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RedRider

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Everything posted by RedRider

  1. RedRider
    If you are packing on the pillion seat and have no prospects of picking up a passenger , you can take the passenger backrest off. There are 4 holes to plug with some short screws, rubber coated washers, and nylon retaining nut. This will allow you to open the trunk with stuff in the seat. I learned to do this when riding with my aux fuel tank. Great trip and comparison report. In April I ran thru the Seiras and the Rockies up to 11,150 feet (IIRC - at Eisenhower Tunnel). Some loss of power, but not bad. Wouldn't have been able to keep up with FI though. RR
  2. RedRider
    anti-seize works great. Wear gloves when you put it on 'cause it's hard to get off your hands. RR
  3. RedRider
    Just a thought (not knowing how long you have owned your Venture) -- If you had been riding a V-Twin prior to the Venture, you may just be changing gears too soon and bogging the engine. This engine likes to run at high RPMS. Don't change to 5th gear until 60 or 65 MPH (some will say 70). You can get 90+MPH in 3rd. RR
  4. RedRider
    Welcome to the asylum. Let's see where to start...hmmmm.... 1) Stebel horn instead of the stock beeper. Carbon One makes a great bracket that allows mounting in the same location as stock. (throttle side below the seat). 2) If you do your own wrenching (and with your collection of antiques, I'm sure you do) and use a jack instead of a lift bed, get the Carbon One lift adapter. This is money you will never regret spending. Oh, and get the one with legs. 3) Go to the local Honda car dealer and get a tube of Honda Moly60 grease. You will likely need to grease the rear splines and pins. Might need to lube the drive shaft splines too. Get one of the local VR guys to stop by and they can help the first time. There are some tricks to doing this that make it easy once you see it done. 4) Yup, as Ruffy said, get the engine guard braces. Your new bike will likely take a nap at some point and these compensate for some weak braces - it will save your lower plastics. 5) If you want to add a tach, search the classifieds for the gauge set. They install where the cassette deck is. (Unless you are overly fond of your Captain and Teneel cassettes). 6) Kuryakyn longhorns work well for the highway pegs. 7) Upgrade the stock headlight to at least the Sylvania Silverstar Ultra. Available everywhere - standard hi/low H4 IIRC. 8) If you like to do high mileage days, Buddy Rich does a seat modification that helps the tailbone. There are also several aftermarket seats available. 9) EBD HH brake pads!!! Check your rear pads. If the previous owner was a heavy rear brake user, they are likely tuckered out. Easy to change. They will also get rid of the squeak in the front brakes. 10) Wagner grill - do a search. Color coded radiator grill. There are also chrome ones available. 11) Tire upgrade from the stock Brickstones to the Avon Venoms or Dunlop Elite3. Stay away from the Dunlop D404s even though they are shown as a stock fitment in the Owner's Manual. They will not last over about 5000 miles. 12) Ride..Ride..Ride There is, of course, lots more we can suggest. Our imagination and inspiration is only limited by your wallet. Again, welcome. RR
  5. RedRider
    If it is in the tread and not the sidewall, and the tire is holding air, I would keep rolling. If the cut goes thru and you are leaking air, personally, I would throw a plug into it and keep rolling. RR
  6. RedRider
    Checked and I don't have any extra risers. Apparently, the risers that I added to mine just mounted on the top of the OEM risers. Sorry. RR
  7. RedRider
    I would be surprised if the rear E3 is obsoleted. IIRC, the fitment for our size is also the fitment for the Wing. RR
  8. RedRider
    I may also. Will check tonight. RR
  9. RedRider

    long rides?

    RedRider replied to Hfab5's topic in Watering Hole

    Get an AMA membership. It includes towing coverage and you helping support the sport of motorcycling. RR
  10. RedRider
    This one is chain drive. They made both in '81. The belt was (IIRC) the KZ440B LTD. RR
  11. RedRider
    $800 in gas for a $200 bike. Um, don't think so. Thanks for the offer though. RR
  12. RedRider
    Nope, that's where I burned up mine the first time. RR
  13. RedRider
    That clutch was fried, baked, and BBQ'd. Worst one I have ever seen. The oil smelled like day-old BBQ briquets and was black and thick. However, he is now up and going. I will leave it to Greg to tell the tale. But have it be said, if he were going to burn a clutch, he couldn't have found a much better place to do it. We did the Freebird clutch upgrade while we were at it. RR
  14. RedRider
    I have a complete set up - friction and steel plates, gasket, and a stock spring. The spring is weak (which is why I replaced it), but would work for a 'double up'. Let me know how I can help. RR
  15. RedRider
    FYI - One thing you can do with this bike is double up the standard spring. RR
  16. RedRider
    I have a complete setup of plates and steels if you need (and a gasket). Will need to check on the spring. I seem to recall giving that to someone when I replaced mine with a heavier one. Will run out to the shop in a little bit to check. I'm up in FDL. RR
  17. RedRider
    Last fall I picked up a Kawasaki KZ440A LTD off Craigslist for $200. The previous owner was tired of paying someone to keep fixing it and was frustrated at his inability to get it running. The clutch wasn’t working and it wouldn’t idle. The airbox was missing but all the electrical items worked (except the horn). He had just put new tires on it and had the brakes done – including having the fluid changed. I put it on a trailer and dragged it home to join my other project bikes in the workshop. While my Dad was here over Easter, we took apart the clutch and found the adjustment mechanism had been adjusted beyond its limit and a nut had fallen off. We put it back together and the clutch works great. I looked at the horn and one of the connectors had fallen off. Put it back on and it now works. Found an airbox (the LTD airbox is rare to find in one piece) at a boneyard in Oklahoma. It had the mounting tab broken off but still costs $70. A complete airbox was going for $140 minimum on Ebay, so I bought this one and repaired it. Got it to start, but it wouldn’t run worth a darn. Tore off the carbs and took them apart. They were fairly clean, but the diaphragms were ripped. Found a company that made and sold new diaphragms and purchased a set for $29 each (plus shipping - $67 total). Installed them, put the carbs back together and put them on the bike. Ran better, but not well. Downloaded a shop manual for the bike from a KZ forum and went to work tuning the carbs. Checked the float height (they were spot on), drilled out the covers over the mixture screws and set them to the proper setting. Set the valve gaps in the engine (they weren’t too far off). BTW, this is the easiest bike to set valve gaps I have ever seen – nice design. Set up an auxiliary fuel supply in a water bottle, hooked up the Morgan Carbtune, and sync’d the carbs (has to be done with the tank off). Not too far off, but enough to cause problems. When I went to put it all back together, I noticed the previous owner had not hooked up the vacuum hoses to the right locations and didn’t have one of the vacuum ports capped as it should be. Just happen to have a selection of rubber caps in the shop and found one that fit. Bought a new battery since the old one was 11 years old and didn’t like holding a charge. Took the fairing off an old Vulcan and put it on this bike. Fits great. Turned the rear shocks up to the maximum spring rate setting to handle my fat butt on it. Tightened the chain and lubed it. Once I got all this done, I put the tank back on, hit the starter and it fired right up. It now idles smoothly at 1200 RPM and runs beautifully up to at least 60 MPH. No plates on it so I was only running around the immediate area. This is going to be a fun bike for the boys to ride. A little small for me to travel any distance on, but just fine for pounding around town. Attached are some pictures. Notice the tires. They both still have the color stripe around the tread. Can’t be 100 miles on them. They’re worth what I paid for the bike. Total cost - $200 purchase, $70 airbox, $67 diaphragms, $5 sparkplugs, $50 battery, $4 sheet of lawn mower air cleaner material (cut to shape to fit the airbox), $4 oil filter, various hardware (replaced all removed Phillips head screws with cap head equivalents) about $10 = $410.00 1 down, 2 to go. Suzuki 750 is next.
  18. RedRider
    That's a purty bike. Real purty. RR
  19. RedRider
    I will toss in another item. If you don't have a decent snap ring plier, use this as an opportunity to add to your tools. It you take this snap ring out with screwdrivers/mechanics picks/etc., you will likely bend the snap ring. Removing it with good snap ring pliers will save this snap ring to be used again. Any excuse is a good excuse to add to the tool box. RR
  20. RedRider
    Don't get any grease on your skirt. Couldn't let this go. RR
  21. RedRider
    Sounds like the pins need grease. It is still rideable, but get it taken care of as soon as you can. Take off the rear wheel. The hub that links up to the final drive will be on the side opposite the brake rotor. There is a snap ring at the top of this hub. Remove the snap ring and pull the hub straight up. You will see the (dry) pins. Lube with Honda Moly 60. Reassemble and ride. I lube these pins every rear tire change. While you have it apart, lube the splines on the hub going into the rear drive with the Moly 60. Good luck. RR
  22. RedRider

    tool

    RedRider replied to oldgoat's topic in Watering Hole

    impact screwdriver. Works every time. Well, most of the time. RR
  23. RedRider
    fixed RR
  24. RedRider
    There is a list of scheduled IBA sanctioned (and a MERA sanctioned - Utah 1088) at http://www.ironbutt.com/eventcal/ I have run the Minnesota 1000 the last two years and it is a blast. It is like a LD scavenger hunt. Last year was a 2 day/2010 mile rally. Great times, great times. There are also some shorter rallies for those that don't want to start with a 24 hr / 1000 mile run. There is the LowCal 11 which is run in southern CA and lasts 11 hours. Team Strange (who run the MN1000) are running an 8 hour rally in June along with the MN1000 in July. http://www.teamstrange.com/ My son (and possibly my Dad on his BMW R1200GS) will be joining me, riding my KLR, for the 8 hour rally this year. Want to get out to run the Utah 1088 and the Minuteman 1000. Still a few years away from being ready to run the full IB Rally (IBA sanctioned) or the 10 in 10 (MERA sanctioned). However, once the kids get out of the house, just TRY to find me at home. RR
  25. RedRider
    Jack, Put out the call for a final drive. There are folks on here that have triked their 2nd Gens and will have one available. A new one is about $800. A used one will be much, much less - and far less hassle. If you replace the gears, you will want to also replace the bearings. The metal that has been spalled from the gear teeth has also run thru the bearings. I would be surprised if you don't have some damage on the pinion nose needle bearing. IIRC, most final drives / differential gears in motocycles and automobiles (and I believe heavy trucks) are matched. They will run them together in a slurry of gear lapping compond to get the proper match fit. At least that's the way they did it 20 years ago. Don't know if the gear manufacturing technology has improved to the point of being able to mix and match pinions and ring gears. I would just replace the whole final drive and throw this one in the trash. RR
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