oldfaithful

I can't believe it...Harley equipment!?! This is what I've been doing for years with various bikes, as well as other applications at home and at work. I have your typical air compressor, but I also have a 6 or 7 gallon portable air tank. I added a pressure guage & both inlet & outlet connectors to the portable tank, then use the main compressor to fill the portable to the desired rating (5, 10, 15, 20 psig etc). The portable tank is so much larger than the front or rear shock that the pressure in the tank holds almost perfectly stable with multiple uses. Then I can safely fill multiple forks to exactly the desired pressure, without a fear of overpressure!

Thanks for the recommendations: Berryman's, don't try replacing the screens, cleaning the pump is possible, gas tank epoxy & a possible source for a replacement tank. I suppose the first thing I will try is the Berryman's and/or Seafoam. Next, pulling the carbs and blowing compressed air back thru the screens. I suppose if I go thru the effort of pulling the carbs, I might as well disassemble & clean the pump too. And then eventually getting to the tank job. It's one I'd like to put off for a perhaps a winter project because I'd like to be riding again as soon as possible. I will write again to let you know how it goes. According to the manual, the pump design looks rather straight-forward. Any comments about disassembly or reassembly of the pump? Thanks all!

First a little history: I've had my 84 Venture Std for about 1 yr, but before that she sat idle for quite some time. I know she has some rust in the tank, but I'm not yet ready to pull & treat the inside (I'm relying on the filter for now). Over the past year, I've disassembled/cleaned the petcock and replaced the fuel filter (which was suprisingly clean). I've also had the carbs off and cleaned the bowls, jets, etc. She'd been running just fine until... Now on with the current situation: My buddy & I recently went on a 1400 mile trip to Michigan's UP:biker:, and I put a bit of Seafoam in the tank at each fillup (per some recommendations here). On the way back I began to notice that the bike had more oil than when I last checked . I babied it, got home, drained the oil and it smelled like gas. It appears that 2 of the carb float levels are too high, 1 carb on each side. The filter still looks good, so I'm theorizing that some "gunk" has been loosened up from inside the fuel pump and migrated to the float needles/seats. Perhaps after shutdown, the excess fuel is draining thru the carbs and down into the oil. Has anyone disassembled their 1st Gen fuel pump, cleaned it, and managed to get it back together ? Anyone ever added another fuel filter, between the pump and the carbs? Any ideas on cleaning the mesh screen filters at the needle/seat assembly? Honestly, I'm thinking about just changing the oil, adding a whole can of Seafoam to the next tank of gas and seeing if that breaks up the debris that might be stuck in the needle/seat/screens. Any thoughts? Thanks all! BTW, M-22 west of Traverse City & M-58 west of M-77 are great roads! But stay on the roads...the sabertooth black flies of the shore & beaches along Lake Superior are really something else .

I've owned this 84 Venture Std for almost a year now, and this spring she got a new set of tires. I searched this site for recommendations on tires and found as many opinions as members. I finally decided on Dunlop D404s because they are common to similarly sized bikes and priced right. One of the tires must have had a slow leak...which started this learning exercise. A week or so after installation, the bike began to have a really pronounce wobble from the rearend at any speed over 50, and worse as you speed up. I checked and found the rear tire to be quite hot and the pressure to be ~20 psig . Pressurized up to 50 psig and rode home. I'm guessing that the hot tire and elevated pressure finally seated the tire properly, because the leak has now disappeared. That's what I was hoping for. Lesson 1: The low pressure led to a weak sidewall, which allowed the tire to wobble around...increasing the pressure stiffened the sidewall and returned the ride to normal. Not too long after that, I got comfortable with the new tires and began to push the bike a bit. I then noticed a slight wobble from the rear, while in a sweeping turn at any speed over 75 mph . I played around with the rear tire pressure and found that 50 psig was a bit more stable than my usual 40 psig in those sweepers. That sent me on a search for an explanation of tire ratings. Lesson 2: The rear D404 is rated for 761 lb @ 41 psig, while the bike weighs ~1000 lb with me on it. I should have checked the load rating prior to purchase. My opinion now is that the load rating of the D404 is too low for a bike of this size. Based on my experience and riding style, I will not be putting another set of D404s on my 1st Gen. If you ride slow and take it easy, these tires will be fine...but I like to push it a little bit more. My next set of tires will have a stiffer sidewall and higher load rating. Just thought this might help someone out there that's trying to decide on new tires for a 1st Gen.