maineventurerider

My bladder usually says it's time to pull over before the gas guage does.

I use Fram. Reasonable cost and available at Autozone and Wally World.

Speaking of a new bike, I almost pulled the trigger on a new one a couple of weeks ago. I love my Venture, but the economy is so bad anymore that I would really like to help out the good old U S of A - so I was looking at the Victory Cross Country Tour and the Harley Road Glide Ultra. They're both awesome bikes as most of you guys know. The Harleys have improved tremendously in the last 5 years. Harley was going to give me an awesome trade-in on my Venture, but a local Victory dealer was really dealing on the 2012 Victory. I was all set to make a decision, but when I didn't sleep a wink the night before I think I was trying to tell myself something. (Like you don't need a big payment right now dummy.) So I'm saving towards a new one now instead. But I'm riding from Fl to Alaska in a few years so I need something rock solid dependable...So I may stick with my Venture. I'm getting to know these Ventures pretty well, the others are beautiful and way cool (esp the Harleys), but dependability wise, I still don't think the Harleys quite measure up to the Venture. The newer Victorys haven't really been out long enough to know for sure. Oh well, I'll quit rambling. Ride Safe, 1/2crazed

In my opinion the only thing wrong with this whole story is that both dirtbags survived. Call me harsh, I don't care. I was a Store Manager with a large supermarket chain in Fl for 15 years and I had to live with the fear of armed robbery every day at work. In my opinion if you point a gun at somebody during the commission of a crime you forfeit your RIGHT TO LIVE. Even if the victim doesn't get shot, he could have a heart attack, or if he goes for the gun out of fear or anger, the victim could very well be shot. In other words, in an armed robbery, even if the perp doesn't plan on shooting, the victim could easily wind up dead. Besides, of what possible use to humanity are scumbags like these two perps? The world would be a better place without them. I agree 1000%! We need more law abiding concealed carriers in every city in this country. Ride Safe, 1/2crazed

Hey guys, Has anyone done this mod without the dremel extension? Looks like I can get in far enough with just the dremel by itself. I don't want to have to fork over $30-40 for the extension if I don't have to. Sounds like a great mod, been wanting to do it for a while just haven't gotten around to it yet. Thanks and ride safe! 1/2crazed

You're right about beer. I prefer gin myself!!! 1/2crazed

You guys are too smart. Wish I would've posted my update last night or this morning instead of cryin in my beer! Instead I spent 5 hours tearing everything down again to make sure it was as good as I could make it. Then I took it for a road test in the neighborhood, in the rain, (that's why they call me a 1/2crazebikr). And I heard absolutely no unusual noise from the final drive, nor any sign of the dread CREAKING WHEEL SYNDROME! So for now anyway, I may have solved my problem. I still need to road test it at speed, if I have any problems y'all will be the second ones to know!!! Thanks Goose, FlyinFool and everyone else on this awesome forum. You guys are the bomb. Ride Safe! !/2crazed

Well, I found the axle spacer. It was between the brake caliper bracket and the stepped collar on the outside of the right side of the hub.Wrong place, but at least it was on the axle. I pulled the axle the rest of the way and found it after my two posts yesterday. I figured I would go ahead and put things back together properly, grease the splines and the clutch pins and align the final drive per the TSB, then put the wheel back on, torque everything down to specs and see how it works. I did all of that yesterday and fired her up on the lift, put it into gear and had a loud noise coming from the rear end. At that point if figured I must not have gotten the splines on the hub and final drive seated properly so I left it for this morning. Anyway, took the wheel off again and tried for a couple of hours to get it seated any differently than I did yesterday. Bottom line is, I can't seem to get it to seat any differently than I did yesterday. So either it's right or I'm a total moron. There is about a 3/16-1/4" gap between the plastic flange that encircles the final drive and the wheel itself. Is there supoosed to be that gap there? So once again, I put everything back together again, crossed my fingers, and fired her up on the lift again. Same noise. I kept it running and listened closely but couldn't quite tell where it was coming from. Went and got my stethoscope (I may not be much of a mechanic but I AM a male nurse!), and my assessment is, it's coming from the final drive. I hear a loud clunking sound with the stethoscope. When I increased RPMs slightly the noise seemed to go away. But I can't be sure because with my hand on the throttle I couldn't put my stethoscope on the final drive. Also I did drain and replace the final drive oil. I didn't see any shavings in it but it's only been driven a few miles since the dealer replaced it looking for the source of the noise. He did as I said before, see shavings. So my questions are: 1) Does it sound to you guys like the hub splines and final drive spines are not seated together properly? (It doesn't seem likely after my repeated attempts but anything's possible.) And if so, would this cause the clacking clunking sound from the final drive? 2) Could the misplaced spacer (against the stepped collar, not between the swing arm and the caliper mounting bracket) have caused any problems with the fnal drive? Looking at it myself and after reading Goose's post I don't think so. It could possibly cause the needle bearing to bind up. BUT, that doesn't seem to be the sound I'm hearing. 3) Is it possilbe when I loosened the acorn nuts that attach the final drive to the swing arm that I caused a problem with the drive shaft? I did not remove the nuts entirely, just loosened them enough to move the final drive slightly in relation to the swing arm. Anyway, that's the update on my tale of woe. Any help from you experts would be appreciated. At this point I'm glad I have my old Harley to ride for now, because my bikes are my transportation. Although my old hog sound's like she's having clutch issues. I guess that's for another forum. Thanks guys and ride safe! Ken-(1/2crazed)

Thanks guys, I went to the dealer in Deland who is indeed only a Suzuki motorcycle dealer, but sells Yamaha watercraft. I was in there with a friend of mine who does a lot of business with them and they quoted me a good price for the tire swap, so I went with them. I bought the tires through JP Cycles at Destination Daytona. This was my 4th time having tires changed on a Venture (this is my 2nd Venture). The other times I went to Daytona FunMachines and an Indy shop in another state. I've never had a problem before so I didn't think anything of going to a non-Yamaha dealer. Anyway, I'm done with having dealers change tires. I went to Harbor Freight the other day and bought a few tools and from now I'll do it on my own. I have a new tire in the shop right now that I'm putting on my old Harley today. I AM concerned about possible damage to the rear end of the bike. I first noticed the problem in Oklahoma three days out on a 7200 mile roadtrip. It was intermittent and I didn't want to hold my friends up. It went away entirely after a few days and I didn't notice it again until a week ago. Now the noise is worse, almost continuous, and the Service Manager tells me I had metal shavings in the final drive fluid. My concern is that leaving the spacer out may have created too much play in the rear end, possibly damaging the final drive. Ken (1/2crazed)

Hey guys, Could use a little input here... When I purchased a new set of tires for my 06 RSMV, I took them and the bike to a local metric dealer to be installed. (BTW, this will be the last time. I went to Harbor Freight and bought a few tools and I will do them myself on both of my bikes from now on). Anyway, a few days into my recent road trip, I noticed a faint sound coming from the rear wheel which would come and go. I also had the clicking sound so many of you have described from the rear end. It was an intermittent issue, and went away for the remainder of the trip. When I got back I went on this wonderful forum, and realized my problem had all the earmarkings of the dread "Creaking wheel syndrome". So I printed up the TSB and took the bike back to the stealer that did the tire change, explained the problem, the likely remedy, and asked them to fix it. Result, they kept the bike for 4 days and couldn't fix it. The service manager said "you know more about it than we do". But at least he didn't try to charge me. Anyway, took the bike home and put it up on the lift yesterday, removed the mufflers and saddlebags and brake caliper, etc. Started to remove the rear axle, which was tight as @#ll! After getting the axle out about an inch, I noticed that the axle spacer (the one between the swingarm and the caliper mounting bracket) was NOT on the axle. Oh, and I forgot to mention, they changed the final gear oil at the dealer to try to cure the noise and said it had metal shavings in it. I am sure the spacer was on the axle when I brought the bike to them because this was the first tire change. I've only had the bike since last October and it only had 4000 miles on it when I bought it. The guy I got it from was not exactly a stickler about maintenance so I really doubt he ever had the axle out, so it should have still been on there when I took it in. So guys, I guess I'm looking for some ammo to go back to the dealer with. What are potential problems that can be caused by leaving the spacer off? It seems to me that without the spacer things would either be too loose, or too tight back there, either of which could wreak havoc with the rear end of these bikes! Any input would be appreciated! Ride Safe, 1/2crazed

Happened to me too! On my recent roadtrip out west. Out in the middle of nowhere, in Arizona, go to downshift and don't feel the shifter! Looked down and the shifter was laying on the floor board, still attached to the linkage. Grabbed the clutch and pulled over in 5th gear. Got off the bike and there was the screw that holds the shifter on still laying on the floor board! Thank God for that one. A few minutes later my buddies noticed I was no longer behind them and turned around and came back. Borrowed some blue loctite and had her back together in a jiffy. I had heard of it happening to that other guy on the forum a few months ago. Apparently from the response today it's a lot more common than I realized. I also had a hinge screw on the left saddlebag come out on the same trip. Still haven't fixed that one. I have decided that on the next long trip I will bring along an assortment of metric fasteners for just these sort of problems. Ride Safe! 1/2crazed

I had a very similar thing happen to me when I first got my '03 Venture. I was on an overnight trip and put my laptop in the saddlebag. It fit right in, no problem. Got home, couldn't open the saddlebag. Turns out the laptop had fallen over and was keeping the latch from opening on the inside. Had to take it to the dealer and they had to drill the lock out if I remember correctly. Thank God I had the extended warranty. So yes, it can happen! Ride safe, 1/2crazed

I used a really big plug for the hole in the bike, (and a much smaller plug for the hole in the tire. Ssshhh, don't tell anyone. The tire's still doing fine 5000+ miles later.) Ride safe, 1/2crazed

Awesome bike! I really like Victory. When I sold my home in Maine and moved back to Florida I was looking very seriously at the Vision. I really loved the electric windshield, and they look pretty cool with the trunk off. Then I saw the saddlebags. They're tiny. They hadn't come out with the Cross Country Tour yet. If they had I might have bought one. The saddlebags on those bikes are huge! Then I got the idea that if I stuck with used bikes I could get an almost new Venture with hardly any miles on it to replace my '03 Venture, and with the money I saved I could by an older used Harley. So I bought a used Venture and an older Electra Glide for less than the price of one new bike. But, I've test ridden 3 different Victorys (Victories?) and I really love them. They are effortless to ride, and the slow speed handling is awesome. And I love the fact that they are American made. I love my Venture, but if Yamaha ever hopes to sell any new ones they really need to step up their game. All of the competition, from Harley to Victory to Kawasaki has improved. But they did finally get rid of the cassette and replace it with a cd. Now that everybody uses their phone or MP3 player for music! Ride safe and enjoy the new ride!

Hope you're not getting tired of them, but on a long trip you gotta take a lotta pics! [ATTACH]69462[/ATTACH] I'll probably get arrested for this one. Yes it's a tree. Yes it's very hard now. No it didn't just fall last year! [ATTACH]69466[/ATTACH] Through the windshield. Early morning, my friend's Spyder on way to Grand Canyon. [ATTACH]69464[/ATTACH] Beehive geyser erupting in Yellowstone, with thermal pool in foreground [ATTACH]69460[/ATTACH] 7th Calvary Cemetery, Custer National Battlefield. What more can I say? [ATTACH]69465[/ATTACH] Just sorta seems to clash somehow doesn't it? On reservation, just outside Custer National Battlefield. [ATTACH]69463[/ATTACH] Sorry. My ugly mug again at Fall River Pass, top of Trail Ridge Road, Rocky Mountain National Park. Now that I'm back, I can't stop thinking about the next big trip. Anyone been to Alaska recently on their Venture? Ride Safe! 1/2crazed