to go and it jumped to $128. In the last thirty seconds it jumped to $202.50. Randy A
  20. Venturous Randy
    1st car was an English Ford Anglia like the one in the last Harry Potter movie. When I turned 17 in 68, I bought a 64 Chevelle with a 327 4-speed, That car got me thru 4 years in the military. Then a sharp 65 Chevelle and in 77 a 240Z Datsun that in 79 I put a 350 Chevy in it and later on a 327. When I finally parked it I had put 156,000 miles on the conversion. Very fun car to drive. RandyA And the video was great!!!
  21. Venturous Randy
    Gee whiz guys, I was hopeing for some good posts on some of the things some of you did this long hot summer and all I get is whining. I know myself, this has been the longest riding season of warm to hot temperatures that I can remember. I still remember coming down into Hot Springs, NC and the thermometer on the bike saying 99 degrees on the way home from Vogal and that was coming thru the mountains. RandyA
  22. Venturous Randy
    That was really neat, thanks a lot!!! RandyA
  23. Venturous Randy
    This is the first weekend here in east Tennessee that we have not had temperatures near 80 degrees. This is also the first weekend that Laura and I have not put 100 to 450 miles on the bike. In fact, it did not even get started this weekend. This has been a really good summer for us riding. I have put nearly 10,000 miles on the bike and most of that was 2-up. I have put about 8,000 miles on the Avon tires and like them a lot, except for the high speed wobble that I encountered. They have also worked well with pulling the camper, and we have put close to 1,500 miles on the bike doing that and had a great vacation with the camper this year. We also extended our Vogal trip to the full four days and had a great time there and got to meet some old friends and make some new ones. I replaced the transmission from a later 1st gen and that has worked out well and the bike seems to have a lot less whine than the other one, especially at certain speeds. I had put over 60,000 miles on the bike since I undercut 2nd gear and still had not encountered any problems with it jumping, but I was beginning to get some rattle while idleing. We are still in a severe drought situation, but on one ride this summer, I got rained on harder than anytime before. But now that it is cooling off and riding is winding down, it is time for some good steady rain. RandyA
  24. Venturous Randy
    In this month's issue, Alvin's letter noting the Venture being overlooked in a statement about available touring bikes, was published, along with a picture of his bike. Congrats Alvin, ya done good!!! RandyA Correction, that is hig4s.
  25. Venturous Randy
    Well, at least I know who Alvin Mullen is now and I do appreciate you taking issue with the situation. This really is a nice magazine and they did a real nice write up on the new Kawasaki Concours 14, which reminds me alot of the 1st Venture, being the quickest sport touring bike you could buy, just 25 years later. The print and pictures are also great. RandyA
×
×
  • Create New...