What did you do to your Yamaha today?

The top end of the damper rod should look like below (XJ650 on the right)

 

The top of the damper rod has a fairly shallow 12 point socket-like fitting. Probably is difficult to see down the tube with some old black fork oil on it. This is from a 750 with the adjuster. The 650 doesn't have that piece, plus the snap ring. Double nuts on a piece of 1/2" all thread will fit this...no need to buy a special tool.

But the damper rods are retained by the Allen head bolt on the bottom of the fork tube. An impact gun will usually get them out without the all thread tool, but you'll need it to reinstall.

 

Whoops, Dan already answered that one!

 

That's all I did with mine. A bit of fiddling to make them, but haven't had to touch them since.
It was a bit of a pisser, because the original caps on the 850 were properly adjustable, but the replacement GS1000 forks were air. "No problem, I'll just swap the caps over."
Nah, different thread - same internal size of tube but different fracking thread. Why?
Just had to make my own.

 

Yup

 

beanie screens... little dome shaped screens that are press fit above the inlet needle valve where it screws into the carb body, good at catching the junk that somehow always gets around that Checkpoint Charlie. Saves a ton of headaches when the needle gets hung up and bleeds the tank into the airbox. The little screens I omitted on my carb rack that could have saved me from pulling them apart Monday afternoon to clean out a chunk of the adhesive used to secure the paper filter element inside the filter itself, silver lining in this was setting the floats again and swapping main jets to #124's... no more 6000 RPM breakup.

 

Thankyou @Brhatweed

 

Today I finished replacing the forks with a pair of ~1982 vintage ones I got from @Fuller56. As I said earlier, I went with the original "heavy duty" springs and replaced the air fittings with bolts that will probably just be used to vent the air out when changing fork fluid next year. Had I been more ambitious, I would have dismantled the original 1980 forks and re-used their inner tubes with the later sliders, as these 1980 tubes are low-mileage cream puffs and the replacements do show some wear. I will put the old ones away someplace safe, and if I ever decide the new tubes are showing wear, I will swap them.

Couple notes: first, re the advice to slip a 5/8" spark plug socket onto a string of extensions "backwards"... doesn't work with any of the sockets I have, which cannot be used that way. So I instead bought a 7/16" coupler nut (5/8" outside size) and used it to connect my spark plug socket to a regular 5/8" socket. New tool; I should patent it...


A little ductape holds it all together.

Second, the top plugs did not want to come out easily after I removed the snap rings. I popped it out eventually (launching the cap on a flight across the garage that led to a half-hour search) and after some fooling around concluded there was a burr (possibly from the tubing cutter at the factory) at the top of the tube. A little dressing with a file, followed by a good rinse with carb cleaner, got rid of this. I think. With any luck I will have no reason to pull these plugs out for a long time...

 

Traded saddles with a buddy and put some miles on his FZ-07. First thing he did was complain about how hard my clutch is to pull in... Asked if he as a man or a mouse. I will say the FZ has plenty of go but being all gears it really wasn't any faster than my SECA regardless of the rider. All bark and no bite, really nothing more than a gum job on the ankles. Honestly I have nothing nice to say about the FZ. Better road manners maybe with the butter smooth ride and it corners well but I don't feel much sport in this bike.

 

I'm shocked, would have expected to hear "nimble, fast, light, easy to change direction" etc.
They certainly look the part.

 

The burr is more likely due to years of compression of the circlip against the upper lip of the groove.

I have a tool that is a bolt welded into a pipe. I ground the bolt head faces ever so slightly so each face is just barely tapered. It slides right in, and can’t get jammed.
Some people just jam a broom handle down, but I’d be concerned about it breaking off in there.

 

Had hopes of great progress today and started well, but ran into this on the clutch where one bolt had backed out and worn down. Not one I had on the shelf. Trip into town and back, got it fixed, but now it's too damn hot to continue.

 

Good you caught that, use red loctite on your new bolts.

 

Replaced seat cover 1982 650 maxim. Came out pretty nice if I don’t say so myself lol.
Also pulled rear tire and did battle with the bearings. Finally sliced a carriage bolt down the middle and it worked for removal. Thanks to this site and information from members .
This 42 year old bike will be on the roads of New Hampshire can’t wait

 

More like nervous than nimble but maybe it's because I'm spoiled coming from a long history of big liter bikes. It "feels" fast with the high RPMs climbing thru the gears but don't watch the digital speedometer, even a VW Rabbit has a lightweight snap. I does feel sportbike-ish don't get me wrong and it has a very smooth and refined ride but it's not going to run with the big dogs. I expected it to run circles around my SECA being lighter and more advanced but that little twin seems to run out of breath despite having 4 valves/jug. Changing direction is no problem, clamp the fronts hard and kick the back around. This thing has instant on brakes with plenty of control and it really hugs the corners almost too well. We traded again Friday and I got a better opportunity to really whip it up around lake Mille Lacs. Plenty of hard curves once you get past the lumbering RV's and big cruiser bikes but hard as I tried the SECA inched past at full twist. My old bones don't sit well in that cramped up position so it was back to the SECA on the top of county-19 where my camera failed to cooperate, there will be a next time.

Also finished my buddy's VTX-1800. Cruises like an early 70's plush-mobile with a motor that pulls like a freight train. Damn smooth for a V-twin but what a pain in the backside. Now it's for sale and I'm trying to talk him into something more sensible like a Maxim but he's a bit apprehensive over the carbonators.

 

I bought several items from an eBay seller last year including a NOS brake master cylinder, EBC brake rotors, SS brake hoses and a nearly new looking set of exhaust header pipes. I did the brakes last year and finally took care of the exhaust this July 4th weekend. Very happy for the $100 I spent on the pipes.

 

Got this 750 motor slapped together today. My goal was to make every mistake possible, and I believe I succeeded.

Gearshaft bearing in backwards
Pistons in the wrong order
Piston backwards
Forgot O-rings between jugs and case (thanks Haynes)
Forgot to chase threads, resulting in separating the case halves two more times. Somewhere in here is where I ran my finger between the clutch gear and case and had to do a rapid bandage wrap of blue tape before the Yamabond dried.
Plus halfway through I decided the primary chain was too slack (new tensioner, old chain) and tore apart another parts motor to grab its chain which was in much better shape.

And it must have been 600 degrees out today, so I blame that for all the brain fog.

But it's together. Going to put it on the engine stand for the head and side covers.

 

Clean motor.

 

Drilled and LH thread tapped one of the carb hat screws that had sheared off on one of my 900Fs Mikuni carbs. It just screwed in on the back cut, the opposite of what I expected, but I'll take it. Cleaned all the m5 threads out with an m5, good to go.