cabreco

Dingy I see in the manual the throttle wire joint you are talking about. If that wheel is plastic then it's possibe I did something. Oh well, no matter. Bernice was going to be down for a while so I can BLING her out with all the new stuff. It's only February anyway...not like it's May!

It figures, like I said It never ceases to amaze me how I can CREATE problems to fix! I guess that isn't very strong? My twist was not that drastic. (although I'm known for being an animal) I turned it full throttle & once it hit end, I just gave it a little more twist. At worst case scenario, I have all the parts I need on the parts bike. That throttle needs cleaning & lubricating as it feels gummy.

I think so too. I hear the scraping in the fairing. not the grip, but its a good opportunity to clean everything up & lube the cables

So today I may have done a monumentally STUPID move. My new Parts bike has very nice & comfortable heavy grip with the V on the end weights of I decided to swap them out. The parts bike grips came off fairly easy. I took off the OEM ones from the left side of my bike w/o issue. The one on the throttle would not really budge. I twisted it to full throttle & gave a little more umph. Nothing ridiculous, & I heard "CLICK" now when I turn the throttle I hear a scraping noise at a certain point. ( & yes it does bind slightly & not snap back all the way) BTW I did get the grip of by using compressed air & blowing it off. (shudda done that 1st) I am assuming that I may have snapped a few strands inside on the cable since it still works & what I hear is the broken strands scraping the cable cover. 1. How difficult is this to replace? 2. Since I heard the click after turning to full throttle, would it be the cable on the front of the grip? 3. How much of a PITA is this to replace & how much of the bike will I have to tear down AGAIN? It never ceases to amaze me how I can CREATE problems to fix. The plus point is I have the parts bike with full replacement parts on hand.

I did a quick tally based on Ebay prices of the bling on her, Using the lower prices I found I am up $340. Now (and I WILL do this) once you calculate things like spare rotors, calipers, lines, pumps, etc...I will be WAY ahead of the price curve. I will eventually drain & crate the drivetrain for a future rebuild (or backup engine). Lower the downtime

Oh WOW I was wondering what these pieces were for. I found these in a box of parts that came with my parts bike. COOL!

The better question is:I wonder if I'll have the sense to know when to get a TRIKE kit!

Close. 1981 CB750K. Another great find. 23K $800. Yeah she needed a lot of elbow grease, but she needed absolutely nothing. She's my around town bike! http://honda-cb750-s.456789.n3.nabble.com/file/n3118324/Photo0010.jpg

The 1st 4 are when I bought her This is what it looks like now. FAIRLANE??? You were close. It's 63 Mercury Meteor. I picked it up in 2005 from the original owner for $1,100. It only has 56K original miles. The owner told me he bought the car brand new Oct of 1962 when his son graduated college & moved out. It was his empty nest gift to himself. He was 46 at the time...yep do the math, this guy was 89 when I bought it!

About a 40 minute drive. I think I broke the record for going to the bank & renting a trailer in less than 30 minutes

I just got back from towing her in. I just picked up a clone 84 Blonde for $500. 64K and a full bling bagger! The original owner 85 years old decided he could still ride it. Took it down the driveway pushed to the left & rolled on the gas and look off! Only to drop her 2 seconds later. Miraculously he is ok, but the bike was trashed on the left side. She has EVERYTHING. Tow package, rear lights, chrome exhaust downtips, lighted front fender chrome tip, Chrome lighted air dam, PERFECT blonde trunk, NEW battery, good tires, driver's backrest, stainless GPS ball studs, intercom cables new rotors & calipers...and the list goes on & on. NOW I have everything to turn Bernice into a full dresser!

Yeah KIC, we all learn the hard way. I'm guilty of trying to cheap out myself. One thing I learned is when these guys here say, "Get only these or buy only that"...it's gold. These guys here definitely know their stuff! (I'm sure they learned the hard way too)

Yep I drove here around while I was plastic welding the fairing & side covers. She was ugly & windy & cold. I realized fairly quickly I had NO mirrors!

Yeah, Uhaul refusing to rent a trailer for my sport trac is like comparing the 2013 Dodge Dart http://www.thefundu.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/2013-Dodge-Dart-Detroit-Motor-Show.jpg To the 1972 Dodge Dart http://www.tntclassiccars.com/100_1262.jpg Totally different animal!

Yea it was that Explorers roll over / Firestone Tire thing that happend in the 90's and lawsuits that U-haul had to pay. Here's an article from back then. U-Haul rejects Explorers By Eric Mayne, The Detroit News U-Haul International is forbidding its stores to rent trailers to customers who plan to tow with the Ford Explorer, saying it no longer can afford to defend product liability lawsuits linked to the best-selling SUV. http://images.usatoday.com/_common/_images/clear.gifhttp://images.usatoday.com/_common/_images/clear.gifU-Haul says the decision was not related to safety.http://images.usatoday.com/_common/_images/clear.gifBy Tim Boyle, Getty Images The reasons for the unusual move by U-Haul aren't entirely clear but it comes after the Explorer appeared to have overcome lingering image problems associated with the Firestone tire debacle. U-Haul — North America's largest trailer rental company with more than 17,000 outlets — implemented the policy Dec. 22, saying the ban was not related to safety. "U-Haul has chosen not to rent behind this tow vehicle based on our history of excessive costs in defending lawsuits involving Ford Explorer towing combinations," the company told The Detroit News. Joanne Fried, a U-Haul spokeswoman, declined to disclose how much the Phoenix-based company has spent defending lawsuits involving Explorers. "The decision is not based on one accident," she said. "It's based on several different lawsuits going on for several years." Ford Motor spokesman Jon Harmon called U-Haul's decision "surprising and disappointing." "This is all about runaway litigation and trial lawyers forcing businesses to make unfortunate decisions for fear of lawsuits," Harmon said. U-Haul was embroiled in a lawsuit that Bridgestone/Firestone settled out of court in September. It involved three college students who were injured in 1999 when their Firestone-equipped Explorer overturned while pulling a U-Haul trailer. U-Haul would not release details about the accidents cited in its lawsuits. A bulletin issued to U-Haul dealers last month, which was obtained by The News, says the company's move was "based on the negative perceptions of Ford Explorers ... we are separating ourselves from the negative public perception and its potential consequences." U-Haul has no ban on rentals to Mercury Mountaineer owners, although the vehicle is mechanically a carbon copy of the Explorer. "We've had no issues with the Mercury Mountaineer," Fried said. The slight is the latest in a series of setbacks that have dogged the Explorer, America's top-selling SUV and the sixth-best selling vehicle in 2003. In August 2001, Firestone was forced to recall 14.4 million defective tires — equipped mostly on Explorers. The treads on the tires often separated, causing drivers to lose control of their Explorers and often roll over. Federal regulators linked 271 deaths and more than 800 injuries to the defective tires. Ford recalled an additional 13 million Firestone tires in May 2001. Ford and Bridgestone/Firestone have spent millions of dollars to settle product liability cases over the tires and SUV. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said in February 2002 that there was not enough evidence to open a formal defect investigation of the Explorer. In the wake of the widely publicized Firestone tire recall, the Explorer has become a favorite target among product liability lawyers, said Sid Gilreath, a Knoxville, Tenn., lawyer involved in product liability litigation for more than three decades. The number of lawsuits involving Explorers isn't necessarily a reflection of its performance characteristics, Gilreath said. "The lawyers who do those (cases) know that we have more documentation on the Explorer," Gilreath said. Ford maintains the Explorer is safe. In 2002, NHTSA traced Explorer tire failures and resulting rollovers to tire manufacturing flaws. Still, the controversy prompted federal regulators to adopt ratings that rank SUVs based on their propensity to roll over. The test used to set ratings recently was revised to better reflect real-world driving conditions. The 2003 Ford Explorer was among the first vehicles subjected to the new test. The results are pending. Acknowledging the same legal cost pressures U-Haul cited in its rental ban, Harmon said Ford has settled Explorer lawsuits out of court, adding the company is 8-0 in cases that have gone to juries. Fried said the rental ban applies to all model years, even though Explorer was redesigned in 2002 — the same year the SUV improved its NHTSA rollover rating from two stars to three, and was voted "tow vehicle of the year" by Trailer Boats magazine. "It's a perfectly capable tow vehicle," said Stuart Bourdon, automotive editor of the California-based publication. "The bottom line is, if you don't overload the vehicle and you've got the proper tires with the appropriate ratings and they are properly inflated and you drive with common sense, you really shouldn't have any problems." Motorists often exceed the towing limits of their vehicles, said John Oraha, sales manager at Avis Ford in Southfield. Engines and suspensions must be a match for the job, he said, so motorists should ask themselves questions such as: "Do you have a V-8? Do you have a tow package?" Jim Hall, former chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board, which oversees NHTSA, said the large number of Explorer models on the road must be factored into accident frequency. And in U-Haul's case, trailers can be "quite difficult to handle," said Hall, who now runs Hall and Associates, a safety and security consulting agency in Washington. Ford launched the Explorer 14 years ago and this month will deliver its 5 millionth unit.

Unfortunately U-Haul hates my pickup truck & won't rent me a trailer. I own a 2002 Ford Sport Trac, although it is on a completely defferent chassis & body, because it has the name Explorer in it's name they refuse. They will of course rent to anyone who owns a Mercury Mountaineer (which is the IDENTICAL sister car to the Explorer SUV) Eventually I will rebadge her as a Ranger Quad 4.

Brian, you make a lot of good points, & my momma didn't raise no fool. Bottom line it looks as though making a small "emergency" trailer is an exercise in futility because of the size & weight of the Gen 1. I confirmed with my roadside assistance/towing coverage & both my bikes are covered. So I think what I will concentrate on is getting a full size trailer that could carry both bikes at the same time. I'm going to have to get one when we move from Va to Tn anyway, so I might as well get that. I can always use it for hauling mulch & other landscaping materials. I'll just position it so that IF my wife needs to hook it up, it's conveniently done. Hopefully, I will never have to use it for breakdowns!

CRAP! You're right, tongue weight on that short a trailer would be KILLER!!!! It really is good to have a group of people knowledgeable enough to bounce my insanity off of!

GREAT last few pictures. Let me ask you this, in keeping with trying to keep the smallest trailer possible; would you say I could get away with this to tow the Venture: The measurements of the deck is 37inch wide by 67in and the width between the tires is 44in The trailer is rated to haul 2800 pounds. Now although the deck is too short to accommodate the 1st Gen 63" wheelbase, I still have 20" towards the front. My Idea is to put a wheel chock right after the tongue like this one: http://www.harborfreight.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/370x/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/i/m/image_11972.jpg Now the question of width comes into play. Usually tie downs are at 45 degrees to the attachment on the bike. If the straps were straight down to the trailer frame, & using the above chock, would the bike be secure for safe transport?

Ok maybe a 6 or 7x 8 foot trailer. Guess I know what I'll be making in the welding shop after all. A custom homade trailer!

I have one for the family that covers all my vehicles. This is what I would use if I were on the road or out of state. It does of course have limits. Based on what I have read here so far I think the best bet would be to opt for a trailer. The fact that I will need one ANYWAY to transport the Venture & the CB750 when I move 400 miles to Tenn. I'm figuring a 4'x8' trailer with 2 rails. Although I have not found anything definitive yet regarding the Gen1's drivetrain & towing, I have read that Goldwings can't be done. I'm sure the Gen 1 is he same at worse. At best I would have to worry about the bike bouncing into gear because I hit a bump too hard.

VERY good point! I had a fun time getting my cb out of the bed using ramps & the wife & kid ONLY! http://honda-cb750-s.456789.n3.nabble.com/file/n2934428/0511011853.jpg So a chock up high is out of the question. It has to be more like my 2nd example. Grabs the wheel while in the ground, secure it then raise it.

Ok so definitely a trailer will be better. I am going to get one, or make one when I move from Va to Tenn. (Tn doesn't have an annual personal property tax) Maybe a better design cradle would be better IF the drivetrain is able to tow (rear wheel down) without issues. Something like this maybe? http://i8.ebayimg.com/04/i/001/0e/66/820c_12.JPG http://i15.ebayimg.com/06/i/001/0e/66/8423_12.JPG

I should clarify that this would be for emergency towing only. If I break down locally, the wife or my kid could toss this in the pickup & come get me. With a trailer, I would most definitley have to leave the bike & get it myself. So if it will screw up the drivetrain, of course it wouldn't be worth it. If local towing were ok then it's worth making. The reason I ask is this is the 1st shaft drive I've owned, so I know squat about them. My old CB750 I would have no issues.