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Snaggletooth

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  1. Snaggletooth
    That was me!!! And it was more an accident than anything. Or gremlins. I spent the better part of an evening trying to get mine to come off. I'd tighten and tighten and heat the rotor hub and tighten some more. I'd back off and try again, and again and again. I was using my Snap On harmonic puller and an air impact. Just wasn't working out for me. I gave up and went to bed woke up to it laying in the padding I had been using like it belonged there. When I had quit for the night I had forgotten to release the pressure on the puller. The last thing I had done was heated the hub of the rotor and tightened the puller again. Said a few words of blessing, (or something worse) and walked away from it. Like I said, not a planned event. And as stated......completely remove the bolt from the crankshaft. The threads are not made to deal with that kind of pressure. May cause problems. A good puller set would have a selection of fitting to fit the end of the crankshaft. That hole is tapered so with the proper adaptor the threads will not be touched. Now.....rather than buying a puller if feel yours may not be cutting it......many auto part stores have a loaner program. Cheap. And many rental companies rent tools also for a small fee. If that is available see if you can rent a 1/2 electric impact. Not as good as an air impact but better than a breaker bar. And as you have read.....these come rather suddenly. Not like a harmonic balancer on a straight cut shaft. These are tapered and when they let loose....well.....I don't want one landing in my lap. And resist the urge to beat on it with a hammer......ok. Magnets ya know. Not good. Keep us posted. Mike
  2. Snaggletooth
    I never leave home without mine. I bought one in a soft zippered case and dumped out the bandaids and and minor stuff for the little scratches. Refilled it with rolls of gause and surgical tape along with anything that would treat an open wound or burn. And a small sewing kit. Well, I've closed cuts before with a needle and thread. And Crazy Glue. I figure if I'm involved it a crash it's not a scratch I'm going to be dealing with. I mean this is a "Just in Case Kit" right. Yep. Got to use mine a couple of weeks ago. I got hit by a car in a WalMart parking lot a couple of weeks ago. Or rather by a piece of a car as far as I could tell. I was walking though the lot and a car was coming at me and as it passed I felt a sting on my left leg. Looked down and saw my jeans were flapping open just below the knee. Turned around and saw the car that passed me had a piece of trim sticking out from the side about 2 foot. Looked back at my leg and saw the blood soaking into my jeans. Pulled the pants leg up and I had a 4 inch long gash on my shin where the trim had slapped me. Back to the bike and pulled the kit and cleaned it up, put a few butterfly bandaids and wrapped it. Made a point of stopping at the Docs office on the way home to get fresh tetnus shot. Without the kit I would have been a bloody mess before I got home. I sure wasn't gettin any help from anyone at Wally World or any passerbys. All I got was a few weird looks and people changed directions. Maybe it was my language and not the blood. Ya never know. You got to be ready to take care of your own. Any time...any place. Mike
  3. Snaggletooth
    That was why I changed my driving lights from being tied into the Hi beam circuit to an independent harness. If the big bulbs go I still got 110 watts available up front. Haven't found a dark road yet since I installed the Hella H9's but it's nice to have a Plan B. Glad you were is a good spot and got it worked out. Mike
  4. Snaggletooth
    Hey Greg.....you didn't happen to get a pic of Squeeze without a helmet on did ya? We all been kind of waiting for that. He's kind of bashful sometimes. But I got to say I've been through two engage clutches before I got the upgrade. No more concerns with that problem. Hooks up real nice. I added on the 4 brush starter also and my starting problems are history. Enjoy the ride Greg. Mike
  5. Snaggletooth
    It's that grin thing....that danged smug lil smirk that gets me in trouble every time. A while back I was sitting at a stop light and had 3 of them there HD boys roll up on me. One split my lane next to me, which I don't care for anyway, and the others went to the lane to the right. The one that pulled up next tight to me had his sweety on the back and just sat the snapping his throttle hard and grinning at me. (see...that grin thing) I just grinned back and locked up the front brake and set it up to smoke. Let it spin at about 4500 for a bit, (I didn't care...I got a new Avon sitting in the garage anyway) and watched his face change from smug to WTF? His sweety was laughing her butt off and slapping him on the back. The light changed and I took off nice and sweet and they hung back. He did pull up along side passing a ways down the road and never looked over. He wasn't grinning any more. His girl waved at me and gave me a thumbs up. I liked her. Now it would have been lot more fun to have toasted him on the road, but I got the satisfaction of cleaning up that grin for him and his buddies and the best part.....his girl will probably remind him about the day the old guy on a old dresser smoked him out. Now that makes me grin. Kind of fun isn't it Yammer? Mike
  6. Snaggletooth
    That plastic inner fender kind of fits into the upper section. If you look close you will the the slots where it snaps in. It's can be a bit of a trick the first time you do it to but make sure you get it fitted in tight. The are a couple of tabs (I think) where the lower front sides snap into each side also. It should be firm once you get it in right. Don't want that to work loose on the road. No bolts or screws.....just the pressure fit.
  7. Snaggletooth
    You should not ask me how to clean a tank. LOL!!! I went the whole ticket and coated mine with epoxy, BUT.....I'll spare you that story. A tube of BB's, or a couple hand fulls of nuts, or any small metal object that would you would NOT normally put in your tank. Take up the holes and shake, shake, shake, shake, and shake some more and take a break and then shake, shake, shake and shake some more. You want to break down as much of the surface rust as you can. Oh yeah.....magnetic stuff is good in case you have something that don't want to come out. Long story. Get the picture. Then a nice rince with Acetone or if not handy a bottle of rubbing alcohol will do. NO SMOKENING!!!! If you chose to use something like Jack, or Cutty.....call me first. We will need to test for quaility. I forgot where you lived. That envirionment helps a bunch. Mike
  8. Snaggletooth
    There ya go. Dingy is a little quicker with fingers but those pics should help a bit. And I'm going to say this. While you have the tank out....remove the fuel level sending unit and take a look long look at the inside of the fuel tank. If you have rust....now is the time to deal with it. You probably are not going to want to go this far again in the near future. A good time for reseal the tank if needed. Or at least get it cleaned out real well. Mike
  9. Snaggletooth
    Ok you're in for it now. LOL! Ok. Start with this thread by Dano. He's doing rear end work but it's start on removing the rear subframe......which is required to remove the fuel tank. http://www.venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?t=52626 Once you have the side panels, saddlebags, seat and other odds and ends off you will see the 4 points where the subframe bolts on. Unplug and disconnect all the lines for the electrical and C.L.A.S.S. system if you have that. And the bolt on top of the bracket for the fuel tank. I think Dan forgot about that until the last minute. It's easier than it sounds. Once you get all the bolts loose, if you have a friend handy, you can slide the bolts out and lift it up and off. From that point you're golden. The tank slips back from it's brackets and you can lift it off. I don't know how big a guy you are but it can be done by one guy with some effort. Ask my back. Awkward to do but possible. Don't forget the bracket that the false tank cover bolts into. It has four bolts to hold it and it has to come off to slide the tank off. By simply unplugging everything on the subframe you can do it without removing all the stuff attached to it. Save a lot of time coming off and going back on. Less parts to misplace to. As you still have gas in it .......... use all caution ok. Drained and vented is the safest way. Mike
  10. Snaggletooth
    I'm guessing this is the one you looked at on eBay? 360229671520 There is one from an '84 with a "Best offer". I'd offer $20.00 and see if they take it. 400073315533 And one off and '86. 130422678860 Even the NOS one at $59.00 is cheap. New ones sell for about $85.00 I think. I think they are all the same mounting flange. Maybe somebody can confirm that. With the '84 or newer you would get the reserve setting as well. I think some newer models have the fuel output that points towards the front of the bike. As all these fuel tanks are the same, it should work. Anybody? And yes..the tank needs to come off to do it. Not that bad to do. It's a learning experience. Yep. Mike
  11. Snaggletooth
    I use Startron for winter storage. Give it a good dose of that and fill it up with Premium gas and park it for 4 months. Fires right up in the spring. Can't say if I increased my MPG as I run of the winter gas out and dose it with Seafoam and off I go for another season on regular gas. What ever the reason I'm getting 43+ on and average and best to date MPG was 48 MPG on a 565 mile day. Mike
  12. Snaggletooth
    I got an old one off my '84 but I'm not going to offer it up as I like ya. It's probably as bad or worse than what ya got. Check with Pinwall. They have petcocks all the time for around $10.00. Got one there for mine and it was in fine shape. The '83 did not have the reserve setting if I remember right. So it's just on or off. A small set of vice grips would get ya turned back on. That's all ya need. These bikes, with the fuel pumps, don't need to be turned off all the time. Most guys never shut them off. That's is why the get stuck so bad. Mike
  13. Snaggletooth
    It's ok Squidley.....I added some 2 stroke oil to the gas and stuffed a couple of taters in the Macs so I can refill it. Should be fixed by tomorrow.
  14. Snaggletooth

    ??????

    Snaggletooth replied to Trader's topic in Watering Hole

    It's raining again and I got bored.
  15. Snaggletooth
    Keep us posted on how the ABS plastic responds to it. Mike
  16. Snaggletooth
    Earl....You keeping count of how many of your "backup parts" are on my bike? I lost track.
  17. Snaggletooth
    Yep....not something you want to smell when you are not within pushing distance of the shop.
  18. Snaggletooth
    Ok, this is pretty much a story of cause and effect. Earl and Dano know what happend but now I think I can explain why it happend. About a week ago I had an electrical problem. Lost my charging system out on a ride. Voltage was dropping like a rock but I was able to get it back home before I lost power. (thank you DEKA AGM) When I got home I saw smoke coming out from the left side by the swing arm. Well, that is where the R/R is mounted. Tried to start the bike again in the garage and blew the main fuse. Long story short....tested the stator, a 2 year old Buckeye upgrade, looked for shorts in the wiring and found none. Replaced the main fuse and tested the system. Looked like everything else was fine. Pulled the R/R I installed about 3 years ago. It was an aftermarket unit, (not the upgrade Shindengen upgrade), and it pretty much started to fall apart as I removed it. As you can see from the pics it is more square and thicker than the OEM unit so I had to fab up a new mounting bracket to hold it in place. That was where I went wrong. I lost my main fuse because the R/R shorted to ground. On a three year old quality unit....why? Not supposed to happen. Looking at all the pieces now I'm pretty sure I know what happened. The new fabbed up mounting bracket left the new R/R hanging a bit lower than the OEM unit. I had room at the time and had no reason to be concerned about it. BUT.....about a year later I bought a new set of MAC pipes and installed them. Still had room for clearance on the R/R but it was closer to the MAC's than it was with the stock pipes. About 3/8 of an inch was all I had. And these things get warm all by themselves. Didn't need to add to that. SO.... when I pulled the R/R off I saw the bottom section of the rubber electronics potting was burned and brittle. Pieces came off in my hand as I removed it. That was the section that was closest to the pipes. You can see the damage in the pics. Heat ....pure and simple. I opend it up and the R/R is singed all the way through. So, in my opinion, I caused the failure by not making sure the unit had more distance away from the pipes. If anybody else has a better explaination I'm open to your thoughts. D'oh. Next time I'll have a better plan...... Just call me Sparky. Mike
  19. Snaggletooth
    Just a side note on the DEKA ETX18L. I bought mine a couple of years ago now. Got almost two full seasons on it. Been great and absolutly reliable. A week or so ago I was out riding and I noticed my voltmeter in the dash was kinda low so I flipped on the digital meter and it was only showing 12.8, then 12.6 then 12.4 and kept dropping. I was about 25 miles from the house and headed back. By the time I got home the digital was showing well under 12 volts all the time. Pulled it into garage and THEN I noticed the smoke coming from under the swing arm. R/R. Dang. Toasted. I shut it off and tried to start it again and had no power. No dash lights, no head light, no cranky. Dead. Battery check with meter was showing enough volts to crank but not happening. I found the main fuse, the 40 amper was blown. Ok, Replaced the main fuse and got power back on line. Tested the stator, a Buckeye upgrade, tested fine. Got my hands on a used R/R from Skydoc_17 and installed that. But this was supposed to be about the battery right. Ok, it's been several days since the failure. A 25 mile ride home without a working R/R and how many miles before I noticed the failure? Who knows. I had a spare battery standing by incase the DEKA was too low. When I hit the meter it showed 12.8 volts. Well ok, surface charge...maybe a false reading so I load tested it. It showed 96% charge!!! Hit the key and it spun right over and fired. After a twenty minute ride it was showing back to 100% charged. I rode it to KC today and back with no problems. That battery is tough!!! DEKA will be my battery of choice for as long as I can get my hands on one. Mike
  20. Snaggletooth
    Congrats on your move to go into business. I don't know about your area but around here with the economy the way it is, the demand for an experienced mechanic to do work on bikes, and the older ones at that, is showing to be very profitable. EVERYONE around here is buying used older bikes then finding out they cannot find a shop to work on them or cannot afford the shop rates. I've had a different bike in my garage about every week for odds and ends. If I had a larger place to work I'd probably give up the part time job and do something I enjoy doing. The one question I always get about my '84 is "Who does your work for ya?" When I answer "I do" the next question is "Can ya take a look at mine?" Good luck and hope they come flocking in the door for ya. Mike
  21. Snaggletooth
    A 7.62mm mini gun on each side of the fairing is helpful.
  22. Snaggletooth
    I suppose it would be possible using low air pressure. My concern would be the possiblity of damging the spring loaded plunger in the needle itself using too much pressure. But that would show if you are getting flow through the intake elbow and the net filter.
  23. Snaggletooth
    If it is just one carb that is suffering from lack of fuel it might be the one filter that is a bear to change. In the body of the carb, on top of the body, by the fuel intake elbow there is a plug. It looks like a casting mark at a glance but it is the plug that seals the hole to remove and replace the needle seat itself. If you remove that plug there is a small net filter under it and on top of the needle seat. Not many folks replace the seats as it's not an easy job and few realize there is a filter in that position. It's possible that the filter itself may be plugged with debris. To check it, open the carb and blow air back through the needle seat from the inside of the carb and watch to see what comes out of the fuel intake elbow. Maybe...maybe not. Just a thought. Mike
  24. Snaggletooth
    Nice job Dan. I did that "subframe as a unit pull" when I removed my fuel tank to coat it. I was standing there grumbling to myself as I knew how much time it would take to pull the light bar and all the goodies. I looked the subframe and asked myself "Why not pull these bolts instead?" Huge time saver and a lot less parts laying around. Every shortcut helps. Later Mike
  25. Snaggletooth
    mlew..... A pretty wide open question. A lot of good suppliers are available. You looking for anything in particular? Mike
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