Venturous Randy

I believe you can get the 30 amp relays from places like Auto Zone or Advance Auto for about three bucks. Tim, that is a good idea about using relays to run trailer lights instead of running all the load thru the bike light system. I went with LED lights on my camper trailer, just to cut down on overall load. RandyA

you are pulling on the throttle cable, I have seen in the past a few of my bikes that would not start if I gave it any throttle. Full choke only. Hope it works out for you, David This is a good point David made. My 83 is one of those bikes that does want to start if you give it much, or in some cases, any throttle. Especially when the system is somewhat compromised to some extent, like with a fouled plug or something. RandyA

Given that the new thrust washer is harder and thicker and causes more engagement, that should fix it for good. But for me I would still want to consider the undercut, even though you will probably never need it. Hey fixit, to find your leak, clean the area good with Brake Parts Cleaner and then spray some powder type anti-fungel spray on it, like for athletes feet. It is supposed to show up the oil leak better, or at least that is what I have been told. RandyA

Fixit, I am real glad you are getting it back together and it appears you have had good success with the undercut program. I have about 65,000 miles on mine since I did the undercut and even with pulling a camper and a lot of wide open 2nd gear runs I have never had another problem. I just wish I had put in a few more new parts, like the thrust washer, rather than just flip it over. But, when I did mine, I was winging alone. I was not aware of any Venture sites, plus I did not have a computer at the time anyway. I have really tried to get more folks to take the plunge on fixing 2nd gear. I know a lot of folks are just not willing or able to put the kind of money in these old bikes that has been quoted to get this fixed. But as you said, "our way" is not that costly. It is a lot of work and would be a mechanical challenge to some, but it is really not that hard to do, and there are a lot of people on here that would help anyway they can. It is a shame that so many of the early 1st gens have the second gear problem because these are one of the sweetest bikes that I have ever seen to go thru 1st, 2nd and 3rd gears wide open. I would love to see the smile on your face the first time you get the chance to do it!!!! Tim, I have yet to understand the problem you are having with 3rd gear. Did you ever give us a good discription on what the bike is doing? If you did I have missed it. RandyA

Hey fixit, I am glad you are at least this far along. It is just a matter of working out a few bugs and you will have it running. I am waiting for that post where you tell us how you did a wide open throttle run thru second gear and it felt so good. That's the one I am waiting for. RandyA Hey, one more comment, do you still have the rear section off and if you do, how hard would it be to replace the rear motor mounts to solid mounts? I am thinking about taking my rear section off instead of removing the engine to replace the rear motor mounts. Do you think it could be done?

As I read this I am stunned and truely heartbroken for you. Laura and I met you both at Vogal and are so saddened. Laura has been with some of her family down in lower Alabama for about three weeks(there was a death there also). I have really missed her and tomorrow is out 38th anniversary. You are in our prayers and I wish you all the strength you will need. RandyA

Fixit, your making me proud!! I can't wait until you get it back together. RandyA

I guess having a motorcycle is like having a car for some people. There are people out there that have absolutely no idea about how to change the oil in their bike or car. They are literally at the mercy of others. RandyA

Also: Set of metric wrenches up to 17MM Flashlight Visegrips Small 12 volt compressor tire plug kit Good Swiss Army knife Small Halon fire extinguisher RandyA

I think Landon is on the right track as it sounds like you may have a charging problem. You may also want to check the stator output and there are several posts on here about how to do it. randya

bigin, are you familiar with the Jason mod? It is where the front cylinders are connected to the back cylinders with small vacuum hoses. If your bike is set up like that, you are going to have a lumpy idle. It comes with the mod. randya

First of all, my 83 1200 pulls fine and smooth from 1,500 RPM's even in 5th. That being said, a clogged pilot jet will cause all kinds of problems at lower RPM's, as wpredock mentioned. Also, keep in mind that the boots, spark plug caps, have a resistor in them and they do get corroded. If you have not replaced the spark plug caps, that is what I would do next. Just unscrew one and go to about any shop and they can match the style. randya

One of my last winter's projects was I installed a Blaupunkt radio w/ cd/mp3 in my standard Venture. I had a radio in it before. I also installed rear speakers. I decided to give up a little space and installed them in the trunk top cover. The only thing that I have found it has hurt for me is that to put two helmets in the trunk, if they are full size helmets, I just turn them upside down. I went to an audio store and picked up some cheap speaker covers and took the metal grill off. I cut the grills to match the pattern I wanted and bent them to fit the contour of the trunk. I then used thin strips of industrial strength Velcro on the perimeter of the inside and then on the outside of the trunk. By doing this I was able to make another set of solid covers that replaced the ones with holes in them when I needed to keep the speakers dry. For the speakers, I used a set of $7 from Walmart. Now, I have good surround sound and my wife says she can hear the sound system real good while going down the road. randya

Thanks squidly, but I have to give the welding credit to an old friend that has built many a racecar, from prostock to blown rails. He is the reason I considered doing this fix in the first place. randya

I will also add a couple of broken frame pictures. This is what you are trying to avoid in the future. randya

Dan, I absolutely have to agree with squidley. The trick is to be able to see in all of the little areas that give solid continuity in the weld. Also, I believe I could have my bike turned upside within an hours work. You would need to take the rear wheel and differential off, rear bags and trunk, rear fender and seat. Once you are this far, there are only four bolts that hold the rear frame section on. Just unplug all the electricals to the back. Once the rear frame is off the gas tank is easy to take out. I think I also had the carbs off, but if you drained them, you might not have to take them off. Drain the oil and disconnect the radiator overflow bottle. You would also need to take off the windshield trim and windshield. At this point, the trick is to pull the bike over back wards. You will need several pieces of wood to put under the handlebars where they make the turn down and some blocks under the rear area. I pressure washed the bottom good and did the weld. Of course on mine, I also had to pull the towers back in place that the lower shock mount suspension pieces mounted to. I definitely suggest putting in the bracing that I did with the 3/8th rod. To me, this is the most critical part of all. For those not familiar with my re weld job, I will see if I can find some pictures.

As I noted on another thread, I bought a little camper this summer and have pulled it some with my 83 Venture. The camper without any extra gear weighs about 370 pounds. By the time I add the full size air mattress and other camping gear, I am probably over 400 pounds. I did do some upgrading on the bike brakes by going through the calipers, replacing some worn rotors and went to EBC HH superbike brake pads. This helped a lot with or without the trailer. There is no doubt that while pulling the camper that I am at a heightened state of anxiety. I ride with my thumb on the airhorn button and try to give myself a lot of extra distance. I try to really concentrate on the road and the road conditions. But, I am aware that a little bobble that would be just an irritation without the camper, could turn into a serious problem with the camper. But, I also have to add that taking off with the bike and camper for a few days in the mountains is so much fun. I have reached the point that at my age and even camping on a good air mattress, camping in a tent is not what I want to do. Actually, before I got the camper, I usually just camped at Holiday Inn. randya

Thanks Don, I appreciate the comments. I think what James or I need to do is get a couple sets of gears and set up a gear-set rebuild. This would include the gears being undercut and the thrust washer being replaced and then reassembled. With doing this and then putting together a tech article or use the one already written, a person with some mechanical understanding and some help could pull the engine, turn it upside down and split the case to the gears. The gear set could be pulled out and the rebuilt set could be set right back in. The worn set could then be sent back to be rebuilt for someone else. And the recycling could go on. I feel this could be a real feasible program and help some of these guys get their bikes fixed for a minimal cost. The only other concern would be dealing with possible bent forks. They are fixable, as I did mine, but it could be a little tricky. At this moment I do not remember what it would take to replace the fork. Maybe James can give us an update on this. The other option would be to replace the fork as part of the rebuild. I think this is a program we should really pursue. There are just too many early 1st gens that are really nice bikes with probably 200,000 miles left in them if the transmissions were fixed. What do you think James? randya

James, what does the fork look like? Can you see score marks on one side at the bottom and on the other side at the fork tips?. Also, when you set the gear set in place with the forks in place, see if the clearances are the same at the tips VS the base. Does that make sense? Did you replace the split washer? Randy

First of all James, it sounds like you are on track. Yes, the clips that hold the gear set together is what I turned over. It is MY understanding this is what works as the thrust washer. I will try to get my repair manual out tomorrow and see if I can jog my memory a bit better. Like I said earlier, I did this about eight years ago. I am a little confused with some of your terminology, such as grinding the post down flat and cupping them. To me, you would be removing material from the leading edge of the post/dog until you have a sharp corner, then removing material from the bottom of the dog, blending it up the sharp corner to create the undercut. randya

Between my 1st gen Venture and my Maximas, I have done very well off ebay. Only one item did I not get and unfortunately, I waited too long to take issue with that, or I would have got the money back from ebay. I suspect the brake pad deal was a fluke. Keep us posted on what happens. randya

It is my intent at the moment to paint the bars silver. I thought about having them chromed, but getting anything chromed anymore is outragous, and chrome may be even more obvious. It is my thought that the solid motor mounts might give enough triangulation to not need the bars. I think you almost have to pull the engine to replace the rear mounts. I started to title the thread "I need more rigidity" but i figured I might just get too much thread drift if ya know what I mean. Looking at my avatar, you can get an idea of how it looks with the bikini panels and without the bars. randya

Thanks guys, looks like a set of six is about $82 now. randya

Whenever I removed the two side bars that hold the side panels on, which was to enhance the look with the bikini side panels, I was concerned I would get some flexing. Well, after putting the bars back on today, I am sure I was getting some flexing. I have seen several comments over the years about solid motor mounts on a 1st gen. Now I feel if I want to run without the side bars, I need to get some solid motor mounts. If any of you know where I can get some, please let me know. Otherwise I will probably have to make some. Thanks randya

James, Without getting into a lot of detail tonight, I will try to run thru the basics of what I did. After getting the gear set apart and determined which gears were affected, I used the following; A Dremil grinder, digital calipers, a 1/8th inch radius Gage, good 1/4 inch grinding stones and some good close up reading glasses and a lot of patience. The 1/8th inch radius gage fits the contour on the ends of the dogs. When removing material, you will need to use the radius gage to determine that you are maintaining the correct contour. The first thing to do is measure the length of each one of the dogs to make sure they are the same. Mine were with-in .001 of being the same on each and from top to bottom. I clamped the gear in a workmate vise as it gave a good working platform to work off of. I then started removing material from the front of one of the dogs, making sure that I was keeping the same contour. I did this until I had removed enough material to bring the corner back to a sharp edge. When I was satisfied that the first dog was about where I wanted it(no undercut at this point), and the contour was centered when looking at it from the top to the bottom using the radius gage, I then started on the next dog. I did the same with it, but I also took into consideration that I wanted the overall length to be as close to the first one as I could get it. Then the same for the last dog. If, in removing material from the 2nd and 3rd dog you take a little more off than you did on the first one, then the dog that gives you the smallest reading in length becomes the target. Once you are satisfied you have the dogs the same length, it is time to start the undercut material removal. By tilting the axis of the grinder you will need to start taking material off of the foot of the dog. The trick here is to remove material, still maintaining the same contour and not removing material from the top corner, but blending right up to where the edge is. What you will need to do is use the calipers and measure several points from top to bottom. Since I did this about eight years ago, I don't remember exactly how much material I removed to get the undercut, but it was probably in the .015 to .020 range at the bottom point. I don't think the amount or angle is that important, but all three dogs need to be as close to each other as you can make them. This would be with taking reading at the top, half way down and at the bottom. What you also want to do is determine as best you can what the approximate angle you have on the grinder when you have contact from top to bottom with the grinding stone to the leading edge of the dog, and this would be with a good grinding stone. OK, at this point you have removed material from the leading face of all three dogs and the measurements from each are as equal as you can make them and the contours fit the 1/8th inch radius gage from top to bottom and the contour is centered. Ya done good. Now it is time to start on the female side, or the matching gear with the slots on the side. On mine, I was lucky that the corner on the contact point on the top edge was still sharp. It was not rounded off like the leading edge of the dogs were. Now, remember the angle that you used to remove material when you were tilted some with the grinder? You will need to use this same tilt to slightly more. What you are doing now is giving some relief. You will want to tilt the grinder and start removing material on the end of the slot without touching the top corner. This would be with a good 1/4 inch grinding stone. The stone will fit the slot good so you will need to make sure the material being removed is centered and you don't allow the force of the grinder to pull it off center. Unless you have some small telescoping gages and a micrometer to measure at different points from top to bottom on the slot, you will just have to visually try to make the slots the same and have the angle as close to the same on all three slots. You can do this because you still should have the top corner of that end of the slot still not ground on, but blended up to it. OK, the gears are done, what next? You will absolutely want to replace the thrust washer as the new ones are harder and thicker. The thicker part causes the dogs to be inserted deeper into the slots than they were originally. The next major consideration will be the forks. Mine were bent and I am pretty sure yours will be too. They get bent when the dogs climb out of the gear and cause a lot of pressure on the forks. What you will see is score marks on the center of the forks at the bottom on one side and on the tips of the forks on the other side. You should also be able to see that the forks are not parallel in the slot of the gear. I remember that I used a reference point on the casing and I could measure the difference in the forks from the ends to the bottom. I used a small piece of pipe over each fork end to pull that back to where they needed to be. It was a bit tedious but not too difficult. You will notice when you put the gear set back in that the forks fit the slot much better from the bottom of the fork to the ends of the forks. I belive with this as a basis and gaskets and oil that you should have a long life with this transmission and at very little cost to fix it. I know there will be some that would not take this thing a part with out repalcing everything and that is great, but I did not want to spend that kind of money and don't believe it is absolutely nesessary. When you get into this thing, please keep me posted. Any questions that you have I will try to answer. randya