Radiator Hose... Where for art thou!

[Dizzle223]

I recently purchased my first Venture, a 1986 VR, and just hours after getting her home I couldn't help but take off a few parts to start cleaning. The bike had sat for a couple of years, only running occasionally, so the dust build up was pretty bad.

 

During the inspection I found that the air box was broken so I'm working of finding a replacement. While I was cleaning and shining today I noticed two small drops of anti freeze under the bike and found a wet spot on the hose between the rad and the thermo housing. Looked like it was on the radiator side at the hose so I started browsing for a new one (Yamaha part # 26H-12578-00-00). All the sites I found stated that part is no longer available.

 

So my question... Is there a substitute for the hose? I scoured VR.org before posting but couldn't find the solution. Your help is greatly appreciated!

[mbrood]

That airbreather box looks perfectly repairable... won't be the prettiest but only mice and a repair guy would ever know.

 

The vulvanizing of the rubber in radiator hose pretty well "sets" the hose so secondray shaping is rather out of the question for a garage mechanic. I would check a local auto parts store (not those chain type where the clerk graduated from McDonalds) and Napa is usually also a good source where they can go back and match something up. Might have to cut off some but it's the size and shape you want, not the vendor.

 

Professional shops use a glycol flow of about 300 degrees flowing through as the tube is bent... flows for about 10 minutes then quenched in cold water... rather hard to duplicate easily and quite dangerous!

 

Gates has a catalog of cut to fit bent hoses. Here's the online catalog, it has photos but no measurements - http://www.gatespowerpro.com/Comerge...TOKEN=40346501

 

Here's a link to the PDF catalog, it might have more info but I didn't register to look at it. http://gates.com/index.cfm?location_id=521

[Marcarl]

I did some research, hope it helps.

 

Fiche#............ Part#............... Yamaha........ Flatout......... YamahaSportsPlaza

1 ........... 26H-1258-00-00............... N\A.......... $30.71................... N\A

26.......... 26H-1256601-00............................... $47.02.................. $34.64

28...........90445-092K1-00................................$6.60.....................$4.62

30...........26H-12576-01-00..............................$36.69....................$27.03

31...........26H-12579-01-00...............N\A..........$21.12......................N\A

33...........26H-12577-01-00.............N\A............$60.78......................N\A

51...........26H-12589-00-00.............N\A............$22.05......................N\A

53...........26H-12588-01-00.............N\A............$11.88.....................$8.75

 

From my research it looks like Flatout Motorcycle is the place to try. Just because they show that the parts are available, doesn't mean that their parts fiche is up to date. Maybe a call to confirm availability would be a smart thing to do.

The way it looks to me, if you need all the hoses, you'll need what's listed above. Some you could make up yourself, some you'll have to become creative, maybe using some straight hose with steel or copper elbows or straight joiners. As mentioned before, you could check out your local NAPA for some help in getting some of the hose pieces.

Another note of interest: Flatout does not ship outside of the USA, so if you need the part and they have it, you need to become creative in that department as well. If you are from outside the US, you could try posting a request on this forum to see if someone could help out in that regard.

Edited May 7, 2012 by Marcarl

[Dizzle223]

Thanks guys... I tried to call Flatout but of course they are closed on Mondays. I'll try tomorrow and if I don't have any luck I'll head to Napa to see what they have in the back room.

 

Appreciate your input!

[frankd]

I needed a spacer for the rear wheel bearings, and it also was discontinued. My local Yammie dealer has been there for lots of years, and sometimes has the needed parts on the shelves.....well, they didn't have the spacer, but they were able to go 'online' and see which dealers did have it in stock. They gave me a list of about 6 dealers (with phone numbers), and Monday I started calling. Like you, I did find some that were closed on Mondays, but I found a couple that were open on Monday, and one that was able to find the needed part. They shipped it, and a week later, I had it installed. Actually, all the closed Monday dealers had answering machines, and several of those called back and said they also had the part I needed.

 

The moral...go into your local dealer, and see if they will look who has it in stock....you may get lucky.

 

 

Also, on one of the 'previous' Venture web pages that I used to belong to, someone had submitted a list of aftermarket hoses that would work on our bike.

 

Another thought----be certain that your leak is actually from the hose. Our bikes have problems with some of the 'O' rings in the cooling system, and also the top of the thermostat housing distorting and leaking. 'O' rings are a lot easier to get than hoses. The hoses on Ventures have been very reliable and long lasting.

[Dizzle223]

I needed a spacer for the rear wheel bearings, and it also was discontinued. My local Yammie dealer has been there for lots of years, and sometimes has the needed parts on the shelves.....well, they didn't have the spacer, but they were able to go 'online' and see which dealers did have it in stock. They gave me a list of about 6 dealers (with phone numbers), and Monday I started calling. Like you, I did find some that were closed on Mondays, but I found a couple that were open on Monday, and one that was able to find the needed part. They shipped it, and a week later, I had it installed. Actually, all the closed Monday dealers had answering machines, and several of those called back and said they also had the part I needed.

 

The moral...go into your local dealer, and see if they will look who has it in stock....you may get lucky.

 

 

Also, on one of the 'previous' Venture web pages that I used to belong to, someone had submitted a list of aftermarket hoses that would work on our bike.

 

Another thought----be certain that your leak is actually from the hose. Our bikes have problems with some of the 'O' rings in the cooling system, and also the top of the thermostat housing distorting and leaking. 'O' rings are a lot easier to get than hoses. The hoses on Ventures have been very reliable and long lasting.

 

I read about some of the O ring issues. I think you make a good point, I should probably wait till I get the bike running again to try and pin point the source of the leak before I go replacing every hose. Who knows, maybe it was dribble from me taking the rad cap of to clean it.

 

Thanks for grounding me while I was jumping to conclusions