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BigLenny

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Everything posted by BigLenny

  1. BigLenny
    Thanks to everyone for all the advice and suggestions. Installed the Helicoil yesterday afternoon, and it worked perfectly. I solicited the help of my cousin who, as I stated before, is a veteran machinist who has installed hundreds, possibly thousands of these in his 35 year career. He is also a BMW motorcyclist, and understands the importance of it being done right. My kit didn't come with a drill bit, however, he insured me that in this case he felt like the tapered tap would cut perfectly clean threads. I let him do the work, while I basically became his nurse handing him tools and such. He was correct about the threads. They were perfectly cut, and the spring installed beautifully. Actually, since the springs were only 1/2 inch long, he installed two of them to fill the whole thread space. After letting the Loctite set overnight, I will remount the wheel this afternoon. Thanks again so much for all of your help. Because of your calm advice, I went from scatterbrain panic to quiet confidence in completing this challenge.
  2. BigLenny
    It doesnt have the drill bit. What do I need it for since the fork already has a hole in it?
  3. BigLenny
    Got a call from O'Reilly's after I posted this morning and they said they had misquoted me. The kit is $105.00 instead of $220.00. It still has 24 springs with it though, 23 of which I'll never use. I stopped by and looked at it. I think I'm gonna go ahead and buy it and do the job tonight. I don't really want to wait until Tuesday of next week to have the machine shop do it. I want the bike for this weekend to test ride and get it ready for our trip. Flyin, I knew that MSC had the kit, but I just couldn't entertain the thought of ordering something from a company that is hands down one of my company's top arch rivals. No matter how bad I need it. LOL. Grainger, MSC, Fastenal, McMaster Carr.....it's a vicious competitive world between us, and being a sales rep for Grainger, I can't really cross that line. Don't think I didn't think about it. LOL. My first thought is to use the kit, then sell it on EBay, but I'm not going to do that. I'll just keep it in case someone else on this site needs to borrow it in the future.
  4. BigLenny
    Jeff, You're right, it does sound a lot easier. However, heres the scenario I'm facing. I looked all over this city yesterday, and all over the internet for a kit, I've been to numbers of auto parts stores, motorcycle shops, hardware stores, and machine shops, and while I've found plenty of Helicoil kits, nobody has the kit that fits the threads on the axle (M18 x 1.50). The company I work for (Grainger) sells every Helicoil kit you can imagine, except the size I need is a special order, and would not get to me until Monday or Tuesday of next week. NAPA sells them, but it's the same special order situation, Autozone doesn't sell them, and O'Reilly's has a kit for $200.00 that has 24 inserts in it. I don't need 23 extra coils. Late yesterday, I found a reputable machine shop that has the kit, and they will install it for $50.00 if I just bring them the fork tube. So.......That's where I'm at. We are leaving the end of next week on a 4000 mile, 12 day ride, and I am wanting to get this installed quick, so I can put some miles on it before I leave, just to test it. Thanks, Lynn
  5. BigLenny
    Okay, After looking at the schematic on BikeBandit, I see that there are a couple bolts that I have to take out on the middle tree, however, I can't figure out how to get to them.
  6. BigLenny
    How do I get the left fork tube off my 2007 RSTD? I took the 2 pinch bolts out of the top, and removed 2 allen bolts at the middle that looked like they were holding the middle cover on, but no budging. Is there something else? Seems like there should be more to it than that, but the aluminum covers/protectors don't allow me to see anything else. Thanks
  7. BigLenny
    Brian, I definitely won't! You know, I am very upset with the shop that did this, but, I do wonder why Yamaha couldn't have just manufactured a steel threaded sleeve into the fork so it would lessen the possibilty of this happening?
  8. BigLenny
    Okay, will do. I have the benefit of my cousin who is a 35 year lead machinist at the largest mfg of oil valves in the nation. He is very comfortable tapping and installing these. When I told him that you guys suggested this, he said that is exactly what he was going to suggest. I offered him a nice dinner for he and his wife to assist me with this. LOL.
  9. BigLenny
    So, I find a helicoil that fits my axle, then I tap my fork the size of the helicoil, then I red Loctite the helicoil into the fork, then I screw my axle in?
  10. BigLenny
    Well, As you know from reading my other thread, I had a freakin monster of a time getting my front axle to break lose once I took the pinch bolt out. I worked with it for about an our at night, and then got on it the next morning. I had to grunt, holler, and pull with all my 300lbs of weight to finally get it to break lose. As I'm finding out from some of you and a few friends locally, once I took the pinch bolt out, it shouldn't have been that hard. Well, now I'm realizing why there was a problem. When I got the axle out, I had noticed the threads had what looked like some sort of maybe thread locker stuff on it, and they also had what I now realize was some thread trash on them. At that time, I just cleaned them up real good, and took a brush to them and got them shiny looking again. I wasn't even thinking to look at the threads inside the fork tube. Well, today I got my new tire on the rim, and started back remounting the wheel on the fork tubes. When I got the axle snug, I put my torque wrench on it, set to 56 ftlbs, and I didn't turn it hardly any and I felt the threads get weak. The torque wrench hadn't even got to the point of clicking yet. I stopped instantly and realized what I had felt. I backed the axle back out, and looked inside the fork tube and confirmed what my suspicions were. The threads were in pretty ruff shape and had been semi stripped. I now realize that the last time I had the tire replaced at the bike shop, they must've overtightend and partially stripped it, so they then put a thread locker on it to make it stay in place. That had to be why it took an act of God to get it to break loose. So, I'm in a predicament. I need suggestions for next steps. Do I have to buy a new fork tube? Has anyone had to go through this and maybe fixed it another way? If I do have to buy a new fork tube, does anyone have one that I could buy cheap? etc, etc, etc. The suckish thing is, the shop that I had the work done at, went out of business, then was bought and opened by new owners. So, there's no way I can get retribution. Need help, please.
  11. BigLenny
    Uh oh. When I took the axle out, it looked like it had some Loctite on the threads. Well, when I was reinstalling it just a while ago, I was threading the axle back in. When I put the torque wrench on it to torque it 56lbs, right before it clicked, it felt like the threads went weak. I think the last person that did it, over tightened it, and then put Loctite on it to make it stay.
  12. BigLenny
    Thanks for everyones help. I'll be sure and adhere to those torque specs when I re-mount.
  13. BigLenny
    Had every intention of my honey and I riding up to meet some of you folks for the first time. However, this past weekend we made the decision to move our Smokies/Outer Banks bike trip up a week and leave on the 31st instead of the 7th. Hope you all have a blast, and maybe we'll catch up with some of you in the near future to put faces with names that I talk to on this site.
  14. BigLenny
    Hmmm. Too late. LOL.
  15. BigLenny
    Thanks everyone. I finally got it to break loose. The penetrating oil did it. If it's done one thing, it's made me more confident in feeling that that sucker would never come out while I'm riding. Lol.
  16. BigLenny
    I tried a breaker bar. I'm tempted to spray some penetrating oil on it, but I'm concerned if I do that, it might effect it staying tight when I re-install it.
  17. BigLenny
    The sucker is tighter n a tick on a hounds back! Can't get it to break loose.
  18. BigLenny
    Yeah, I mean right hand thread. Righty tighty, lefty loosy?
  19. BigLenny
    Decided to take my front wheel of myself this time to take it to a bike shop to have a tire mounted on it. Usually I just have the shop do the whole job. So, my question is, what the heck do I have to do to get the axle out? I loosened the allen head pinch bolt, but I can't get the axle to break lose. I'm using a 22mm socket with a medium size breaker bar. Makes me wonder if I should get out the ole impact wrench. This axle is a left hand thread, right? Thanks for suggestions, Lynn
  20. BigLenny
    Great info! Thanks so much. And, yes, I WILL remember to turn the petcock off if it totally remove the tank. Lol. I'm gonna try to do it by just unbolting it and raising it for just enough room. Probably will you the towel trick as described above. BTW, does anybody have any jazzy plugs that you recommend that perform better than the stock ones?
  21. BigLenny
    Thanks Steve, Do you take the tank completely off, or lift it just enough to do the work. Is there anything hooked to the tank besides the fuel line?
  22. BigLenny
    I'm gonna change my spark plugs myself. Looking at that project closely, It appears I might have to raise the gas tank to get to the front two plugs, Am I thinking right?
  23. BigLenny
    I don't see a number for the RSTD. The .750 number is for that Royal Star bike they made from 1996 to 2001. They made the RSTD all the way up until last year.
  24. BigLenny
    Thats pretty dang cool! Does it come with the girl?
  25. BigLenny
    I'm sure several of you have thought about this already, but for the ones that haven't, heres a suggestion. We live in Arkansas. Each year we get a large number of tornados. We usually rank nationally from 3rd to 5th in the count of tornados. Being able to watch live weather updates is a matter of life and death in this area of the country. So, as you can imagine, having our Dish network go out because of heavy rain at an inopportune time while a tornado is dancing around in a storm heading our way, well, it aint cool. So, by the suggestion of our cable rep, I went to Best Buy and purchased a standard UHF TV antenna and plugged it into the back of our TV. These new antenna's don't look like the old rabbit ears we all used to use. This one looks like a plate. It just sits behind my TV out of site and bingo bango we have free high def service of the local ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX channels. When the Dish goes out because of a storm, I just use my handy remote to move to the TV input on my TV, and watch the free channels to keep up to date. Just trying to help.
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