Prairiehammer

The rest of yous guys can't read this. Its for Great White. But because he does not have Private Messages enabled, :confused24:I have to go the Public Message route. BJ, I recently bought a binder containing a bunch of Yamaha Assembly Manuals. The only ones I wanted are for the XVZ13DS,DT,DU. Would you care to have the two FJ1200 Assembly Manuals. One is for the 1989 FJ1200W like yours and the other is for the 1986 FJ1200S These two assembly manuals are yours, if you want them, for the cost of shipping to you. There are 23 sheets in total. Kevin

Here is a sketch of the trailer body. download the drawing, print it out and start playing with the design. When you have something you like, scan your drawing and upload to here. I'd be interested in all your ideas. And just one of the ideas I am kicking around.

Anyone named "Pro Bono" has to be good...right?

I just bought a new 2009 (250 miles) Neosho Starlight Streamliner trailer. (A gloat: Only $500 paid for a $1970 trailer!) It is a white blank canvas and frankly, I am not enamored with its appearance. I think it needs some cool graphics. I'll be towing it with my 1991 "Tuxedo" so you know it has to look classy! Any ideas? Descriptions are appreciated, but actual pics and graphics of your ideas would be exemplary.

Sounds like my situation. I retired at 62. Prolly couldn't have done it if the defacto wife had also retired. I'm 63 and have been riding since I was 22. Been riding a Venture since 1985! (Wow! Been riding a Venture for THIRTY YEARS! Wow!) I think there are some kids on here that aren't even thirty years old!

Who you callin' a "rocket"? Certainly not Haywood. Both you Second Gen guys were having a hard time keeping up. You pulling a trailer, I could understand, but Rick was solo without a trailer, and yet......

I'll agree for the most part, but I will add that the Interstate is the LAST place I want to be when weather conditions are poor. People seem to think that although they can't see the hood ornament on their own car, that they should still be able speed along as if the visibility were unlimited. And don't get me started on, truckers in particular, rear ending cages, motorcycles and other semis because they had not paid attention (or were asleep at the wheel) to the construction slow down or stoppage. The entire premise for "controlled access" highways was to eliminate the possibility of collisions at intersections. Fine and dandy, I say, but the "drone-like" attitude of the typical controlled access highway driver is one of "well, now I can relax and set the cruise and ignore what's going on around me". My most serious motorcycle accident was on a controlled access highway, where I was virtually run over by an inattentive four wheeler. I'll take my chances on the country roads any day, provided my lights are bright and my horn is loud. And I am not bashful about honking at cars sitting at a side road as I approach or flashing my lights at them or weaving around in my lane to get their attention. If all goes according to plan, these folks will never see me again and I could care little how they relate the "crazy biker" episode at the dinner table that night. At least they saw me. More than I can say about the impatient jerk who decided "Grandma" was too slow in the right lane and abruptly swerves into the left lane where I was tooling along, minding my own business.

Maybe he cleared the spike fence. If he didn't, I am pretty sure there would be pics to show his impalement.

The two pics of a Venture on the Dragon appear to be of Todd @86er.

Click "Settings" at upper right of page Click on "Paid Subscriptions" under the "My Settings/My Account" menu. Click the down arrow on the box. Pay.

You can either cut the enclosure open (not preferred) or unsolder the connector (preferred). http://www.venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?86427-Peek-inside-my-TCI-if-you-will&highlight=unsolder+tci

http://www.venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?96690-exhaust-collector-options&highlight=mark%27s

Don't worry about the part numbers. Just get a starter from one of the bikes mentioned previously. If you really want to use Yamaha part numbers, check Yamaha's fiche under the various starter motors. You want a starter that requires a "BRUSH SET, 3AJ-81801-00-00". This is the four brush identifier. Yamaha's fiche is confusing because she used the same illustration for two brush and four brush. If you are looking for starters on eBay, note that all the two brush starters have a large Phillips screw showing on the exterior. Four brush OEM starters will not have a visible Phillips screw. As for the Mitsuba SM13 casting number: a large number of starters of many makes and models will have "Mitsuba SM13" end plates. But the motor rotation, spline teeth and projection of the armature can vary. Be safe and only get a Mitsuba SM13 that came off an Yamaha XVZ13 (1991 and later). http://www.venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?74131-slow-cranking-first-gen&highlight=mitsuba http://www.venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?83351-Battery-question&highlight=mitsuba

Jeff, I am packing the Progressive springs and the fork oil. Are you REALLY gonna bring the 17mm hex socket? Having already hauled the springs and the humungous wrenches for the handle bar nuts across three states, I think my gas mileage would improve if I didn't have to do it again. Thanks, @Marcarl.

I had a gull bladder once. You should have seen it explode when I hit it with a .22 Hornet! Dang, Rod, I sure hope you get better. You want me to diagnose your ailment? It may require some creative surgery to fix it. Side cutters, ball peen, etc.

Here's hoping I am struck blind, so as never to relive that vision.

Says YOU. Personally, I can imagine a dozen things better than those there rumballs. But if you insist. Anyone have some of that thar' Black Death?

Scott, I thought we were friends and buddies. But yet, not one pic of my "Prairiehammer in a Tuxedo". Mournful shame. I posted pics of your Tweeks and of YOU. Call me insecure, but I feel really left out of all the frivolity. I hope you are happy.

Thanks, T.J. Even though I reside in Illinoistan, I have traveled (on the bike and in a cage) all the places you so succinctly described. We have "cage-ationed" for the past 11 years just south of Ironwood (Lake Pardee, Wisconsin). Unfortunately, not this year, (well, maybe we will get there this coming fall). Duluth is on the radar for the summer, though. Sorry, I did not get to see you at MD. The UP made up for it, though.

Venture Starters from 1991 are four brush from the factory. ANY other XVZ13 (Royal Star, Royal Star Venture, Royal Star Tour Deluxe, etc) will have a drop in four brush starter. Look for a Mitsuba SM13.

You do not have to remove the nut or the clutch basket to change out the friction plates. Remove the six bolts that hold the spring against the pressure plate, remove the pressure plate and slide the friction and steels out from within the basket. Note the orientation of the plates in relation to the dots or notches on the basket. Did you read the write up here on the site in the Tech Section, as Bongo suggested? http://www.venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?10518-Clutch-Upgrade

While you are in the clutch housing and behind the basket, consider tightening up the sector sheet metal pin holder as per this Yamaha Tech Tip:

That must be some kinda graveyard to have so much Venture stuff. Where do you live? Where is "MKE"?

Pat, the choke lever on the 1984 is unique to that year. Unlike other years, where the choke lever is below the switch housing and moves fore and aft, the 1984 choke is coaxial with the left handle bar and moves up and down. I don't have a 1984 and have never worked on one, so I can't offer any pertinent information about tightening up the lever, except to say that there should be a "washer" between the lever and the switch housing and also perhaps a foam washer between the choke and the grip. Perhaps you could slide the grip up tighter to the switch housing to provide more friction? EDIT: Further research reveals a spring loaded detent ball on the choke lever assembly. Perhaps that ball is no longer free (stuck in the retracted position)? Or the spring is rusted and/or collapsed.