what did you wrench on today??

[GSXR7ED]

took possession of a craigslisted harbor fright bike lift, used once and 175 bucks! Merry christmas to me (and my back)....

Yes, Merry Christmas. That lift is regular price $429.99.

Cool! I've been eyeballing those. How does the front wheel lock hold, secure enough?

Haven't tried it yet, BUT the consensus seems to be that the chock that comes with is pretty much garbage and is better replaced with something more robust, like: https://www.harborfreight.com/motorcycle-wheel-chock-60392.html

For what I paid, this is an easy upgrade.

Good call!

I grabbed one over the weekend and so far love having a lift...prompted me to do my GS750 valves on Sunday.

Yeah the clamp (wouldn't even consider it a chock) is pretty much useless and I guess technically could `hold' a motorcycle upright but it would fall over if you sneezed. I would trust it + ratchet straps. So far I've just had the bike on the center stand.

Now, I want one!!!


Ed

 

[Grimly]

I am in the works to get a little Can-Am Bombardier 250 to haul wood, supply and dirt around the property.

I had one for a couple of years, as an ex-Nato bike over here. Nice little runner, but a seat that felt like it was designed to carve turkeys if used for more than an hour.

 

[Boriqua]

Among other things .. I installed new Hagon Shocks today. Oh my my. I went over a piece of road I had to give up on previously with the original shocks because the bike was rattling to pieces but with the Hagons and My wife on back .. just a beautiful ride. Amazing transformation. While I dread doing the front springs if it brings anything close to the transformation the rear shocks did I am pumped.

So here is some things you should know ..
When you look up Hagon shocks on the net you come to

http://www.hagonshocksusa.com/

That site is dead. Hagon abandoned the US distributor and you will get an email from UK. Shipping from UK is kind of expensive and the order process is a little involved.

So I kept looking. After digging some more I found a post from Steve recommending Dave Quinn

http://www.davequinnmotorcycles.com/cgi-bin/webc.cgi/HAGON_TWIN_SHOCKS.html

The dude was an ABSOLUTE pleasure to deal with and made important recommendations regarding what I bought and he was dead on. If you are considering a shock swap you may want to speak with him.

I landed up with the Standard road shock with the standard rate spring but the wide spring and not the slim I went to buy. Looks much nicer on that chunky bike. I am about 200lbs clothed and my wife is about 120.

The second of three preload settings was absolutely perfect for the two of us. I didnt feel as if we would bottom out at all and it ate all the little bumps without even noticing them. I purposely drove over every damn manhole cover just to see.

Here is the best part .. I got all that upgrade in ride quality and all that pro advice for $235.64 shipped to AZ!

I have new rubbers on the way for the rear pegs and as soon as I get all running sorted out I will strategically apply some airbrush to the frame scars. UGH

 

[Guest]

Among other things .. I installed new Hagon Shocks today. Oh my my. I went over a piece of road I had to give up on previously with the original shocks because the bike was rattling to pieces but with the Hagons and My wife on back .. just a beautiful ride. Amazing transformation. While I dread doing the front springs if it brings anything close to the transformation the rear shocks did I am pumped.

So here is some things you should know ..
When you look up Hagon shocks on the net you come to

http://www.hagonshocksusa.com/

That site is dead. Hagon abandoned the US distributor and you will get an email from UK. Shipping from UK is kind of expensive and the order process is a little involved.

So I kept looking. After digging some more I found a post from Steve recommending Dave Quinn

http://www.davequinnmotorcycles.com/cgi-bin/webc.cgi/HAGON_TWIN_SHOCKS.html

The dude was an ABSOLUTE pleasure to deal with and made important recommendations regarding what I bought and he was dead on. If you are considering a shock swap you may want to speak with him.

I landed up with the Standard road shock with the standard rate spring but the wide spring and not the slim I went to buy. Looks much nicer on that chunky bike. I am about 200lbs clothed and my wife is about 120.

The second of three preload settings was absolutely perfect for the two of us. I didnt feel as if we would bottom out at all and it ate all the little bumps without even noticing them. I purposely drove over every damn manhole cover just to see.

Here is the best part .. I got all that upgrade in ride quality and all that pro advice for $235.64 shipped to AZ!

I have new rubbers on the way for the rear pegs and as soon as I get all running sorted out I will strategically apply some airbrush to the frame scars. UGH

Man that's a pretty bike!

 

[Guest]

Replacing a turn signal after my third 0.2 mph parking lot spill on my Wee Strom. Getting a fairing panel off is almost necessary, and I'm figuring out how to do it. PITN. After the signal is swapped, I have "crash bars" to install + protectors for radiator and oil cooler.

 

[Boriqua]

It was yesterday but ... installed new Sonic springs in my forks with beautiful clean fork oil. Oh what a dream ride!!

Also managed to install new rear peg rubber, go over all my valve cover bolts to stop the oil creep, successfully after today's test ride, and finally got around to installing the correct gas tank mounting hardware. Ok six hours of my day doing it all but there was plenty of beer and it was a balmy 77F so a very enjoyable day made even more enjoyable by today's ride!

So ... unless something breaks .. I am kinda done and wont have much more to contribute to this thread. I want to do chain and sprockets but they have some life left so I am going to wait until spring

Edited to add: Oh wait .. I just remembered I need a new horn ... well its something

 

[limeex2]

Wheel maintenance and clean up of spoke wheels I had stored for many years. Found a nice matching 3.0" x 18" D.I.D. rim off of E-bay. It's a front wheel that was already laced up with a 18" take off rim previously with .165 S/S spokes. D.I.D. rim cane from a 79 KX400 dirt bike and was in great shape. Cleaned up dings and corrosion.
At work, we make a new sandpaper that is on rubber instead of paper. It allowed me to wrap the corroded spoke with a 320 grit. After de-greasing and polishing, the spokes look nice and fresh. Spokes looked worse than pictured rim. A new set of Nachi bearings and its off to the wheel shop to lace up my newly found rim. Will clean up hub while disassembled.

 

[Sandy]

Haven't done much since my last session until tonight. Finished assembling the front end, gauges, some wiring and checked the valves tonight. Kudos for Steve and his spread sheet, been using it for quite some time now and it was great looking back at just how much adjustment these shims and bucket systems don't need. A total of 3 shims needed in the last 35,000kms. and that includes the 1 shim needed this evening.

 

[Jedz123]

Finally got around to replacing the pre-amp board on our Hammond T-500. About 1.5 hours of work, electrical is a somewhat new thing to me (solder old circuit boards). New Caps and the thing came back around... Speakers are my next on the list for replacement. It's my fiance's Grandmothers in which we inherited after she passed away in September. Nice to hear it come to life, hasn't run properly in nearly 25 years.

Moved it into the living room... To make room.

Then Yesterday I grabbed my "new to me" Hammond Concord. (E-series)

Great working good condition Full On Church organ... Sucker CRANKS, built in Lelsies , It's transistorized but the sound is Phenomenal. Shakes the house... It was free but I gave a donation to the church's youth group for helping me load it into my truck.

Mrs. Jedz toying...

It was a 4 hour round trip to snag... Maybe less then $200 into the whole ordeal for a not so desired Hammond... Definitely one of the better Key'd instruments I've played on... I enjoyed a Steinway & Sons Full Grand and a Hammond B3 with 2 Aux Leslies more... But this one is definitely one of my favorites... For a 73 it's in very good shape....

So at 525lbs, there was some definite wrenching going on yesterday

 

[Guest]

It was yesterday but ... installed new Sonic springs in my forks with beautiful clean fork oil. Oh what a dream ride!!

Also managed to install new rear peg rubber, go over all my valve cover bolts to stop the oil creep, successfully after today's test ride, and finally got around to installing the correct gas tank mounting hardware. Ok six hours of my day doing it all but there was plenty of beer and it was a balmy 77F so a very enjoyable day made even more enjoyable by today's ride!

So ... unless something breaks .. I am kinda done and wont have much more to contribute to this thread. I want to do chain and sprockets but they have some life left so I am going to wait until spring

Edited to add: Oh wait .. I just remembered I need a new horn ... well its something

Go to a car parts place and get yourself a High tone horn and a relay switch. I did that to mine and now it has a REALLY GOOD LOUD Horn.

 

[Burque73]

Finally got around to replacing the pre-amp board on our Hammond T-500....

So at 525lbs, there was some definite wrenching going on yesterday

Ok, I thought exposing your organ would get you banned from the forum

But I suppose at 525lbs, it's worth showing off

 

[alke46]

Good one Roger.

 

[Big T]

Working on the DRz 400 today. The petcock failed and filled the crankcase with gas (sound familiar?)
Oil/gas is drained, drain plugs. fillers, filter, spark plug all open to the air to purge as much of the little bit of fuel as possible
Now to get those effin crush washers off the drain plugs and put the new ones on. Somebody over torqued them and smashed them onto the bolts

Edit- mission accomplished and it ran uninterrupted for 10 minutes! for the first time in months (it would stall after about a mile prior to that)

 

[Guest]

I had a new to me occurrence today. A bike the shop sold last week, a '07 GSXR600 with leds every where even the wheels and an amp with speakers, came back because the new owner said it shut down on him going 60. I turn the key and nothing. I check the fuses and all are good, so I look at the main fuse on the starter solenoid. BINGO! Blown fuse. Replace it with another 30 amp fuse and pop. I smell some burnt wire, but I didn't see the smoke. Try another fuse and pop, but this time I see some smoke up at the right front. Near where one of the speakers are mounted, but I don't see melted wires.

So I figure I'll pull all the fuses and put them back in one at a time until I pop another main. I also disconnect any extra wires that are attached to the battery. Put another 30 amp fuse in the main, see the gauge needle rotate and pop. No smoke. I still don't see any melted wires, so I disconnect the four wire connector off the solenoid. It has two red power wires and two bk/y wires that are for the starter button. I try all for for continuity to the negative battery terminal. I get continuity at both red wires, not good. It eliminated the starter control, but that means it can be anywhere in the harness if it melted wires.

According to the wiring diagram the red wires tie into each other, go to the R/R, and the turn signal control. I try the R/R connector and no continuity, hook it back up and buzz. Disconnect, nothing, reconnect and buzz. It's something in the R/R. Told the boss and he gave me a new R/R and when I hooked it into the harness and installed a new fuse all was good again. So in the morning I have to mount the new R/R, but I also need to see where the smoke came from. Something melted. It could be the wires coming out of the old R/R(I hope) or something else where. The R/R on these bikes are mounted on the left side, not where I saw the smoke.

 

[roeme]

I had a new to me occurrence today. A bike the shop sold last week, a '07 GSXR600 with leds every where even the wheels and an amp with speakers, came back because the new owner said it shut down on him going 60. I turn the key and nothing. I check the fuses and all are good, so I look at the main fuse on the starter solenoid. BINGO! Blown fuse. Replace it with another 30 amp fuse and pop. I smell some burnt wire, but I didn't see the smoke. Try another fuse and pop, but this time I see some smoke up at the right front. Near where one of the speakers are mounted, but I don't see melted wires.

So I figure I'll pull all the fuses and put them back in one at a time until I pop another main. I also disconnect any extra wires that are attached to the battery. Put another 30 amp fuse in the main, see the gauge needle rotate and pop. No smoke. I still don't see any melted wires, so I disconnect the four wire connector off the solenoid. It has two red power wires and two bk/y wires that are for the starter button. I try all for for continuity to the negative battery terminal. I get continuity at both red wires, not good. It eliminated the starter control, but that means it can be anywhere in the harness if it melted wires.

According to the wiring diagram the red wires tie into each other, go to the R/R, and the turn signal control. I try the R/R connector and no continuity, hook it back up and buzz. Disconnect, nothing, reconnect and buzz. It's something in the R/R. Told the boss and he gave me a new R/R and when I hooked it into the harness and installed a new fuse all was good again. So in the morning I have to mount the new R/R, but I also need to see where the smoke came from. Something melted. It could be the wires coming out of the old R/R(I hope) or something else where. The R/R on these bikes are mounted on the left side, not where I saw the smoke.

...eh, wtf? A GSXR600 with speakers? Come the eff again?

 

[Big T]

Roeme, It' Florida. Weird people down there, they stretch and slam their sport bikes due to a lack of curves. Add on a bunch of LEDs to light up their bikes,etc

 

[Redman]

Yamaha CDC-635 multidisc CD player

Yamaha CDC-635 multidisc CD player

well, did not use a wrench.
Did use phillips screw driver and some needlenose pliers arr arr.

CD player Had not worked at all last few months.
And for years prior to that the table would not always drive out and/or in, might have to push or pull it.

Today took off the cover and found a CD under the table, at the position of the player.

THen took apart some more stuff and find a drive belt is real loose.
Hey, poked around in my shop and the "junk drawer" and found a rubber band that was about twice too long and maybe half too thin.
So doubled it over, and whaa-laaa

All good now.

Did find an actaull proper replacement online.

 

[Guest]

Went for a ride on the ' 84 GS1100GK in the morning as it was expected to get to 37 deg C. So a bit hot, I came back and parked in shed, went back out a few hours later could smell fuel.. mm... bit damp around carby and on gear lever, fuel coming out of airbox drain hose. The dreaded petcock failure. haha
Took tank off, leaking fuel, out of tap no matter what position. Sat tank tilted with can under one side.
Checked nearest Suzuki dealer. In stock $80 AU.
Next morning rode the other '85 GS1100GK up, checked out some nice old Katanas and a one owner red 1980 gs1000 that looked mint.
Back home fitted new fuel tap. Perfect. I did almost think of buying a rebuild kit but stuff it.
Why waste my time when they don't always work and the metal parts are worn anyway.

 

[KiwiAlfa156]

Rear brake was weak, unable to lock the rear wheel. Discovered the outer piston was stuck (dual pistons). Freed the piston by rotating it while applying fluid pressure. Then bled both front and rear brakes.

 

[Sandy]

2 firsts

2 firsts

Rebuilt the rear wheel off my 1000. Never built a wheel before and never real polished aluminum before either. Turns out both were pretty easy, hardest part was actually getting all the old clear coat off and prepping for polishing. Lacing the wheel only took about 1 1/2 hours start to finish and once assembled only took minor truing and is actually truer than when I started. Run out in both directions is only about 0.05mm and spec I think 2.0mm. Now to take over to a buddies who has done lots of wheels to check my work ......never hurts to have a second opinion and also order spokes for the front.

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