luvmy40

I'm a shovel head man. My last Harley Davidson was the last year they produced the shovel head. It was the 1984 FXST. 1340cc, carburated (Mikuni), chain primary drive, belt final drive. That bike and I went cross country many times. It only once gave any trouble, and that was my fault. I let the top end go too long and fragged a valve on the highway in Jackson Mississippi. That was the only time I paid anyone to work on that bike. I can't speak for the newer HDs. I wrote them off after a a bad experience at a local stealership left me with blood shooting out of my eyes. To say I was pissed would be the understatement of the century. I would by a vintage HD at a decent price any day. The after market support is far better than the factory support ever was, and it was good at one time. HD's corporate attitude is why I'll never give them any of my money again. They forgot about the working class guys that kept them alive during the AMF fiasco, though they came back strong(and with the right attitude) in the early eighties. These days they don't care if real "bikers" or riders buy their product, they target the RUB crowd with their branding status and give little thought to reliability and customer service. Sign up for the newest model, wait for it then shell out the $ for factory service until the thing falls apart and they forget you. If they don't come back to being customer service oriented company, they won't be around much longer. $0.02, YMMV

FULL DISCLOSURE: I am an Auto Zone employee. I run the ETX series batteries from Auto Zone in my motorcycles, and have since before I worked there. ETX18L is the battery for the Gen1 bikes. https://www.autozone.com/miscellaneous-non-automotive/motorcycle-and-power-sport-battery/duralast-gold-powersport-agm-battery/350084_0_0?&searchText=ETX18l

Star Tron enzyme treatment claims to be focused on ethanol problems. https://www.autozone.com/fuel-and-engine-cleaners-additives/fuel-additive-and-cleaner/star-tron-16-oz-ethanol-treatment/455620_0_0

That bleeder is still bleeding brake fluid, it's just from the anti dive valve. It may be fork oil leaking from the seal between the anti dive and the fork tube...

s.tyler, I may be misunderstanding what you are saying, but the anti dive system operates with the brakes and, as MiCarl stated that fluid looks like new, clean brake fluid rather than fork oil. You should be able to pick up a bleeder valve at any auto parts store. They usually have many different sizes on the shelf. Take it with you to match up. Is the radiator drain tube you are talking about the one that comes off the elbow on top of the coolant overflow tank? If so, that elbow is replaceable and again, most auto parts stores will have something in stock to replace it. I had to replace mine when I broke off trying to remove the drain/vent hose the first time I pulled the fairing an The Beast.

I voted 300 because that's a realistic average for me, but my goal is actually 400 or better. I usually end up spending more time sight seeing and visiting new friends than I plan on. This, of course depends on whether the goal is the ride or the destination.

I ordered a rear brake master cylinder rebuild kit, part # 26H-W0041-50-00 for The Beast. Suddenly the pedal will collapse when sitting with the brakes applied and sometimes needs pumped when braking. No leaks that I can find and the fluid level is good. 35 years is catching up the old girl. BTW, She pulls like a, well, like a beast with the new TCI! At first blush(about 60 miles on the odometer) it looks like the fuel economy is up where it should be as well, around 40mpg, and yes, the fuel gauge seems to working fine again!

I think the beast is haunted! The fuel gauge is working! So, when I went for the first shake down ride this season I filled the tank. It was as I was pulling out of the gas station that the fuel gauge went wonky. First it dropped to 1 bar then bounced back up to full then down to no bars and the fuel pump icon lit up and the warning light started flashing. this was all over about 30 seconds. It has been that way since that moment. I took her out for a longer ride this evening. I stopped to fill the tank and she was nearly bone dry. I put 5.25 gal. in the tank. when I started her up, the fuel gauge read full! Go figure.

I forgot to mention that I checked the fuel level sending unit today as well. It seems to be working. I get about 2.5 ohms at "full" and 331 ohms at empty. I'm reading 265 ohms with it installed. The gauge and alarm are still reading empty. The gas pump icon is lit and the warning light is flashing. I almost pulled the gauge cluster to try to ohm out at the connector but I ran out of motivation. The turn signals have not glitched again.

Like I said in the "What did you do today" thread, my #3 carb was pouring gasoline from the vent line. This came on suddenly. I had a couple hundred miles on the odometer after rebuilding the carbs with no problems. Any way, I pulled the carbs and broke the rack to check out #3 and fix the enricher fork issue. I didn't find anything obviously wrong with #3 so I just hosed the bowl and fill valve down with brake parts cleaner and put it back together. The float level bench checked perfectly and I couldn't get the bowl to over fill even with a gallon of head pressure. Got everything put back together, including installing a new to me TCI that had been gone over and the caps replaced(thanks mralex), synchronized the carbs and I have to say, I believe I have had a bad TCI from day 1. As much power as she has had and as smooth as she's been running compared to what it's like now? There's no comparison. I hope this was the source of my low MPG problem as well.

That's going to be a great resto project. Sorry to hear your friend is gone, OrlinEngh. Did all the Japanese bikes do a 900 with a high/low transfer in that time period? I almost bought Kawasaki 900 spcl that had the same type of trans. a few years ago.

I also saw a drill bit kit that showed a nice divided box and about 50 twist bits then over on the side were the 13 bits with 1/4" hex drive shanks that your are actually bidding on. Be careful. I did order(bid and win) on several small items just to see if there is any quality to the products at all. Things I can use if they turn out to be decent. Thanks Randy!

Went for a ride today to blow the last remaining flu bugs out of my system and noticed a strong scent of petrol emanating from under my feet. Stopped at an intersection and sure enough, gasoline running down the left side case! Oh well, I needed to pull the carbs to fix the enricher fork I stuck in there backwards the last time I had them apart anyway. The fuel is coming fro the #3 carb vent pipe so either the float is sticking or the float valve isn't sealing up. They all float checked on the bench and I've ridden around 200 miles since putting her all back together with no issue. I put new fuel line on from the pump to the carbs last time as well.

In the interest of full disclosure, I am an Auto Zone employee. Rotella 15-40, T4 is conventional, T5 is a blend and T6 is full synthetic. Shell has had some pretty good rebates in place for a while. Check on line and see what they are offering when you buy your oil. I tend to wait for AZ's employee discount weekends and stock up on my consumables like oil, Sea Foam and StarTron(an enzyme fuel treatment to help with ethanol issues). I like AZ's ETX AGM series batteries for my bikes. I've been using them since well before I was an employee. I abuse my batteries and still get 3-4 seasons from the ETX batteries. If you take care of them, they'll probably last a lot longer. NGK spark plugs in all my Nippon engineered hardware. Stay away from Champion. I've been told by many that there is no benefit from going to a platinum or iridium plug on these bikes but I've never tried it so I have no empirical data on that. I stick with OEM paper filters. I ran a K&N filter on my Maxim 750 for a while but it was way too lean and I did not want to rejet the carbs so, back to paper. I'll be going with progressive springs the next time I have a few dollars to spend. My forks don't leak oil but they don't hold air for long.

Today I installed the Genuine Kuryakyn ISO Grips and Throttle Boss I ordered after getting the wrong knock off set from China. I am pleased. The good news is the seller that sent the wrong grips is going to send me the 7/8" grips and let me keep the 1" set. So if anyone here needs a set of knock off ISO grips with throttle boss for 1" bars let me know. You can have them cheap as I have no need for them. The 7/8" set,(should it ever actually arrive) will go on my '82 XJ750 Maxim. The knock offs are actually quite nice. The seem to be well made. The 2 main differences I see are that there is no separate spacer between the grip and end cap and the rubber that protrudes from the grip barrel is a little thicker and softer than the Kuryakyn grips.

With the exception of my Dillon Super Swage 600 and my OHaus 10-10 scale, I run all Lee Precision reloading equipment. It's what I started out on and Lee has never failed me so It's what I keep on with. Lee Breech Lock Challenger single stage for my precision rifle loads and the Lee Load Master for my hand gun and bulk rifle ammo. I really like the Load Master. It very quick and easy to change calibers and I have tool heads set up for all my hand gun loads and 2 heads set up for both .300blk and .223/5.56. One head is for case processing with decapping die, full length resizing die and Quick Trim die. I also prime in this process. The second head charges, seats the bullet and crimps with a Powder COP die between charging and seating. I love the new Lee Auto Drum powder drop. What a huge improvement on the already good Auto Disk. I can have a dedicated powder drop on every tool head for under $40.00 each. All told, I have less cash tied up in my reloading set up for half a dozen calibers than I would in one Dillon 650 press alone. I guess you could say I'm a Lee Fanboise!

Correct me if I'm wrong here Dan. It sounds like there hasn't been an arraignment hearing. If the charges are being changed, there must be an arraignment for the new charges and if there hasn't been an arraignment he is being held without being charged. ?????

Great plan Pucster! Unfortunately it won't work for me. I load all my ammo and SWMBO knows it! I've got a love/hate relationship with Sig Sauer. I'm a holster maker and Sig Sauer is the bane of my existence on that plane. They make minor(sometimes major) milling changes to their pistols on a semi regular basis and will deny it faithfully. This makes it extremely hard for me to guarantee fitment on their products. Don't even get me started on their new "Original" P225. What a joke! That said, I absolutely love the new Sig P365, 9mm micro. They hit the ball out of the park with this one. It is on my short list. As far as cheap 9mm pistols go, take a look at Walther. If you can find a PPX(discontinued) grab it. They were about $250 new and may be the best bang for the buck I've ever seen. They are ugly though. They remind me of the illegitimate offspring of a High Point and a PPQ. The newer Walther Creed is in the same but different category. It's a better looking PPX still at a lower price point. The PPX is not rated for +p ammo though so if that's important to you don't bother. $0.02, YMMV

These have the throttle tube/cable channels in the right grip. They're definitely not for the 7/8" bars.

A while back one of my customers asked if I would help him get his Suzuki GS650 back on the road. It's a late 70's/early 80's model, not sure what year exactly. He explained that it had been running well a few years ago but after sitting for those few years it had no electric power even with a new battery. I told him I'd be happy to as I have a bit of experience wrenching on the 80's GS bikes. We never did get together to do any work on the bike due to life and stuff. Quite some time later, many months actually he called and asked if I'd be interested in buying the GS for $300.00 as he'd decide he wasn't going to ride anymore. I went to take a look at it as I was interested if it was a candidate for restoration. Alas, it's complete except for the turn signals but it has a really bad rattle can paint job with various skulls applied haphazardly here and there. The seat is in pretty bad shape and the wire harness looks to be severely modified, and poorly at that. I begged off the sale as I don't have space to let it sit while I collect parts and really am not a paint guy. He was so aggravated with the situation that he said he was just going to scrap this "$500.00 paper weight." I was just wondering if anyone local would have any interest in this as a project bike. I just hate to see a good titled frame get scrapped. If he's to be taken at his word, it runs well when the electrics are straight.

Started to install new "ISO" style(chicom knock offs) grips only to find that while I'd ordered 7/8" grips, what I received were actually 1" so I initiated a return and ordered a a pair of real ISOs and a Throttle Boss for The Beast.

^^^^^^^^^^^^What Kretz said^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ The voltage drop through the old wire harness and switch makes even the most robust horn sound like a dying duck. Spend the extra $10.00 on a relay and just DOIT! I cant believe I waited so long to add the rely to The Beast.

I'm looking to take an advanced riding course and found ProRider in Pittsburgh, PA on the web. Has anyone heard of them or taken a class with them? They are very reasonably priced and their video's of the instructors are fairly impressive. They are geared toward the police training/rodeo, low speed handling kind of riding as opposed to sports bike/race track riding. I took a beginners riding course 30 odd years ago but I've never taken an advanced course. I've logged many thousands of cross country and town hopping miles without major incident but I want to learn what I may or may not know. If ya know what I mean.

I can't believe what I just found! I've had the carbs off the old girl 2 or 3 times and broke the rack to some extent every time to check for mistakes. Somehow, the last time I put them back together I got the #4 enricher fork on backwards and the screw loosened up(it's not in the detent) so it's not activating the plunger. She starts on choke just fine and obviously runs well after warmed but I'm still going to have to take the carbs back off and break them down AGAIN because it ain't right and I'm a moron!

Finally rewired the horns with a relay. Should have done that a long time ago.