bongobobny

Yes, the bleeder is under a rubber cover on top of where the middle cover goes about in the middle of the engine below the cylinder walls on the left side. The oil drain plug is under the bike on the oil pan in the center. The oil fill cover is on the right side of the bike at the rear of the engine and has a raised flat piece used to unscrew the plug. It's about 1" or so in diameter. If you wish, I can take pictures for you...

To just bleed the clutch system you do not have to remove the middle cover. There is a rubber boot on the top that can be removed to gain access to the slave cylinder bleeder screw. You DO have to remove the middle cover to replace the slave cylinder, though. On both handlebar master cylinder reservoirs, there is a tiny hole at the bottom that can and will get clogged up with goop. This hole needs to be open as it is a pressure relief hole. If the bike has been setting for an extended period of time you may discover that the old fluid has crystallized and you may need to disassemble pretty much everything, calipers, master cylinders, etc to get all of the crud out, just flushing the system may or may not get all the stuff out...

All of the spin on filter conversion kits I've seen put the filter in the same orientation as the stock filter. The Rivco is the most common. I've never seen a 90 degree kit like that, and I don't like it, it puts the filter too low to the ground...

I know I will get disagreeing opinions here, but the best way to bleed the clutch is by using a vacuum pump, which usually costs around $20 - $40, and a speed bleeder which will run you around $10. Just make sure you have connected the vacuum pump to suck and not blow and use a little Teflon tape on the speed bleeder threads. It is important to make sure the reservoir never runs out of fluid while doing this. Also, if you look into the reservoir you will see a tiny pinhole in the bottom. Make sure that hole is not plugged up...

OK, first, WHY you stripped out the screw!! These are METRIC bikes and even the screws, especially the Phillips type are metric! Every time you use an SAE screwdriver on a JIS screw you are probably going to strip out the head!!! You need to invest in a set of JIS (Japan Industrial Standard) screwdrivers!! The main difference is the angle of the slots. So, for now, you need to drill or grind off the head of the screw and then remove the stud with vice grips. OK, after carefully re-reading your post, I am confused as to which screw you stripped. I ass u me'd you are referring to the master cylinder cover and not one of the slave mounting screws... If you are referring to the master cylinder cover, plan on buying two of them as you probably buggered up the other head.

Try to think of it as trying to ram a size 18 quadruple E foot into a size 12 medium shoe! The shoe ain't gonna survive...

What Jeff said plus a couple of other things. If the bike does not have the drain plug at the lowest point such as how the bike is tipped or sloped, not all of the oil can escape the pan. Another thing some people do is they will run the bike prior to draining the oil thinking that if the oil is hot it will drain better. The problem with that is some oil is now sticking to the upper cylinder and head area, and it takes a long time for it to slowly drain into the crankcase! When changing oil, the absolute best way to do it is to have the bike set for several hours before draining, and let it drain for a couple of hours to give the pan time to get the really nasty sludge on the bottom to also slowly ooze out (no, there won't be a lot of it). Even then you never get all of the old stuff out but doing what I just said will account for at least some of that .5 L you are talking about, especially if you ran the engine just before changing! You will be surprised to find out just how slow oil drains...

Well, before you replace parts that may not need replacing, you need to do a little basic troubleshooting with a voltmeter. For starters, with the voltmeter on DC volts, measure across the battery with the bike running. At idle you should see around 12.8 to 13.2 volts. When you rev the engine up you should see the voltage rise, the higher the RPM's, the higher the voltage until you reach the "regulator operating voltage" which can be anything from around 13.6 to 14.8 volts, give or take. If you are seeing anything higher than 14.8 volts, chances are your regulator is defective and needs replacing!! Too high of a voltage will indeed cook a battery in a short time! The next thing to do if your regulator voltage is good is to switch the voltmeter to AC voltage and do the same. Regardless of the RPM's you should not see any AC voltage other than possibly 1 volt or less. If you see a large AC voltage, the rectifier section of your rectifier/regulator is probably toasted. If your battery is seeing a large AC component that too will kill a battery. With AC applied to the battery it will be constantly charging and discharging. AC voltage is constantly changing polarity...

OK, the wobble is caused by a combination of two things, first is an air turbulence caused by the belt drive causing a vortex under the engine which when coupled with the instantaneous heat radiated by the lack of water cooling causes a mini tornado under the front forks which creates an oscillation which is interpreted as a "wobble." Unfortunately, due to the extremely large diameter of the V Twin pistons, the RPM's of the sheer mass of the metal is limited to a mere 38 RPM's which equates to the maximum speed of 26.38756 MPH with a tailwind. By switching to a much larger diameter tire, you may be able to actually exceed a mind-boggling speed of 30 MPH!!

...and now you are starting to understand why we educate ourselves and do our own work!!!

As far as the fan goes, there should be no reason whatsoever for the fan to turn on when cold UNLESS the PO installed an auxiliary fan switch for some reason or another.The fan has a separate thermal switch located along with the temperature gauge sensor inline with the radiator hose. The switch turns on whenever the water temperature gets to a certain temperature, usually around 195 degrees. Occasionally, but not that often, these switches can go bad, so the PO may have installed some kind of toggle switch to manually turn the dan on and off. You should know that the early Venture's temperature gauges read very high, and it was normal to see them close to the maximum under normal operation. This was corrected with the MK2 Venture along with a long list of other. Also, if your carburetors are not properly synchronized this will cause the bike to run hotter as well! Also, just like an automobile, the cooling system needs to be flushed and new coolant installed at a regular interval like maybe every 4 years give or take. I'll betcha that hasn't been done for years on your bike! Also, there is a coolant bypass valve on the bottom of the bike that needs to be in the right position! I've forgotten the right position but if you do a little searching here you will find out...

OK, that is a Triwing (Canadian made) conversion and it has a solid rear axle. Depending on what year it was purchased it can be anywhere between $6000 and $7000 just for the kit and either you do it or you pay to have it done. The Hannigan conversion does NOT come as a kit, it is either installed by Hannigan or one of its authorized dealers. When I did mine the cost started at $11,000 IF you brought the bike to the factory to have it done. If you had a dealer do it, there were additional crating and shipping charges which increased the price another couple thousand. Depending on which accessories you decide on, a Hannigan conversion done at the factory will run you close to $16,000 or more! The Hannigan is an independent rear suspension setup. That being said, the price for that trike, especially with the listed additions, is a VERY good price! If you are in the market for a trike, I would very strongly consider flying out and looking at it!!

Rebuilding is a crap shoot at best, you are better served to buy a whole new one. It helps to have a good vocabulary of curse words when removing the old one and installing the new one...

Cheaper, Better, Faster (choose two)

It is important for you to know that the fuel pump relay is a SPECIAL relay and does not operate quite like a normal relay. It has some circuitry in it that, upon initial excitation, only stays on for a few seconds and then turns off. Once the bike starts running, ignition pulses from the TCI keep energizing the relay to keep it on. It is about a $100 or so part. Normal operation is for the fuel pump to only run for a few seconds when the key is turned on and then stop. Once the bike is running then the fuel pump operation starts up again. A normal operation when the carb bowls are low is to turn the key on and off a few times to get the carbs filled up before trying to start the bike. This is necessary only when the bowls are low such as setting for a very long time and is not required for normal operation of the motorcycle when used regularly...

2nd Gens do NOT have linked brakes, so no midship bleeder...

The big difference with the Iridium plugs is they last a whole lot longer than the standard ones. Especially with the 2nd Gen's the plugs need replacing every 10 K give or take, whereas the Iridium's last a good 25 K or longer!

Pretty much the only difference is in the lowers, the difference being the spacing for the caliper bolts. To convert to the 100 mm spacing on a MK 1, all you have to do is swap out the lowers...

I agree, Mama, no fast food junk for me either!!!

Something that only 2nd Gen Ventures need so that they can handle somewhat as good as a 1st Gen does...

Winner winner chicken dinner!!!

Speed bleeder (M8-1.25) and a good vacuum pump works every time for me...

See my reply to your post in the other thread...

Sounds like a bad kickstand switch... Or, more likely your clutch switch is not properly secured to the assembly, or you accidentally unplugged it! The bike will start in neutral without the clutch squeezed, it's how it works, but as soon as you go into gear and the kickstand is not up the circuit will sense this if the clutch switch is not properly seated. There are 2 sets of contacts, one for the cruise control that turns the cruise off if you depress the clutch, and the other set that kills the ignition IF you are not in neutral with the kickstand down AND the clutch is not squeezed.

We'll be down there in April, as long as Florida is still on the map... Be safe, Floridians!!!