What to learn first

Hello,

I just purchased my first bike: 83 maxim 750. I know next to nothing about motorcycles, and for my car I know how to change my oil and air filter and headlights but that's about it. I read on this forum and others that people are rebuilding carburetors and engines and oh my. I'd like to move toward being able to do the same but don't want to get in over my head.

To that end, can you recommend a few "beginner" tasks to get me introduced to motorcycle mechanics and maintenance?

Here's what I know to start with:
clean the motorcycle properly and thoroughly
change oil (and filter)
prep for winter storage
change lights
check tire pressure
check tire age/wear

... what else should be on the list of "essential maintenance tasks"? I'm not looking for explanations on how to do all this stuff (yet) I just want to know what every motorcycle dummy should know.

Thanks!
-Peter

 

Get a service manual for your bike and a six pack. Sit down and read through the general service procedures and decide which ones are within your means. If you get stuck on a project , make a few posts here and we'll all be glad to put out 2 cents in.

 

Welcome Peter!

Agree with mlew. Service manual is a must. It has pretty good instructions to follow and the troubleshooting flowcharts work pretty well.

If you don't have many tools, break out the Tim Taylor/Home Improvement grunts... You'll be going to tool town soon. But don't sweat it, your mechanic (you) will have the best rates in town.

 

The above advice is right on the money. You just bought a 26-year old bike. Unless you personally know every owner, you NEED to get a service manual. Then go through the "maintenance" section, IN ORDER, omitting nothing. Along the way worn, failed, or crumbling components will reveal themselves. Replace those; re-use that which is still serviceable. Once finished with this, you will at the very least have a motorcycle that is safe to ride and reasonably reliable.

Then work on everything else.

 

Doing the carbs isn't that bad. A newbie can do it if they take their time.

I have yet to crack open the engine case but I will be getting in there soon to check the valve clearances.

 

Hi Peter, can you post a few pics of your bike, so we can get a general idea of the condition, don't forget to shrink your pics to max 500 x 500.
& welcome, Wiz.

 

Peter,

Besides doing the maintenance checks, almost certainly the first thing you will need to do is clean the carbs, unless they were recently done by someone who knew what they were doing and didn't cut corners.

It is probably the single most common issue I have seen discussed here.

If you don't yet know how to use it, have someone teach you how to use a multimeter to check voltage, ohms, impedence, and continuity.

You will want probably 2 different socket sets - one deep and one normal, covering the metric range of 10mm-19mm. It would be convenient if the shallow set also covered down to 8mm. I don't think I have gone any smaller. Additionally, you will want a similar range of wrenches.

It is likely you will need some screw extractors on occasion, I commend a set from Harbor Freight. I don't recall the name of them, but it came in an orange plastic box with a range of 6 extractors and 6 corresponding drill bits. I have had the best success using the drill bit a size smaller than the extractor rather than the same size extractor/drill bit pair. They worked better than the $20 3 bit set I got from sears and only cost $8.

You'll need a range of phillips screw drivers, some duplicates in size so that you have a set that you can grind down to be a better fit for some of the screws.

Learn how to free seized bolts and screws. Be sure you have anti-seize paste for reinstallation.

You will probably want a compressor eventually as well, so keep your eyes on Craigslist for a usable one - 3 hp should be the most you'll ever need, you could probably get away with two. It should probably be at least 3 gal capacity. The compressor isn't a necessity, but it sure helps for blowing out jets and if you can land an impact wrench for cheap it'll be handy to have as well. Also convenient for hooking up sprayers, putting air in tires, etc.

Just going through the maintenance section above will use most of the tools mentioned. Oh, also a rubber mallet, a wooden hammer handle without the head, and a few customized tools you'll see mentioned here and there. Whenever you are stumped on something, do a search on that subject in xj chat or xj modifications, and you'll always find good advice on how to resolve the issue.

You will definitely want a maintenance book but the service manual is very pricey. I strongly advise the Clymer or Haynes book. Also, the XJ CD which costs $20 for a tremendous wealth of information. I believe it may have an electronic version of the service manual, but don't quote me on that.

Don't worry, I was in your shoes last spring and had never done more than changing the oil and doing brakes on a car before. Apply yourself, ask questions when you are stumped (but please try to search first ) and have fun! I still haven't had to crack the engine block yet, but I am confident now that I can do it with the help and guidance available here.

 

One other recent issue here not covered in any of the above:

The rear brake pads, probably being the original pads, need to be checked to ensure that the pad is not separating from the metal. If a piece of pad comes loose while riding, you can have catastrophic damage occur in the rear wheel - not a good idea when you are going 60 mph down the highway. You should probably just go ahead and replace them anyways - they are 27 years old now. Relatively cheap and easy safety insurance. Obviously check the front pads as well, but being exposed, those are easy to do with a visual inspection.

There was a recent thread on choosing a helmet which has some links you should read. In a nutshell, buy your first helmet from a local vendor where you can go in and try them on. When you find something comfortable, wear it for a while in the store (at least a half hour) and get a feel for any "hot spots" where there is pressure that will get annoying, things like that. Remember, this will be sitting on your head for extended periods of time, and what feels alright for 5 min could become a serious annoyance wearing foar long periodsThe local vendor, in supplying the stock on hand for you to try along with the store expertise and experience is worth the markup over buying on the internet. Using them to just try them on and purchasing on line will drive them out of business. You can make replacement purchases on line where you don't need their help.

Best regards,

 

Starting here might change your life forever:

http://www.xjbikes.com/Forums/viewtopic/t=14581.html

 

Looking at tumbleweed's tool list jogged a thought. I picked up a set of JIS screwdrivers, and that was probably one of the best investments I made early on.

 

Wow all these replies are great. Thanks for all the tips!

I've taken a bunch of pictures but have such a busy weekend I don't have a lot of time to sort through all of them or pick up all the tools yet. In the meantime, here's a quick walk-around of the bike.

A question that's REALLY pressing for me is how to wash the thing. I've googled it, watched youtube videos, but I'm still confused what products should go where. I have some car wash, car polish, and car wax, but which products can be applied where and more importantly where should some products NEVER be applied? I particular, I want to get the engine shining a bit, but what should I buy to make that happen?

Dash. Pretty low klicks:


Engine - left side:


Engine - right side:


Exhaust - left side:


I know it's been dropped at least once. There's the scrape on the exhaust and on the inside of the exhaust is a hole:

Replacing this is on my wish-list.

Exhaust - right side:


Front wheel - left side:


Front wheel - right side:


Neck - left side:


Neck - right side:


Rear wheel - left side:


Rear wheel - right side:


Under seat:

 

Prock:

Two things I noticed in the pictures. The left rear shock appears to be damaged and the rear brake arm is installed pointing up instead of down. It appears to be placing the connecting rod at a severe strain. I would not ride it until you check those rear brakes.

 

Cleaming and detailing requires many brushes. I went to the hardware store and bought an assortment on scrub brushes and I ahve used all of them. I just wash the bike after all of the scrubbing takes place in those hard to reach areas. I like Simple Green to start with. Add some water to the mix and don't use it straight up it can be alittle hard on the aluminum. Scrub and get in all those places and use lots of that simple green solution. Spray off wioth the hose and don't let it dry out. Keep in on the center stand so you can work on those wheels. Once you get all the grease and road dirt off I would just use a good car wash soap to go over the reast of the bike. You have a nice start there and Looking forward to seeing more pics.

I was wondering where you live? I like the Speedo/Tach on that bike.

 

Thanks for looking at the pictures. I don't see what the issues you describe actually are. I made a video showing the shock and rear break in action here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jczW1KUeo7o

If you don't mind looking at it and letting me know what you meant in greater detail I'd really appreciate it!!

 

If you look at your right side rear wheel picture: immediately to the left of the muffler/exhaust tube, there is a lever attached to the hub area that is pointing straight up to the sky. That should be pointing down to the ground.

Because of the changed angle, the rod which connects to that piece is probably going through more stress than it is designed to take.

In the first picture of the left rear exhaust/shock, if you look at the shock, it does not look like it is straight. It looks bent at the point where the upper and lower pieces come together. The should be perfectly straight.

 

Re: shock. Wow, I can hardly see it not be straight at all. I never would have thought that would be a big deal. How can I tell for sure that it should be replaced? (or is it just SO OBVIOUS to everyone that this would have to be done?)

Re: break - thanks I see it now. Looking at this picture of another bike shows me what you mean:
http://p1.bikepics.com/pics/2006%5C08%5 ... 5-full.jpg
... but I don't see how that can cause strain on the rod...? What's the impact of this? Will the rod snap? Will I not have as much strength in my rear brake? (Just trying to understand how it should work and why.)

Thanks,
-Peter

 

From the factory, that brake arm does indeed point downwards, although it should work just fine pointing up. The connecting rod is hinged in the front, and should not be under much stress. However, I think it would be more out of the way if it was pointing down.

Those mufflers look a bit out of place. They're not original, are they?

I hate to restate the obvious, but do yourself a huge favor and get a repair manual... And not the scanned PDF on a CD kind, but a real, tangible book that you can lay next to the bike while you're working on it. Between that and the XJCD, it's like having a bunch of XJ gurus in your house, but the beer doesn't disappear :-D

Great looking bike... Have fun!

 

The rear brake expand by cam action so it would probably work with the lever pointing up or down, but I have not verified this.

Either way it is something for you to look into.. why the PO set it up that way. Other then the left rear shock damage I think she looks great!

You should be able to get her in top shape with a little elbow grease and some parts from Chacal. Welcome aboard.

 

I'm digging the Canadian, eh? speedometer................

 

Yeah I got a kick out of that too!

You learned one thing I haven't been able to do yet. Post pics in a thread!

Cleaning a motorcycle is a lot like cleaning a car. Detail detail detail. Simple Green or Kaboom cleaner work great to get all the gritty grimy dirty stuff off. Get some stiff toothbrushes, an assortment of larger scrub brushes, and an assortment of wire and nylon brushes. Get some soft cloths, mother's polish, and a chamois. Be sure to wear latex gloves so you don't break your nails! (or does that just apply to me? )

Just in case you forgot. Get a manual! Pretty soon you'll have the pages dog eared and coffee/beer stains on the important pages. The XJ CD is handy too. Along with a laptop and a wireless connection. (I keep mine on the work bench and search the forums while I'm working on something)

If I can learn how to work on these bikes anyone can. Don't be afraid to ask questions!! Nothing is too 'stupid' to ask. I went from having a $1000.00 garage ornament to an almost ride-able motorcycle in a few short months.

 

What's this? Coffee stains?

Grease, oil, beer ... yeah, but ... coffee?! You are supposed to have *FUN* working on your bike! Beer, wine, maybe some cognac or whiskey, but coffee? Women. SSheeeesssh!

 

Coffee is for the next morning because you were up till 3a.m. drinking beer and cleaning carbs.

 

Dpawl is the only one who works on carbs at 3 AM and puts the floats in upside down and admits it. LOL

 

I sat down today and started cleaning. The metal requires a lot of scrubbing/polishing. Wow it's slow going. Six hours later and there's still lots to do. It looks as though I'll be taking parts off completely if I want to end up getting them really clean. Sounds like a good winter project.

While wrapping up I noticed what I suspect should probably get fixed in short order.

First is this crack... it doesn't look like it's gone all the way through. Is this a common thing? Will it get worse?


Here's what really looks bad:




So, is my bike going to explode? Or what? I found a parts diagram and it looks like that is the "oil pump cover". Am I right? I can tell you it's not leaking oil, it runs fine, and the oil light is not on. Can I just pickup a new oil pump cover (from where?) and replace it?

On the topic, is there oil directly behind the oil pump cover? Or is there some other resovoir behind that where the oil actually is.

Update on the brakes: I've decided to leave them for now, but a high priority job for me is to open up the rear brakes to make sure the pads are still in one piece.

Update on the shocks: it feels fine to me and I don't see anything that suggests that the bike is going to blow up while I'm driving it with a bad shock.

In Ontario (Canada) whenever a vehicle is sold it needs to have a mechanic "safety certify" it to ensure it's safe to drive. That gives me at least a bit of confidence for the short term, but this crack I've found leaves me wondering...

Your input (as always) is appreciated!

-Peter

 

congrats and welcome Tools,Manual and Patience are your new best friends.

 

Peter,

Those covers are readily available on eBay. I am sure some people here have some too. Post a "WTB: 650 / 750 oil pump cover" in the Buy Sell Trade forum. But definitely look at eBay to at least get a sense of pricing.

I can't say about the little crack on th other side, you might want to ask someone local to look at it.

 

No oil (or shouldn't be!) inside that cover (or, the one on the other side, either), but, the ignition pick-up coils live in there, and it would be best if they weren't subject to road grime and moisture, so it is best to replace it (I have both new and used ones available, along with the gasket).

Strange though..........it seems that the previous owner must have dropped the bike, and THEN installed those crash bars, but left the broken cover on!

Are you sure that the upper feature is a "crack" and not a scratch int eh paint? A crack would NOT be a good thing to have in the main engine case............

 

I watched the vid that Prock made, Here's what I see;(BTW I know that the answer is over 3 years in coming to you), and in all this time what I say may very well be MOOT. So, for the benefit of others, the left shock appears to have a broken or bent shaft, the one that's inside and holds the upper and lower parts together. There was no problem with the orientation of the brake arm, it will do it's job if it's up or down. Yamaha decided that it looked better if it was installed down. Better late than never!

 

Yea I'd warn against trusting your life with the gov'mnt mandated 'safety cert.' Bureaucrats (and their minions) care about collecting fees, not actually identifying true safety hazards.

 

Prock,

What LVSteve said about the orientation of the brake arm may be true but IMHO wouldn't it be difficult with this orientation to see the "wear" indicator for the rear drums when you push down on the brake pedal?

Gary

 

That is a good point, I forgot about the wear indicator. Nice catch Gary!