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Currently, I have a 1984 MKI Venture Standard at the shop that among other things has a completely destroyed rear brake caliper. Unfortunately, all of my parts bikes are MKII bikes. If anyone has a rear brake caliper for the model years 1983, 1984, or 1985 (2 piston caliper) I am willing to PAY for it, and the shipping as well. Even if the caliper needs a rebuild, I have the kits here, but his caliper body was damaged. I am trying to get this bike back on the road for the owner, and any help would be greatly appreciated. If I put this in the wrong place, I apologize. Earl

Your turn now.

Yeah...moving forward, I think I WILL disconnect the battery in the Winter. Would still like to know what's draining it.

Beautiful work gentleman....but I still want to know....what is wrong with some good German Schlagermuzik? LOL

Hey Pucster, You Sir are a lifesaver! PM sent! Thanks, my friend, Ill post pics when I get this bike finished! Earl

I am currently on year eight with my Deka AGM and it is still going strong. Generally keep on a battery tender through the harshest winter months but I have had years where I have forgot to hook it up and I never disconnect the battery from the bike, yet still the bike would just barely crank over. I would then put it on the battery tender overnight and it would be good for another season. If it is dropping off as fast as you say I would suspect a parasitic drain condition try disconnecting the ground cable from you battery when you store the bike and see if it still occurs.

Hey Rich, Thanks for the reply! Trying to find one of these calipers is like trying to find "Chicken Lips"! They are just not to be had. Earl

Sorry Earl, I've got fronts somewhere, but no rear calipers.

Congratulations and welcome to the club!

congratulations! now its time to get things done and have some fun. enjoy!

Yep, after Trina's third back surgery I had to have something with independent suspension or she wasn't going to be able to ride. Now she is more comfortable than I am 🤪

I'm not sure what your paying for D404s but I never really like the ride of them on my '99 Venture. I've had decent luck with Shinko 230 Tourmasters that use to be $90 but right now appear to be $115. They have an 80 load rating, which is the higher end of the spectrum of what's available in the correct size for these bikes. I'd get about 8-9k miles per rear. There's also the 777 Heavy Duty available for slightly more money. I've never spent a significant amount of time on one but they've had good reviews on here asl well.

That’s why I decided to try the darkside route, I was going through tires way too often. On MC tires I stayed away from the 404s, the labor involved outweighed the cost of better tires for me. I’m not advocating car tires, they’re not for everyone but I love em. 2 or 3 tire changes a year was too much.

You're right, Ron...I forgot to mention that bit about having the bike straight up. I've also marked each side of the oil sight glass with a black permanent marker at the midway point between the HI & LO marks on the engine case.

Someone earlier had mentioned the shift shat seal along with the Stator Wires. Definitely look at those wires. They come out of stator cover toward the rear of the cover...easy to find once you remove the rear (transmission)cover. Be careful with that trans cover as there is a small copper washer on the bottom bolt of that cover to help seal that bolt. ( check that one for leaking as well). With that cover out of the way, you can get at the shifter shaft seal to determine if there is any seepage there, but more importantly you can now see the 2 rubber grommets in the rear of the stator cover...upper one has 2 wires, lower has 3. When I replaced my stator a couple of years ago, one thing was pretty obvious right away. On the stator I removed (unsure if it was OEM or other) the 3 wires running thru that grommet were sealed tight into the grommet. On the new stator those 3 wires were loose in the grommet, being able to slide back and forth. Although I applied a fair bit of RTV to the grommet and around all the wires, I still had oil leaking out past those wires. I tried cleaning the case from the outside and applying more RTV, but the leak continued. It wasn't a lot of oil coming out, but after a couple of hours riding there would be oil blown back along the frame, the exhaust pipe and the kick stand., and when stopped for a while leaned over on the stand, the oil would collect along the bottom edge of the stator cover, or run down the stand, and also drip onto the ground from the kickstand safety switch (just ahead of the stand). Some of the oil might have been leaking from around the cover gasket, but the majority of it was coming from the wires. Not only would it drip from that side of the bike, but the oil would also travel down those wires into the bundle of wires zip-tied together in the centre of the bike just ahead of the shock...which gave the appearance of a leak from the back of the motor. Lots of brake clean, lots of cleaning rags, pulled the cover, cleaned the inside of the cover, removed all the old RTV and very carefully re-applied some quality hi temp oil resistant RTV (Yamabond or equivalent) into that grommet around all 3 wires, from the inside and the outside. I let the RTV cure overnight, applied a light smear of the same RTV to the gaskets as well as the engine and the covers, let them sit for a few minutes, then put the covers on, torqued the bolts and again let it sit overnight before adding oil and running the engine. For the first time in a couple of years the bike doesn't mark it's territory wherever it stops. Zero oil leakage. As stated in another post, the engine doesn't like being full to the high mark on the oil sight glass. That only leads to oil drips from unexpected places, including the collection of hoses that come out of the bottom of the frame just ahead of the rear shock. Good luck with the leak hunting.

Little Charlie is healing up nicely. As it stands, Lisa and I ARE planning on attending. We've a cabin at KOA Ashville East, arriving the 17th. Unless something else bad happens.....We'll be there. Poor little fella still has the cone on his melon and is still largely penned to keep from too much stress on that tiny leg, but he's not in pain and is ready to run....He should be allowed out of the pen in a few weeks. (I think he should be let out now...but gotta listen to the doggy doc)