M61A1MECH

This is very bizarre. http://www.wimp.com/woodenmotorcycle/

Could be he did not pay attention to the alignment marks when reassembling, I am not sure what happens if you do that, but the manual is very specific about making sure all of the marks are aligned properly, I wonder if he did an upgrade to one with the coil spings in place of the flat leaf style the factory uses, they are known to lock up if you get them one tab out of location. Either way certianly sounds like a mistake when reassembling it, I would think it would be a fairly easy fix once you get it a part.

Watch this video http://www.wimp.com/incrediblecrows/

When ever I am doing something "major" to the bike I take the key out of the ignition and pin it to a cork board I have in the garage, depending on what I am doing I sometimes put a note with it to remind me why the key is pinned to the board. Ganted that would not stop me from turning the petcock on is a fuel line was disconected some whe down stream, but if my bike is in the garage with the petcock turned off, there is real good reason and just the idea of turning the petcock back to on wil normally be enough to make me question why it was off in the first place But tha is just me, other ideas work just as well for other folks, trick is to do something out of the ordinary to spark the memory cells back awake and keep you from doing serious damage that cannot be undone.

OK just give me a shout.

AngryAmish I would be glad to help if you need it, most hitch set ups for the Ventures only require that you remove the spanner section that connects the left and right saddlebag supports and replace it with the hitch, mine is 4 bolts. I do have harnesses available, I would suggest using a isolator for the trailer, that will keep the added electrical off of the bike's harness, if the trailer has LEDs you could do without the isolator. Also if your trailer is wired for a four wire set up you will need a convertor to go from the blke's five wire system to the trailer's four wire system, both the isolator and the convertor can be found at Electrical Connection. http://www.electricalconnection.com/wire-harnesses/hrns-trailer.htm Call me or email me , my contact info is in my profile.

I would not be to concerned yet, one thing about rubber seals is they always work better when they are warm than when they are cold, ask any aircraft hydraulic mechanic. Granted yours has not been all that cold based on being garaged, but still could be the issue. I would check the coolant over flow bottle to see if you have oil in the coolant, that is a definite sign you need a new set of water pump seals and maybe a new pump in case the shaft is worn. I would keep an eye on it to see if it gets worse, if it stops as the weather warms up, I would chalk it up to a cold seal or sticky seal no fully seating or a short time.

On my computer, you just have to come to Florida to see them, sounds like a reason for road trip, right?

Yesterday I cashed in on a gift my wife gave me to cover Christmas 2012 and Birthday 2013. She bought me a ride on a WWII vintage aircraft, an A-6 trainer, got fly around for about 1/2 hour and even did a few aerial combat type manuveurs, rolls, loops and what not, very cool. It all happened after the TICO Warbird show in Titusville yesterday, a really good show, was able to see one of if not the last show by the Air Force Thunderbirds, I took over 1000 photos in the matter of a bout 2 hours, 10 of the better ones are posted here, http://s40.photobucket.com/user/royalsteve/library/TICO%20AIRSHOW%202013. Just wanted to say thank you to my wife.

I have harnesses at the ready, can ship right away. Just confirm year model so I can be sure to get te correct one and send me your mailing address.

mbelik Yes as a minimum those are the parts you need, one or both of them is likely to be bad. I would suggest also as a precaution you should get item 23 and 18 in case they are damaged taking the unit apart, also the shaft on item 2 may be scored depending on how the seal(s) failled, inspect it very closely , if it is not overly expensive or if it is a long lead item, it may be in your best interest to have one at the ready just incase you need it, it may be included in the rebuild kit if you get that as opposed to ordering the parts alacarte so to speak. Good luck

I had this happen on by 98 Royal Star Tour Classic, and it turned out to be the seals on the water pump. There are a set of seals on the driven shaft that runs the pump, one side keeps coolant in and oil out, the other keeps oil in and coolant out. There is a chamber between the two that should stay dry, it has a small vent tube that you can check, if it is wet with either oil or coolant, that should tell you where the issue is. This is not the only place where coolant and oil could mix, but in my experience on this forum and others over the past 15 years this has been the most common cause. The fix is relatively easy and cheap, and you can buy a rebuild kit from Yamaha. I will tell you it is very difficult to get all of the oil out of the coolant system, it may take repeated flushes. Other wise do a compression test and leak down test to determine if you have a blown head gasket, very rare occurance on these motors.

When was the last time you changed the fluid in the resevoir or flushed the system? Could be dirt that got caught some place that would not allow the slave piston to move.

Barry Here is an article by VGoose on the repair, http://www.venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?t=20293, I had some broken tabs on my chrome trim piece, if you can find the tabs rattling inside the fairing you may be able to fix them back in place with a good plastic repair kit, epoxy generally won't work for this type of repair because it is so brittle. I used a plastic repair product (name escapes me right now) and it worked an dthe tabs are still in place. Try to wait untill yoou get a nice warm day to do this, if the air temp is to low the plastic can get more brittle and break easier. Good luck.

Vince Use the purpose built hand pumps for checking and adjusting the air pressure in the front forks and the rear suspension. These have zero loss valvles on the connection so you can be sure where you set the presure that is what it is. Also because they are low volume hand operated pumps you do not have to worry about over inflating the forks or rear shock. The factory recomends that 0 psi be used in both the front and the rear, but many riders are keeping at least some presure in both. The max on the front is 7 psi and the left and right side need to be exactly the same or you will have handling problems. The max on the rear is 57 psi.

Found on the internet when searching on this subject. "What doesn’t make us stronger, will kill us.” "Heads will roll, when the rubber hits the fan." "They nailed my feet to the fire." "He put his thumb to my butt to get me going." "It will blow the water out of the other products."

We will burn that bridge when we get there.

http://mediacdn.snorgcontent.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/small_image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/e/a/easiersaid_thumb.gif

I have been pulling my Bustec behind fist a Royal Star Tour Classic and now my Venture since 2001 on many tips never had any issues with either bike, will pull it at interstate speeds up and down hills and mountains no problems. I will now put in a shameless plug for my sub-harness, if the bike you are buying is not already fitted with a trailer hookup, I would sugest you visit my add on the member vendors section of classified section and consider puchasing one of my sub hanesses for the Venture, will make hook up much easier.

I personally know a gentleman here in central Florida that has 310,000 on his 99 Venture, it is still going strong, I would not be worried about 80,000 miles on this platform. If you are happy with the bike as it is presented, the records and the price that is all that matters. Good luck

Thanks, the fellow that originally need the help has decided to take a different route so I will not be making a harness for him. Seems that Honda like to use single bullet style connectors for the tail lights, which could stiil be adapted if ione wanted to do so.

I hope you noticed that white Venture in the back ground while you were there, it has 310,000 miles on it and is still going strong.

No trick , just push them in the hole.

My experience with both my 98 Tour Classic and my current 07 Venture is that the wine is most prevalent at certian gear and RPM combinations. A slight change in speed or a change in gear can virtually eliminate the whine at any given time. I have after 150,000 combined miles on the two bikes gotten used to it and it really is not an issue, for me.

Could be an intermitent fuel pump that quits when it gets hot and works ok after it cools down. If you were to run the carbs dry by shutting off the fuel petcock and running it until it dies, then open the petcock and turn the switch on would you hear the fuel pump clicking? You should hear the fuel pump clicking when you turn the ignition on the first time in the morning or after it has set a while. Yeah what Larry said, not uncommon in FL for mud daubers to get in and clog up vent lines, there is a vent line off of the filler neck, take it loose and see if you can blow air thru it.