TX500 Yamaha Information

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Hello Bobe, I see you're not too far from Somers(et)? or Bridport.. got a friend there with a 'guzzi... it's obvious from your writing you enjoy yr old ride, keep grinnin' and I hope someone can use yr knowledge...I will get over there one day.

 

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Thanks so much for posting this. I'm a member here on XJ and after watching me complete the rebuild, my roommate purchased a TX500. We were worried at first by lack of online support and the prolific publishing of all its "flaws". Your notes here will help us a ton getting started.

 

I had the last model, the XS500 [1978] with rear disc brake, mags, self cancelling signals, black paint with gold metalflake, and gold pinstripes.
It was vibration-free, except a little tingle that may have been from the cam lobes themselves being out of balance??
I managed 25,000 almost trouble-free miles. Some wire rubbed to ground, blowing a fuse (I had 4) and I "gum-wrappered" it to get home and to the dealer. The faulty wire was under the tank. The other problem - the rear brake would not fully release one night, and not knowing what to do, I grabbed some grease from under a truck and smeared it on the disc.
That also got me home. Absolutely reliable, 57 MPG, 97 MPH with a windshield. Hope everybody has fun with their restorations !!

 

Just recently bought one of these bikes with my roommate for a summer project (it'll be his first bike).

Just wanted to toss this bit of information out there. The VO33 oil filter is about 2 inches to tall and has also been discontinued. It is slightly cheaper and more available at the moment, but unless you plan to ride your bike permanently without the engine sidecover, this filter is not a suitable choice.

I believe the threads line up, It was kind of hard to get in there, so I'm not discrediting Bobe7316 on that. Maybe he got the filter numbers mixed up. Maybe there's a shorter version. Just tossing my experience out there for any other TX500 guys.

 

This is a photo of the Valvoline VO33 oil filter next to an origional Yamaha
TX500 filter. As you can see the VO33 filter is just a tiny bit shorter than the
origional TX500 filter and fits up just fine to the TX500 motorcycle engine.

 

That is so strange. Thanks for the picture man. That looks way different than what I have. And yet the box says Valvoline VO-33. It literally looks almost twice as long as that one. Its bigger than the filter on my car! I'm not sure where I went wrong. But obviously I've got some figuring out to do. I'll see if I can get some pictures of what I've got.

Thanks for the clarification. Disregard my previous comment.

 

Just got your PM. Let me go on record here and apologize.

Your information in those posts has been more than helpful to me so far. And I obviously made a mistake and purchased the wrong filter (ebay isn't always so reliable). I was hoping to have an open dialog and learn as much as I can about this particular bike (and add what I can to the conversation), seeing as there's not a lot of material about them online.

I didn't mean to accuse you of leading me wrong. I was just posting what I had found. And clearly (illustrated by your picture) I was mistaken.

Sorry for any trouble.