DaveDanger

It even works if you need to flush out old fluid. Do all the steps as detailed above, but don't put the end of the tubing into the reservoir to begin with. Insert it into a waste container and pump the lever until the reservoir is ALMOST empty. DON'T allow the reservoir to empty completely or you'll be introducing new air into the system. Fill the reservoir with fresh fluid as it gets low, and continue the same procedure until you see fresh fluid coming out the end of your vinyl tubing. At that point, pull the end of the tubing from the waste container and insert the tubing into the reservoir and continue pumping until you have no bubbles, same as above. Usually by the time you have fresh fluid coming out of the tubing, there's no air left in the system.

Naked Rider, How tall is the exposed part of the windshield you have currently mounted on your bike? I removed my original for the summer, and don't have it at my fingertips to measure, but it seems like it's somewhere in the vicinity of 15 or 16" tall. (My new shorty is 8" tall and I think I cut almost exactly half of the height off of it). I'm fairly tall at 6'2" and have never had any difficulty with the air buffeting from the OEM windshield, and my wife has never complained about the buffeting either, until she rode with me a few times with NO windshield at all mounted. She said then that it was too much wind in her face, and she'd not ride again with me till a windshield was back on the bike. I've seen absolutely no difference in handling with the OEM or the shorty windshield. As far as MPG, I can't help but think it won't be affected much either way. Whether it's the tall windshield or your head and torso up there, the wind is dragging a bit on something. The tall windshield may actually provide a slightly smoother surface for the wind to slip off of... an exercise in physics that most of us have no practical ability to test and prove one way or the other. David

Georgia has been in a drought for seems like the past several years, and suddenly when I want to take photos, Mother Nature has decided to rectify the water shortage with liquid sunshine nearly every day for the last 3 months. I just got reminded however that I'd promised to post pics of my new shorty windscreen and I just popped outside the hangar and snapped a few while the rain had let up. Not great pics, and I'll post more as I get a good day, but something to peruse regardless http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i140/Dave_Danger/Bike/DSC04453.jpg http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i140/Dave_Danger/Bike/DSC04452.jpg

Don, I recently posted a "Part Wanted" item in the classifieds, and a forum member came thru for me and we worked out a deal. I would now like to be able to go back in to my original post and edit it at the bottom to maybe show that my request has been filled and that folks no longer need to contact me with offers. The offers don't bother me, I'd simply like to save folks some time chasing me down for something that's no longer needed. Is there some provision made for me to be able to do that? I saw no "EDIT" button in the classified section that would allow me to do it on my own. Thanks!

I decided a few months ago that I wanted to get the tall OEM windscreen out of my way temporarily and allow the wind to cool me a bit during the summer months. After riding for a few weeks with no windscreen at all, I decided I wanted at least something mounted on the fairing to fill the slot. A secondary thought was to maybe mount a shorty windscreen for appearances sake. Not really having any desire to purchase a brand new full-size windscreen (to cut down), I placed a "part wanted" ad here on the site for one that I could cut down to the size I wanted. A Venture brother in California saw my request and shipped me an old one for the cost of shipping. I received his old one and measured off an 8" rise from bottom to top on the older screen. I overlapped my OEM screen over the replacement and used the upper edge of mine to grease-pencil the upper curve to provide me a cut-line. I cut the excess screen off using a high-speed abrasive cutting disc and a die-grinder, leaving about 1/8" extra outside my grease-pencil line. I then polished that down exactly with another abrasive sanding disc, in the same die-grinder. I then rounded all edges with an air-sander and mounted the freshly re-sized windscreen to my fairing. It looks great and does exactly what I want. Allows enough air to keep me aerated, yet fills the slot and keeps the appearance sharp. Just finished and mounted it yesterday, so I haven't had it out for a major highway ride yet. So not sure if it's low enough to avoid throwing a buffet into the middle of my face, but it can be shortened again if necessary. I'd rather have it too short than too tall. I'll post pics ASAP

There's an even easier way to bleed brakes that doesn't require anything complicated, Speedbleeders® are nice, I have them on my GS850, but they're not necessary to bleed easily. Go to Home Depot or Lowes and buy a 10' roll of 3/16" inside diameter clear vinyl tubing (plumbing section), very cheap, about $3.00. The length isn't critical, as long as it will reach from the farthest caliper to the reservoir, 6' will usually work fine. Cut it if you desire, or leave it full length, doesn't matter. Slip a boxed end wrench over the bleeder nipple at the caliper you need to bleed, then slide one end of the vinyl tubing over the same nipple. (Using a bench grinder, I have thinned down a spare boxed end wrench that fits the brake bleeder nipple, to provide maximum area for the vinyl tube to fit). Remove the cap from the appropriate reservoir, and place the other end of the vinyl tube in the reservoir. (Always use the proper practices with brake fluid, regardless of the method you use... if you spill it on your paint or polished aluminum, wipe it away quickly and wash thoroughly with strong soapy water. Brake fluid will strip paint and corrode polished aluminum). Crack the bleeder nipple open and leave it open... begin slowly pumping the brake lever. The fluid will be forced to circulate in a loop. Through the sysem normally, out the bleeder nipple and back up to the reservoir. If there is any air in the system, you will see it coming out in the vinyl tube. ALL your fluid returns back into the reservoir, and the air is purged out as it circulates. When no more air is seen, there is no more air in the system. Close the bleeder nipple, remove the vinyl tube, close the reservoir after making sure it's filled properly. (After I've bled a system this way, I take a pair of golf tees and plug the vinyl tubing ends to trap the brake fluid inside. That way, every time I connect and use the tube, I don't have to pump it full of fluid first. Coil it up and hang it from a nail on the wall). One person can easily bleed any brake/clutch system this way. With a long enough vinyl tubing, it works on cars, trucks, motorcycles, airplanes. (Different fluid and tubes for airplanes) Always start at the farthest caliper from the reservoir, and work your way to the closest. I use this method almost daily. It works. It works with or without Speedbleeders®.

Try swapping the bulbs right on the bike before buying new ones. Swap the two rear bulbs first, test them, then swap the two front ones, test again. If either swap moves the problem to the other side of the bike, you've isolated the problem to a specific bulb. If this doesn't change anything, then begin checking your receptacles and wiring. As mentioned earlier, all the rear light wiring is in a small box behind the license plate and is very easy to get to. The individual wires to each lamp are quick-disconnect style.... unhook them one at a time and test between unhooks (reconnect afterwards), see if that helps you eliminate the problem down to a specific circuit. Same can be done in the front as well. David

My son purchased a can of seafoam at the local car parts place here a week or so ago... $6 bucks and change. We have a 350 V8 that had swallowed various gaskets allowing water to mix with the oil. After performing all the arcane healing rituals (involving large quantities of Snap-On® tools) required to solve the problem, we serviced the engine with a cheap 20-50 oil and half a can of seafoam to run for a few hours then another oil & filter change to help purge the moisture from the crankcase and other places. When I opened the can of seafoam and sniffed it, I decided it was about 70% alcohol. I deal with a variety of alcohols in my aircraft maintenance work, and this stuff smelled very strongly the same. I do like Marvel Mystery Oil myself. We'll add the second half of the Seafoam can after we change the oil again... just for Gee Whiz effects.

I think this picture was originally found in the webster's dictionary next to the word... "Hideous". I actually did something similar to this once, with an ancient ATV 3-wheeler. Made a great farm vehicle. I'd never have had the nerve to take it on the road, nor to have asked someone for money for it.

Coleman fuel ≈ White Gasoline ≈ Naphtha (all more or less interchangeable) NOT interchangeable with... Diesel ≈ kerosene ≈ Jet-A ≈ heating oil (All more or less interchangeable)

Frogmaster.. Lemme offer a tiny suggestion. You mentioned adding 20" I think, to enable you to install a cooler rack on the tongue. It's a great idea and I love mine and use it daily. My suggestion is to make sure you add enough to allow the trailer box top to flip forward beyond 90° like you said you wanted to do. My cooler rack is placed close enough to my trailer box, that when I try to open the top beyond about 70°, it hits the cooler. Make sure and give yourself enough room to open as far as you desire. When that top lifts up to 90° and beyond, it moves forward from the hinge point, by the height of the top. Great looking trailer

tx2sturgis, you're correct, and I was sort of ignoring the possibility that the vehicle and trailer were both 5-wire systems, since he was having the aforementioned problems. Some newer cars and a lot of imports do in fact use 5-wire systems, which allows for direct wiring without the use of a converter if you have a 5-wire trailer. And I've also seen the harnesses labeled as 3-wire and 4-wire, when they're actually 4-wire and 5-wire:) Like you said, they're counting everything except the ground wire. It can get confusing

Kbay, that crossover tube is not solid, but it is fairly thickwalled. I welded it with no difficulty. For that matter, the commercially fabricated hitches from online use that same tube as best I can tell. It seems to be plenty strong under my use so far, and I've punished it a bit. The 3/16's plate that I folded and placed underneath my receiver tube and wrapped around the front of that crossover tube was for that purpose... to add to the strength of the crossover tube. Most of the parts distributors I've checked with, sell that crossover tube for $50.00 give or take a few pennies. I found it at a bike parts place that was advertising on Facebook recently for about $35.00. The one on the bike is what I used for my first one, but while it's off and being worked on, the bike is unridable... so I want a fresh blank for hitch 1.02 I'm trying to find that parts dealer name right this second, and can't come up with it. It's bookmarked in my office computer at the house, and I'm at the airport on my laptop this minute. I'll get it to you. 6/18/09 Just found that link, it www.cheapcycleparts.com They seem to beat oem prices pretty handily on most stuff I've checked.

I recently bought an '06 Midnight Venture with almost that same price tag, with 13,000 miles already on it. I still felt like a got a deal

Kbay, I also have a suggestion when you do yours if you follow my plan... When I drilled the 7/8" hole thru my receiver tube to slide it onto the crossover tube... I drilled it thru the center of the receiver, as far as height is concerned. I didn't realize that would force me to angle my receiver tube downwards a few degrees to clear the bottom of the rear fender. It functions fine, the 1 7/8" ball allows for plenty of angle without binding, but the lack of a perfectly flat receiver coming off the back of the bike simply causes me to cringe inwardly because my eye wants to see level, balance, and flowing lines. It doesn't look symmetrical and it just aggravates the fool out'a me. My cure, and I'm already working on my second hitch to replace this first effort, is to drill that 7/8" hole, right near the top of the receiver tube, instead of thru the center. That should allow the receiver tube to drop down a bit where it welds to the crossover tube, and level it out where it comes from beneath the fender. If necessary, I'll even drill the hole partway out the top of the receiver tube to make it come out level. The problem I had when designing the first one, is that I had no one around to straddle my bike for me, in a straight-up position while allowing me to lay down back at the rear end and hold a small level along the bottom of the receiver tube while rough-fitting the parts together. This would have shown me that the tube needed to be mounted lower on the crossover to come out level and flat. I will rectify that in "Hitch 1.02" I've worked on airplanes too long for me to sleep well at night when something just doesn't look right. There's just enough perfectionist resident to cause me difficulties with some things that I ought to just be satisfied with