81 GS550T in Co Sprgs

[cowboyup3371]

Hey Scott, you do realise that when the shed goes up, then there is no stopping, this GS thing is going to take on a life of its own, before you know it there will be an S an E a G and who knows what else being brought back to life in there.

Hey Stan...how did you find out?:-k

No actually I have been starting to look for a sport touring bike so I can take the kids on something a little more supportive than my 550 but it's not even in the cards yet moneywise. Course, there is a bike in Ohio I might be interested in AFTER I pay some more bills off. But we won't go there right now...:-#:-$

 

[Guest]

Hey Stan...how did you find out?:-k

No actually I have been starting to look for a sport touring bike so I can take the kids on something a little more supportive than my 550 but it's not even in the cards yet moneywise. Course, there is a bike in Ohio I might be interested in AFTER I pay some more bills off. But we won't go there right now...:-#:-$

Hahaha you're gettin' into it now Scott

Once my 450 is done, there's a little Yamaha YB100 at my house mate's mum's place and a Ducati Cucciolo motor sitting in a crate in the garage here... my Mrs isn't gonna like it but one of those is next, probably the Duc...

 

[cowboyup3371]

YEA! :dancing:

The weather was finally cooperative enough this weekend that I managed to get out for a few hours today. I say a few only because my girlfriend had a small honey do list for me this morning (hanging curtains) and then my daughter had basketball practice this afternoon. Plus yesterday was full with her basketball game and towing the Jeep to the auto repair shop AGAIN.

But, I managed to do a few things, namely, get the rotors and sprockets on. I still need to tighten down the front sprocket but both the rotors and rear sprocket and torqued properly

Here's the new brake calipers all put together nicely after some issues

Some new parts. I bought that carb tuning wrench as well as a new tach cable, exhaust gaskets, fork seals, other gaskets, intake boots, hydraulic brake light switches, etc. I'll still have to order some new orings for the intake boots, a chain, and of course a helmet to be done.

Also, took the cam chain tensioner off as it's leaking and had a fun few minutes scraping off the old gasket

If anyone needs to do this, make sure you follow the tutorial found on BWRinger's page linked from Basscliff's site. So far it's on track and going well. I will take pictures after I clean it up.

Once the tensioner is rebuilt I will be doing my valve clearances again so I took the plugs out. Any thoughts on how they look? (I posted another thread asking as well).

Finally, took the handlebars off. As best as I could tell without removing the left grip, the bars seem straight so I'll recheck after putting them back on the bike. Course, I would like to know for sure what kind they are as I keep getting asked and can't answer. I'll be replacing the bolts that hold the bar on as they are pretty rusted.

Thanks. Hopefully I can get some more done next Sunday as it's supposed to get into the 40s again on that day.

 

[Flyboy]

Nice one Scotty, good to see you making some headway, I guess we don't realize, sometimes, here how fortunate we are to be able to wrench and ride pretty much all through the year and not have to contend with temps dropping to stupid cold and feet of that fluffy white rubbish that turns soggy and damps everything.

The wheel is looking super nice, please don't forget to tighten the front sprocket.ray:

If I had to choose a winner from your plugs, it would be number 3, the others look a tad lean, I don't see any blistering or anything untoward going on there, so not dangerously so, just not enough color for my liking, but maybe they have not been in long enough to get some good color yet.
And pretty young girls shouldn't bite their nails

 

[Guest]

Nice one Scott! That front sprocket's a pain to torque until you get a chain on and someone to stand on the rear brake for you. Mine sat loose for a couple of months waiting for me to get the chain on and for the house mate to be home to stand on the brake.

The rest is looking real good, and I agree with Stan on number 3, although really need to see plug chops to be accurate.

 

[cowboyup3371]

No pictures tonight as the camera isn't quite working but I'll take pictures this weekend.

The cam chain tensioner is put back together, armed, and waiting for payday to order a new gasket to put back on the bike. I also took the swingarm into work and our welding expert closed up my misplaced grease fitting hole. He made it look REALLY good so now I just need to find a new place and redrill it. Plus, he put a new set of holes in my damper rods so I can install the new damper valves I bought from Mikes XS (see the other thread about installing them). I've got some reading to do so I should be fine until payday.

 

[cowboyup3371]

So as I said a couple of days ago, I was able to get some things done over the last week but am waiting on parts to really get finished. I'm hoping new intake boot o-rings arrive from Mr. Barr this week and I'll order the last, I hope, of my parts on payday Friday.

In the meantime, here's the armed and ready to install cam chain tensioner.

I also painted the stator cover to match the rest of the covers, repainted the swingarm today to cover up the paint scratches from installation last year, and repainted the signal generator cover to hide the scratches from a couple of my drops.

Anyone remember that I mentioned the wind knocked down the bike? Well, I found the damage from it...here's a crack on that signal generator cover. I'll put some JB Weld on the inside (Thanks Steve) to hopefully keep water from damaging the insides.

Although I couldn't put anything back on the bike, I did try to clean it up some. Here's what it looked like from the oil leak out of that left front valve cover

And after cleaning up. The front of the bike was downright nasty from dirt and oil but it cleaned up okay. I'll take the hose to the front again after getting the pipes back on later as I just used a brush, simple green, bucket of water, paper towels, and q-tips to remove the old stuff. I'll get the oil cover after I get the bike off the jackstands.

On Thursday a co-worker drilled holes in my damper rods so I could put new fork emulator valves in to my forks. Waiting to order new o-rings for the fork caps first though.

Forgot to add this one. While cleaning, I found this chip on a part of the alternator rotor. Will it be a problem? I can try to take better pictures tomorrow if need be and I'll post a separate thread for it too.

Thanks for looking.

 

[D-Mac]

Good progress.

I just found a nearly identical chip on my alternator rotor.

 

[cowboyup3371]

Thanks D-Mac. Have you found anything else with it to cause you concern?

 

[Flyboy]

Nice one scott, you coming along really nice there, pity about the damage from the tumble, but better the ignition cover than the stator cover methinks, as you said, a bit of goo on the inside to seal it, you won't even see it, and you good to go.
I would not worry too much about the chip in the rotor, if it was going to cause grief, it would have done so by now I imagine, if it was charging fine and there were no undue noises or vibration coming from there, I say leave it be.

 

[Guest]

Going well Scott! That cam chain tensioner looks real clean and ready for action as do the other bits

Glad to see the damage from the fall is so minimal, could've been a lot worse but I reckon you got lucky there

As for the chip, the only things I'd worry about on the rotor are if there was enough missing to put it out of balance or stop the stator generating enough AC voltage.

Going by the size of that chip I can't see either of those things being a problem as it's so small.

 

[cowboyup3371]

Finally able to get some work done outside today only because I took the day off since it was supposed to be nice (climbed into upper 40s/lower 50s). Trust me, it's been frustrating to deal with the cold temps, wind, and waiting for parts. In fact, I hope to be getting the last of the little stuff tomorrow which will let me put the cam chain tensioner back on, do the valve clearances, and put the forks back on.

But, at least I got to do something. Started the day off by taking pictures of some of my Christmas gifts to show off:

Some painting I did during our warmer days (painted outside, ran them inside to dry)

My new chair so I can be lazy outside. Sure is nicer to use this instead of sitting on the cold ground (although I still did on some things).

And my new helmet (Arai Signet-Q) and gloves (a lot more knuckle and palm protection than what I had) for when I can finally start riding again

While waiting for Helena to get back from the store I took off the old battery box. This was just the external piece and didn't hold the battery very well. I jerryrigged a strap that worked but never gave me confidence

And a newer one I bought from Ebay that has the holder and a proper strap. I also bought a new intake portion of the airbox so I can have a good connection to the breather but didn't take pictures yet.

So, after she returned, I put the swingarm back in place and she pushed the bolt through. Then, finally put the rear tire in place and fought with putting the master link for the chain in place for over 30 minutes before realizing I needed a socket to push on each pin with the c-clamp. Sure makes it a lot easier. But now it's in place and clipped correctly. For those just perusing, I bought a new chain and sprockets last year but didn't align my wheel correctly and chewed up the rear sprocket. I hope I don't make that mistake again.

Then, I decided to open a box I received WAAAAAYYYY back in September when I ordered these new Hagon shocks:

And mounted them. It took a bit to push them onto the mounts but finally got it.

Once I finished the chain, I called Helena back outside to help hold the rear wheel while I torqued the front sprocket (didn't fold over the washer yet though) and took off the bolt from the alternator rotor. I figured out too late that I needed to hold the right side of the crankshaft while I unscrewed the bolt on the left (Thanks for the advice Tkent02). However, when I went to try using the flywheel removal tool that SRSupertrapp lent me (and another I bought from the local shop) I realized it was way too big.

So, I went searching this evening on the part number and found the 16mm MotionPro and Bikemaster advertise for the 550 isn't right, I need a 14mm tool. Alpha Sports has one for $23 but I'll check out the swingarm idea first (I really don't want to tear it apart again though). But I don't understand what people mean by sticking a bearing into that hole. Does anyone have pictures of something they use?

Anyway, weather is supposed to be in the 40s again this weekend so even with my daughter's basketball game, a birthday party, and a possible sleepover, maybe I'll get out and work some more.

 

[Guest]

Lookin' real good Scott! Glad to see you're getting somewhere

I did the makeshift slide hammer for my rotor removal... my thumb will never be the same

 

[cowboyup3371]

The alternator rotor is off but I think I screwed up. I posted my question in the other thread but here are some pictures of it.

Puller bolt is in

Rotor is off. I never said I could hammer.

Socket I tried to use to help

Threads inside

 

[cowboyup3371]

I took a vacation day today as I will spend most of my day tomorrow working on the Jeep and Sunday is supposed to fairly cool. Didn't do as much as I'd hoped but got the big stuff done I wanted to do.

Put the cam chain tensioner back in place.

Then took up the slack in the cam chain or so I thought.

Every time I would switch between cylinders, the chain would go slack and then tighten up. Whoops! Called Steve and we determined that although I followed Brian Wringer's directions, it's possible the plunger didn't seat correctly. So, we took the cam chain tensioner back apart, locked the plunger in first, then put the larger spring, knob, and 10mm nut back on. Once released, the chain stayed tight for every revolution.

While at it, I also checked the cam chain timing and was very pleased nothing was off. I had to remove the outer plate from the signal generator to read the marks there (per the manual) and then verified there were 20 pins between 2 and 3 (didn't get a picture of this, sorry).

Once that was done, I cleaned off the crankshaft with Simple Green and a towel, threaded the tap through to clean out the crap, and worked to put the new rotor on.

Read my alternator rotor thread for more info on that.

Checked my valve clearances and I'm going to be on pins and needles for a bit because 6 of them came in at .10mm and 1 and 3 intakes came in at .04. I'll raise 1 and 3 up (already requested new shims) and will re-check the other 6 after I run it for a bit.

The winds started really picking up towards this afternoon so I didn't get to the forks but hopefully I can do those this weekend sometime.

 

[Guest]

This is good progress Scott! You'll have her together in no time

I did the rebuild valve check and sorted the shims, then after the 15 minute first run I did one of them was not measurable for me, meaning less than 0.04 Fortunately I was able to rotate the bucket easily meaning there was at least some clearance.

I wouldn't be too concerned with those figures until you've run her for a bit...

 

[cowboyup3371]

Frustrating Day

Frustrating Day

Despite more 50mph gusts today, I wanted to try and get some work done. First I tried to re-terminate some wiring but couldn't find my stripper so Helena got me a new one while she was at Walmart. While she was gone I decided to at least try putting my forks together and posted up a question about the emulators. No answers to it but hey, it happens sometimes and I finally got a good answer via PM from Tkent.

But I finally was able to get the seals in to the forks and then tried putting in the damper rods. They both would slide in correctly and I could get the bottom allen bolt started but couldn't tighten them even hand tight. So I break out the rod I bought to loosen them and the dang damper rod still spins. WTF!

After pulling the damper rod back out, I find the top is completely round inside but not from damage. Also, based on the advice here, I put 19mm nuts on the rod and yet they don't fit down into the damper rod hole. SO HOW IN THE WORLD DID I GET THEM OUT? I'm asking myself.

After some cussing, I decided to go down to Lowes and pick up a broom handle as I know that is supposed to work as well. Guess what, although it would fit into the damper rod and hold it, it won't fit into my upper fork tube. More

So, I guess I'll try another suggestion and use my drill to tighten the bolt. But it means I have to go and buy an adapter as well as a socket allen key as I don't have either. Man, I should be able to own Sears by now!!

Here are some pictures I was able to take today though

Seals are in place; could never find a new retaining ring for cheap but I'm told it shouldn't matter much either since it is there more for show than anything.

The inside of the damping rod

The nut I was told to use on the end of the holder rod tool

But what the inside of the damper rod actually measures to be

So hopefully I can find the cash in this payday to get the tools; otherwise, it's another two weeks before I can even get the front end back on.

 

[Redneck]

What a bummer. Wish I could give some advice that would solve the problem but for the life of me I can not remember how mine went together. I will look at my other set and see. Is there that much difference between your T and my L as far as front suspension?

Paul

 

[Flyboy]

Damn, Scott, that is the strangest set up I have seen on those forks, how are you supposed to hold them?
I guess the manual is no great help either and offers advice like "use Suzuki special tool 2345-yutd" or some such nonsense.

Looks like we both had our share of this weekend....except mine was self inflicted.

Nice progress otherwise. Keep it up.

 

[tkent02]

Try this, assemble the forks with the damper rods, emulators, springs, and the spacers and top caps, everything but the oil in place. Tighten the caps down, there will be a lot of spring tension holding the damper rod from turning. Use the drill on the bolts, they should snug right up.
It's the opposite of what I do to take the bolts out, I hit them with the impact driver before I take the tops off the forks and release the spring tension.