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Snaggletooth

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  1. Snaggletooth
    Damn Bob! You're making me nervous. We have been running in sync on our projects and now this. And I don't have a spare harness for mine. I just finished up my new wiring today and am hoping to have the bike ready to put all the plastic back on by Monday. I ran out to the garage and took another look at all the wiring I just did on mine and double checked it again. Added a couple more zip ties and tightened things up. Now I'm going to have nightmares. Well at least you know the stator is turning out some amps. Hope it comes back togther quick for ya. Mike
  2. Snaggletooth
    The only tire I ever lost at speed was on my GL1200. I was out with my wife to be at that time and it was her second ride with me on the bike. We were on I-680 on the rural edge of Omaha and just coming out of a right hand curve at about 65 MPH when the front tire decided to quit in a hurry. After what seemed to an eternity and some rather colorful muttering during the beating I was taking trying to keep bike going in a direction of my choosing I got it onto the shoulder and got the kick stand down. The WTB was off the bike and beating me on the head and shoulders yelling "YOU SAID YOU KNEW HOW TO RIDE ONE OF THESE!!!!" Worst of it was, I still married her. What was I thinking? She never rode with me again on any bike. Any time she would start in pushing my buttons I ask, "You wanna go for another bike ride?" That usually was an end to the arguement. LOL! She had no idea how lucky we were that day. Kept the bike until I had 180,000 miles on it. Five years longer than I kept the wife. She didn't come with a warrenty or a manual. Couldn't fix her. I remember pulling in the clutch and instantly regretting it. Got worse real quick. Got it back under power and did a slow power down through the gears and kept enough control to keep her pointed where I wanted. I hope I never have to ride out another front end blowout again. Oh yeah! She was a red head to. Been scared of them ever since. LOL!
  3. Snaggletooth
    Well that was interesting! Finally got it back together and the wheel, drive shaft and final are back on the bike. Stopped by an old friends shop that has been in the automotive repair business for 30 some odd years and showed him what I had. Told him what tools had been suggested and he didn't click on the names but showed me what he had. He had a gizmo that slides down inside (the roller bearing) and tightens outward by tightening a nut and it grips the inside of the bearing. Then using a slide hammer to pull the bearing out. And I don't want to make this sound simple as it took many resets of the puller and a LOT of hammering to get the puppy loose let alone out all the way. Once it hit the floor it was a piece of cake to knock out the needle bearing. Well the neeedles and cage any way then another half hour getting the race out. Pressed in the new bearings after a clean up and inspection and sealed it up. No more tick. He broke out a bottle of single malt to mark the event. My kind of guy! Stopped at the bike shop that had backed out to the offer to install the bearing before and thanked the guy for being honest and talked about how we got er done. He had never done one like this and knew it was a PITA by looking at it. He threw the wheel on the spin balancer and adjusted the weight and said "no charge". What's going on with the world? The man who solved by biggest problem of the week pours single malt and the man who refused to do the job in the first place don't charge for a balance job. Maybe there is hope for mankind after all. It was a good day. Now to finish putting this jigsaw puzzle of bike that is spread though my garage, basement and storage space and maybe, just maybe I'll be riding by Memorial Day. Thanks for your advice guys.
  4. Snaggletooth
    Heya Bongo. Yeppers, that's my biggest problem. The center spacer is loose but will only move to the side about a 1/16 of an inch. No room to get a bite with the punch on the race of either bearing. Like I said the bigger seal came out like it should but that smaller on is recessed in and it's nuts trying to get it out. I don't care if I total the bearings getting them out, I have new ones waiting to go in. But the old one got to go.
  5. Snaggletooth
    Ok, I pulled the rear a while wheel a while back and cleaned up the hub splines and when I was working on that I notice a tick in the rear bearings. I ordered the bearings, seals and a new o-ring and now I'm into the replacement. A local shop offered to install the bearings for $5.00 per side and I figured fair enough. Save me some time. When I took the wheel in today they took one look at it and said they could not do that type of set up. At least they were honest about it. So here I am looking at my rear wheel. The manual is vauge in the statement to push the spacer aside and drive out the bearing. First, the spacer don't move far enough to the side to get a good bite on the bearing from either side. I'm using a 5/16 brass flat nose punch to do this. I was able to pull out the larger seal and retainer ring on that side but it looks like I need to drive out the larger bearing from the smaller side to remove the smaller seal from that side. Which side do I start from and how is the smaller seal removed? Any suggestions will help. Mike
  6. Snaggletooth
    PM sent a couple of things.
  7. Snaggletooth
    MiCarl does make an interesting point. That's why so many of us learn to do our own work. That's why we call them "stealers". It's hard to trust them sometimes.
  8. Snaggletooth
    The bike I bought was a one owner '84. He had all the paperwork for repairs and service on the bike since new. No record of the slides or diaphrams ever being replaced. Still had the original tamper proof screws in all four covers to. So I'd say 25 years can be expected from stock ones. I bought a set of replacement diaphrams to but holding out for a reason to change. Mine are still solid and working well. I'm curious myself on how long these replacement will survive.
  9. Snaggletooth
    As was said, if they don't leak they will probably be fine. I replaced the o-rings in mine when I did my rebuild just for the heck of it. When you remove the line from the anti-dives just switch out the short union bolt from the anti-dives and move it to the calipers as now it will only have the one line coming in. Get a couple of 10mm x 1.25 pitch flange head bolts and probably have to cut them down to the right size. You want the bolts to be no longer than the threads on a short union bolt. Don't forget the crush washer. No more leaks. Cheap fix.
  10. Snaggletooth
    That looks like a great way to spend an afternoon and every weekend thereafter.
  11. Snaggletooth
    LOL! At ease there soldier. But I can see why you are excited.
  12. Snaggletooth
    Looks pretty good there Max. Spent some time doing that trim didn't ya.
  13. Snaggletooth
    You won't have to worry about the 2nd gear problem if you're looking at an '86 or '87. That was taken care of in '85. At 5'8" you should be comfortable on a GW. I'm 6'3" and everything feels cramped. The Venture still has its problem with the stator. Not a lot of extra amps without replacing it with an upgraded one. I'd ride either one myself. Both great bikes. I put a lot of miles on my GL1100 and the GL1200 with no major problems. I've never had a problem finding parts I needed for my '84 but I spent a lot on time on eBay looking for them. Stealers can still provide a lot of stuff for the VRs but $$$ is the issue and waiting for them to get ordered. I think that you would have a lot more parts available for a GW just out of the number of bikes out there. A few more than the VR I'd have to think. LOL! It's a matter of taste. Park your tail on each bike and ride it if possible. What ever feels good ya know.
  14. Snaggletooth
    Most excellent news! Glad to hear it is going well.
  15. Snaggletooth
    Hey George. That was the whole point of my project in the first place. LOL! Installed a Buckeye upgrade stator, and a NOS set of pickups, a NOS starter engage clutch, and yes I staked the bolts real good, and even threw is a NOS 72 tooth gear for safe measure. I have been collecting NOS stuff for spares for two years in case I ever had a failure and figured as long as I had it open, get it done and not worry about it. Not going to wrestle that rotor again if I can help it. What a PITA! In the last two months every switch on the bike has been removed, cleaned and recontioned if possible then bench tested by the book. All the masters have been rebuilt in within the last two years and the Buckeye SS lines are almost ready to hook up. I had been having some odd trouble with the bike and it looked like the CDI was the culprit so I bought one off an '88 after much conversation with the seller and it checked out good by the book on the bench test. Opened it up and took a look and redid any connection that look questionable. Checked it again and still tests good. So all I have left is another quick clean up of the carbs and waiting for my coils to come home from a friends shop. I left him 8 coils to test and match up the four best ones. Oh yeah, still have to install the new wheel bearings and seals, but waiting to see how the work I did on the motor comes out. So I think I have most of my potential weak spots covered. I hope.
  16. Snaggletooth
    I got to ask. I just finished up installing an upgrade stator. I remembered all the chatter about the crush washer on the 6 o'clock bolt on the stator cover. When I started to open the old girl up I had drained the oil and decided to pull both the 6 o'clock bolts on the stator cover and the secondary cover. Loosened them up and got nothing. Not a drop of oil. When I pulled the bolts there were no crush washers on either one of them. The only bolt that had a crush on it was the 8 o'clock bolt on the secondary cover. Weird place for it I thought. None the less no leaks ever on this bike. Not a drop. Now I'm getting ready to close her back up and I'm wondering if I should put washers on the two lower bolts to be safe. Are these actually supposed to be a reserve drain as I didn't see any kind of path for it when I opened it up. Just wondering.
  17. Snaggletooth
    I saw a set of new chrome levers on eBay the other day claiming to be for an '84. I think they were looking for about $130.00 for the set. Now that's a lil nuts.
  18. Snaggletooth
    Hey. I'm back. Well I took a break and ran to the office for a bit and picked up an extra bottle of propane just in case. Came home and parked my butt on my stool and gave her another shot of the impact gun. When I hit the trigger the bolt spun out like it had been finger tight and rolled across the floor. Guess the heat and cool process broke her loose. Hard to quit laughing about that one! The rotor was not so willing but it did come off after a small battle. I'm winning so far. And George......you were a bit ahead of the game on the starter clutch bolts but I got it covered! I have a NOS rotor and a NOS starter clutch and I have already staked the bolts. I'm good to go. All I have left is to bench test the pick up coils and see if they are at spec and if they even look cross eyed at me the the extra set is going in. So back to the garage.......things to do. Oh and Wes, that thought did cross my mind also but couldn't see anything in the manual so I stuck with the standard train of thought. The only engine I ever ran across with a left hand thread on the crank was an old, old Wisconsin 4 stroker that a student brought to me one time. Haven't run across another one since. They are out there. Thanks guys! Mike
  19. Snaggletooth
    Ok.....here I am again. In the middle of attempting to install Buckeyes upgrade stator. In pretty good shape so far. All the bolts came out fine from the cases and the only bolts that gave me grief were the retaining clip bolts on the wiring harness for the stator and the pick up coil on the inside of the case. Got that done. God Bless Dremel! The old stator tested fine and all the leads test equal volts but the top of the stator is black and melted. Good time for the change. While I'm in there I want to take a look at the starter engage clutch and install the stator cooling kit. I was surprised it didn't have one but I had one on the self. So with that said here is where I'm at. THE BOLT! The 19mm rotor bolt is one tough cookie. Been at it for a 1/2 hour working on it with a 1/2 drive impact wrench. Added a little heat, not much, with a propane torch and still no movement. I'm open for suggestion here. How hot can I go or should I? I really want to get to the starter clutch and get the cooling kit installed but I got to get past this danged bolt. Thanks Mike
  20. Snaggletooth
    Oh....and by the way......Welcome to the site. Almost didn't notice that. Bunch of good folks here and no end to useful info on these bikes. Been here a couple of years myself and not planning on leaving. Everything you can ask about these bikes will be answered here. So......where's the pics of the bike. That's a rule here. That and we ride to eat. Got an '84 blonde myself. You're gonna fall in love with yours if not already. Great bike. Just don't ask about tires...ok. Really.......
  21. Snaggletooth
    Here is that tech bulletin. Yeah I know........fuzzy, but you get the idea.
  22. Snaggletooth
    The line you are talking about connects to the air box on the front left corner. It is a drain line from the air box and only runs down the side of the frame to below the bike. It does not connect to anything.......as it was designed. Now there was a mod done later on where you tie that line into the crankcase breather line that runs from the top of the engine to the middle of the air box. You will need to cut the breather line and use a tee to connect the drain line to the breather line. I have a diagram somewhere of the tech bulletin and I'll post it when I find it. The bike will run fine as is and there is no reason the make the change that affects the bike except you will eliminate the possibility of a couple of drops of oil under the bike if you over fill the oil and suck some into the air box. If you would order a new breather line you get a little short curved piece of line for the top section. They no longer sell the entire breather line.
  23. Snaggletooth
    This is what I used when I converted mine over. Got it from Rick at Buckeye Performance. Only 6 panel but it is a great change. http://www.buckeyeperformance.com/products.htm I use one feed off of that to a Radio Shack project box with 3 relays inside.
  24. Snaggletooth
    Most decent hardware stores such as Ace and Westlake are selling the Torx bits back in the nuts and bolts bins right next to the Torx screws. A couple of bucks. If not available I just use a Dremel tool to cut across the head of the Torx to fit a larger standard blade screwdriver to remove them and replace them with allen heads.
  25. Snaggletooth
    Hey Brian, You're right on that. I dealt with Interstate Battery for years on a commercial level. They always treated me fine and stood behind their products. I've got one in my car. But after my converstions that day trying to locate a Deka or an Odessy.......well I had no faith the day was going to get better. All good things must come to an end. I didn't want to risk it. LOL! I still like Interstate and it's probably because I didn't go there that day.
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