What did you do to your Yamaha today?

Today I started in Medford Oregon rode to Ashland basically turned left towards Klamath Falls (72Miles). The first pic is about halfway up the mountain. Turned left again in Klamath Falls to head back towards Medford. 2nd pic is Klamath Lake. 3rd pic-Stopped at Lake of the Woods. About 8 miles further down hwy. 140 I decided to take a right and take an alternative route through Butte Falls. 4th pic is of willow lake with Mt. Mcloughlin in the back ground. Klamath Falls in on the back side of the mountain. Stopped along the way at the lakes and took some pics. Total miles ridden 196 total time 4 hours

 

yes heat expands metal

 

1. Installed my new windshield!

I felt there was supposed to be some sort of gasket or something on the lower portion where it attaches to the fairing, but there wasn't any.

I have been searching for something that would work with options of foam rubber weatherstripping (too thick), cutting a rubber tire inner-tube to fit, to several other ideas. Finally settled on some foam rubber tool box liner cut to fit. It was cheap and plenty left over to line some tool box drawers!

2. At the same time, installed the glass headlight bezel cover in the fairing.
I am pleased with the results, but the jury is still out on the black windshield edge trim I also got. Thought I would give it a try.

3. Bought some rubber edge trim for the fairing uppers. One side was missing, so I got new for both sides. You can see it in the photo below. Don't know if it was original, but gives a finished look, protects the edges, and hides the seam where the inner and outer sections of the fairing come together.

I have enough left over to do the uppers again, if anyone is interested.

Then I took her out for a ride! A bit cool, but that windshield helps!


4. Last time I was out, my speedo started a loud squeal toward the last few miles of my ride. Took the cable out of the sheath. Sprayed well with lubricant and also tried to get up into where it inserts in the housing. Hard to get at with the fairing on! It helped, but it started to come back midway in my ride, although not as loud. Still have some work to do with it.

 

that looks very nice indeed - here in the Uk you would want some weather protection like that, very smart

 

Rode for an hour in the hills... tomorrow change all exhaust gaskets...

 

My Seca speedo sounded like jet engine one day awhile back ...pulled cluster ,removed speedo sprayed down speedo flywheel with pb blaster and applied a little litheum grease with a qtip to gears and forced some on the tip that speedo cable attachs ...no more noise so far been good.

 

Started my end of season storage checklist and noticed speedometer was nice even number for storage.

 

Well, there's really no debate. Procedure is to perform the clearance check when is cold. We generally say 'stone-cold', 'over-night-cold', the manual specifies the internal engine temp should be under 97 degrees F, if I remember correctly.

 

No debate on when to check them, just thought it was interesting that the clearances were larger when hot, and the consensus expressed from the community is the opposite.

 

the aluminum alloy head holding the cams may expand more than the valves or shims

 

Riding home form work yesterday got about two blocks from my house and the flipping clutch cable snapped again. This will be the second time since I have changed my clutch.
I am thinking that it may be because I replaced the stock clutch springs with the heavy duty ones.
I also replaced the bent clutch lever with a new one prior to any of the cables breaking.
The only other thing I can think of is that I bought the cables sold by motion pro 13.79 apiece-cheap brand ?
This time I ordered original replacement cable from Bike Bandit 24.95.

Any Ideas?

 

Get your clutch cable, and everything else, from Chacal/XJ4ever. You will never be disappointed.

I assume you are lubricating the cable and greasing the pivot point at the hand lever?

 

Bike bandit probably buys bulk from motion pro

 

Well that is just freakin great
So it breaks every time at the clutch lever. right beside the lead attachment.

 

clutch lever wiggly or tight? oem cables are better than motion pro cables

 

wiggly
I even tried putting a brass bushing in between the lever and the bracket to tighten it up.
I am guessing that I may also need a new clutch lever bracket?

 

a brass insert into the perch and lever where the bolt passes through will tighten up the slop, there is also an oring on the bolt between perch and handle
there is also a plastic sleeve around the slug at end of cable to prevent this problem

 

thank you for the information.
there is a local cycle salvage yard up the road a piece. I may go out there this Friday and give them a look to see what I can find.
Probably the better option would to be buying new yet money is tight right at this time.

Guess I could make a list of needed parts and send this off to chacal to see what the damage will be.

 

Walked by my bike and looked at her longingly
the thought that there are still a few more days of sunny weather is disappointing as she sits with a broken clutch cable
At least it didn't break while I was riding the other day and I was a long way from home.
Trials and tribulations of being a bike owner.

 

TECH TOPIC: The Real Costs of Maintenance

 

I thought Polock nailed it once when another member had the same issue - he suggested that they were not greasing the barrel end so the barrel would rotate in the lever instead of bending the cable at that point.

 

Yup.

 

Bingo.

 

will use lubrication for the barrel when I get the new cable hopefully by early next week

 

Any suggestions as to what type of grease or lubricant to use for this project?

 

silicon grease (dielectric grease) because it comes in small tubes to make it easy to reapply

 

Nice I seem to have some of the dielectric grease handy as I lubed all my electrical connections a few months ago.

 

Split the xj650 carb rack ( just first carb) to put in new o rings on the brass T that connects the two carbs and is the main fuel intake for the whole rack.

The recently acquired tinkering xj is coming along well. Next job is to put in a new clutch. Thanks to hogfiddles for the great carb rack.

 

I would like to believe that when I click on OEM parts they are not just bought motion pro.
delivery date is tomorrow by 4 pm
Although it is raining today supposed to clear tomorrow.

 

make sure there are no nicks or sharp edges on the lever

 

Did my first clutch job. Had quite a chuckle when the clutch cover came off. Found plain plates against plain plates,friction against friction. Dots weren't lined up either . Really lucked out, no new parts needed. Glad this inexpensive bike (and what I thought parts bike) turned out to be a great fixer upper . Funny how some people don't even make an attempt to put it back together correctly before closing it up.
Xj650 max

 

Nice looking speedo. Haven't seen one like that since "84.

 

Looked at long range forecast and put my bike in storage.

 

Just the idea of putting a bike in storage is depressing.

 

Received my new clutch cable last night (OEM) and the first thing I noticed compared to the Motion Pro cable is that the OEM has a barrel around the lead seal ! Where as the motion pro does not. Hopefully after work tonight I will be able to change the clutch cable. prior to installing though I will still lube the barrel.
Currently it is still raining here

 

Changed the clutch cable yesterday after school. Still raining though supposed to be clear on Veterans Day.
Huge difference between the Motion Pro and an OEM cable. Basically the OEM has a feral around the lead end closest to the clutch lever.
As recommended by another xj owner I used Dielectric grease and covered it. Looking forward to riding this coming Saturday.

 

Well in between rain showers I was able to put another 45 miles on my bike.
Wow what a difference utilizing an OEM clutch cable is lever is like butter now! Sure glad I spent the money!

 

and you lubed the new cable correct?

 

Yes, I actually placed the cable next to the fireplace to warm it up. Once I felt is was warm enough I used the engine assemble lube that I also placed next to the fireplace and poured in it from the top until I started to see it come out the bottom. Then a I placed the rubber end cap on which for the most part stop the assembly lube from running out. Once that was done I laid it out flat outside in the 36 degree temp over night to solidify the lube and then put it to together.
I am fairly sure that the whole cable assembly is full of Lube.

 

Shortened my kickstand so I don’t have to use the center stand everywhere I go. Upon putting it back on I noticed I have a flat front tire after only 100 miles on it . Guess I’ll be taking the front wheel off, inspecting and refilling with air. Let’s hope there’s not an issue with the tire or rim.

 

Bummer on the tire issue, hopefully it doesn't get expensive.

I have been wondering how you were doing on the tuning issues? I just got a Morgan Carbtune Pro from Len and thought I would share what I think are normal readings for the XJ, excepting needing just a bit of fine tuning. And yes, the restrictors are installed 10 cm from the carb port as per the instructions in the users manual.

 

Thanks for the reference. I thought that is why my old maxims readings were like. I’ve actually gotten the bike to run a lot better recently. I reset all of my air/fuel screw to 2.5 turns and then re adjusted the idle screw. It seems that my bike wasn’t 100% warmed up before. So that explained the high idle once warm.

I’m hoping next week I can finish my tune and get everything going (pending the tire issue). I might have to use that as an excuse to buy my new rim. I’ve been eying a set of spoked rims and doing a rear disc conversion

 

Really love that carbtune. Makes an otherwise really tedious job simple and fun!



So damn easy to do, really great product.

 

Today: went out to fire up the bike and run it a bit (been a stupid-cold two weeks of -10 to -20). Battery maintainer's light was still showing "Fully charged/maintaining". Battery was, in fact, quite dead at 10v.

Turns out backfired from the battery was keeping the light illuminated but the battery tender had failed. Lovely.

Charging now.

Also discovered my petcock has started leaking. Not leaking into the carbs, leaking out of itself. Nice puddle of gas and gas soaked manifold/engine. *Sigh* Going to swap it for a spare which hopefully doesn't leak, and get this one rebuilt.

 

I haven't seen one like that since I walked out to take this pic 6 minutes ago---

 

Looks usable, but do you have the restrictors installed? That seems to be a lot of bounce - but equal bouncing

My only minor complaint is that the resolution is not quite as good as the old mercury stick. But, at least you don't have to worry about sucking mercury into the motor if you blip the throttle a little too aggressively.

 

I see riding weather in my future next week. Not bad for mid November in the Midwest. I’ll take it

 

43 and sunny here on wed definitaly riding weather

 

I’m comfortable riding in 40degree weather. My biggest hiccup though is obviously the cross winds and such. Any residual moisture on the road will has the potential to freeze below that. I figure bmw bikes have a freeze warning indicator light that comes on at 38, so that should clue me in. Haha.
Maybe studded tires r a thing they should allow. Who am I kidding tho!!