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frankd

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  1. frankd
    My first 'new' bike was a 78 XS750 triple. I also bought the bags and fairing and took my first trips on this bike. It was a great bike. Back then I worked in a factory that gave 10 week vacations every 5 years and my wife and I had a long trip planned. She saw me reading about the new Ventures coming out (it was '83) and we decided it'd be great to have a new Venture for the trip. So I sold the 750 to my brother. He didn't ride it very much and let the carbs get gunked up from storage with gas in them. I pulled the carbs, cleaned them out, and re-installed them. The test ride reminded me just how great these bikes were. Great low end torque...I'd pass cars 2 up without downshifting that my buddy on his 80 750 Honda had to go down 2 gears for. The seats are a bit high, but I'm not short so it was great for me. I understand these bikes also had the 2nd gear problem that the 1200 Ventures had, but I had less than 40K on mine and it was still fine. The shaft drive is just like the 1200 Venture setup, so you have to pull the shaft unit to grease the drive shaft couplings. Oh... these bikes have a great exhaust note also--way different than a 4 cylinder inline.
  2. frankd
    Also (at least in my first version 83 manual) the have the wrong common wire indicated on the ignition pick up coil. They have it shown as O (orange) but in reality the common wire is Black (B). I didn't check the Mk II schematic to see if they fixed that. Frank
  3. frankd
    I've done this job twice this year (on 2 different bikes!!) and it's not too bad.... I drain the cooling system by pulling the bolt under the water pump (19MM wrench). After a bit open the radiator cap (you have to wait because the coolant resevior tank will drain out the top of the radiator and make a mess if you don't wait). If you haven't drained the cooling system for a bit, then maybe you want to remove the plates that cover the cylinder drain plugs and remove them. The plates are the ones on the side of each cylinder held in by 1 philllips screw. Then I remove the small plastic piece that joins the fairing lowers (in front of the motor). Of course, on Mk II bikes you'd remove the plastic that you pull to change the oil filter (cowcatcher). Remove the 4 radiator bolts so you can move it forward and up. I'm not certain you have to, but I pull the right front cylinder exhaust pipe to make room to get to the thermostat housing. Loosen the hose clamps and remove the hose on the thermostat and the bottom connection of the small hose in the center of the engine. That way when you pull the thermostat mounting screws and remove the tube that the one bolt holds in, you can just swing it out of the way. Pull the 90 degree tube out of the engine and see if you can slide it out of the thermostat. If you can't easily get it to slide out, just turn it about 90 degrees and it'll slide out with the thermostat. Remove the 2 screws that hold the thermostat in (phillips head on Mk1, Allen head on Mk II) and remove the thermostat. When I did my brother's bike (my old 83), I used O rings I bought at Ace Hardware for the 90 degree tube. Just take them with you and match them up as close as possible--a little smaller diameter will be fine, they'll just stretch a little. The O ring from the thermostat housing looked like it was a square rubber piece on both bikes. It starts out a regular O ring, but flattens out with time. The O ring for the thermostat housing is only about 3/32" diameter. Put everything back together, replace the drain plug, fill up radiator with coolant, turn the thermostat bypass valve to bypass, start the bike, fill the radiator again and after a couple of minutes, turn the thermostat bypass valve to the original posiiton. Then re-fill the expansion tank. I did my bike just before I left for PIP. I'd put about 100 miles on it before we left and I had no leaks. The first night out, it leaked quite a bit. The rest of the trip it was much better, but a couple of times it did drip. I've got to pull it apart again and see what's wrong. I suspect I'll find some crud built up where the O ring sits. I would make sure that the housing halves are clean before I put it back together. I'll probably try a Scotch abrasive pad to clean mine.
  4. frankd
    After coming back from PIP, I want to get the padding on my seat renewed. Is this the kind of thing that Rick Butler does (first Gen)?? How do I contact him? Is there somebody else that has done a good job?? Thanks, Frank
  5. frankd
    What kind of oil do you have in the bike?? When my 83 was under warranty, I complained to the dealer of it shifting like a truck. He suggested that I use Yamalube my next oil change. I did, and within 200 miles, it was shifting great. I bought an 89 with only 30K on the clock last winter. It shifted a little clunky, but when you shifted from neutral to first, it always seemed the clutch wouldn't release completely. The bike would jump. It had a fresh oil change in it when I bought it, so I left it alone until we were leaving on a trip. I used Valvoline motorcycle oil (dino) and before we got out of town I noticed a big improvement in it's shifting. Now it goes into first (from neutral) with only a small clunk. Frank
  6. frankd
    I just changed from a 83 to an 89 and for the most part I'm extremely happy. Now before I settled for a low mileage 89, Barb and I took test rides on a new Gold Wing and a new Venture. On the wing I felt cramped. I'm 6'2" and a 32" inseam. On the GW the fairing was a lot closer, my arms were much further back than my Gen1, and the leg room was less also. After 45 minutes my arms started to feel cramped. On the new Gen2, I felt I could get used to the way it turned and handled, but I started to feel pain in my back and then my butt. BTW, Barb loved both bikes. We'd ridden my 83 to the dealer, and when we got back on, it felt great. Now on the 89 I bought we just travelled 5,000 miles in the last month. I could feel that something was different with my leg position. I knew the 83 had adjustable foot pegs, but I'd never adjusted them in 26 years. At PIP, I compared the footpeg position of the Mk 1 and Mk 2 Gen 1's. With the Mk 1 footpegs set to the middle position (mine were also) the footpegs were about 1" to 1.5" further back on the early bikes. Also, they were a little lower. That would give you a touch more room for your legs, and for me a little more would really help. If we could come up with a way to move our Mk2 footpegs a little, it'd help big time. I think the frame is different, so we couldn't just put a Mk1 footpeg set on. Also, coming back from PIP, my butt realized that I need to get the seat re-done. Does anybody know of a place that rebuilds seats? Or should I get a Corbin or similiar seat? Frank
  7. frankd
    Thanks for your help!! I looked for the motel list yesterday, but it looks like I didn't read down far enough on the PIP update page........It was especially great that the phone numbers and distance were there also. We will be there Friday and hope to meet a bunch there. Frank
  8. frankd
    Barb and I are planning on going to Laporte MN next weekend for the Pork in the Pines Pig roast & rides. Does anybody have a list of which motels would be the best? Thank You, Frank
  9. frankd

    rain boots

    frankd posted a topic in Watering Hole

    My wife and I have used "Totes" slip on overshoes when it rains for a lot of years. These are the light weight boots with a zipper on the side. Her boots tore while we were on vacation and she needs a new pair. However, I can't find the ladies slip ons anywhere on the internet (of course I can find the man's "Zipper Town" boots). Does anybody else use slip ons?? Where do you buy them?? Frank
  10. frankd
    In addition to the lead to lead resistance check listed in the manual, measure any of the stator leads to ground. You should read completely open to ground. Usually on a bad stator, one of the coils becomes grounded. I measured my 89 when I was fixing the regulator wiring, and the stator measured infinity on the RX10,000 range on a Simpson 260 (analog meter). Frank
  11. frankd
    Depending on if your 85 is an early or late model, you may be close to another problem with 45K miles on the clock. The 83, 84, and early 85's had a soft shim in the transmission that lead to 2nd gear hopping out with about 60-75Kmiles. Some had this problem way sooner. I don't have the service bulletin anymore that lists the serial number that is the change over to the harder shim, I'm sure it's someplace on the site. A replacement 1300cc motor might be the best way to go if you're looking at rebuilding the transmission also. Keep an eye on E-bay. I saw one 3 or 4 weeks ago that was a low mileage 1300cc. It had an opening bid of $250 and nobody bit. However, check the valves on that cylinder and make sure all 4 still have some clearance. You don't care how much (at this stage), just that they all have a little clearance. Also, check how much blow-by the engine has. If the rings are that bad, you should see it in the blow by. I seem to remember that the crankcase ventilation hose goes to the air cleaner box....find it, pull it off, and start the motor and watch if has a puff, rest, rest, rest, puff patern. If it looks pretty even and not excessive, the rings aren't your problem. As for the vibration.....My 83 1200 wasn't prefectly smooth. Depending on the speed you could feel a little vibration here and there. Also the left rear crash bar showed vibration. I have noticed that my 89 1300 is considerably smoother. I'm not saying the vibration on the 83 was bothersome.....just that you could tell in a couple of places that it wasn't an electric motor. But if you do have a weak cylinder, it will vibrate more. Yamaha makes "Ring Free" for stuck rings. I'd try a can of that before I tore it down. I used it on my 83 to clean out the combustion chambers. It did a good job for that also, but it fouled a plug. I couldn't get the insulator clean and had to replace the plug. The other 3 survived.
  12. frankd
    I (and many others) put in 3.5 quarts with a filter change. That will put the oil 1/2 way up the site glass after you run the motor and fill the filter. If you put all 4 quarts in, some oil will come out of the breather and fill up the bottom of your airbox. Frank
  13. frankd
    When I compared the NAPA 3007 to the original filter, the 3007 had a larger diameter. Because of this, I couldn't start the screw that closes the clamp. I also found that a 3027 was listed as a possible replacement. That fits a lot of 70 & 80s Fords, however when I picked up the Purolater equivelant, it was quite a bit smaller (diameter). I thought about what I could wrap the smaller filter with to allow it to be clamped with the original bracket. I thought about using a wire tie (aka Ty-wrap). I decided it'd be much better to use the larger 3007, and eliminate the movable part of the clamp. Then use a Ty-wrap to attach the filter to the stationary bracket half, and add a 2nd Ty-wrap around the barrel of the fuel filter so that it wouldn't slide out towards the rear of the bike. Now it's mounted firmly. My brother owns my old 83 now. I still take care of it for him, so next time it comes to town I'll see if I can read the number on the replacement filter I installed on that. It fit in the bracket properly. Frank
  14. frankd
    My son and I "convinced" it to come apart. I held a heavy hammer head against the left side where the rods come out and my son applied some energetic hammer force. BTW, the Kroil soak did do quite a bit of good also. At least the part that attaches to the swing arm finally would move in an arc!!! (prior to taking it apart) I was surprised when I got it apart just how tight the bushings still were. There was some etching on the rod. I cleaned the rod up with a wire brush chucked in the drill, greased it and the bushings up, and put it together. Another thing that helped put it back together....I took a chisel and tapped it into the opening on the leftmost piece where the pinch bolts are. This opened things up a little and the rod slid back in much easier. I intend to install zerk fittings this winter. Anybody have a picture of them installed? How many zerk fittings are installed? Do you drill holes into the bushing so the grease will go into the center of the bushing?
  15. frankd
    Before leaving on vacation next week, today I changed the back tire. While I have it off, I intend on greasing the rear suspension linkage on my 89. I bought this bike last winter, and the previous owner told me that he was told that it had sat for quite a while. Makes sense, it only had 30Kmiles showing. Well, a lot of bolts that I never had any trouble with on my 83 (that I purchased new) I've had a devil of a time with the 89. This bike has a lot more rusted bolts than I figure it should have. It must have been stored in a mighty damp place. Anyway....I unbolted the rear links from the swing arm, pulled the bolt, snap ring, and loosened the pinch bolts from the rods that you're supposed to tap out towards the left side. Mine are siezed almost solid. If I hit the rear rod firmly with a hammer it moves a little. I really don't want to hit it that hard. I've soaked it with Kroil now, and it's soaking. I hope it frees up. Anybody else have this problem? Frank
  16. frankd
    Thanks fellas. After I posted the question here, I decided to Google it. Up came a message posted on the "other" Venture page that mentioned using a NAPA 3007. I'll let you know how it fits. Frank
  17. frankd
    Does anybody know what the type number was for the automotive fuel fiilter that fits a FirstGen? I did a search on this site, but nothing popped up. Frank
  18. frankd
    Well, the MkII's weigh about 50# more. Also, it feels like they have milder cams, but that may be due to the larger motor (larger motors make identical camshafts feel milder). I've got to solve the clutch slipping problem in my old 1200 (now my brother's) so I can see how much faster they are. In addition to the bike's 50#, I weigh about 50# more than my brother. Frank D.
  19. frankd
    I'm doing some repairs to my 89 to get it ready for a trip in a couple weeks. I noticed a 2 pin connector with nothing hooked to it. It's on the left side and it was sitting on top of the gas tank, under the seat. It has 1 red wire and 1 black. It appears to be tied in to the run between the regulator and the main fuse. Any chance this is where what Yam. calls a "condenser" connects? I mean the filter capacitor that is numbered #72 in the upper right hand corner of the print. Does anybody know where #72 condenser is mounted?? Anybody know what it's value is? Frank D.
  20. frankd
    Well, I'm not Squeeze, but I can answer your question...... The two red wires (and also the 2 blacks) going into the motorcycle are in parallel--that means both wires connect to the same place. I think Yammie did this to have 2 pins in the connector to share current. Cut the Yamaha plug off and connect the 2 red wires together. Then take the red from your aftermarket regulator and connect it to the 2 reds (3 total). I twisted mine together and soldered them. Do the same for the black wires. The brown wire is so the Yamaha regulator can measure the voltage at the ignition switch (remote sensing). The aftermarket regulators measure the voltage at the red wire. Just tape up the brown wire and everything will be fine. Frank D.
  21. frankd
    My 89's radio had a touchy volume control....with the volume control near the CCW lock, volume was real high. Also, even with the volume control turned down to a reasonable volume there was distortion and the tone control worked, but had a limited range. I also had a lot of voltage regulator noise. I replaced the voltage regulator because the bike had an aftermarket regulator. I bought a 1300 regulator on E-Bay. When I was removing the aftermarket regulator, the regulator to bike plug was burned up and locked together. I could NOT get them apart!! The aftermarket regulator had only been on a little while (installed by the previous owner). I had to cut the plugs out, and the leads were a little too short to connect. I added a short length of 10 gauge red & black wire and soldered the connections. I chose 10 ga. wire because there were 2 red and 2 black wires coming out of the regulator and also going into the motorcycle wiring. The 2 reds were connected in parallel as are the blacks. I twisted the reds together, soldered the 10 ga. to it (the leads from the regulator were about 14 ga., and the pair to the bike were a little bigger, but not 12 ga) ran the 10ga. to the red pair coming out of the regulator. I did the same for the black pair. The brown wire is probably a remote sensing lead for the regulator. I used a length of 18 ga. wire to lengthen it. My stator leads were already soldered, so I did the same with the Yamaha regulator. The regulator noise was still there, but it wasn't as loud. After I saw the burned plug I was happy I replaced the regulator before I went on vacation. As for the volume control problems.....I took my control assembly apart and carefully measured the volume control. You could see that water had leaked into it. The left and right channel controls didn't track anywhere close to each other. The signal voltage as viewed on an oscilloscope was way higher than I thought they'd be. Then I found that one channel of the volume control gave me a resistance reading that was very low to ground when the control was about mid-range. I'd tried a friends complete control panel and everything on my bike worked fine. The radio sounded much better with his panel in. I saw what looked like a clean volume control, spkr/helmet switch, tone control, assembly on E-Bay. I ended up buying it and when I installed it to my control panel today, almost everything seems fine. The volume control needs to be about 40% up for normal volume, the tone contol works better and more of the regulator noise dissapeared. Now the only problem left is that there is a little regulator noise when I have the intercom volume control up high. I'll make a filter and install it in the 12 volt supply wire for the radio system. BTW, do all the 1st. Gen bikes have this noise?? I can tell it's regulator noise because when you're at about 1500 RPM and you turn the turn signals on the noise goes away when the lights are on and returns when they flash off. The brake light or the driving lights do the same.
  22. frankd
    I took the motor out of my 83 twice....once to rebuild 2nd gear and then the following year to replace the frame after it broke. Both times I re-used the exhaust gaskets and everything sealed great. Since then I've had the exhaust system off a couple of times and still using the old gaskets. When I bought my 89, it had a rattling collector and an anti-freeze leak in the O ring for the thermostat. I pulled it apart, replaced the collector (with one I had) and put it back together. I did have to replace 1 gasket here. It's likely you'll be able to take yours apart and put it back together with the old gaskets. If you need a replacement, try the wire trick...it probably works great. Frank D.
  23. frankd
    There is a fuse link in the 10 gauge red wire attached to the positive battery terminal. Follow the wire to the left of the battery (near the solenoid) and you will find the master fuse. Open up the case and make sure the screws that secure the link are tight. If the fuse link is tight, you may want to try another regulator. Frank D.
  24. frankd
    They changed the clutch springs when they changed to 1300cc (1986). The 1200's use 6 or 8 conventional springs and the 1300's have a diaphram spring. I don't know if they changed anything else though....if they didn't everything might fit. I suspect they changed because the 1300's made more torque and the new type spring would hold up better to the torque. However that's just my thought... Frank
  25. frankd
    86er, Reducing the load on your electrical system is great, except it doesn't lower the draw on the stator one bit. The stator is around a permanent magnet rotor. That means because the magnetic field never changes, the only thing that changes stator output is a change in engine speed. The faster the engine spins, the more the stator puts out. The voltage regulator contains a shunt regulator. When the voltage reaches about 14.5 volts, the shunt regulator starts to conduct, dissipating any extra energy as heat. Another way to look at this is to have a faucet on the output of a water pump, and regulating the output pressure by adjusting the faucet. The more you open the faucet the more water escapes, which lowers the sytem pressure. What this all means is that when you're going down the road with your new low current tail lights, your voltage regulator will let a little more energy go to to ground, and make a little more heat. Frank D.
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