what did you wrench on today??

[alke46]

Ridiculous.......fine German engineering eh?

[johnod]

Maybe not. This is my K1100RS getting a spline lube....

BMW Spline Lube 20 by R John Thieda, on Flickr

Well that looks like fun.
Had a K1200RS, great bike, but too complex to enjoy working on imo.

[Redman]

.
.
.
This pic is funny, must be a joke. Right?

Nope.

My 2002 R1100RT having xmission work in 2015 (after only 5 days of me riding a beemer).



to do anything related to xmission or clutch, even just replacing the o-ring on clutch cylinder, required this much dissasembly.

somewhere about 2019 2020(?) the R1200 were redesigned to have the clutch in front of the engine.

[Redman]

My wrenching today.
Well, slip joint plyers anyway.

Snowed overnight, couple inches. Could have drove over it, but gonna be cold next week or so and then would be packed down froze into ice.
So GOt out snowthrower. Ah, first pass and chains comming off one wheel, and became a tangled mess wrapped around axle in quick order.

GOt back to it this afternoon. Photo after job complete. Got it on tighter this time, I think

Have chains on wheels cuz the lugs on the tires (1982 snowthrower) are worn down.

More and more about me is becoming vintage.

.

[oldGSfan]

Nope.

My 2002 R1100RT having xmission work in 2015.

https://photobucket.com/share/9f4268d4-f286-403d-a7a4-d57d3d2e502f

(or has photobucket gotten more usless ? ? )

somewhere about 2019 2020(?) the R1200 were redesigned to have the clutch in front of the engine.

My '66 Norton N15CS requires a lot of disassembly for basic maintenance tasks. To change the countershaft sprocket you must do the following, which I wrote down when doing it (not covered well in the manual):

• Drain the primary chain case oil, and remove the primary cover's 14 cheesehead screws.
• Disconnect the alternator wires, as you have to pull the 3 wires through a grommet, very squeezy-like. The wires won't fit through the grommet with the bullet connectors still on, so you need to snip and re-crimp new connectors back on upon reassembly.
• You can now remove the primary cover and spill the remaining chain lube (6 oz ATF) all over the frame rails, etc. You may remove the sexy alloy cover, sort of delicately. It's tough to get the cover with the stator off past the magnetic rotor and footpeg. You will probably scar it unless you take the left footpeg off. This means taking the heavy, strange contraption of a bracket off, which runs under the bike to the other footpeg.
• Remove the alternator retaining nut, and then the alternator rotor (woodruff key, washers, etc). This can require a puller. Removing the nut means standing on the brake pedal in gear to keep the engine from turning over. That means putting the brake lever back on.
• Loosen the primary chain tensioner and jostle the primary drive > tensioner > countershaft sprocket > rear sprocket to get some slack on the chain.
• Take off the clutch adjuster nut and the retaining nut with an impact, standing on the brake as before. It helps to be flexible.
• Remove the brake lever.
• Attach a Norton puller to remove the engine sprocket. No regular 3 jaw puller will do the job.
• Remove the primary chain (you needed it before to lock stuff up to remove bolts). It's not so easy, there is only one position where the master link can come out, due to clearance to the inner chain case for the clip to escape.
• Remove the clutch by taking out the 3 springs, retainers, etc, and then the plate and the basket.
• Remove the inner primary chaincase by removing 3 big screws with an impact at the front, spacers plus felt seals at the back.
• Remove the big nut on the countershaft sprocket. put the brake lever back on (same left side as the primary) to lock the wheel up. Heave away at it mercilessly.
• Remove the drive chain and replace the sprocket. Woo freakin' hoo! You may need a puller.
• Do all the above in reverse. Feed the wiring through the grommet, put on new connectors, and adjust the primary chain by means of the drive chain/rear wheel exerting torque on it.
• Put a new chaincase gasket on, Fill with ATF, and adjust the drive chain.
• (optional) say a prayer to St. Jude

Each task on the Norton is 10x as complicated as it should be, for such a simple bike. To be fair it's a 'hybrid' mashup of a Matchless frame and Norton engine, and that brings some issues. Thankfully it's reliable and seldom needs attention. Just kidding!

[oldGSfan]

My wrenching today.
Well, slip joint plyers anyway.

Snowed overnight, couple inches. Could have drove over it, but gonna be cold next week or so and then would be packed down froze into ice.
So GOt out snowthrower. Ah, first pass and chains comming off one wheel, and became a tangled mess wrapped around axle in quick order.

GOt back to it this afternoon. Photo after job complete. Got it on tighter this time, I think

Have chains on wheels cuz the lugs on the tires (1982 snowthrower) are worn down.

More and more about me is becoming vintage.

.

What's that machine? We had a 9HP (?) Ariens snowblower, lawn mower, roto tiller back in the 70s in Boston. That thing was awesome, just a couple of bolts and locating studs to change things out. 3 acres of land to mow, a huge garden to till, and lots of snow to move, because in addition to a large driveway, we had an ice skating pond about the size of a football field (a flooded swamp). I thought that thing was awesome, doing all those things. Beat digging, shoveling and mowing by manual power.

One memory that stands out among many - the muffler rusted through, like everything did back then. My dad had just built a greenhouse and the cat loved sleeping in there on a cold winter's day. Well, my dad knew a warm Ariens was a happy starting Ariens, and parked it in there. One bitter cold snowy day, rather than pulling it outside, he started it up in the greenhouse. Well, the noise of starting it in a glass enclosure was epic, and the cat happened to be in there. He made a nice cat-sized hole through the door getting out of dodge. Still gives me a chuckle.

[LeonAlistar]

Working through the 15k service on my GS750 - starting with the front end: steering bearings (original), wheel bearings (original), and brake system up front (aside from pads, original )

Found considerable pitting on the caliper piston - was sweating for a bit trying to find a new one, but found a potential match from Brake Crafters. (Impatiently) waiting for parts...

[first timer]

Working through the 15k service on my GS750 - starting with the front end: steering bearings (original), wheel bearings (original), and brake system up front (aside from pads, original )

Found considerable pitting on the caliper piston - was sweating for a bit trying to find a new one, but found a potential match from Brake Crafters. (Impatiently) waiting for parts...

I used the Brake crafters stuff, it's nice and works just fine. Pluss it's SS.

[Shin-Ken 1074]

This weekend the project Kat will rack up 3,000km since the engine was installed so I wanted to check on the top end and head nut torque. Cams are fine and all secure and the cam chain has correct tension, checked the cam chain tension as I had replaced the OEM cam chain tensioner with a manual unit as part of the project. Three of the head nuts were out of spec, backed off all the head nuts and reset them to correct torque.

Going for a ride tomorrow and when I get home its time for an oil and filter change. Did the first change at 500 km and second change at 1,500 km. The oil change tomorrow (3000km) will include dropping the sump and the oil pump intake screen to check for nasties, if all is well then oil changes will be back to the normal oil/filter change interval.

head torque a by Max Mutarn, on Flickr

[LeonAlistar]

Three of the head nuts were out of spec, backed off all the head nuts and reset them to correct torque.

I tightened several loose head bolts on my bike, but approached it slightly differently - going in the order numbered in the manual, I checked each one - if it was under torque spec, I loosened it slightly, then torqued it to spec. if it didn't budge, I left it alone.

Within 1,000 miles, I developed a minor oil leak under the cylinders.

Is it best practice to loosen everything, even if it's in spec, then tighten it all down? Any concerns with disturbing seals under the cylinders?

[Shin-Ken 1074]

I tightened several loose head bolts on my bike, but approached it slightly differently - going in the order numbered in the manual, I checked each one - if it was under torque spec, I loosened it slightly, then torqued it to spec. if it didn't budge, I left it alone.

Within 1,000 miles, I developed a minor oil leak under the cylinders.

Is it best practice to loosen everything, even if it's in spec, then tighten it all down? Any concerns with disturbing seals under the cylinders?

By "backing off" I didn't really loosen them too much. I only turned each head nut 3/4 of a turn so there was still some tension on the bolts and pressure on the base and head gasket. Following the manual sequence order for the nuts I torqued the nuts in stages, going around all the nuts first to 25 Nm then going around again to 39Nm. Doing it this way ensures all the nuts have been torqued to spec and should help the gaskets keep the oil on the inside.

[Shin-Ken 1074]

The project Kat has logged it's first 3,000 km and I wanted to inspect the sump and oil pump screen while changing the oil today. Sump had a small amount of clutch dust that needed to be cleaned out and the oil pump screen was nice and clean and no sludge in the screen bowl. Also inspected the old oil filter pleats, no issue there. Did find some oil where it shouldn't have been, leaking past the stator gasket by one of the M6 bolts. Yep, case threads stripped so time for a thread insert to fix the leak. New thread was installed and case back on, test ride later this week to check repair.

Oil change 1 by Max Mutarn, on Flickr


Oil change 3 by Max Mutarn, on Flickr


Oil change 4 by Max Mutarn, on Flickr


Oil change 5 by Max Mutarn, on Flickr


Oil change 6 by Max Mutarn, on Flickr


Oil change 7 by Max Mutarn, on Flickr


Oil change 8 by Max Mutarn, on Flickr

[MikeLyon]

Well, not motorcycle related

Put sparkplugs in my pick up truck, 200,000 miles guess it was time
especially because it started running badly and threw out a few codes when I was fifty miles from home

Been putting it off for over a year, read many things on truck forums and youtube videos about the difficulty of doing it and was a little nervous about doing it

from what I read and from videos on YouTube people were taking front wheels off and inner fender well off also to get access to plugs

but looking at it I figured it looked easier than some old cars with headers I used to have.

it didn't take me but half an hour, but spark plugs sure are a lot more expensive now WOW

[Cipher]

I plumbed and installed a water softener. I can now sate that plumbing is super easy.
Tears were shed mixed with hard water they reflected a sunshiny glimmer of hope as the sunset through my basement windows.
Gonna install a set of filters now that I am a master plumber.

[Shin-Ken 1074]

My project Kat engine is in need of a top end refresh, blowing smoke under acceleration, fouling spark plugs and oiling up the exhaust, at least the pipes wont rust from the inside. No history came with the engine so I have no idea what the internals are like. The plan is to replace the valves, valve guides and seals and check the bores for damage/wear. The good news is I have an EF 1150 head from another project that can donate the brand new valves it has for my project Kat. I didn't have a motorbike valve spring compressor however, I do have one for my ute. It was quicker to make an adapter for the 1150 valve springs than to order one and wait for it to arrive. Started to remove the valves as soon as I had finished making the adapter, it works well.


New valves to be removed from this unfinished project.
Head refresh 1 by Max Mutarn, on Flickr


Valve spring compressor adapter components.
Head refresh 2 by Max Mutarn, on Flickr


Head refresh 3 by Max Mutarn, on Flickr


Head refresh 4 by Max Mutarn, on Flickr


Head refresh 5 by Max Mutarn, on FlickrHead refresh 5 by Max Mutarn, on Flickr