Prairiehammer

Don't worry about the part numbers. Just get a starter from one of the bikes mentioned previously. If you really want to use Yamaha part numbers, check Yamaha's fiche under the various starter motors. You want a starter that requires a "BRUSH SET, 3AJ-81801-00-00". This is the four brush identifier. Yamaha's fiche is confusing because she used the same illustration for two brush and four brush. If you are looking for starters on eBay, note that all the two brush starters have a large Phillips screw showing on the exterior. Four brush OEM starters will not have a visible Phillips screw. As for the Mitsuba SM13 casting number: a large number of starters of many makes and models will have "Mitsuba SM13" end plates. But the motor rotation, spline teeth and projection of the armature can vary. Be safe and only get a Mitsuba SM13 that came off an Yamaha XVZ13 (1991 and later). http://www.venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?74131-slow-cranking-first-gen&highlight=mitsuba http://www.venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?83351-Battery-question&highlight=mitsuba

Jeff, I am packing the Progressive springs and the fork oil. Are you REALLY gonna bring the 17mm hex socket? Having already hauled the springs and the humungous wrenches for the handle bar nuts across three states, I think my gas mileage would improve if I didn't have to do it again. Thanks, @Marcarl.

I had a gull bladder once. You should have seen it explode when I hit it with a .22 Hornet! Dang, Rod, I sure hope you get better. You want me to diagnose your ailment? It may require some creative surgery to fix it. Side cutters, ball peen, etc.

Here's hoping I am struck blind, so as never to relive that vision.

Says YOU. Personally, I can imagine a dozen things better than those there rumballs. But if you insist. Anyone have some of that thar' Black Death?

Scott, I thought we were friends and buddies. But yet, not one pic of my "Prairiehammer in a Tuxedo". Mournful shame. I posted pics of your Tweeks and of YOU. Call me insecure, but I feel really left out of all the frivolity. I hope you are happy.

Thanks, T.J. Even though I reside in Illinoistan, I have traveled (on the bike and in a cage) all the places you so succinctly described. We have "cage-ationed" for the past 11 years just south of Ironwood (Lake Pardee, Wisconsin). Unfortunately, not this year, (well, maybe we will get there this coming fall). Duluth is on the radar for the summer, though. Sorry, I did not get to see you at MD. The UP made up for it, though.

Venture Starters from 1991 are four brush from the factory. ANY other XVZ13 (Royal Star, Royal Star Venture, Royal Star Tour Deluxe, etc) will have a drop in four brush starter. Look for a Mitsuba SM13.

You do not have to remove the nut or the clutch basket to change out the friction plates. Remove the six bolts that hold the spring against the pressure plate, remove the pressure plate and slide the friction and steels out from within the basket. Note the orientation of the plates in relation to the dots or notches on the basket. Did you read the write up here on the site in the Tech Section, as Bongo suggested? http://www.venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?10518-Clutch-Upgrade

While you are in the clutch housing and behind the basket, consider tightening up the sector sheet metal pin holder as per this Yamaha Tech Tip:

That must be some kinda graveyard to have so much Venture stuff. Where do you live? Where is "MKE"?

Pat, the choke lever on the 1984 is unique to that year. Unlike other years, where the choke lever is below the switch housing and moves fore and aft, the 1984 choke is coaxial with the left handle bar and moves up and down. I don't have a 1984 and have never worked on one, so I can't offer any pertinent information about tightening up the lever, except to say that there should be a "washer" between the lever and the switch housing and also perhaps a foam washer between the choke and the grip. Perhaps you could slide the grip up tighter to the switch housing to provide more friction? EDIT: Further research reveals a spring loaded detent ball on the choke lever assembly. Perhaps that ball is no longer free (stuck in the retracted position)? Or the spring is rusted and/or collapsed.

Pucs, That is not a "filter" as you describe on the tank vent. It is a check valve, Yamaha calls it a rollover valve; meant to prevent fuel spillage if Tweeks were to lay on her side. One can still buy a new one from Yamaha; part number 25H-24180-00-00, about $14.

David, Google Maps address: 23714-23886 Minnesota 200 Lake George, MN 56458 47.226323, -94.874409 Mighty long ride for you for an expanded Meet and Eat, but if you want to stay at my place on the way up, you can and then we could ride together to the PIP.

YES! And just like that...problem fixed.

Starting with the 1985 Venture, Yamaha added the louvered, adjustable open or closed side cover vent. Even if you find the louvered cover from a 1985 and newer, the vent will not mount to your 1984 side cover easily. You will want to get a 1985 and newer sidecover. There were aftermarket (Yamaha VentureLine and Markland Industries) suppliers for the "port hole" cover on the 1983 and 1984. The aftermarket covers were chromed steel. Most guys just cover that hole in the early sidecover with the material of their choice. Plastic or metal. Of course the solid hole covers are not adjustable.

Firing order: 1, 3, 4, 2.

Round trip: 869 miles according to the odometer. Round trip: 869 miles according to the GPS.

I agree. Yama Mama would not have spent the yen to produce and install those shields if they were not needed. I believe those shields are heat shields, protecting sensitive components (TCI, coils, fuel filler neck, rider's balls, etc.)

Another major ground point on the FIRST GENERATION VENTURE (1983-1993) is on the left side of the coil rack. Not easy to get to, unless you remove the left main fairing and the left inner fairing. The ground point is for all electrical other than the battery ground.

On the First Gen the normal jacking procedure is to jack up the bike while supported on the exhaust headers. I have found that I cannot jack up the First Gen while the bike is on the centerstand. Moving the jack forward of the centerstand in order to jack it up causes the bike to be front heavy. Put the bike on the sidestand and place one of the jacking points about where the centerstand bracket is and the other jacking point will contact on the forward headers.

Merlyn, the "old wives tale" you so quaintly describe, is not urban legend. I too used to blindly follow the herd and just dump in 4 quarts of oil after an oil change. The crankcase oil level window was completely filled but oil would drip from the air box drain tube (when it used to come out under the stator cover). And the "early" Ventures have always had a 3.5 LITER oil capacity when changing the filter. Never has 4 liters been specified. I have been changing oil on my Ventures since 1985 (a 1983 Royale) and until I performed the Yamaha recommended diversion of the air box drain tube to the crankcase vent tube, I would experience the oil drip if I filled to the crankcase with 4 QUARTS of oil. When I picked up my 1991 from the dealer in Iowa, the crankcase window was full. I don't know how much "full" since the oil level was above the top of the window. Perhaps it was very much too full, I dunno, since the window was filled. Anyway, on the 250 mile trip at Interstate speeds to home, the oil indeed "blew-by" and I actually had a good quarter inch of oil in the rear portion of the airbox (since the air box drain is forward and higher than the rear of the air box. I drained the crankcase and replaced the oil filter and proceeded to refill the crankcase. When I had added but 3 quarts of oil, the sight glass was filled above the top of the window. I started the engine and let it idle and the oil level dropped to below the bottom of the window. I added one pint (1/2 quart) of additional oil and the oil level was right smack dab in the middle of the window. So, one can choose to just dump in 4 quarts and be done with it and perhaps experience blow-by into the air box or one can actually adhere to the "old wives tale" and just add enough to place the oil in the crankcase to the middle of the window. No harm either way.

If you rode your Venture like you parked it in the garage, it is small wonder you slipped and slid in the rain. Windshields and trunk racks don't have near the traction that a rubber tire has. Just sayin'. (That is a Soutern States saying.) How did the IPad fare in the rain and did you have chrome IPad guards protecting the IPad from the "Slip 'n Slide"?

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