Looks like you guys are going to make me a mechanic afterall

So my friend and super cheap mechanic just moved and no longer has the space to work on bikes. Sucks I was going to have him do a lot this weekend for me. So I am left with a flasher relay, trailer box, led turn signals, and led fog lights. Looks like I need to just jump in.

I need to do my carbs, valves, brakes, and a fork rebuild. What order should these be done in? Is there a cheap way to get parts that aren't rare. Like brake components? Fork parts?

Also how hard would it be to add a cigarette lighter 12v jack to run a gps, phone charger, or detector?

 

Personally I'd go for brakes and forks first,they sort of both need to be disassembled at the same time.As far as parts go dont cheap out, quite often means you end up doing it twice.Depending on what you need generally forks and brakes is just a bunch of seals.
Cant help you with the 12v plug looking at doing one for my own bike so if you find a good tutorial,share please.

 

If it was me I would:
check your valve clearances, pull your carbs and see if they need cleaning or rebuild. order all the parts for your brakes, forks, carbs, and valve shims from chacal in a nice big batch. start cleaning your carbs, when the parts come in finish up the carbs and valves. Then rebuild your brakes and forks.

as to the 12 volt system I have the fused lead for a battery tender on my bike and just got the female cigarette adapter so I can run my gps on my bike. this http://www.powersportparts.net/Battery- ... 456805.htm and this http://www.powersportparts.net/ProductD ... de=4488570
works great

 

Do the forks and brakes at the same time, it will be much easier. And never go cheap on brake parts, your life depends on them.

You can check your valve clearances and pull shims to see what needs to be ordered, but the carbs you won't know what's needed until you dig in to those. If they are bad and need a lot of parts replaced you might be down for a week.

Definitely order parts from chacal, you'll have them in 3 days, and they will all be the correct parts.

12v socket is actually pretty easy. What I would do is order a six place fuse box and install that. Then you can run a wire from the headlight wire to a separate fused slot and run your 12v socket off the new fuse slot.

Turn signals and fog lights should be pretty straight forward as far as wiring them up. Keep in mind you will have to replace the signal flasher to use the LEDs. You can use any two prong electronic flasher. A Buss 552LL should be easy and inexpensive to find.

 

Do you guys recommend pulling the forks completely off to do the fork rebuild? What type of stand can I get for doing that and removing the rear wheel/drum? I don't have a center stand. It was damaged in my wrecks as well as the mounts for a replacement were. So that's not an option.


Also I don't have a torque wrench... Do i need one? Can I do without one?

 

Just run a lead from the positive terminal on the battery with an inline 10A fuse to a suitable mount location for the 12V socket, run the ground lead to the frame or back to the negative terminal on the battery. Just don't leave something plugged in for too long without the motor running, or it might drain the battery.

Fork rebuild requires forks removed to do everything right. I'm sure you can find a centerstand around here. I put mine on the centerstand & suspend the front end from a beam in my garage.

A torque wrench is a must, given most of our bikes are aluminum & torque values are critical. A ft/lb & an inch/lb is ideal.

 

Thanks for the tip the guy who was gonna do the other work did that for me. But that was all I wanted with his huge jump in estimate.


Could I just throw a few pieces of wood under the bike to support it with the forks off?

 

And for someone with some "Maxim X' knowledge.... Is the fork rebuild pic thread on here done on I believe an xj650 going to be the same as mine?

 

P.S. I have an extra centerstand here for an 82 750 Seca. I'm unsure if it will work for your 700, but if someone can verify, its yours for shipping.

 

Why thank you! I will have to check my mounts to make sure they weren't damaged as I thought they were but I will look when I get home tonight. Im assuming center stand is the easiest way to do rear brakes as well?

 

It's the best way to go that I know of. My 4-1 exhaust required centerstand removal, so I gotta pull the pipes when I do anything centerstand involved. P.I.T.A., but after years of it, not a big deal. Let me know what you come up with & we'll work something out.

 

Shoot.... I have a Mac 4-1 that may hinder that as well..... I'll look tonight.

 

You CANNOT do without one, unless you want to spend a whole LOT more money, needlessly.

As recommended above, you need TWO. One in inch/lbs, find one with a 25~250 in/lb range. You also need a foot-pound wrench, 10~100 ft/lb range. Both commonly available; Sears/Craftsman, K-D, S-K, lots of good brands for not horribly expensive. Buy good tools; they last a lifetime. DO NOT buy Harbor Freight "precision" tools, you'll be sorry.

My personal recommendation would be the K-D 3459 and 3460 based on positive ownership experience.

Don't try to do this without torque wrenches; the resultant damage can be far more expensive, honest.

 

Fitz is definitely right about the lack of torque wrenches enabling one to do a lot more damage. I have read some mechanics, on the other hand, suggesting learning common sense instead of torque wrenchs, calling them 'the most likely way to strip out bolts'. Interesting.

What I can say is I started wrenching on this forum, I only had a large torque wrench for putting on the tire, for example, and that I did make a few mistakes on the way to learning 'common sense' (or "mechanic's feel"), and almost stripped out a few threads on the engine block itself--mind you, one time I freaked out because I was sure I'd stripped out the aluminum threading for the oil filter housing. That time, I was using a torque wrench and accidentally misread the value. The common sense I later learned, though (through that experience and others) would have stopped me way before the amount of power I was putting, as I would have known that steel bolt into aluminum head means not too much pressure, and also just... It was way too much. Before learning to wrench here, I always tried to get something AS TIGHT AS POSSIBLE, thinking that was best. Now I am much more sensitive to the machine.

End result? You are probably going to make mistakes. A torque wrench very well may save you some heartache. If you don't have it, it's not the end of the world, and there's always a recovery option, even for stripped out aluminum threading. Just be gentle, start everything by handtightening, and try and develop an intuitive logic to how those things work.

 

Wow thank you guys! Does anyone know if an 82 750 seca center stand will work on an 85 maxim x?

 

Question for Chacal, methinks.

 

Sure, and NO.

For questions like that, check the fiche: http://www.yamahapartshouse.com/yamaha- ... ibrand=YAM

But the 750 Seca had a completely different frame than the Max-X; so it's not the same.

 

Thank you big fitz I scored a proper maxim x one off of ebay with all of the hardware/spring.

 

A few notes -

As for the 12v socket, if you have upgraded your fusebox odds are you have an empty bank. I just ran a jumper from before another fuse over to the empty bank and then wired the cigarette lighter right to there. I leave it tucked under the seat and if i need to charge something, i have a small usb plug that i plug into it and then just run the wire out from under the seat. that way its all weather protected and not an eyesore when not in use. Ill try grabbing a pic next time im riding if i can remember. Not hard at all. I personally wouldnt just go to the battery, just alot messier imho.

get progressive springs off amazon, under 80 bucks and a vast improvement.

for valve shims, check if dave (hogfiddles) has any maxim x shims in his pool, as otherwise with all 20(i think for some reason that sounds familiar) thats going to get awfully expensive if i recall that right if youre buying new.

While you're at the forks, I'd do the steerer tube bearings to upgrade to tapered roller bearings, another upgrade you'll be glad you did.

As for torque wrenches, i know fitz advised against, but i have luck with the harbor freight wrenches. when tested against my buddies dads snap-on wrenches, both old school and the click ones, they line up real well. and can be found on sale for 10 bucks from time to time. Better than having to guess until you can save up and afford a nicer one if thats the route you would choose to take. but I havent been let down yet. Nothing has snapped and nothing has come loose. makes this guy happy.

 

Yeah, the harbor freight stuff... It breaks, but its cheap enough to not be a problem when it does. Obviously a nice set of tools is vastly preferable and will do a great deal towards your supply of gumption, but harbor freight can get you by in the meantime. their return policy is pretty swell, also.

I have been using a cheapo multimeter I bought there on a whim and brought with me to figure out my electrical problems, and both leads broke off. But with a little care and superglue, I have it better than it was made, and it still is getting the job done... and for the 6 dollars I paid, I honestly could care less. (Again, obviously Id love to have a 100 dollar one... That would also be one more thing to worry about breaking or stealing, though, so everything is a trade.)

The impact driver I got for a little under 10 bucks served me well from there for several jobs, but I did finally have the tip torque out on me and become dysfunctional, so... Their stuff definitely breaks on occassion. Im still glad theyre around, though, and they serve their purpose. I consider it a cheap rental with no return and no deposit, I guess.

My socket goes straight to the battery and has an inline fuse, but I havent mounted mine at the handlebars, its just there under the seat for when I need it. It plugs into the quickcharge plug that lets me hook a trickle charger into it without removing anything, conveniently, so thats cool. Was a few bucks on amazon.

Progressive springs are a big deal, +1 on that. Valve shims, try and find a motorcycle shop that will swap with you. I found two places in town that do it, one surprising me because it was some huge harley and supersport megaseller... But sure enough, shim swaps were free. (The tech behind the counter was a little puzzled that I wasnt removing my camshafts and just bringing in all the shims at the same time, but an older hand in the shop knew what was going on and helped out.)

And I did the tapered steering bearings in my now dead 82, and then had to go back to tired ball bearings in my 81... And thats the most painful upgrade for me to lose. I really miss that, it made a world of difference on slow speed maneuvering and agility.

 

Someone recommended these in another thread for me.


http://www.oemcycle.com/Item/product/90 ... ampaign=GP

Just go with the standard one it picks? I've never pulled apart forks... So no idea how to swap them or what tapered/ball bearings you're talking about or even mean......

Is there a good maxim x fork rebuild demo on here? I saw one but it was on a 650 seca I believe. Same thing? A link would be a huge help!

 

WOW bigfitz! Thank you for that link. Looks like it will be invaluable! I didn't know that even existed.

 

And will this do it for how to rebuild the forks?



http://www.motorcycleclassics.com/mc-ho ... build.aspx

 

lol pretty sure that was me now that i think about it, lol.

As for the tapered bearings, I'm talking about the head tube/steerer bearings. pop out the old bearings and races and put in new tapered style bearings and races. I bought mine from len and it comes with super easy to follow step by step instructions, the right bearings, and the right seals. everything you need, for like 45 bucks.

 

it was you! Sweet I just messaged him about it! So I'll do that, the seals, and springs and the forks should be all set?

 

get some new oil as well, 10 wt/ 15 wt depending on your preferences. I put 15wt in mine

 

would that link for the fork rebuild work... pretty much the same thing?

 

Alright So I am confused. I asked chacal for a quote for the forks parts and I got like 150 different Items to go through... All I need is the progressive shocks, fork seals, and new oil right? He sent me like crush washers, gaskets, air releases, tubes, ect.


Super confused now...