kbert777

That's what I figured, I guess I am just too lazy right now to rebuilt the original ones anyway. Also for the price for the R6 calipers, it's even hard to buy all the seals. Now I just need to find a reliable source for stainless lines, I tried a few and it's either back ordered or no longer available. Any leads? Klaus

Yes, funny thing is that is worked and has been in there for at least the 20k miles I put on the bike since I owned it. Always had a few problems getting the idle right and gas mileage never went over 33-35mpg, let's see of the Ignitech unit makes any difference. Actually, that's the first connector I checked and I was amazed how bad it looked. Everything ohmed out OK and I cleaned a lot of connectors in the process, everything is nice and clean and filled with dielectric grease, The more I look at it, I might add an override switch for the run switch and side stand switch, just for diagnostic purposes, maybe just a push button. Klaus

Noticed that my right front brake caliper is leaking, so to make things easy I bought a set of low mileage R6 calipers of EBay. After reading all the threads about conversions I am not completely sure if just the caliper upgrade improves the brake performance. I was not planning on de-linking the brakes, I kind of like the feature and use the pedal as primary brake quiet often. So, what is different about the calipers? Area of brake pad and/or piston size? Any recommendations for brake pads, any particular compound? Thanks in advance, Klaus

Thanks Guys for all the responses, looks like my problem is the TCI, I also found a bunch of pretty dirty connectors. Ended up cleaning the connectors and packing them with dielectric grease. Ultimately I bought an Ignitech Kit from Gary, probably going to run it so that in case of emergency I can still plug in the original TCI and boost sensor. Pretty busy at work right now and I still plan on replacing the fuse box. Going to be a while until bike is back up and running again, probably going to start reassembly next week. Klaus

I think I am pretty much screwed with the original TCI. I removed it from the stock location, checked the connectors, pickup coils and ignition coils. Everything was within specs. The spark plugs are new, the wires and caps less the 1000 miles in. I opened the TCI and it has some heat damage to one of the output transistors, also the diodes are the failure prone blue ones. Problem is that my spare TCI has a different number. The old one is TID13-43 1FK-09 0711 (yellow sticker), the spare one is TID14-34 41R-09 0204 (blue sticker). I can not find any reliable information what year the spare on fits, so I am hesitant to even plug it in. I PMed Garry to see if he has an extra Ignitech unit available, in case that does not work out, does anybody have a known good on suitable for an '89 he is willing to sell? I am taking the down time to finally fix the fuse box issue, also have a really weak front brake, still would like to get some riding in before it gets too hot around here. Thanks in advance, Klaus

If you are going through Las Vegas, I would advise staying a night in one for the Valley of Fire campgrounds, about 30 miles East of Las Vegas, a few miles of I-15 on the way to St George and Cedar City, UT. Another nice option would be the BLM campground in the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, a few miles West of Las Vegas on the way to Blue Diamond, NV. Unfortunately it is closed from 05/28 - 08/30/13, not sure what the reason is. There are really no nice places for dry camping on the way from Las Vegas to Kingman, AZ to get to I40 or RT66, I guess you could spend a night at the shores of Lake Mead, but I am not sure which spots are open for camping, they also started to charge horrendous fees a few years ago. Hope this helps, let me know if you need any more details when you firm up your route. Klaus

Thanks for all the comments, living in Las Vegas, moisture is usually not a problem around here. Right now it's 100 deg and about 10% humidity. I pulled my spare TCI and it has a different number then the one listed in the manual. What years are interchangeable and does anybody have a list of the corresponding Hitachi numbers? I am almost tempted to buy a brand new one, but I would have to assume that most of the replacements have been sitting on the shelf for a long time, cheapest I found is around $500. I know there is the Ignitech options, but I don't know if it's worth playing around with. Klaus

I kind of thougt that it's TCI related; is this something a diode replacement would cure or is it past that point? I have a spare I have never tested, will see tomorrow if this fixes it. Klaus

Maybe somebody can help me troubleshoot this, before I tear the whole bike apart. 89 1stGen with about 75k miles, pretty much stock. Was sitting for about a year (due surgery and work load), had fuel stabilizer in tank. Flushed carbs, changed oil and spark plugs, checked air filter and went for a nice 200 mile ride this morning. Bike was running OK, little bit of an engine vibration, wanted to run a few tanks of gas through before adjusting carbs. About 130 miles into the ride I start seeing the tachometer dropping to Zero for a second or so, then it recovers, no loss in performance. After about another 20 miles the tachometer drops more frequent and for longer periods of time, now the engine stumbles and it becomes hard to maintain a steady speed. I pull over to the side of the road and idle is rough, tachometer is more at zero then anywhere else and exhaust is popping and I can hear some misfires. Made it home the last 40 miles, almost used 3/4 of a tank of fuel, bike was running best above 5000 rpm. Anybody ever been through this particular problem? At first I thought a bad spark plug, but that would not make the tachometer drop out completely? So that would leave TCI or pickup coil, maybe some bad connections or a bad coil? I have a spare TCI I never tried, maybe it's time to relocate it and check the connections... Any input welcome, thanks in advance. Klaus

If the seals come out without deforming them and the lip and tension ring are undamaged, you should be able to reuse the seals. A word of warning... Every HF trailer I looked at so far had metric bearings and seals, which a very uncommon and not easily available at most shops. HF sells bearings and seals as spare parts, every single time I tried they were special order, so I usually ordered some quantities as they are cheap. After measuring and cross-referencing SKF# 692373 or 11694 seals are suitable substitutes and might be available at bearing supply houses, the dimensions are 30x52x10mm. The bearings are relatively trivial part# 30205, standard 25mm shaft bearing and you might consider replacing the original Chinese stuff if you are planning a longer road trip. Klaus

My '89 exhibited the same symptoms you described, everything checked out with the bike relatively cold, good charging voltage and current flow, checked the battery (Odyssey, a few years old, checked perfect on Interstate tester), checked all wiring and connectors and monitored R/R assembly. After about 50 miles charging voltage and current kept dropping, within 300 miles the battery was dead. I replaced the R/R with the newer style, reasoning that the OEM R/R assembly is designed for a lead acid battery and can not handle the AGM battery (which requires higher charging voltage), soldered all connections, problem was still the same. I removed the stator, which after 78k miles still measured and looked perfect, had no discolorations or burned portions, and replaced it with a new unit from Dennis Kirk. Problem is gone, charging system is perfect even after a 500 mile run with driving lights and fan in the heat the battery is still full, idle voltage is 13.8 Volts, at 2k rpm it is around 14.5 Volts. After discussing the problem with a local electric motor rebuilder they seem to think that the insulation of the stator coils degraded over the years due to being sprayed with hot oil and repeated heat cycling and that this ultimately created a condition where the coils would shorten out under heat without showing the violent results of a dead short. Then I cut the tip of my left index finger off at work and the bike has been in the garage for the last 3 month... Klaus

I gave one number for the seals, SKF 692373, which is the current number for the old SKF 11694. Yes, this seal is a complete rubber seal, compared to the metal rim seal with rubber insert. The dimensions for fit and sealing are identical to the original seal that comes with the harborfreight trailer, the SKF seal is much higher quality and seals much better. What is the part number of the seal you installed? You said it's leaking, so I assume you simply used the wrong size, assumingly a spindle seal for a standard axle. The outer diameter of the seal you used might be close enough to fit in the hub bore, but the spindle sealing area diameter for the metric axle is much smaller then the 1" standard axle. You also might have simply overfilled the bearings with grease, which will drastically expand with heat.

OK, I ran into this problem before on my HF trailer with 12" wheels. Both bearings and seals are metric, while most of the domestic trailers use more common standard axle layouts, which can be easily serviced. The provided bearings and seals are rather poor in quality, even by Chinese standards, therefore I decided to change bearings and seals before using the trailer on an extended trip. Sourcing the bearings was trivial, part# 30205 is not too uncommon for a 25mm shaft, most local automotive suppliers will have them in stock. The seals are a little bit more tricky. Dimensions are 30x52x10mm and after a little bit of looking around I found SKF# 692373 or 11694, which is a special order for most automotive suppliers, but easily found at bearing supply houses. I installed these parts with a high quality wheel bearing grease and haven't had any problems. I would not recommend using the grease fitting on the rear flange, as it does not distribute grease correctly and makes more of a mess then anything else. Also, the parts are available through harbor freight, in the same high, Chinese quality as the original stuff. Hope this helps, Klaus

So far no leaks and cooling problems, that's after about 400 miles. Unfortunately, now after everything is back together, I noticed some minor seepage on the clutch slave cylinder, should have addressed that with the middle gear cover removed... I looked at Earl's fuse box kit, looks great and very complete and clean, I had something slightly different in mind, but I should cover all the bases for a standard retrofit. Klaus

Thanks for all the comments, this should help me on my quest... Let me add that I don't have a problem with the kit Earl is offering, with a set of freshly rebuilt calipers it is a great deal. I am trying to do a few upgrades on a budget and I have pretty good access to salvage bikes and let's face it, sport bikes like the R1 and R6 usually don't end up in the hands of experienced riders... I also have access to brake hose machinery with a current DOT certification and can make hoses for personal use relatively inexpensive. After a few test runs with the bike fully loaded and the trailer behind it, the stock brakes, even with EBC HH pads, feel blissfully inadequate. Klaus