MiCarl

Up North during Salmon season we see a lot of 5th wheel campers with the boat hitched up behind. That apparently is perfectly legal. Saw a guy once with a tow behind travel trailer and a boat. He was on the side of the road with the State Police. I suspect that set up was not legal.

The only thing I can add is the passenger is a problem at stops if you are in the habit of letting the bike go off balance and manhandling it up. Much more difficult to do with the extra weight up high.

That bolt holds the damping rod in place. There is a rather thick copper washer under it. If you drill carefully you can eliminate the head and limit the damage to the washer. Use a large bit that almost fills the hole, when the bolt head spins you're done. I think 7/16 is about the right size. Once the fork is disassembled it's easy to get the remnant out of the damping rod. Then you need about $3 for a new bolt and washer....... Image I probably stole from Dingy attached. Washer is hard to see, but it's under the bolt head.

Read it again. It's for a "Princess" auto. They must be smaller.

A pin fell out of your shift sector, which is indeed behind the clutch basket. Not a major repair.

I used a new gasket.

Agreed. Not getting enough throw from the clutch. In addition to what mbrood said, I'll add that the master cylinder may be failing too.

Pretty hard to see the steering neck on a Venture. Easier to read the VIN from the sticker on the right frame, right below the brake pedal. So long as the digits match on the engine, just tell them the engine has the same number as the frame.

1) That pin comes out. It actuates the clutch. There is a rod behind it that goes through the input shaft to engage the clutch slave. 2) Looks more like a chip. If it's not broken to the threads I wouldn't lose any sleep over it. 3) Clutch basket will have some slight play in/out and rotationally. You shouldn't feel any play perpendicular to its axis. Why did you tear it down?

I've installed a few of their sport bike tires. Haven't been any problems reported but it's a small sample. I believe the brand is fairly new and the touring tires a new product this year.

They ride in black flex fuel SUVs that we pay for, including the drive.

The o-rings in the joints develop a tight relationship to the fork tube. Lube the fork tube above the joint (I prefer fork oil, but some use WD-40 or other lubricants). Hold the joint in one hand and twist the upper tube with the other to brake the o-rings free. There are a couple rubber spacers between the joint and upper tree. They like to fall behind the radiator - best to pull them off before you lose them.

1) Environmentalists love it. 2) The Farm Lobby loves it. Two groups that deliver a lot of money and votes.

I'd planned to refill the 5 gallon can for the lawn mower today. $4.39 for regular. I passed on the refill. Gonna get me a sheep: Mow, fertilize, and eliminate the trip to town on Saturday night.

The isolator may be putting noise on the electrical system. When I installed a fancy license plate frame on SWMBO's Shadow it flooded the CB with noise. A filter on the power supply to the audio system is the answer. You can order from Sierra or get one from a car audio shop.

In the rectifier test you are testing diodes. Most meters won't read them correctly on just any range, they need to be set to the range that supports diode testing. The meter I usually use needs to be set at the 1K ohm range to correctly check rectifiers. All the other ranges read them open. It's unlikely all 6 diodes in your rectifier failed. Check the manual for your meter.

Once it's all bled, there is one more place to bleed. It tends to trap air at the banjo bolt on the master cylinder. Squeeze the lever, lots of towels or rags around the bolt, crack it open ever so slightly until fluid flows. Tighten bolt before releasing lever. You may have to repeat if you didn't get a good fluid weep the first time. A helper to squeeze the lever makes the job easier. I did a sport bike a few weeks ago where they had the good sense to put a bleed nipple at that spot. Too bad they aren't all that way.......

This is very important! If you're near the transmitters you can get by with a very low gain omnidirectional antenna and probably don't need to go high with it. You don't need the rotor. On the other hand if you're far away you'll probably want an antenna with a lot of elements which will be unidirectional. You'll need a rotor if the broadcaster antennas deviate much from a straight line. When I ditched the cable I hooked up the antenna that was on the house when I bought it. There are a dozen broadcasters within 20 miles of me. The antenna has so many elements it's very directional and I needed to put a rotor on to get more than a few channels. Frankly, I'd probably be better off with a piece of coat hanger. All the bands you're looking for will be covered by a standard UHF/VHF TV antenna. www.antennaweb.org has a tool to help determine TV stations in your area and the antenna you need to get them.

Hey Ground-Hugger. HERE is the history link I mentioned on the XJbikes site. The Mikuni down draft carburetors are a bit different than the side draft Hitachi's on your XJ. Principles are the same though. One major difference is they use an air cut-off valve to reduce popping on decel. You will need to keep carb cleaner out of their rubber diaphragms if you tear into the carbs. You will also need to partially split the rack to work on them. Throttle cable set up is quite a bit different. The Venture has a push/pull instead of a single cable. Also, the cruise control complicates things. The cables from the grip go to a little box in the LH fairing where they turn a wheel. There is another wheel coupled to it that has a pair of cables going to the carburetors. There is a 5th cable going to the box from the cruise control servo. I know this sounds confusing, but it'll be obvious how it works when you get in there. The carburetors pose their own challenges for remove/install.

Clutch handle was the first thing I fixed. If I recall correctly, with the worn pivot the RESUME light would come on when I tried to set it. I will say this about it now that it's working properly: it really pulls on the throttle. Before yesterday I always had to give it an assist, like it wasn't strong enough to pull against the throttle return spring. Yesterday there was a time or two I needed to slow up a bit for just a second. Twisting the throttle closed required a lot of force. From this I'm thinking the problem must have been in the vacuum motor(s).

I hope not. Bit worried about that though.......

I've had my 89 for five years and the cruise control has never been right - it just couldn't keep speed. Bike would slow down at gust of wind or any rise in the road. Downhill kind of worked. The motorcycle came with a spare pump and control module. Tested everything repeatedly and found no faults - it just wouldn't work right. Disassembled and cleaned both pumps, no difference. Of course the servo tests good and I had new vacuum hose on it. All the cables moved freely. If I held the "accel" button until it lifted from my hand it was useful to take some strain off my wrist or for a brief rest so long as the throttle didn't need to move. But it would drop at least 5mph if I let go of it. Went through the whole system again this past winter and if anything it got worse. Today, 200 miles into a 300 mile ride, I decided I needed to give my wrist a brief rest. It didn't do the 5mph drop, it didn't slow down on even steep rises. It worked perfectly. I used it most of the last 100 miles. Just so excited the damn thing works right I had to share.

There is no mute button for the mike on a stock system. What are you checking the mic with? Mic is for intercom or CB transmit, you won't be able to hear it through dash speakers.

For GPS I just stuck a cheap car unit in a RAM AquaBox.

In our STAR Chapter we have people with both the J&M and Sierra Cobra handheld set ups. I started to write that the J&M is far superior but then I had a thought about a problem my wife has been having. So I'll describe my experience with both units: The J&M is permanently mounted so you don't have to worry about it walking away when you run in somewhere. It's also weather proof and has an aux input for an MP3, GPS etc. You can also get it with intercom if you ride with a passenger. It seems to work as well as factory systems with both the license plate mount antenna offered in the kit and some other antennas members have. The Sierra handheld is not permanently mounted so needs to be removed any time there is a chance it could grow legs. It's not weather proof and has no aux inputs. With the rubber duck antenna it is generally acceptable at short range, but falls down at longer distances. The transmit button has a velcro strap to wrap it around the grip which is not an elegant solution. One of the guys put his on the clutch perch and that actually works well on his bike, but might not be doable on other motorcycles. About half the installations have required a noise suppressor on the power line. My wife has one of the handhelds on her motorcycle and we are having trouble with it. She is the only one of the group that has the 5 pin set up because I wanted her to be able to use the same helmet/headset when she is a passenger on the Venture. It's useless at anything over 50 feet. The modulation is so weak I cannot understand her and she seems to have trouble hearing me. BUT, we have similar problems with her plugged into the intercom so the problem may be with her, the headset or how the headset is installed in her helmet (full face). She's going to get a regular CB antenna and we'll see if that helps. The whole reason we went with the handheld for my wife is I wanted the 5 pin set up. I've since learned there are headsets that will work with the Venture audio and the J&M by switching the patch cord. Had I known that I'd have gone with the J&M.