81 GS550T Full Rebuild...In Ohio

[Flyboy]

Nice going Scott, looks like she will be ready to be pressed into service this summer. Bet, you can't wait.

Ah yes, Jennifer has the RR I bought from Duaneage, one of the last ones he sold before retiring to count his money.
Still needs to see a single volt go through it.

 

[cowboyup3371]

Duaneage's RR works great I think so you'll do fine with yours Stan. Keep it coming as I'm sure you'll finally be ready to go by the end of the year. I don't quite remember you saying but what are your seasons like.

Actually, the bike has been out for a couple of rides already, one with Steve's son to a Goldwing get-together on New Years. It ran fine although I have a squeal and a small wobble coming from the rear end I need to check into. Plus, it still needs a carb synch and paint work on the tank. I'll say though I'm dying here for the weather to stay warm and the roads to clear off so I can get out again.

 

[Flyboy]

No seasons here bud, 365 days a year of motorcycling weather.
Although in the dead of winter the day time high can drop as low as 12C (50F) and then it is just too cold to ride, its just crazy.

 

[rustybronco]

No, crazy is when it's -19?F (-28?C) outside and you wished there wasn't a foot of snow in the driveway just so you could go for a ride - even if you froze your hind end off doing it.

Forget what I just said. That's insane...

 

[cowboyup3371]

No seasons here bud, 365 days a year of motorcycling weather.
Although in the dead of winter the day time high can drop as low as 12C (50F) and then it is just too cold to ride, its just crazy.

I'm more than willing to trade you the last 30 days as well as next week (supposed to drop into the 20s again) for a week's worth of 50s

 

[cowboyup3371]

Mounted the airbox with fuse block attached then started to wire it up when I found a couple of busted wires that I need to fix. Had to go buy a new wire stripper and extraction tool as both busted on me as well; I'm really beginning to hate cheap crap. I also put the battery box and r/r in but I want to put in different screws than what I had in previously so didn't finish it yet.


In other vehicle news, I verified my front locking (manual) hubs on the truck are shot. Not in a big hurry to fix it as the 4wd isn't used much but I'm tired of my vehicles throwing attitudes towards me every time I turn around.

 

[cowboyup3371]

Wired up the fuse block and repaired, the soldering is sloppy as my skills suck, the turn signal relay wiring. But when I powered up the bike I found some problems with several areas. It's pretty strange and difficult to explain properly but suffice it say I don't have lights up front, no horn, and strange workings with the turn signals. I started to use my test light but I only have a probe end not an alligator clip so it made it a little hard to use properly. Steve offered to let me borrow his test light and so I printed off the wiring diagram and I will get back to troubleshooting tomorrow. One thing I want to look at will be how well I connected the wires into the fuse block. After talking it over, I suspect the screws are tightened against the insulation and not the actual wire so I'll look at that again.

 

[Steve]

... I'm tired of my vehicles throwing attitudes towards me every time I turn around.

Simple solution to that is stop turning around.

.

 

[cowboyup3371]

Well, I think I might have found the problem with my electrical system. After borrowing the test light from Steve, I found I have power at the headlight and the horn as well as the turn signal relay and tail/brake light wiring connector. I also found that when I step on the rear brake or squeeze the front lever, I would get power at that same connector. If I have the probe at the turn signal relay wiring, I have power on the orange/green wire and will get the front turn signals to light up (not flash) when I touch the light blue. If I have it connected to the flasher then only the rear turn signals light (not flash).

I then decided to make sure what my voltage was like at the battery, headlight, and taillight. I found that when connecting my black multimeter probe to the battery ground and fuse block ground points and red to the battery positive and fuse block power, I will get close to 12.5 volts. However, if I try to use another ground point on the frame where two of my harness ground wires are attached, I only get .5 volts. Although I had those two wires at the airbox side mount bolt last time, the connectors were broken so I re-terminated them and moved them to a different point on the frame. I'm thinking that new point is no good since I never did scrape off the powdercoating; consequently, I will fix that this week as I had other stuff to do today and didn't get to it.

One other worrisome note I found during my testing - I have a pretty significant voltage loss at the headlight as I found it to be 11.8v instead of the 12.5v at other places. The wiring has been cleaned up so I think I'll have to look into the headlight relay mod.

 

[Steve]

Yet another example of the old addage: If you are getting screwy results on electrical stuff, it's probably a bad ground.

.

 

[Flyboy]

Steve is spot on the money, a simple bad earth has caused many a grown man to cry like a baby.
Scott, I like to run those braided steel earth straps between engine and frame and frame and battery, much better than an earth wire.
And ya, you are going to have get rid of the powder coating right down to the metal to get a good earth.

 

[cowboyup3371]

Thanks Stan. Though I was wondering about running those two grounds back to the Eastern Beaver box ground side. It's there for that use and is already connected to the battery ground so I thought it might be a good idea to use it; any one have their own thoughts?

 

[cowboyup3371]

Ground down the powdercoat with the dremel today and sure enough, everything is working properly again. :clap:


I then started trying to figure out the wobble seen during my last ride. I first checked to see if the wheel moved by pulling on it side to side and top to bottom. Nothing moved although I didn't rotate the wheel to check a few more times. I also looked at the marks on the swingarm where it seems they were off. Yet after loosening the wheel and resetting it, I still think I have a wobble but can't figure out why. The chain looks straight to me and is probably at the low end of the tension but seems ok.

While the wife helped with the throttle, I took a video from the rear of the bike. Does anyone else see the wobble (blow up the video to full screen please)? Do you have any suggestions on how to figure out why?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-46USH9d9c&feature=youtu.be

 

[GSX1000E]

I sure appears that the tire is not fully mounted on that rim to me. Also, the chain looks really loose.

 

[cowboyup3371]

There's an inch of play in the chain (manual specifies up to 1.2 inches) with the wheel off of the ground.

What about the angle of that video makes you think the wheel isn't seated properly?

 

[GSX1000E]

In your video, you can see the gap between the tire and the sprocket changes. I would say to hook up a dial indicator but a simple block of wood placed within a sixteenth of an inch from the tire should do as it will be kicked out.

 

[1978gs550]

I'm no expert but looks like the tire has a sprung belt, see it all the time on cars around here with the rapid up and down of the thermometer, or the rim is bent?

 

[cowboyup3371]

No the tire is still in one piece and as best as I can tell the rim is not bent.

 

[Flyboy]

Scott, jury rig yourself a stand with whatever you have at your disposal, then use a dowel stick, pencil, Swambo's mascara pen, or something similar, mount it in the stand so the point is 1/8 inch away from the side wall of the tire and spin the wheel, watch the gap between the tire side wall and the tip of the rod/stick whatever, you will immediately see if it opens and closes as the tire spins, confirming it is moving from side to side.
Repeat the exersise, this time with your pointer 1/8th inch from the rim itself.
You will know right there if your rim or your tire is faulty.
I like to use a permanent marker, the white one, I bring it in close enough so it marks the "high" spots on the rim for me, I use this method when I re-lace spoke wheels.

 

[cowboyup3371]

Yes, the project that just won't go away. I took the rear tire to Iron Pony yesterday with the intent of replacing it but I also asked them to check the wheel for straightness. They subsequently told me the tire was not properly balanced so they adjusted it advising me that if my problem still exists, they'll install a new tire. I installed the wheel today but didn't have access to my temporary tank so I will wait until tomorrow to check it.

I say my temporary tank as the actual tank is stripped and re-primered for repainting. Yes, we are going to redo the work and hopefully get it right this time. More info to come as I hope that my friend and I can have it ready by next weekend.