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allwx

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Everything posted by allwx

  1. allwx
    Yeah, the more I think about it the more I'm sure I've got a defective tool. It might've come that way, or, more likely, I damaged it somehow by being hamfisted on my first try. Still, it pisses me off that this tool is so hard to use. The fact that no others seem to be having the same problem reduces the possibilities to two: 1. defective tool, or 2. lame mechanic. I prefer to believe in #1, naturally, but knowing how many times I've bunged things up from being a dope, admit to the possibility of #2.
  2. allwx
    Nothin' like an oil war...
  3. allwx
    When my 07 was new I had a lot of problems like this. The controller got very intermittent. Power on, power off. Sometimes it would lock up. After a few weeks I located the problem in one of the connectors inside the faring. The connector is not very good, but I was able to route it such that it sits atop the radio unit, rather than hanging beside it. This takes the stress off the connector, and I've had no problem with it in 2.5 years since making this adjustment.
  4. allwx
    Thanks for the info. did you remove your cams? If you don't mind my asking, did you do it to adjust valves? Or some other reason?
  5. allwx
    I've used synth oil in every bike I've owned for the past 15 years. Back in the 90s me and most of my friends were using automotive Mobil 1 15W50 in our Goldwings. Some were using Royal Purple. None of us ever had any clutch problems whatsoever. I've got to agree that if one of these Ventures is having clutch slippage on synth oil it almost has to be a problem with that clutch. Heck, I don't even know what it would feel like for one of these wet clutches to slip.
  6. allwx
    True, that is a PITA! My tool may be defective. I bought it back in 1998 to use on my 97 RSTD. When I did my first adjustment on that bike, I had a lot of trouble with the tool edge slipping off of one or the other bucket. After awhile I discovered that if it didn't work well going in from one direction, it usually worked better the other direction. Then, I found that it helped a lot to make sure the tool working surface was set towards the shim opposite the one being removed. Once the shim comes out, if the tool is a little closer to that bucket, it might move in to the space where the shim was, and pop off the other bucket. Because of these problems I've had, using the tool is really a hassle for me. I'm old and have an old man's back. All that hunkering down, peering into those small spaces, back and forth, back and forth, seems like a WHOLE lot more work than just removing the cams. However I have not removed the cams on this engine, so maybe there's more to it than seems from the book procedure. The fact that others are not having these same problems must mean that my tool is toast. Rather than buy another, I think that next time, maybe in 3 years, I will just remove the cams and bypass the tool altogether..
  7. allwx
    There are two nuts, both identical AFAIK. The bottom nut is the put-tension-on-the-bearing nut, the top one is just to keep the bottom one from drifting. There is also a metal washer thing with metal bands that sit into recesses in the two nuts. Because of this, the two nuts must be aligned with each other more or less precisely. With the quick adjustment most of us use, both nuts are turned together. This probably explains why it loosens up again within a few thousand miles. The involved way to do it requires disassembly of the top bridge. You can leave the forks in place, but the top bridge has to be loosened and removed completely. That probably requires a good bit of faring disassembly, too. Definitely, the handlebars have to come off. Once you get top access to the stearing had bearing nuts, you remove the top one and torque the tension nut to the specified torque, whatever that number is. If the bearings are in good shape, then that should put the correct amount of drag on the bearings. Personally, I like the bearings a little tighter than spec, and have found that there's a bit of gray area to play with, depending on how you like yours. Then, put the locknut assy back on, reassemble, test ride. \\\ That's the best I can recall from doing it on a Roadstar a few years ago.
  8. allwx
    This is why I like the idea of removing the cams. A few years ago I had a Honda CBR with shim-under-bucket arrangement. You first made your measurements, then removed the cams, pulled the buckets out to see shat size shims were under there. Then order the shims. Put them in, reinstall the cams, check the measurements, and you're done. The single most aggravating thing for me on this Venture motor is dealing with the Yamaha shim tool. Most of the work is spent on getting the thing set properly. All of this work could be avoided by simply removing the cams. It doesn't appear to me from the cam removal procedure that removing the cams is all that hard. Certainly no harder than it was on the old CBR. The biggest risk would be dropping the chains down into the case. Next time I do my valves, I may try it thisaway.
  9. allwx
    It is hard enouhg to manage turbulence for the cockpit, durn near impossible to improve the wind situation for the pax, due to the distance and height of the pillion from the windscreen. I learned this from solo riding in the pillion with cruise control set. It also needs saying that how a particular windshield acts in dead air will be very different from how it acts in a headwind, or tailwind, or crosswind. About 4 years ago I let my beard grow long. Now it is about down to the very top of my gut protrusion. The beard flopping around tells a lot about what wind is doing in the cockpit. On a bike like the Venture mostly the wind is scooping up from below. Some is coming around and flowing back into the lower pressure area behind the faring. It is such a maelstrom in there! If I don't tie the beard down, it beats me to death from the air flowing up from the lowers. I also own an old VTX1800. No windshield at all. On that ride, I don't have to tie the beard up. The wind flows naturally from front to rear as I move through it, and the beard rides smoothly over my shoulder. Nothing noticeable flows up from below. If I've got a pax behind me, she moving her head slightly behind mine will cause my head to move side to side in reaction. Size of windshield is important, the bigger-wider the better. With the Tulsa you get a very quiet cockpit, but the poor pillion rider has blurred vision and an itchy nose.
  10. allwx
    I know what you mean about having the bike down when the wx is great. Very sad thing. If you're consistently getting 42 mpg at 70 mph on a Venture, then your motor is probably about as good as they get, and better than most. I can bust 40 mpg at 70 mph steady cruise only with a dead calm wind, maybe a slight tail wind. And at that, I have to keep it at a steady cruise with no herky jerky, hard passing, or anything like that. Usually, my mileage drops into the mid-30's once I get to 70 mph. When you said your power dropped since a ride to FL, it reminded me of how my bike will feel different when I go to Austin. I live above 5,000 feet, and am used to how the bike feels where I live. I go to Austin a few times a year, and am always pleased with how many more ponies join the team by my going down to 500 feet.
  11. allwx
    Bill, how many miles you got on that shock?
  12. allwx
    I'm not using K&N in my Venture, but I've used them before on several bikes. Seems to me K&N claims you can go 50k miles or more between cleanings. The idea, as I understand it, is that as dirt accumulates the filter actually filters better. It probably doesn't flow air as well. I've wondered how bad the filtration is right after a cleaning. Maybe best not to think about it, but I live in the desert and there is always a lot of dust in the air. That is the main reason I've stayed with the Yam paper elements up to now.
  13. allwx
    True. But, some of the final drives have come from Japan with frightful whines. My 97 RSTD was horrible. I picked up the bike, brand new, from dealer in Austin, TX, got about a mile before I knew something was awfully wrong. After some back and forth Yam sent a final out from CA that they took off one of their "test bikes" (so the tech rep said) and that final was silent running. Talking to him, he admitted that Japan had screwed up and allowed quite a few finals to leave the factory improperly set up. I've encountered two other owners with the same problem. In each case the dealers had told them the whine from the final is "normal" but they couldn't live with it. The clutch basket whine is different. The final whine is not universal, but the clutch basket whine is. Best cure IMO is a good set of earbuds and a music player.
  14. allwx
    I've put just over 100k miles on two of these machines, the first a 97 RSTD, the second a 07 Venture, and have never had any problem with coils, or any other part of the ignition. It does seem odd that so many of the coil failures have been on #3, and I will certainly keep an eye out for it. Good info, thanks.
  15. allwx
    Clanging noises most likely somewhere in the chassis. Frinstance, One day my old 97 RSTD started making a clanging noise when I went over certain types of bumps. The steering head nut had come loose. Took me two weeks to figure it out. There's lots of metal on these beasts, lots of things to clang against each other. I don't have much to complain about in my Venture, but I must say that the assembly of it was terrible. It took me a month to get all the kinks worked out. Some of it was factory, some of it was local dealer assembly. Once I got everything adjusted to my liking, the bike got under my skin.
  16. allwx
    Hi Jim, and welcome. The Venture motor will run with any Wing, but the motor makes most of its power at higher revs, where the Wing makes a lot of power at lower revs. I've owned three Wings including a 2003 1800 (overheater) and have not been the least disappointed in the power delivery of my 07 Venture by comparison.
  17. allwx
    Dust seals and bearings aren't very expensive from the dealer. Probably best to buy there, though some get exact fit bearings from other sources at slightly cheaper prices. The old bearings have to be tapped out, and the new ones tapped back in. If you've never done this before, probably best to leave it to a mechanic. If you make a mistake you could ruin your new bearings, or even bung up a $300 wheel. However if you want to do it yourself, you'll need a brass drift about 12" or more long. Also a good hammer. You tap each bearing out from the opposite side. The first one is the dice-iest because you've got that spacer in between the bearings that kind of gets in the way. You catch the edge of the bearing with the drift and tap good and hard on it, then work your way around the circumference of the bearing case. Avoid moving it too far on one side or it might bind. It's a very tight fit. The other bearing will prob come out a little easier once you get that spacer out of the way. Some put new berings into a freezer for a few hours. Shrinks them up enough to make installation easier. I've tried it both ways, can't tell a lot of difference. You'll need a tool that addresses the bearing case on the outer rim. Never bang on the inner race or the bearing will be ruined. Tap it all the way in, nice and even, until it seats. You'll know from the sound of the tap when it seats in the wheel. I've only done this a couple of times and decided it is too hair raising for me, so from now on I take the whole shebang into the dealer shop and let a pro do it for me.
  18. allwx
    Good advice, thanks. You didn't by any chance look at the inside of that tire carcass when it was off the wheel? A friend of mine, riding into the late day sun on a Wing, hit a piece of lumber laying in the road. It actually broke his front wheel, deflated the tire. He had his wife on with him, and was able to bring the thing to a safe stop even rolling on that deflated tire up front.
  19. allwx
    Those D404s evidently come in a couple different rubber formulations. The ones that Yam puts (or used to put) on the Royal Stars last only 5k to 6k. I was shocked to only get 5k out of my rear on my new RSTD back in 97. I called Dunlop and talked by phone to one of the pros there, who told me that it is true that the D404s made to OEM spec are a softer rubber than those sold separately. Could be that there are some of those Yam spec D404s that find their way onto the market. D404s that I have installed have lasted a long time, in fact I've got a set waiting to be installed on my Venture when the current set of E3s wear out. The E3s are too noisey for my liking. The 404s are a wimpier sidewall, but run nice and quiet until they get worn. Patrick
  20. allwx
    That is very good to know! Thanks. Reminds me, I need to put in a new fuel filter. Patrick
  21. allwx
    I don't like those pressure washers. If the noise went away quickly and hasn't returned after the bike has been dry for a few days, then it must've been something related to the washing. I've only heard a couple of dying wheel bearings, both on cars, and for sure there was no mistaking that something was very wrong. The bearings on these bikes are sealed but it probably is possible to force some water past the seals. I had a rear wheel bearing on a VTX go out, but the only way I knew it was when the wheel was off for a new tire, I stuck my finger into the race and turned it by hand, and felt the crunchiness of it. Rideing it, it made no sound at all and the wheel turned freely while mounted on the bike.
  22. allwx
    I'm frustrated by the difficulty of using the Yam shim tool. Mine may be worn, though. Not sure why, since I've only done three adjustment procedures with it. Before I started my latest check/adjustment last week, I seriously considered removing the cams so that I could have ultimate acces to all the shims at one time. I had a Honda CBR a few years ago that had 16 shim under bucket lifters. Adjustment required removing the cams. It was actually pretty easy. I don't see anything in the Venture cam removal procedure that would make this very hard to do, and it sure seems easier than the back-and-forth struggle of getting that Yam shim tool to work right. Maybe I will try this some day. About 30k miles down the road. Patrick
  23. allwx
    A couple of weeks ago I decided to try new air pressures in my forks and rear shock. Since the bike was new I've maintained them at 5 psi front, 45 psi rear. Just before a ride from Albuquerque to Red River, I dropped the forks to zero and the rears to around 10 psi. I was amazed at the difference in the ride. I didn't like it, and put air back in the next morning before riding back home. The lower pressures made the bike ride noticeably lower, and handling became remote, bouncy, where before it was taut. I gave it 200 miles to get used to, but I never did. Apparently, shock pressure really affects handling a lot, and it might take a long time to experiment with various combinations between front and rear to find what is right for me.
  24. allwx
    Valves are a difficult subject. There is a myth that valves will get noisier as they near adjustment time. Valve clearances tend to tighten up over time, not get bigger, so I would expect a motor to be more likely to clatter a bit more AFTER a proper adjustment, rahther than just before. I have heard this myth so many times, that it must be nearly universal. It leads to another thing I've heard dozens of times, people saying that the mechanic listened to the motor and said the valves were OK. Nice and quiet. I'm a mechanic myself, and I know that most mechanics take great pride in their work. Unfortunately, though, the realities of working in the typical motorcycle dealer shop doesn't allow for the kind of precision work that we'd like to expect. The mechs have to keep moving to make any money.
  25. allwx
    I'd dearly love to have the nice, firm saddle that was on my 97 RSTD. The stock soft saddle Yam puts on the Venture is hardly better than a folded towel to sit on. I heard that Yam puts a firmer saddle on the Midnight version of the Venture. I might look into that some day when I get some money.
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