Walkin funny today for TWO reasons

Reason number one - got my bike back yesterday and put about eighty miles on it since (even in the rain a bit!)

Reason number two - $500 (about half of what I paid for her) sucked from my wallet.

See I'm selling my house this month so I chickened out of these jobs and drove her to a dealer:

New front fork oil seals and dust boots
New rear rubber
NYS inspection

The guy tore through those first two tasks in a day - took $110 for the dunlop 104 in the back but still just a day and some greenbacks.

Then came the inspection - at idle my right flasher would sit solid. A little gas and it would flash fine. This took seven days and two new YAM lights to fix and drove the bill up another two hundred bucks.

Of course now my house in on the market and I found a set of lights - not aftermarket but old for $25. So I hope to sell the new YAMMY lights back and get some cash back.

But still - do your own work. Lord knows I will from here on in...
Now I need to learn how to change/balance a rear tire at home.

:?

 

I called the yamaha dealer to see what it would cost to replace the front fork seals on my bike and he said labor is $130 + parts. I have been looking at some of the posts on changing them and hope I can fiugre out how to do it myself! This is my first bike so hopefully I don't screw anything up to bad.

 

Search the forum first - there are a TON of great posts including a complete step by step from Robert.

I just had painting and cleaning and mowing and weeding and...

Next set of seals I'm doing myself!

 

Oh you can do it yourself - the hardest part is building a tool to hold the damper rods inside the tubes. And that's not even that hard. Can build the tool for about $4, plus $5 for a seal puller from a discount hardware store, then it's just fork oil & time.

 

Is this tool described anywhere? I have never done this b4 so it is going to be a learing experience.

 

Fork seals aren't bad at all. I did mine last weekend. I made my tool out of an extra long axel shaft, put the 19mm (correct size?) on the end with the cotter pin and used that to hold the bolt. Easy as pie!

Good lick
Rob

 

Bryan, where in Minnesota are you?

I know a guy with a shop in St. Paul that will do it for less then what the dealer quoted you and his work is very, very solid.

 

Fork damper rod holding tool:
- 2 foot length of threaded rod
- 2x 19mm nuts to fit on end of rod
- 2x 19mm wrenches or wrench+socket
- vice to bend rod in

Put the 2 nuts on the end of the rod, and tighten them together so they're locked in place. You can also use thread locker, or a castle nut with cotter pin if you like.

Then put the rod in the vice about 18" up, and bend the remainder to make a handle.

Done

 

I am up in Moorhead, so that would be a drive for me.

 

Ooo, yeah...bit of a hike for ya.

These guys have more then enough knowledge to guide you through the work though....good luck!

 

That sounds easy enough. Thanks!

 

XPXJ, there is a fantastic link for a DIYS tire swap and balance at http://www.clarity.net/~adam/tire-changing-doc.html . I believe we have the link book marked or something. It is just the thing for the home guy! Best of luck to you!

 

Thanks Robert - I had seen that site. I think I may try breaking/mounting/balancing a new front tire this winter. It would be nice to be able to strip and paint the tires on my own schedule instead of carting the thing to the mechanic.

You ever do your own tires? How tough was it to break the bead?

 

Real wrestling match. I tried it with just the tire irons (10" units, get the longest you can afford/find) on my FZR and it took me 30 minutes to pull the rear tire. Another 30 minutes to fight the new tire on. Balancing was a crap shoot. Not sure I got it right (hope to heck that Goop holds those weights in place) but I don't have any annoying vibrations either. Just be prepared. I bought the Harbor Freight tire changing stand and a friend gave me her soon-to-be-divorced husbands balancing stand. I have yet to give them a wirl but I imagine that it will be a heck of a lot easier than the sumo match I first went through.

 

I also need new seals in xj700 is there anywhere to see a diagram..also do you have to take the instrument gauges off to do it..speedometer and all?

 

I'm sorry Ridz, I'm not familiar with your XJ. Wouldn't be able to hazard a guess. There are some other X'ers out in the forum that should be able to help you out. I would suggest you hit up BikeBandit.com or the Yamaha web site as they both have Illustrated Parts Breakdowns of Yamaha bikes and are both fairly useful tools.