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Snaggletooth

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  1. Snaggletooth
    Yep it is safe. These things are really nothing more that an overgrown jewelery cleaner. Just make sure the lenses aren't against the bottom. The first time I cleaned my flexible watch band in one I was wishing I could find one the size of a 5 gallon bucket. LOL!! Boy did I have plans.
  2. Snaggletooth
    Ok.....let's look at this way. The starter is not going to come out until the black thermo cover is removed. It's in the way of the bolt and the starter need extra room to slide out. So forget the stripped screws in the cover for now, they are still tight. BUT....it you remove this bolts for the housing and slide it all forward without completely removing it, perhaps that will give you enough room to get the starter out. I can't say that for sure as I did remove my housing all the way before pulling the starter. All you need it a little more space to get that done. There is not a lot of spare space in there as you know. Mike
  3. Snaggletooth
    Throw in some dirty bolts and run the cycle. There should be grit and grime in the bottom when your done. I've run Simple Green in my small one and that does pretty well. I've been looking at big model at HF but I don't think it would submerge a carb body completely. I've been getting a bit of carb work lately and it would be nice to be able to clean the carbs that way. What did you get? Mike
  4. Snaggletooth
    Ok...you opened a can of worms now. The drain plug you are talking about is not a plug...it's a valve. You only turn it to the "On" position to ALLOW the coolant to bypass the thermostat to drain coolant. It gets set to the "OFF" position to run the bike. You don't need to remove it unless you are going to replace the o-ring on it. Not to worry about that now. The drain for the system is under the water pump housing on the right side. Remove that plug and it will drain completely. The phillips screws in the thermo housing are a bear and do strip easy. The one in the back gave me nightmare. I replace both with SS Allen heads and still had problems later. But, at this point....you will need a new approach. You can see the bolts that hold the thermo housing to the block. You are going to remove those. There is the 90 degree elbow pipe that runs from the thermo housing to the water pump. You are going to need to pull those bolts, and pull the entire housing forward, sliding the elbow out of the pump at the same time. Not easy, but doable and remember the elbow is plastic so no hammer please. The other smaller cross pipe can be worked out of it's mounting also. You will be needing to replace some o-rings before reassembly doing it this way. The whole thing can be turned and worked out of its position. It's going to feel like you're working on a Rubiks Cube to get it done. Take your time and watch what you are doing. Once you get the housing off and onto a work bench you can deal with the stripped screws. I take it you did loosen the hex caps on the exhaust studs to work the header back a bit . Did the header pipe break off? Was it rusted out or what? But if the header on the right side is completely off you will have more room the work in there. So that will get you started. It's a PITA to do it this way but once those screws are stripped out it gets a bit tricky. Mike
  5. Snaggletooth
    Looks good. Nice job on it. Go ahead and brag and post some more pics. I'm up for it. It's kind of like I said when I started on mine. "I'm not rebuilding a bike, I'm building a new one." Don't ya think? Mike
  6. Snaggletooth
    A strong second on the Epoxy from http://www.caswellplating.com/aids/epoxygas.htm I had major rust issues on my '84 last year. I lined the tank with this product and it's tough as nails. The interior of the tank does not need to be perfectly clean and it bonds better to the remaining rust. I've had no sign of any rust flakes or particles in the filter since I did it and inspecting the interior of the tank this spring the coating looks flawless. I'm not a fan of the latex treaments at all. I've seen some go bad very quickly after treament. This product seems to be the fix all for tank problems. Mike
  7. Snaggletooth
    Hey Cap'n, The thing I kept running into when I was looking for a 4 brush unit on eBay with the listings for the V-Max starters, was about every single seller admitted....when pressed with the question of how many brushes came back the the answer...2. One seller even went as far as to tell me he wasn't going to open one to find out. If ya don't asked....some ain't gonna tell ya. I thinks some don't even know...or care. As always...It's Buyer Beware. Mike
  8. Snaggletooth
    Most seals are sold as single items, so order two. And a word of caution.......buy OEM seals. I have run into issues with aftermarket seals on several makes of bikes where the seals were not quite matched to OEM specs. Some are too thick and do not let the seal seat properly along with the retainers. I seen some posts here concerning that same problem. Mike
  9. Snaggletooth
    I ended up...by a stroke of pure luck getting a 4 brush unit when my original one burned out. It is much stronger and no hot start issues at all installed with the upgrade cables. Finding a used one seems to be tricky part.
  10. Snaggletooth
    Steve, I wouldn't order a single part until you see the inside of the starter itself. You can only guess at what you might find. You can bet it's going to be dirty, dry, cruddy looking armatur, and worn brushes. With any luck it can be cleaned up, lubed up, the simple ground mod done and get it back to working properly. But like I told ya, I rebuilt mine that way and installed the cheap brushes off eBay. It worked great.......for about a season and a half. Then it went booommm!!! The brushes were gone in that time. The original ones, 25 years old were only about 1/2 gone. The new ones were well....gone! I'll recommend, if needed, .....buy the OEM brushes. They would probably run about $50 to $60 for the set. Check with Skydoc_17 to see what he can do for ya. But you may luck out and be able to get things working without spending a lot of $$$. And keep in mind that many times you can get a decent used started for less than a set of OEM brushes. NOTE: Just saw the update on Skydoc.....might not be able to help for a while. Mike
  11. Snaggletooth
    If you jump from the car......do it with the car off. OK. Too much of good thing is a bad thing for the system on these bikes.
  12. Snaggletooth
    Trader, try this to isolate the problem. Using a set of jumper cables, run the neg cable from the neg battery post to the body of the starter. Hook up the pos cable to the pos battery post than tap the other end of the pos cable to the mounting stud on the starter. If that cranks it over you know the problem is between the battery and the starter. (cables, starter solenoid, connections) If the starter still drags then you know you have a problem there. If you don't have bike sized jumper cables use caution. Gets kinda tight with car cables. But is a quick way to see if the starter is the problem. Make sure the battery is charged up. Mike
  13. Snaggletooth
    Another vote for superbrightleds. Great folks to work with and stand behind their stuff. I changed out all my marker and running lights with LED's from them and I only had one fail. Contacted them and they shipped a replacement the next day. Can't argue with that. They have bulbs and supplies for about any application you would you could think of. Mike
  14. Snaggletooth
    Ya got to admit......that is one heck of a bumper! But it does leave room to open the saddlebags.....maybe.
  15. Snaggletooth
    Well, I just got home from the memorial service that was held for the riders that were killed in that crash. I have to say I was impressed by what I saw tonight. Three of the riders killed were vets, American Legion Riders and Patriot Guard Riders also. Needless to say, the turnout was impressive. The Legion Riders, PGR's, Star Touring, Goldwings, and about every local club in the area from every level of the cycling community. I talked to riders from S.D, New Mexico, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Texas, and I don't know how many other states. There were corporate types standing along side the average Joe and the 1%ers, many with tears in their eyes. All types of riders showing respect for the fallen. I couldn't count the bikes tonight. Too many spread over a lot of ground. The shots I took were only maybe a third of what was there. What I saw tonight kind of brought home the fact that we are all riders. No matter the brand, club status, or way of life when things get ugly.....we all need to stand together to support each other. It can happen. It did tonight. With Respect, Mike
  16. Snaggletooth
    I changed over to FireFox about a month ago. No problems here.
  17. Snaggletooth
    I'm 6'2" at 285 lbs. I've got Progressives in the front with no pressure unless I'm going to be pushing the twisties, then I stiffen it up a bit. Now I guess I'm the odd one as I run my rear shock at 60-65 most the time solo. Feels good there for me. But...the shock pressure is more about the bike load.....not the ride. The point is to have the bike avoid bottoming out. The "Knob" on the the left side...that is the damper control. Shock response. That pretty much tunes in the ride. You need to find a good air pressure on both ends, I'd drop the front to as low as possible, and then ride the bike in each of the settings on the damper without changing the shock pressures. You will feel the difference in each one. I keep mine on "2" most the time . Just kind of floats there for me. I'm not familar with the Dunlops performance. I run Avion Venoms. But...I'll say this...if I lose a few pounds of tire pressure, even 4 or five lbs., the whole ride changes. The bike feels loose and wanders. It follows the cracks and tar lines. I bring it back to the correct pressure and it tracks great again. I'd set the tire pressure for the makers recommended pressure and go for a ride. See if you can feel a difference. Adjust from there. I usually run my rear about 2 or 3 lbs lower than tire spec. The front maybe 6 or 7 lbs lower than tire spec. And yes it may take a while to get comfortable with the weight of the Venture. They can be a pig in a parking lot. But I think once the bike is rolling it handles like a sport bike. I have to remind myself once in while that I'm pushing almost 1,200 lbs through a curve dragging a peg. I'm kind of surprised at the buffeting problem. I'm running a stock height screen and I have no buffeting at all. Has your screen been cut down? Try those things and see if you can find your sweet spot. Enjoy the bike. Mike
  18. Snaggletooth
    Wait! What if some of these guys want to get a set of Mac's? Don't hurt me!
  19. Snaggletooth
    :big-grin-emoticon:Won't be backing up to the curb anymore will ya. Look great!!!
  20. Snaggletooth
    Yep....all the way over is the lock and lit position. Come back one click and you lock just the forks, no lights. Mike
  21. Snaggletooth
    In my eyes......replace the dust seals. When ever I rebuild a set of forks for the first time I always replace them. If I go into them again later, I can reuse them if they are undamaged. You said you had to dress out the tubes a bit so the dust seals / wipers may have been chewed on a bit. They do play a big part in the life of the oil seals. Mike
  22. Snaggletooth
    These are the stock springs and spacers. The Progressives are much heavier and tighter coils and the Progressives are as long as the stock spring and spacer combined. Yep. You got the stock springs. Do you have the long steel spacers shown? If not, you got a problem to deal with. Mike
  23. Snaggletooth
    Something like this?
  24. Snaggletooth
    Google up some biker leather suppliers or leather goods supplies. I thinks what you saw were probably modified conchos. Seen a few around. Mike
  25. Snaggletooth
    Well the have identified all the riders. All local boys to Omaha and Glenwood, IA area. The fella from Omaha was the general manger of M's Pub in the Market. Nice place and a nice guy. The driver that hit them is suspected to have been under the influence. Be weeks or more before charges will be filed as they want to find out why he crossed into the other lane. There was concert in Sioux City yesterday and there were a lot of folks headed that way. Everybody in a hurry ya know and tuning up for the show. Sad situatation. Mike
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