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Semi-retired

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  1. Semi-retired
    Before I put ON the Moly, my next question is........you could see all the powder created by the grinding of gears and the disintegration of the O-ring.......what's the best solvent to clean up this mess......without dissolving the rubber of the seals around the bearings? (I will, of course, be careful not to get ANYTHING inside the bearings........but I need to get into the general area with something other than "soap and water"! LOL) Is Gunk safe? Or gasoline (in a vented area)? Mineral spirits??? I've got 'em all......just wondering what's best.
  2. Semi-retired
    Nope! I was able to order JUST the splined (now UNsplined) hub for just $160. Thank goodnes.....cause I'm sure the entire assembly would have been closer to $1000. Yeah.........WHERE's the grease is RIGHT! That's Pi** poor design on Yamaha's part that this thing would be so open to "the elements" as to be BONE DRY after 8 years of age and VERY minimal driving.......AND indoor storage. Crazy!
  3. Semi-retired
    Evidently, the O-ring that was supposed to keep the water out of my rear hub FAILED.......miserably at doing its job. Also, Yamaha failed to design this assembly in such a way as to keep these parts protected from the elements. The V-Star is only 8 years old and has less than 6,000 miles on it. (Oh, and it wasn't down in Katrina, either! LOL) The replacement hub is $160......and the "offending" O-ring.........a BUCK!! P.S. If anyone can find this part in the Yamaha manual.........I'd love to hear/see the page number........cause I can't find it!
  4. Semi-retired
    I just replaced all my plugs because of my lousy gas mileage......but during my "interim testing"....I determined that I WAS in fact, running on three! The left rear plug was totally dead. Not sure it's necessary to replace plugs EVERY year.....but, every SECOND year probably isn't a bad idea, especially at about 15 bucks a set of four! Cheers! Mike
  5. Semi-retired
    She won't wanna hear that!!
  6. Semi-retired
    Holy Smokes!! All bets are off on the clutch, guys. Just thought I'd try adjusting it one more time before getting serious about removing the clutch housing etc. THAT's when I noticed the DRIVE SHAFT is actually turning (between the engine and the back wheel) when I let the clutch out. YIKES!! Things are looking totally different, now! Hopefully it's just a case of a broken cotter pin or something inside the back end......but, we'll see when the rear wheel comes off I guess. Thanks for your clutch answers. Any experts on rear ends out there? DOH!
  7. Semi-retired
    This guy... http://youtu.be/7Ds5bGGCWIo....says to "scuff up the old steel plates with 180 sandpaper before reinstalling with new friction plates." Make sense to you?
  8. Semi-retired
    OK.......first off.......my bad: there IS a pair of knurled adjusting nuts at the lever. (My excuse for not seeing? they were VERY nicely concealed in the tightest/neatest dustproof/waterproof rubber boot I've ever seen.) And, to POSSIBLY make matters worse, this is the first time I've noticed that there really WASN'T any play at the lever at all. NOT GOOD, and a VERY possible/probable contributor to the problem. By this point, I already had the cover plate off at the bottom end of the clutch cable. So, I just undid the nuts at the lever, putting some play in the action, and tried starting up the bike to see if I had the instant fix. NO SUCH LUCK, of course! I'm still hearing the rubbing/scuffing sound....as though something is seriously not good on the OTHER side (clutch basket side) of the motor. My worst suspicion: that her clutch has been slipping for the last thousand miles.....and that she never really noticed because of her "light" touch on the throttle.....and that the clutch is BAKED. Does anyone know of or think there is a solution to this WITHOUT buying a new clutch kit? (Like taking the current one out and UNbaking the plates somehow? It's been so long since I've SEEN a cooked clutch, I can't remember how bad they get and whether I'm dreaming to think they could be salvaged with some sort of TLC?!?! Input greatly appreciated.
  9. Semi-retired
    Thanks for the input so far, guys. YES: It's definitely a cable clutch (as opposed to hydraulic) - so I'll take that little side cover off down below first and see if the adjuster at the bottom end has somehow slipped out of adjustment. (There's no knurled nuts or anything resembling an adjustment at the top.....just a nice clean lever.) YUP: It's definitely a shaft drive - and because the bike WILL creep forward ever so slightly when the clutch lever is released, I don't think it's anything "serious" like a broken gear or shaft. Pretty sure it's either an "adjustment" or a "consumable".....like clutch plates. (there's also a bit of noise when the clutch is "engaged"......more like a "rubbing" than a "grinding", if that makes any sense! Will give you updates as the coffee kicks in and the covers come off! (Hate the thought of ruining the effect of my two cups of coffee......but I guess I'll take MiCarl's tip and see how smelly it is under the oil filler cap FIRST......since that's the single EASIEST thing to do. :-)
  10. Semi-retired
    Not sure what category this should be in, but.....HERE it is! My wife said she felt a couple of "lurches" under her while doing about 40MPH in 4th gear on her 1100 V-Star this morning. She glided to a stop at the side of the road, and sure enough, when I got off my Venture and onto her bike to see what was wrong, I released the clutch slowly in first gear.....only to see that the bike moved forward, ever so slightly, then stayed exactly where it was, with the clutch FULLY engaged. DOH!!! Do you suppose the clutch is "fried", "broken" or ......"otherwise"? Any and all suggestions greatly appreciate. P.S. And if you've had this same experience.....did you replace, repair, use aftermarket, genuine Yamamama etc, etc, etc. Thanks a lot for any help guys. Really appreciate your help on this one.....cause, as you know, "Happy wife.....happy life!!" :-) Michael
  11. Semi-retired
    Thanks, Don! I really appreciate the offer. Kitchener's my home town and I have a daughter as well as a new GRANDdaughter there, so I'll try to arrange my next family visit to coincide with a time when you might be able to have a look at my carbs. How long a procedure is this normally?
  12. Semi-retired
    Ya see now.......there's yet ANOTHER thing I've never done......is sync the carbs!!! Wondering how 'critical' THAT is, too!?!? I used to do it with a piece of garden hose (back in the day) before all these sexy vacuum tubes and stuff were around. Course, back then I was only doing TWO carbs.......a pair of SU's on the MGB. Is it possible to do them "by ear" on the Venture, too?
  13. Semi-retired
    Yeah, baby....that's what I was hoping you'd say. Thanks, Larry and Brad for saving me from tearing this thing down right in the peak of riding season. (yes.....it's SUPPOSED to be only a one evening or one DAY job.....but these things have a way of getting "protracted"!) There's no particular clickety-clack going on within my "rocker covers".....so I'll let my sleeping dogs......'er, ponies, lie! Cheers, and thanks again, Michael
  14. Semi-retired
    BLOOD (i.e. OIL) all over the floor under your bike!
  15. Semi-retired
    All I need to do now is look into those pesky valve shims. Took Bertha for an 'energetic' spin yesterday...after installing the new plugs. Figured I'd kill two birds with one stone: 1. see how she was performing now that the new plugs were in place.......and, 2. head up to Kitchener to visit my new(ish) granddaughter, who will be riding before we know it! But, I digress.... So, I had her up to 105 MPH, (the Yammy, that is......not the granddaughter).....and over the 140 mile return trip from St. Catharines to Kitchener and back, I would have to say I've never felt the bike seem so......"frisky". Truth is, I don't know how I even maintained an IDLE earlier this season, based on how smooth it felt with the new plugs. Haven't yet run the bottle of Sea Foam through it, but, at least got the opportunity to check Canadian Tire's automotive "liquids" department while out in Vancouver last week, and found that they DO handle the product. (will buy and pour this week) Next on my list of "sorely neglected maintenance" duties, however, is my valve adjustment. Without even consulting the owner's manual, I thought I'd survey you guys first........and find out actually how many of you have surpassed the 30,000 mile (mine's 47 thousand Kliks, so about 30K miles) on your odometers WITHOUT performing a shim adjustment. (I'm not sure how to do an actual yay/nay survey on this forum.......but, perhaps I can have a show of hands?) Anyone else out there with 30 or 40K miles on their Ventures who haven't bothered to do the shims? I bought the bike with 17K kliks (about 10 thousand miles) on it......from a VERY anal (i.e. thorough) guy....so, if the manual says to do it WITHIN that period, I'm guessing he would have done it. How critical is it that I do them again RIGHT NOW?
  16. Semi-retired
    I tried a short, tank-still-off, start up........and YEAHHH BABY........the pipes ALL got warm real quick this time........so I'm going to assume I'm good to go! Thanks for asking! And thanks for the stats on the dogbones. (I haven't invested in a torque wrench yet..........so I just 'reefed' 'em back to the same amount of 'reefing' it took to get 'em undone!!)
  17. Semi-retired
    Crappy looking plug is from right front, actually. (Not sure what "number" that is!) The one that wasn't firing (left rear) was actually one of the 'better' looking ones. Mind you, they ALL looked like crap.......relatively!
  18. Semi-retired
    Hey, Jay.......just wanted to thank you again, my man! I think you just saved me a thousand or two! (No.....LITERALLY a thousand BUCKS or two!!) You said to remove the motor mounts to get at the front plugs easier. I had actually tried, and succeeded, (with some banged-up knuckles mind you) in removing the left front plug. But when I went to replace it with the new one, I took your advice...and it went IN much easier than it came out. Thanks! Here's the money saving part: I then immediately removed the right-hand motor mount in order to REMOVE the old plug......so that I could actually SEE what I was doing. (as I had learned on the other side!) And BOY, did I ever see!! I looked in at the plug and saw a loose bolt sitting right down in beside the spark plug....a spot from which it would easily have fallen INTO my cylinder had I proceeded blindly as I had on the left side. (Pic #1 is the great view...with the "spare" bolt removed) I never grabbed a pair of needle-nose pliers so fast in my life!! Got that little bugger out of their.......and only THEN thought to grab the camera to pass along my story in pics! (Would have been more dramatic, I know, to put the bolt BACK IN.......THEN take pictures.......but, sorry, I'm not that brave.) I was taking a shot of the bolt (pic #2) to ask if any of you knew where it might have come from......when I saw the "offending" source myself: one of the rocker cover bolts had either VIBRATED loose and fallen beside the plug (pic #3)......or the PO or his dealer had DROPPED it there and just didn't bother retrieving because it was too much work! (Hard to imagine....but sometimes &%*%@$-ed up people do lazy things! So, after all that drama....one look at my plugs and you can see in pic #4, I was waaaaaaaaaaay overdue for replacement. A couple of other questions though: 1. That plug with all the corrosion is the right front. It looks as though it's had multiple baths of liquid over the years.....and the weird looking "device" in my photo (#1) with the plug still in place looks like a "frost plug". Is it possible that there's been some kind of leakage going on? 2. I've also seen what looks like "rusty-colored residue/overspray" around the top of my rad and around the back of my steering head; are all these factors related to a coolant "situation"? Note: I did do a coolant remove/replace just a couple of weeks ago.......and lots came out, so it's not like I was "running DRY" or anything. Thoughts? P.S. Thanks, again, Jay.........I owe you SEVERAL cold ones. If you ever get to Niagara Falls area......call me. Without your tip, my next post might have been: "How do you turn one of these things upside down and shake it?"........or, "What kind of pistons and valves make the best replacements on an RSV??" DOH!
  19. Semi-retired
    Thanks, Spike. Now to the sorrowful/unfortunate question........how much ARE these Day Long babies.......and is there someplace to get at LEAST a LITTLE break on the price? (The bagpipes explain how I am when it comes to spending money........even on myself!)
  20. Semi-retired
    The answers were interesting.....but, too bad that $$$ keeps popping up. Has anyone done an a/b comparison of the stock '03 seat and subsequent years' pillow tops? (I'm not sure what year they made it "fluffier" looking.....but our '03 looks pretty plain in comparison.....and I've always considered it a bit of a nut cracker. You know.....that jamming into the tank sensation!?!?) I'd love to hear that the "pillow top" is at least 25% softer/longer/whatever than the 03....so I could just get one at the wreckers. But if Japan was more concerned about making it just LOOK more comfortable.....rather than actually BEING more comfortable, then I guess I'd better get out the wallet. Mike
  21. Semi-retired
    Another major reason for tires wearing out faster on the left than on the right is simply the "profile" of the type of roads you most often drive on. If the roads on which you put the most mileage are "high crowned" roads (which many secondary/two-lane highways are, for drainage purposes) then your bike is virtually riding on the left "sidewall" of your tire. (Not REALLY the sidewall.....but you catch my drift, don't you?) I don't have a drawing program to add an illustration, but picture your bike, riding along upright.......perpendicular to the HORIZON, not the road surface. Now, imagine that road surface being slanted...down to the right, which it would be, so the water runs off the road.....it's then the LEFT SIDE of your tire which is making MORE contact with the road than the right side is! (They adjust the CAMBER of a car's front wheels for just this same reason.....depending on the "roads most travelled".) This doesn't SOLVE your situation.....but it may EXPLAIN it. Mike P.S. As a (kidding) solution........start riding more on the center lane of four-lane divided highways; these are typically slated toward the LEFT (for drainage toward the median). This will even up your wear!
  22. Semi-retired
    And how many pounds is that, btw?
  23. Semi-retired
    Hey, Bill, welcome aboard! As someone else said here.....don't worry about synthetic for now......but, DO change your oil as frequently as you a) can afford and b) want to be bothered. Fresh oil will HELP keep the noise down, make shifting a little smoother.......and, of course, keep your engine "fresh" for years to come. On the NOISY clutch subject, whatever you do, PLEASE DON'T buy LOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUDDDDDDD aftermarket pipes, just to make your bike/engine/exhaust even NOISIER than it is now! Loud pipes don't 'save lives'.......they just PISS OFF everyone else within earshot.....AND contribute to YOUR own future DEAFNESS. I'm a motorcycle rider training instructor in Ontario, Canada, and a lifelong (51 year) rider, and when I was a "kid".....I mean a goofy teenager......I wanted to make all the noise I could and draw attention to myself and my shiny motorcycle (a new Honda CB 160, way back when Jesus owned one, too!)......but now that I'm "all growed up"...I realize that loud bikes are just an annoyance to EVERYONE, with the exception of, possibly, the owner. Please keep your stock pipes.....keep your bike as quiet as possible......and enjoy the thrill of RIDING in the extra dimension that two-wheelers bring to the road. Avoid being a NOISY BIKER! If you wanna "fight" with cars and car drivers who (you think) don't see you or hear you.....do yourself a favor and buy two things: a nice Stebel air horn (cheap and effective).......and a nice neon vest (cheap and effective). One, so you can be heard (only when it's necessary).......and the other, so you can be SEEN at all times! Work on your own skills of "situational awareness": i.e. ride smart...know what's going to happen BEFORE it happens.....stay away from stupid car drivers! So endeth today's sermon. (P.S. Don't mean to sound preachy.....you probably know all this stuff, since you've just graduated to the epitome of motorcycles! It just burns my butt when people suggest that turning your radio up to 12 and fitting your bike with "straight-thrus" is the way to "quiet your clutch"........and "guard against evil car drivers".) (P.P.S. If you're going to be playing around inside your upper faring.....be sure to read the advisories on how NOT to break off the plastic tabs that keep the top of it together. Snoop around the tech section....you'll find it easy enough.) Again, welcome! Michael
  24. Semi-retired
    Thanks, Jay! I was hoping someone would say that. (Otherwise, I was going to have to scout the neighbourhood for a tiny little employee of Mitsubishi Electric.....where I used to work, actually........to get his tiny little hands in there and do the deed. Those are TIGHT QUARTERS!! And you don't wanna be dropping stuff up/in there!) Mike
  25. Semi-retired
    I suspect the same.........so.....OUT THEY ALL COME!!!
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