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Gearhead

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Everything posted by Gearhead

  1. Gearhead
    The gurgling, "in the red" thing sounds like you are overheating for real of course. But just to clarify what you can expect, on my 87, the fan comes on just a bit below the red, maybe 1/16" to 1/8". Under ideal conditions the bike runs just under the halfway mark where there's a gap in the green. But it seems that the radiator is just a bit on the small side, or airflow to it is not what it should be. I say this because: - The "halfway mark" only holds at a nice cruise, say 45 or 50, on slightly warm days, or if the weather is cool it will cruise on the Interstate at that mark. - If I'm at Interstate speeds (significant engine loading) on a warm or hot day, the temp creeps up, often to the point of the fan cycling. Seems weird since natural airflow should be max at that point, but I wonder if the front tire and fender "split" the airflow around the radiator (I've heard of that on other bikes - Virago's run cooler on rear cyl than front for that reason). Maybe that's why Yammy designed those little scoops on the sides of the radiator grille. - In traffic, unless the weather is really cold, it warms up above halfway. - It almost never goes above the "fan-on" temp. This tells me that with proper airflow the radiator is up to the job. Once, when traversing the southern CA/AZ desert 2-up at 107 deg F (not fun), and making time at 80-90 mph, it went a little higher, flirting with the bottom of the red. FWIW, it also got 26 mpg - ouch. But even then the temp, while on the high side, stayed under control. All these things are normal according to everyone here. I'm told each temp gage responds a little differently, but the patterns are common. Assuming you are actually overheating: - Have you totally flushed the cooling system, including the radiator, block, etc? - You can remove the water pump cover to inspect the impeller. Not a likely problem. Early bikes had a plastic impeller that would break, but I think yours came with a metal one. If you do this, have a new cover o-ring-gasket on hand. Good luck. Jeremy
  2. Gearhead
    Hey Spyder, The auto cancel functions off a combination of time and distance travelled. Cancellation happens after both of the following conditions have been met: 1) On for at least 10 seconds 2) Some distance travelled (maybe 150 feet, not sure). Pretty sure the sensor for distance is in the speedo assy. Jeremy
  3. Gearhead
    Well, you've checked a lot of good stuff. Just a couple wild ideas: 1) Watching the slides move "evenly" isn't a good test. Mine were doing that, to the eye, but 3 of four diaphragms were quite bad. Rreplacing the slides / diaphragms didn't pick up THAT much top end, but some. If yours are original I'd be surprised it they're still sound. 2) K&N oil is made for K&N filters, not foam filters. They make foam filter oil. A K&N filter is a lot thinner and less dense than a foam filter. I don't know, but is it possible the K&N oil causes the foam filter to be restrictive? 3) If all four pipes are hot then you're not missing on one cyl, at least not all the time. Have you started it cold, then shut it down and checked the pipes after just 20 or 30 seconds to get a read on how fast they are heating up? Jeremy
  4. Gearhead
  5. Gearhead
    How interesting! Up until now the CMS has just been a magic black box. Thanks. Jeremy
  6. Gearhead
    Problem I had with the stock shock was it was never quite enough 2-up. Static sag, 2-up, max air pressure was something like 66%, meaning it only had 1/3 of the wheel travel remaining. It bottomed easily. There is a Progressive spring replacement for the stock shock, but to make a long story short, I ended up with the whole Prog shock. It works nice. I ended up setting the preload rings (yes, a PITA) at the max and it's fine for all riding. I got it at Motorcycle Accessory Warehouse for around 350. Another thing you could do is disconnect your air hose from the CLASS and install a schrader valve. Then you could adjust the air pressure, but would require an external source. Jeremy
  7. Gearhead
    Thanks y'all. Scott, don't the lids scratch up the sides of the bags over time, hanging against them all the time (when you're accessing the bags)? I kinda assumed these lids are no longer available new. True? Jeremy
  8. Gearhead
    Well, let's just say I've read of it before. It's a fairly common thing. My dad has a Voyager and it's the same with them, except worse because the latches aren't as good and sometimes people lose them even when latched, if not locked! So here's how dumb it was with me. I knew the danger, I've read others' tales of woe. I went out over the weekend to get something out of the saddlebag. I can't remember if I was in a hurry, or if my hands were full, or what, but I specifically remember setting the lid in place and NOT latching it, and thinking I'd latch it before I ride next on Mon morning. Stupid, stupid, stupid...I always do that kind of stuff, refuse to learn from other people's mistakes, have to make them myself...AARRRGGGHHHHH. Squid, thank you. So there's no rail? The rail on mine is kinda beat up, I'll have to look at it again and get back to you. It wouldn't be the only piece of scraped chrome on my bike though. 91, do you remember if yours has a rail? Jeremy
  9. Gearhead
    Thanks, please do if you would. I did find mine this morning, about 3/4 of the way to work. It still goes on and latches so it beats no lid, but it's not too pretty. Big cracks, one down to the edge, scrapes; I think the edge of a car tire caught it and flung it off the road. Kinda funny, it stayed on for the Interstate stretch and flew off at lower speeds. So, yes, if you (or anybody) have a tan lid, that would be just wonderful. Jeremy
  10. Gearhead
    So I did it - I stupidly neglected to latch my saddlebag lid. Somewhere in the 25 miles between home and work today it took flight. ARRRRGGGHHH Does anybody out there have one for sale? My bike has the brown / tan paint, with the lid being tan. Thanks, Jeremy
  11. Gearhead
    Hey Y'all, I've had a persistent problem with engine rpm-related noise in the radio and intercom, both thru the speakers and headsets. I've posted here and there on the subject. I had the noise improve a little when I improved the grounding on the bike. But it was still significant. Well, I just pretty much fixed it. The factory has 3 noise-reducing capacitors installed: two in the radio noise filter (one for system hot, the other for battery back-up (hot all the time)), and the third near the voltage regulator. Each cap goes from hot to ground and bleeds off noise (AC signal) but doesn't short out the DC power. They say caps dry out and don't work as well as they age. Well, mine are 22 years old! So I went to Radio Shack and bought two 2200 microfarad caps and one 4400. I then bought two more 2200's after I nearly blew one up and ruined them by wiring them in backward and then yanked them out when I heard the gurgling - live and learn :-) I put the 4400 near the regulator and the 2200's at the radio near the existing noise filter, and wired them as I said, from hot to ground. The noise is nearly gone - not completely, but I wonder if the remaining noise could be normal as it's very small. Certain things increase it, as they did before, but on a lower level: Setting the Headphone Attenuator on the handlebar at Max gives a little noise that almost goes away if I set it on the big dot just below Max. The Auto Volume circuit introduces noise. If I have it all the way down it goes away, and it increases steadily as I turn this feature more sensitive. There's a slight hiss in the system even with the engine off - just par for the course I guess. If I crank the Auto Volume and the Headphone Attenuator both up to Max, the noise is still less than what I had before with much more conservative settings. As long as music is playing, I cannot hear the noise at all. In totally quiet times and with the knobs set to contain the noise, I still can't hear it unless I'm REALLY trying. I'm very pleased, been waiting 3 years to do this! The caps are about 5 bucks each, whether you fry them or not! Very good solution. Thanks to GeorgeS for suggesting it! Jeremy
  12. Gearhead
    OK, thanks. That's kinda what I figured. I just envision a cap as two plates and an air gap, simplistic, I know. I had no idea it had polarity. I did indeed install one backward and hooked it up. I was still sitting right there after a few seconds when I heard it boiling / gurgling and I yanked it off the connection. Didn't actually get to the blowing up stage. Now I gotta buy new caps. I showed a guy at work and he showed me the markings, which to me were not obvious. However, it makes sense that the "plastic disc" end goes to hot while the "case ground" end goes to ground. Jeremy
  13. Gearhead
    Questions for you electronic tech geek types. I'm installing a cylindrical electrolytic capacitor for noise suppression, from the hot lead to ground. The cap, from Radio Shack, has one end where the lead comes out of a plastic insulating disc, and the other end is all metal with the lead coming out. There is an arrow on the body pointing from the plastic end to the metal end. Is there polarity on the cap? Which end goes to hot, and which to ground? What would happen if it was installed backward? Thanks, Jeremy
  14. Gearhead
    Hmm, you mean the shaft between the cable attachment point and the magnet on the inside? Interesting... Jeremy
  15. Gearhead
    The pots in these radios, believe it or not, are a standard type. I found some similar at a local CB shop at a truck stop and was able to wire it in. Jeremy
  16. Gearhead
    Wow, I bet it is loud! To each his own. I'd like to see pics. Jeremy
  17. Gearhead
    Shoulda searched first. 6303, double sealed, both bearings.
  18. Gearhead
    JB, The ring nuts on my bike do not have teeth like yours, then. Hmm, wonder why? I still maintain that as long as the 80-some ft-lbs is put on the crown nut, teeth are not required to prevent that upper ring nut from moving. You sure about the stem being tapered? I don't think so. It has a step or two with different diameters, but I think the portion that mounts the upper tree casting is cylindrical. Any play is taken out by torquing the crown nut. This allows some tolerance on the distance between the triple tree clamps due to production differeces in all the various parts. I do agree about being real careful not to put the triple tree in a bind! Jeremy
  19. Gearhead
    Does anybody have handy the industrial numbers for both front wheel bearings? Also, are double-rubber-seal type appropriate? Thanks, Jeremy
  20. Gearhead
    Ok, so I'm finally reassembling... I'll put the nuts back the way they came off then. I like the rubber washer as it provides a way to set the bearing preload with the lower nut and not increase it inadvertently when tightening down the upper nut. The tab washer keeps it locked to the upper nut, and the upper tree is then smashed down against that with the crown nut. JB, that's weird, I've never seen that. Had you been into the bearings before? I'd bet somebody didn't torque the crown nut properly. I don't think the teeth on the upper nut can dig into the upper tree because the tab washer holds the upper tree up off the nut by its thickness. Also, if you were to move the rubber washer to above the upper nut, the crown nut torque (80-ish ft-lb) would squeeze against the rubber, not good. I've always done what 5bikes said about grabbing the lower forks to check for bearing play. Generally with most bikes I've set the bearing preload to just tight enough to get rid of the play and it works great. Only caveat is that I always have old bikes and sometimes there's a little play between the fork tube and slider bushing. When I wiggle the lower forks, I have to discern between this play and head bearing play. Jeremy
  21. Gearhead
    So Chuck, do you have the stock rubber washer in there? Jeremy
  22. Gearhead
    Hi y'all, This question is in regards to the two adjuster "ring nuts" that set the bearing preload. The factory manual says somewhat cryptically, "The tapered side of the ring nut must face downward." This is repeated for the other ring nut, so they are evidently both supposed to face the same direction. I'm not clear on what the "tapered side" is, and the pictures in this manual stink. The two nuts appear to be identical. One side is flat. The other side has a slightly raised rib running around the face of the nut, as well as a conical cut or chamfer around the inside by the threads. I guess that could be considered a taper. When I took mine apart they were not facing the same. The lower nut had the flat side up and the upper nut had the flat side down so that the rubber washer was sandwiched between the flat sides. Any opinions? Does it really matter? Jeremy
  23. Gearhead
    Funny about Ron Ayers. I new the size was new, but it must be brand-stinkin-new! I found it on Sw Moto and then looked on RonAyers.com probably last Tues. Didn't see it, so I emailed them - do you have this size yet? Got response on Wed - no, don't list that one! Now they have it - cool. Real estate in Tucson - good time to buy. I bought my property - where I built my dream garage, so not movin' unless I have to - in 2001 before the boom really got going, then stuff went WAY up and then fell WAY down but I haven't been paying much attention. What do you mean by a New Rambler? Ya know, as anywhere, it's all about location. I'll take some rough guesses at a 1600 sf place. Probably 130k in poorer area up to maybe 220k in nice area. More central in town tends to go higher for a given condition. I live in the rural suburb of Vail where things used to be cheaper due to being one step away from Egypt (about 12 miles from the east side of town), but Vail really went up in the boom. Hard to say, but 1600 sf on an acre out here might be 220k. Then again, I might be all wrong. For comparison, back in '01 I bought 2400sf on 5 acres for 172k. Jeremy
  24. Gearhead
    They are premium tires and not cheap, although usually competitive with other name-brand tires. Check SWmototire.com or Ronayers.com for best prices. That being said, Ronayers does not yet have the E3 in the MR/90-18, I only found it at SW. It was kinda pricey at $120. Ronayers had an Avon Venom front for about 100, but the E3 should last longer and I really like them so I just sucked it up & paid the man. Jeremy
  25. Gearhead
    Hi, SW Moto Tire here in Tucson has had a good rep on this site for some time with good prices and service. FYI, they were recently sold to the guy that owns AZ Honda, the biggest Honda dealer in town. I actually went to the parts counter in the Honda shop to pick up my tires from SW Moto. I had no problem, the prices were still good, and the guy said that the two businesses are still technically separate, though housed together and owned by the same guy. But just be aware that things might change. Jeremy
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