M61A1MECH

If the left side and the rear bolt are still tight, loosen those before you try to install the right side one, you need the "slop" in the set up to get all of them aligned and started before tightening any of the three. If you still cannot get it to start, you may need to remove the tank to get clear access to the hole so you can try threading the bolt in to be sure the threads in the frame are still OK.

Good looking bike, congrats. Slow speed maneuvers remember to trail brake with the foot pedal, clutch control and throttle control, watch some ride like a pro videos and practice. The bike can do it, she does not like it very much.

I can believe that, some times it is tricky looking a picture and trying to match up the details to be sure you get the right one, I have been lucky so far with my suppliers, hope they have the sub harness in stock and can ship soon so I can get a look at it. I hope Yamaha did not pull trick like BMW and Harley where they contracted with Amphenol to get proprietary connectors that you can only get if you are a licensed shop, but does not sound like it if EC was able to procure them.

When I looked at Buckfan's bike it became very obvious that there was no one master joint for the fender harness like on the Royal Stars, Ventures and other Star bikes from Yamaha and with out having a wiring schematic at the time we were just shooting in the dark disconnecting plugs to see what did not work. A few days later I found the schematics here on the forum and confirmed that yes three different locations needed to be tapped into. Much will depend on the availability of the connectors as to whether I can build a complete system or will I need to order their sub harness and add the isolation system. I have a sub harness on order so I can get firsthand knowledge of the connectors. From what I could see on the schematic and looking at the photos on ECs site, there is one connector for each saddle bag for the turn signals and one under the seat for tail and brake. I will keep everyone posted on my progress.

Good looking bike, glad to hear you are well enough to ride. I hope the first addition is a set of deer whistles to keep those varmints away from the road when you are riding. https://www.amazon.com/Bell-Automotive-22-1-01001-8-Chrome-Warning/dp/B000IG5PVU/ref=sr_1_5/135-6771224-5652728?ie=UTF8&qid=1538098920&sr=8-5&keywords=deer+whistle

Same thing happened to me yesterday using my old desktop running Windows 10 and IE, switched over to Microsoft EDGE on same computer and it all worked on EDGE. Must be the old desktop, because I just checked on my laptop and IE and it is all good. Who Knows with all this new technology.

I think my friend Dion was referring to me in his post, and I am already thinking about it. Buckfann was kind enough to let me poke around his bike a month or so ago looking for the connectors needed, but we just did not dig deep enough. I am sure I could even buy the subharness from EC and add the Isolator (4 or 5 wire) and sell it for less than what they are selling a complete system for and it would be easier to install. I may just reverse engineer the subharness, that is what EC did to me years ago. I presented a sample of my Royal Star subharmess to Bushtec at one of the rallies in Daytona, hoping to get some sales , but they turned the unit over to EC and about a month later EC was offering the same subharness on their site. So we will see.

Try going to this DELPHI forum, I am pretty sure some folks over there have done this swap, you may get some additional help or hints. http://forums.delphiforums.com/vrider

In this context RTE = Ride To Eat, we are after all an eating club with a riding disorder are we not?

Does anyone put any of the various puncture sealants in their trailer tires? Was reading a post on another forum about using Ride-On in motorcycle tires and although not generally recommended for bikes with TPMS it got me wondering if it would be worth putting it in my Bushtec trailer tires. I contacted Ride-On and they recommended using 6 to 8 ounces of their formula for Mopeds and scooters in a tube type tire on the trailer. Anyone with thoughts or experiences on using this product or any of the many others on the market in your trailer?

That is a good place to go group I ride with went there last month, I would go again, but I am committed to a ride with that same group out of Orlando, we are headed to Goodrich's in Oak Hill. Anyone want to tag along with us from Orlando to Oak Hill, just PM me for details. There is a forum for posting RTEs, check it out here, https://www.venturerider.org/forum/forumdisplay.php?19-Meet-n-Eats but the here in the Watering Hole should work also. Have you invited the Prowlers from the Goldwing forum also? Welcome to the board.

Just changed the tail lights on my Bushtec Roadstar to LEDs, I used some form Superbrightleds and they are great. Here is a link to what I used, https://www.superbrightleds.com/moreinfo/tail-brake-turn/1157-can-bus-led-bulb-dual-function-26-smd-led-tower-bay15d-retrofit-car/1166/ These are currently on clearance for $9.88 each. These are oversized and are the longest you will be able to fit in the Harley light fixture that Bushtec uses, in fact at first I thought I screwed up because the end of the bulb seemed to be touching the inside of the lens cover, but with a bit of patience I was able t get it to all go together.

They attach to the front crash bars with a special clamp. here are some pics from my long gone 07 Venture.

So here is my story from a long time ago, had a Datsun B210 hatchback, I monkeyed with the air cleaner so much I managed to strip out most of the threads where the stud went that held the air filter in place. Being young and stupid, I just took some all thread rod (probably not the right thread as metric all thread was scarce back in the day) and threaded it into the mount hole in the carb, secured it with a nut and lock washer, good to go, stayed like that for a number of years. One morning after my commute from work the night before, the car ran terrible, like it was running on 3 cylinders. Well it was, I pulled the air cleaner and found the rod out of the hole in the carb, the nut was in place, but the lock washer was gone, pulled head and found the lock washer neatly trapped under both the intake and exhaust valves, what are the chances? Like above the top of the piston and inside the head were all dinged up. Fixed it and she ran like a top for many thousands of miles after that. Sorry did not mean to hijack the thread, but I had not thought about that adventure in a long time.

Yes I know, I looked at that style when selecting hardware, but wanted the extra strength afforded by the heavy SS nuts and added thread engagement for the Loktite, Nylocks are fine, but by they are intended for one time use, lock washers can be used over and over if needed. Yes I have reused nylocks, but I have also seen them not hold on repeat use, and I am expecting that chassis rod to see a good bit of vibration from the road surface, and thought the heavy nuts, Loktite and lock washers afforded be the best opportunity for long term success, time will tell, I will be carrying an extra set of nuts , including some nylocks, with me when pulling the trailer, just incase I need to make a repair on the road. I did try drilling one of the spare nuts I had hoping I could lockwire them for added security, but I do not have anything that will drill 316SS, I may see if I can find some predrilled 5/16-18 nuts, maybe Aircraft Spruce has some.

I am not sure the electrode is magnetic, you could also try one of those small OD bore scopes you hook up to a smart phone or laptap. Like this one; https://www.amazon.com/Endoscope-Depstech-Borescope-Inspection-Adjustable/dp/B0749BQG1B/ref=sr_1_14?ie=UTF8&qid=1536529717&sr=8-14&keywords=borescope+for+android+phone Just make sure the OD is smaller than the spark plug hole.

Well the repair/re-build is complete, took it out for about 60 mile ride, over rough roads and high speed interstate, so far no issues and the jam nuts are staying put, will monitor those on upcoming trips and keep a set of spares with me just in case. Pics of completed assembly are below, once I have enough miles on this set up to be confident, I will publish a short on how I did it. If I had to do it again, I would order or make the chassis rods at least 1/2" longer (1.5" over stock length) just to get a few more threads. Nuts are Loktited to the chassis rod and there is a heavy split lock washer between the two nuts, just enough room between the frame member and A-Arm bushings to allow the nylon spacer room to rotate but not move fore and aft ,also not so tight that it is jammed up, still allows allow the A-Arm bushing to rotate on the chassis rod.

No, but did not expect it, the trailer is more than 20 years old.

I heard back from Bushtec today, the bushings they use are urethane impregnated with graphite. According to Andrew Preston the GM they do not normally see those bushings fail like mine at the age and miles of my trailer. He thinks they were contaminated with a chemical or some sort of heat issue. Still think the design leaves a lot to be desired as far as serviceability.

Yes you have the idea now on how it goes together, I searched McMaster Carr and did not find the rod I wanted, Bushtec has the axle rods ready to purchase so I ordered those, not to expensive and I am sure I have the right material, other than knowing they are some type of steel I have no idea exactly what grade of steel they are or what the hardness is, I am guessing the OD is work hardened to give a robust surface to resist wear and the ones I took out are dead straight to boot, not all rods that diameter are straight. If the Bushtec rods do not work out, I may try tractor supply or other supply houses around town.

All good methods, but not a lot of real-estate on the ends of the rods for cotter key or R clips, plus do not want to weaken the rod any further, threading them will reduced the effective diameter and reduce the tensile load numbers. Safety wire, maybe, if I can drill the 316 SS nuts I am getting, but still not as secure as a tack weld

My plan is to replace all 4 bushings, (front and rear , in the left and right A arms). I am going to get new "axle" rods as Bushtec calls them, they go through the fore and aft frame members, the bushings inside the A arm tube ride on the rod. I am going to thread the ends of the rods, shim up between the ends of the bushings and the inside of the frame members with nylon and stainless washers / shims to get a proper fit then secure the rod in place with nuts. With the nuts holding the axle rods in place I can take the trailer to a welder and have the nuts tack welded to the frame to ensure they do not come loose. Should I ever need to service the bushings or shims, I can cut the tack welds off, saving the rods and replace the wear items and reassemble and repeat the tack welding. As far as longevity, much will depend on how quiet the aluminum/bronze bushings are over time, everything that moves will be lubed up as I reassemble, just not sure how long the lubrication will last, the bushings may get to making noise after a while if I can not manage to keep them lubed. The trailer was not designed to easily service those bushings, that is for sure.

looking good there Bob.

A fellow Goldwing rider in Alabama posted this picture of the aftermath of a bird strike while riding. If you are not familiar with the species, that is a Turkey Vulture one of the most disgusting birds around, nearly had a run in with one on the way to WingDing in Knoxville last week. He said no damage to the bike, could have been real ugly if it hit a few feet higher.

Well that got me thinking a bit more, here is a new plan. I will buy the "axle" rods from Bushtec and thread the ends of them and secure the "axle" rods with the nuts and Loctite. I can then make the trailer road worthy enough to pull it to a local welder and have him tack the nuts to the frame member to ensure they will not come off. If I ever have to service the bushings again, it is a simple matter to cut the tack welds and remove the nuts and rods. I just went out and took one of the rods I removed yesterday and threaded one end pretty easily with a hand held die, if I had some real cutting fluid it would have been even easier, WD40 and honing fluid is only so good, but allowed me to prove out a theory. "As for getting the new rod thru everything, did you notice that one end of the original rods was ground to a point to help it find its way thru everything?" Yes I saw that, I figured I could manage the square end, I am sure the point is more to facilitate speed of production than anything.