Fuel Tank liner(?) issues on new shiny '82 XJ750 Maxim

according to this http://kawtriple.com/mraxl/files/steeringstem.pdf the bearings are top 25 x 48 x 15.2 and lower 30 x 48 x 15. buy a cheap set of digital calipers and measure them. you don't know you needed cheap calipers until you have them. AllBalls doesn't make bearings they just re-mark somebody else's so the #'s might not match. spare roller bearings are useless because you'll never need them.
do like k-moe said, rebuild the whole brake system all at once, otherwise you'll bleed the system several times and that isn't fun.
check the disks for run out, that could be the shaking. air in one side affects both sides so don't get too involved in that.
does it still have original brake lines?

 

Fortunately, I have a nice digital caliper sitting beside me (it's a must-have for 3D printing). They're 25x47x15 and 25x55x15, so not the right bearings. That's that then. Ordered a new set.

The brake lines are clearly brand new. The previous owner never registered and insured the bike; he was rebuilding it as a project, lost interest in it.

I have rebuild kits for the calipers, and the master cylinder. New pads are on the way. You make a good point with regards to bleeding, so yeah, I'll do the MC as well while I'm at it.

I don't have means to check for runout unfortunately(aside from visually), however a problem with the rotors themselves basically screws me right now (I simply don't have $700 to replace them both, and won't for months) so I may as well do the rest and hope for the best. Here's hoping just having one caliper doing the braking + shot steering head bearings is the cause of the shudder.

Just replaced my Chevy's rotors for $60 a pop =/

 

I'd me

Yes you do. Tape a ruler to the fork so the scale is resting just above the disc. It's crude but it will work.

 

Obviously, perfectly straight is ideal, but what's maximum runout?

 

lol nevermind, whatever the maximum is, it's less than what that rotor has. It was plainly visible just rotating the tire, and develops a substantial amount of drag as the tire rotates.

By eye with a precision ruler, it's deviating by 1/16th of an inch/1.5mm.

Definitely a shot rotor.

 

So, parts ordered, should be here Wednesday.

Front end's getting torn apart and rebuilt, brakes, suspension, all the bearings. I've got the wheel bearings, fork kit, etc too, so I may as well just tear it all down. I've got the parts already, and as Polock notes above regarding the brakes... If it's all going to be apart anyways, may as well do it all at once.

 

surely you can get rotors cheaper than that. take them off, clean the wheel and rotor, spin them 180 and re torque them. for that kind of money try anything

 

Yeah, I can't buy em new. Even through Len, that's what a new pair would cost me. Exchange pushes them to 330 each, then shipping. Fortnine.ca carries EBC rotors that are compatible, but they're the same price. I simply cannot afford that, so other options needed finding.

I found a used rotor on eBay that'll cost me $100 CDN shipped, so I'm going to just replace the damaged one. Frustrating as it's listed for $20 US, but that's a Canadian's plight =/. For inexplicable reasons, US > Canada shipping is always absurdly expensive (cheaper to ship here from the UK!) and the exchange is criminal.

It's not repairable though - I know a guy who can machine them, but the warped is too sudden and severe. Take the high spot down, and the remaining thickness in that portion would be 3.1mm (and almost certainly still cause shudder as a result).

I was considering just buying one new rotor, but that's still $400ish for a "oh God you should never do this!" solution.

But, anyways, got a replacement on the way, week and a half wait for it, so that's some time to rebuild the rest of the system.

 

Have the seller ship via USPS. The rate is cheaper and there's no duty (by treaty).

 

It is shipped USPS.

USPS shipping to Canada is very expensive for reasons that escape me. Together they're about $65 USD, which is $87cad ideally, but more accurately 90ish when PayPal takes their exchange cut.

This is always a problem when buying stuff from the states. It's strange that you can get stuff shipped from overseas cheaper, but whatever. You get used to it.

 

For reference, mailing (USPS) the battery side body panel here was $37usd, and that's really light.

 

is that quote direct from USPS, or is it the seller's quote?

 

I think that is because Canada is a british colony, they probably have favourable postal rate agreements.

Strong US dollar doesn't help, either.

 

For an item that size and weight, that's actually about right. Anything over 1 pound (packaging included) must go Priority Mail service level to Canada (or, anywhere outside the USA), and anything that won't fit (with proper secure packaging) into one of their "flat rate" boxes or envelopes gets a pretty high rate.

For years, the Post Office was DIRT CHEAP for shipping items outside of the USA.....I mean, as in give-away pricing. It was like a US government subsidy to small exporters. That changed about 2-3 years ago as the USPS tried to start making some more money (hint: due to a scam and by pressure put onto Congress via UPS, Fed-Ex, etc. i.e. private carriers) to eliminate the absolutely insane price advantage that the Post Office was able to offer over commercial carriers.

At least you still get "free" customs clearance/brokerage when shipping via Post Office (since the post office is a government entity). Private carriers have to go thru a customs brokerage service that tacks on an additional rape charge......

 

Try a bike wrecker / recycler , I believe there is a bike parts recycler in Calgary. I don't know the name but ask around or google it...
Alan

 

Direct from USPS. This is normal, it's always like this. Mailing within the US via USPS is incredibly cheap, but as soon as you cross the border to Canada it's insanely expensive.

This has been the case for many years, and is not a matter of sellers inflating quotes. Just how it is. It surprised me, honestly, given how much shopping is done online these days, there's be much more Canadian purchasers of US products if shipping wasn't so prohibitive.

And it's not just Britain, it's cheaper to ship things from China here than from the US. Basically, cheaper from pretty much anywhere else in the world.

What's curious is that it doesn't go both ways. I could mail that battery cover back for $10cdn.

 

There is, the Old Motorcycle Shop. They had a rotor listed (a pair actually, $30 CDN each and in great shape) but when I got there, they turned out to be from something else that looked identical but where about an inch and a half larger in diameter. Frustrating, that.

 

Surely there's a decent sized bike wrecker in Calgary. Did you try that?
oops, replied to a stale post, never mind.

 

While awaiting the arrival of my "new" rotor, I've torn into the brakes - pads, calipers, master cylinder.

Got the calipers torn down, lines drained, and am removing the master cylinder, when I ran into a problem.

How do you remove the brake switch from the lever assembly? It's "push fit" according to the Haynes manual, but it doesn't offer any tips for removal, and I don't want to break it. Any tips here? I'm not even positive if I need to remove the whole switch, or just disconnect it? The wiring into the headlight isn't removable (either by design or due to the mess of wiring "repairs" that have been done to this bike since it's birth) and I can't see how to disconnect it at the switch, but I'm not sure how it's connected either, as there's a boot of sorts covering the connection and I'm not positive how to remove it either. Here's the connection:

 

FRONT MASTER CYLINDER BRAKE LIGHT SWITCH:

NOTE: except on the XJ750 Seca and XJ900RK models, the removal of these switches from the master cylinder housing seems like a trick Chinese puzzle, until you figure it out.....there is small, round hole (about 2mm diameter) on the forward side of the housing where this switch plugs in. Using a small screwdriver or other such object, gently push in through this hole onto the plastic "tooth" that is part of the switch housing, while also pulling back on the switch. Releasing this ratchet tooth will release the switch from the housing, and out it comes! Here's a good image of it:

http://xjbikes.com/forums/index.php?threads/38144

 

That got it! Thank you, sir!

 

Small aside.

I'd noticed riding it my speedo didn't work. I found out why: the "clutch plate/drive dog" - metal ring with little tabs that drives the speedo gear - had one of it's tabs torn off. That'll need replacement, but I'm concerned about whether the whole speedo drive gearbox will need replacement as well. Maybe that tab just broke because it's a 35 year old bit of metal, or maybe it broke because reasons. I'm able to turn the speedo gear that the tab would normally turn by hand, and though there's a fair amount of resistance turning it by hand it does move smoothly - it's badly in need of a clean out and re-greasing at least. Is there any way to really test this, short of cleaning it out, re-greasing it, popping in a new clutch plate and hoping for the best? I don't think I'm going to be able to spin it anywhere near fast enough to see the needle move =/

 

You don't need to test it. You've already figured out what needs to be done.

The tab broke because someone didn't pay attention to putting the tabs into the right places the last time the wheel was off. It happens, even to new speedo drive clutches. It's one of the reasons why that part is still available new, for about $5. When you replace the drive clutch, you can clean and regrease the rest of the speedometer drive.

 

Right. Just wanted to be sure there wasn't something else I should look at before replacing that.

I hadn't considered someone just taking it apart then putting it back together without ensuring the tabs fit into the relevant slots. That's a much more likely breakage case than basically anything else given the gearing isn't seized. Off to badger Chacal

 

If a person didn't know how the speedometer drive works, it'd be easy to not notice how the tabs have to fit into the wheel hub.

 

So, tore down the braking system. The calipers were both badly in need of a rebuild, chock full of breaking seals and crusty brakegunk. The calipers had roughly 50% of their paint left, so I busted out my beloved Dremel and some sandpaper.


Apart with ye!



Paint removed from one, one to go. Then, an evening of wet sanding over TV!

 

Hit them with some 400 grit finishing paper to get rid of the gouges from the sandpaper. The new paint won't fill those in very well.

 

I bet you had fun breaking loose that brake pad retainer pin.............

 

Jesus. It took me about an hour to get the two pins out. Everything else was a piece of cake, but those damned pins. Totally seized in place, and had been somewhat stripped to start with. They're getting a healthy dose of antiseize before going back in.

 

Yeah, the pic there is before I've touched em with sandpaper, just used a brass wheels on the dremel to pull the paint off.

Amusingly, the surface of the caliper is smoother now than it was when painted. I took a bit of time to grind off the mould lines and other imperfections. Man, I love my Dremel.

I'm a bit obsessive with my paint prep, so they'll get 400 and 800 wet sanding passes then an isopropyl washdown before being masked and sprayed. Should have happened tonight, but things got busy so tomorrow.

 

Sanded, sprayed. They look pretty decent; much better than they did before. I'm happy =) Hanging up to dry right now, then they'll get their bake off tomorrow to cure.

Received my new pads and steering bearings today. Have to admit to a level of apprehension with regards to the steering head - disassembly seems fairly frightening, and I've never taken apart a bike's front end before - so I'm going to hold off on them for the moment. Once I get the brakes back together, I can bring the bike to my brother in law's and get another pair of hands and a heated garage to work in, rather than my sketchy prop-up-the-bike-outside setup.

The Hayne's manual is really poor with regards to the steering head. Few pictures, and several different sets of directions (each model is different) all referring back and forth to each other.

Any tips with regards to that? I checked for how-to's in the DIY sections here, but didn't see anything.

 

http://www.xjbikes.com/forums/threads/taper-bearing-how-to.60767/

Note that the XJ does not have, and does not use a locking washer.

 

Thanks k-moe! "Taper bearings" didn't click at all, was looking for steering head

MC is rebuilt - its seals where literally falling apart, so it was definitely necessary. Some time in the in-laws ultrasonic cleaner cut a heck of a lot of time out of the cleaning process! Just a matter of overall reassembly now(pending rotor arrival), and the whole front brake system is rebuilt.

 

It comes up that way because most people swap out the original ball bearings for rollers.

 

So - and this is my terrified part - when tearing down the front end to do this, can you just disconnect things like the handlebars, console, headlight, signals, etc, but leave them electrically connected? Or do I have to fully remove all that?

The post shows disassembly from basically just the forks left, and I'm deeply afraid of digging into this:



It's scary. I want to strip the bike down to a minimal electrical system and fully replace the existing wiring, but that's an "over the winter" task. I fear there's a lot of "once you start messing with this, it's not going to work right again" in there.

 

It's not scary, just intimidating if you've nover done it before.
Every plug has a mate. Everything is color coded.
Anything that is connected to the forks or triple clamps has to be removed. This is an opportunity to clean all of the electrical connections. The only truly scary bit is the need to be careful when unplugging things. Pay atention to which plugs have locking tabs, and how the locking tabs operate.

 

Ok, making good progress, but I can't get past the terror. So many of the electrical connections do not match colors. I've been labeling stuff with masking tape as I go, and am going to have to add connectors for the surprising number of things that are simply butt connected and hardwired (and so got cut). I should order some waterproof automotive connectors from Amazon and replace all the existing ones, as they're crumbling apart with age...

 

Aaaaaand off.



Gotta say, I'm pretty proud. Wasn't too tough to get everything off; though as everyone knows, taking things apart is always easier =)

Some observations:

The steering bearings were definitely a problem. You could literally see through the space between the axle and the inner bearing races - that's just not a good thing. Also, those wierd "c-spanner" nuts on the steering head, both were very loose. Being so loose that they could just be spun off together effortlessly seems... Very wrong. I suspect that's probably got a lot to do with why the slop developed in the first place.

Gonna clean everything up tomorrow while it's apart, and ideally tear into the forks. I've got em out, have a rebuild kit on hand, may as well rebuild them too.

Well, on the upside, I'll have an entirely re-done front end shortly.

 

Ummmm ya. The locking nuts should have required a drift or spanner to loosen. No bueno.

 

For the bearings: Any general grease should be fine, right? Such as the general purpose stuff that comes with your run of the mill grease gun? Not like there's extreme temperatures or anything going on in the steering head.


Also: When installing the new races in the neck, the open ends should be flush with the top and bottom of the neck? Or do they go further in to seat fully? I'm hoping they just pop in easily when chilled, as I lack an appropriate tool, or source of suitably large washers to cram onto a threaded rod. Rubber mallet and a socket is as advanced as the tools get here =)

 

By the way, k-moe and others who have chipped in, just wanted to say a very sincere thanks for your invaluable advice and encouragement throughout this - it's very much appreciated.

 

wipe a very little grease in the cup where the bearing goes and on the outside of the new bearing, start the new bearing in, then use the old bearing outer race to tap the new one in, steel hammer, light taps. the most important thing is to keep it going in straight, tap all around, like 12,6,3,9 o'clock. when it bottoms out you'll know, the sound will change noticeably.
your grease gun grease will be fine

 

Thank you, sir! I feel sort of silly for not having considered using the old bearing race to push the new one in >.<

 

Cleaned off the triple trees, and about 60% of the paint on the upper tree just fell off - simple dish soap/water wash, too. So, stripping it and using the caliper paint to re-paint it before installation.

Meanwhile, got the new bearings installed and the lower tree back on the bike. No way to torque the silly nuts, but followed the Haynes manual as best I could. No binding at all - free side to side movement, no play in the bearings.

The microwave and spray-air techniques worked fantastically well. I'm incredibly impressed there, trivialized putting the new bearings in.

 

That literally made me LOL.

 

Brass drift and a hammer. Tap, tap, tap.

After 100 miles or so you need to recheck the bearing preload.

 

Yup, that's exactly what I did

 

By this, you mean to check and ensure no slop has developed due to things settling in?

Not sure exactly what "bearing preload" means.

 

Yes. The bearings will settle in, and you'll need to recheck that, and to make sure nothing has come loose.

Settting the bearing preload is what you did when you tightened the thin locking nuts to make the bearings run without slop; you set it so they are not be so tight that they drag, but not so loose that they can move in any other direction but radially.

 

Forks rebuilt, front wheel's bearings replaced. Will start front end reassembly tomorrow; waiting on my speedo clutch plate from Chacal and my replacement rotor. Both should be here wednesday, so that gives me an afternoon tomorrow to get the front end together.