what did you wrench on today??

[Guest]

Replaced my battery yesterday so I don't have to keep bump starting the 450. Went back to a good ol' lead acid this time as the extra $$$ for the Motobatt just isn't warranted. It lasted no longer than the original cheap lead acid I had. Interestingly enough when I mentioned to the battery guy I was replacing a Motobatt he said "yeah they're sh!t"... exact words.

They have one cut open for display and you can see everything including the fact the bus bars are extremely thin. He also said they tended to die unexpectedly which is sorta what happened to me. I had a little warning with slow cranking on the really cold mornings but this week it just stopped completely despite showing full charge on a multimeter.

(trick) Question: How can a multi-meter show state of charge for a battery?

I'm using an Autozone AGM battery. The battery in my Wee Strom failed the day after I bought it. (Probably the original, 5 years old, almost never run until I got it). So I walked down the road and stopped at the first car parts store...Working OK right now. Perhaps I should have it's cranking amps checked annually and replace when it begins to drop...

 

[Carter Turk]

Took the 1150ES out last week and it was running odd, like missing on one cylinder or running lean, although it appeared to firng on all cylinders.
Had a look yesterday, all the plugs looked fair, light golden color if not a hair lean. I was going to pull the carbs when I noticed the culprit.
#2 intake boot was torn nearly half way around. It has pods, so a bit of weight is being supported by the boots only.
I had a ziptie around a frame rail holding up the rack, but it still cracked.
Grabbed an old hardened spare, rubbed some brake fluid on it a rolled it around like an orange.
Running fine now.
Gave a half a turn out on A/F screws.
The hardened one was an old #492 L, I think has been superceded by 0AA, where all the boots are the same, no left and right.

 

[Guest]

On my 83 1100E, I fixed a turn signal issue, drained the gas out of the tank and drained the oil. waiting on oil and air filters before i put fresh oil in it. will also be rebuilding the petcock and replacing the vacuum line from the tank to the carbs.

Buy a new petcock, rebuilds have a very high failure rate.

 

[Redman]

Yesterday, I was working on reinstalliing the secondary driven gear assembly (dont be fooled into thinking I am some gearhead that knows all about this... I just learned what to call it, and was the first time I have ever seen one, just a couple weeks ago)
... anyway ....

Was working on reinstalling the secondary driven gear set, hgave the engine all unbolted from the frame and all the bolts/rods out so can manover the engine around some to get get clearance for this (apparently GK has more stuff on the frame right there in the way), and I was jacking up the engine (like had to for the removal of the gear set) ....
So I am on the floor next to the bike, cranking on the jack under the engine, crank-crank- looking at the engine bolt holes lifting up from the mount holes, crank-crank- thinking I need to lift up just a bit more, crank-crank, but seems like not getting it to go up much, crank-crank, need a bit more, crank-crank, seems like I had the engine up a little higher when I removed the gear set, crank-crank, humm, engine not seeming to raise up like it did before, but needs to be up higher, crank-crank. Hum, stopped to ponder things for a bit .... then relaise that I am cranking up the entire bike, and it is teetering on one leg of the center stand --- oh, crap..... I was about to crank it right over on top of me... geepers.

 

[Guest]

Yesterday, I was working on reinstalliing the secondary driven gear assembly (dont be fooled into thinking I am some gearhead that knows all about this... I just learned what to call it, and was the first time I have ever seen one, just a couple weeks ago)
... anyway ....

Was working on reinstalling the secondary driven gear set, hgave the engine all unbolted from the frame and all the bolts/rods out so can manover the engine around some to get get clearance for this (apparently GK has more stuff on the frame right there in the way), and I was jacking up the engine (like had to for the removal of the gear set) ....
So I am on the floor next to the bike, cranking on the jack under the engine, crank-crank- looking at the engine bolt holes lifting up from the mount holes, crank-crank- thinking I need to lift up just a bit more, crank-crank, but seems like not getting it to go up much, crank-crank, need a bit more, crank-crank, seems like I had the engine up a little higher when I removed the gear set, crank-crank, humm, engine not seeming to raise up like it did before, but needs to be up higher, crank-crank. Hum, stopped to ponder things for a bit .... then relaise that I am cranking up the entire bike, and it is teetering on one leg of the center stand --- oh, crap..... I was about to crank it right over on top of me... geepers.

Jeez dude..... be careful! I doubt the bike would kill you if it fell on your, but still........

 

[cowboyup3371]

Ouch Dave; glad you figured it out before it got too bad

 

[Redman]

Jeez dude..... be careful! I doubt the bike would kill you if it fell on your, but still........

Ouch Dave; glad you figured it out before it got too bad

yah,... good to avoid laying on garage floor with 600 lbs of motorcycle on chest.

.

 

[Brendan W]

Timing belt, w/pump and dephaser pulley for the Renault 1.6 vvt engine.
It's a bit weird because all the pulleys float freely on the shafts, no keys, drive is entirely friction.

 

[Guest]

Removed the springs from the rear shocks. Someone had previously applied silver paint to them so I cleaned it all of to expose the bright, shiny chrome. The shock bodies need paint so I'll strip the old and redo them. Also removed the exhaust system (in order to remove the shocks) that is in surprisingly excellent condition - its the original 1982 black chrome exhaust.

 

[dorkburger]

Made a couple of temporary filler panels to cover the fairing lower where the mid panels would go until I decide what to do. If I ultimately decide to go without, I'll get a trashed set of mid panels and cut them longways and use the small cut piece to cover the bottom like inactive member JoeH did on his es. I don't love them, plus theres extra holes from their previous life as a refrigerator part- thats why I painted them black..... Held on by zip ties.....
http://20170922_205026 by Glen Brenner, on Flickr

 

[dorkburger]

No proper wrenching, but cleaned up in the garage. One needs to occasionally hit the reset button, put everything away, and clean off the workbench.
http://20170924_233423 by Glen Brenner, on Flickr

 

[steve murdoch]

I can't even find the bench to clean it off.

 

[storm 64]

I can't clean my work bench, well not yet. I went out for a ride one day. When I came home there was a spider web built going across my bench! I haven't had the hart to take it down, it's a work of art! I just been working around it. ☺

 

[GSXR7ED]

I can't clean my work bench, well not yet. I went out for a ride one day. When I came home there was a spider web built going across my bench! I haven't had the hart to take it down, it's a work of art! I just been working around it. ☺

I got a black widow web in front of my shed door. That little critter ran up the inside of the roof to hide from me.

Yes, that web is a piece of work...but I'm gonna have to get rid of it in order not to be accidentally bitten by that beast!


Ed

 

[Guest]

Replaced the radiator on the Yukon, oil and filter on an 05 Busa and maybe more if the customer calls and clarifies what he means by a Tune Up. Now I'm working on an '81 GL1100 that I had to replace the left cylinder head, belts, starter, solenoid, battery........ It's finally running on spray, but the sub par carb clean I did on it over three months ago, seem to be clogged again. Does anyone know where I can get new intake boots from? The reason I did a sub par carb clean before, was that these boots are rocks and they may get destroyed if I try to separate the carbs from them. Non available new from the factory and everything on eBay are the intake elbow and boots, no boots by themselves.

 

[cowboyup3371]

Ever since my last get off at Brown County, the bike hasn't felt quite right so I figured I should replace my swingarm bearings since I know some here recommend that for others. However, I had also stripped out one of the chain guard mounting bracket holes a couple of years back so I figured why not take care of both and just replace the entire swingarm. Since we also found a leaking front brake bleeder valve on Charmayne's bike, why not do it now.

After installing new bearings into the replacement swingarm I bought from Witttom, I finally decided to mount it this last week.

New swingarm by Scott Baker, on Flickr

Of course it only makes sense to remove all of the rear end stuff if you are also changing out the rear tire. I have loved the Shinko tires I've ran for the last five years or so but I really don't know how any tire feels so I decided to try something different and put on these:

New Pirelli tires by Scott Baker, on Flickr

After also repainting my rear brake caliper, I started putting everything back together with the intent on trying to save some riding time for this long weekend. Yet, the bike decided to have other plans for me last night when I found the rear brake hydraulic light switch quit working on me. During the testing to figure out why, I found some of the wiring up front decided it didn't want to play nice anymore.

Connector wire loose by Scott Baker, on Flickr

And it seems the front brake light switch wiring needs re-terminating which probably explains why my switch doesn't activate right

Busted brake wiring by Scott Baker, on Flickr

So thanks to all of that and than finding problems on my wiring going to the tail light, I figured I'd tear the upper portion of the rear off and start fixing things. I had planned to wait until this winter to do this but what the heck.

The rear fender has had this dent for a very long time so out it came

Dent in rear fender by Scott Baker, on Flickr

Dent removed from fender by Scott Baker, on Flickr

I also rewired the rear spaghetti mess that feeds the taillight, license plate holder, and turn signals but ran out of the connectors I need and have to wait for a delivery from Cycle Recycle II this week. So much for making any miles this weekend but at least stuff is getting fixed finally.

 

[Mosquito13]

Replaced the speedo cable this morning with my morning cup.

 

[Guest]

Replaced the speedo cable this morning with my morning cup.

That's awesome. Except how is a morning cup supposed to show you your speed?

 

[chuck hahn]

Little bit of shop clean up and rearranging went on. Then I changed plugs in the 73 Yamaha TX750 and went one hotter with BS7ES from the BS8ES. Plugs showed a bit rich so I set the float hts 1 MM higher at 2 instead of 25..which will lean it out ever so slightly. Carbs have stock jets according to the manual.

Next came Stahlgrau333s 82 1100GL as it was acting up on him. Refreshed the carbs and checked the float hts etc etc. Found the intake manifold clamps a bit stretched so we fixed that. Also found the #2 cylinder wire just fell off the wire when we pulled the cap to check the plugs...so that wire got trimmed and the cap screwed back on.

Finally pulled a vacuum sync since it was again running on all 4 properly......Got it real close and then went for a beat down ride to see how she did after all the maintenance. good to go now.

 

[wymple]

I've been working on an 89 Chevy truck I was given (yup) with a bad motor. I'm swapping in a 350 out of a 4WD truck and it's been fighting me every nut & bolt. I added a new timing chain (just because, it was ok) with new seals front & rear as well as at the transmission. All new exhaust gaskets & studs. Older trucks this crap didn't take so god-awful much time & effort. At least it's a Chevy so it's worth it. No rust, real solid frame. I got some bike work to do, but I need this truck done. Should fire it up tomorrow unless it rains.