Another good reason for doing the work yourself

Recently, while doing a fork seal replacement on my 750 Maxim, I discovered many things and gained some better understanding of how certain things work. At the same time, I also discovered that just because you take it to a genuine Yamaha dealer doesn't necessarily mean the job gets done right either. I often wondered why my dampening selector detents didn't line up right but didn't know why until disassembling the forks. In my service manual it states 'return the dampening adjuster to position number one before disassembling'. I didn't know why but I did as ordered. Before proceeding to take the forks apart, I decided to click through the four different positions and noticed the numbers on the knob didn't line up with the detents and the line. The last clown that reinstalled the knob didn't even line the dampening positions up correctly. I normally ran with them set on 3 but the actual was 1 for one side and 4 on the other yet the knobs said 3 for both. No wonder front-end handling was screwy... Like my dad always said " If you want a job done right you just have to do it yourself".

 

This will definitely put me in the "Old Fart" catagory. IMHO it's a lot worse now than it used to be. Have heard some real horror stories of late...

skillet

 

I've done all my work on my bike since I got it.

I've had enough bad expeirances with my other XJ (94 Cherokee).

Took it in for an alignment and the guy set the caster angle the wrong way. Would have busted a front yoke and driveshaft if I didn't see it before he backed it off the rack. Just one of many many examples. That XJ doesn't go to a shop anymore either.

 

Not Yamaha related, but I recently took my Blazer to the Chevy dealer because of a misfire I could't quite pin down. After almost a week of no update, I finally called them and they told me it was running fine once they warmed it up. I said, I know, the reason I brought it in was because it would misfire quite terribly until it warmed up and then it mostly went away. They said okay, they would check it cold. The next day they called me and said that the truck runs perfectly according to the hand held anlayzer but it does suffer from the "GM stumble" as they called it and stated many high mile GMs have it, and my cat needed replaced because it was causing excessive back pressure. I guess they didn't underestand that it was rattling and popping because of the misfire.

Well, I got it home and was driving it when it had rained and the humidity was quite high and noticed that it was misfiring so bad, I had to pull over and let it settle down until it was driveable again. At that point, somebody mentioned that my distributor cap was probably allowing moisture in and messing with the spark. Sure enough, a new cap and rotor fixed it right up.

I will never take my truck to those shade tree grease monkeys again. Hell, I probably won't buy a vehicle from them either.

 

This also got me thinking (which is dangerous I know). Only one of my fork seals was bad and now I'm wondering if that was due to one side doing most of the dampening...What say you?

 

The bad seal was most likely as a result of the poor workmanship you experienced at the dealer. But even things you don't think about like a crowned street (for water run off) will make a bike or car favor one side. Ever notice that most wheel bearing, alignment, tie rod and ball joint problems in a car occur on the right side? It works the same with bikes.

As far as dealers go... Gawd yeah... do it yourself. Its more likely you'll do it the right way if you have some type of instruction like the Clymer. And much more satisfying. I took mine to a dealer once and they balanced my carbs. However, when i asked if they used the YICS shut off tool, they thought I was making stuff up until I showed them what it was in the clymer and where the YICS port is.

Dealers have guys experienced with newer bikes with newer engineering. The old school guys who used to work there when your 1981 yondakawazuki was brand new now either own their own shop, or they work at an independant shop.

I do most of my work myself... but the work I don't do goes to a place here called Redline. These guys are old school and there isn't a bike, from the kawasaki HR widowmaker, to the xs and xj yamis and that they don't know inside and out. Dealers know the bikes they sell. And if you look in the shop at a dealer, chances are all of the guys in there are 25 and younger...

 

amen to that. I love drawing a crowd OUT OF THE SHOP when I stop at a Yammery on either of my XJs.

Most common comment "wow I never saw one of those before..."

yeah.

 

YOur bikes are just flat out gorgeous. They didn't look that good new!!!