New to this site and to DIY Mechanics

Hey guys, My name is Kate and I'm a total newbie. I am trying to fix up my old xj650 with small repairs I can do myself. I have done oil filter/change air box filter random others. but I cannot find a thread on rebuilding my brake caliper that actually talks about rebuilding it with a kit. I have searched all over this site. could anyone show me a link or tell me. Pictures would be the best. Thanks all!

 

I'm new to the site and to bikes, so I'm little help with the brakes. However, welcome to the site. There are some very knowledgeable people here.

 

Hi Kate,
Welcome to the camp.
Glad to hear that you are willing to take this bike on yourself, cause truth be told, there is no mechanic that will take as good of care of your bike other than yourself. Some items can be challenging to tackle but as Light mentioned, there are a lot of smart, kind folk here that will offer advice.
Before you do anything with your brakes (plan on doing everything to your brakes - front and rear, you need to be able to stop more than you need to be able to go. Components are 30 some years old - just ain't safe no more).
Read this:
http://www.xjbikes.com/forums/threads/the-information-overload-hour.27544/

So to answer your original question, this links to the whole brake system and - best part- it links you to the best source of getting parts for your bike. We do need to know what year your XJ650 is, as there are differences.
http://www.xjbikes.com/forums/threads/xj-parts-catalog-section-j-brakes.44636/
Within the brake section link above you will find more links that go through caliper, and other component rebuilds.

 

Newbs are the best , with no bad advice from friends you are starting fresh with best advice here! You will become part of the "Collective" and will receive great advice from all. This is the webs premier XJ club and any parts needed come from Chacal at xj4ever in upper right of the screen, excellent and fastest shipping and alway helpful !

 

"RESISTANCE IS FUTILE."
(robot voice)

 

I was going to say the same thing!

Kate, from one Ohioan to another, welcome!

I cover my caliper rebuild a little bit in my thread. Feel free to ask me questions as you go along. I'll see if I can find the post I looked at when I was doing it. Have fun!

 

Caliper rebuild thread:
http://www.xjbikes.com/forums/threads/why-you-need-to-rebuild-your-caliper-and-m-c-w-pics.41403/

Brake lines:
http://www.xjbikes.com/forums/threads/why-you-need-to-replace-original-brake-lines-w-pics.41400/

 

Those are the ones I was thinking of. Thanks K-moe.

 

Awesome! Thanks for the welcome! It's an 81. Yeah I have already decided to just redo the whole system I bought a master cylinder rebuild kit, a caliper rebuild kit (minus Piston, which I also need) and a few other tune up parts. I am going to start on the front and just move back. I'm hoping to not have to buy all new parts (Poor college student syndrome)

The piston was mildly pitted maybe 3 or 4, 1/2mm pits but I'm not taking any chances. Although after going through the catalog I could not find just the piston. Does anyone know where I could get just the piston? *81 XJ650 Maxim

Also what is the part where the two brake lines in the front meet? and can I just run one brakeline or does it require both? It has nothing to do with it but my bike has a single Caliper.

So aside from the brake rebuild I have hit a snag in general maintenance. The bolt to my oil filter will not budge. It was either over tightened or rusted in place. I ran the bike for a bit drained the oil, went to take off the filter bolt and.....stuck....

Prior to this it was leaking gas from what looked like one of the carbs. I replaced the air box filter and before putting the filter in I pushed against the wall toward the carbs and the leak stopped. I think it was from nudging one of the parts by the filter box but that's solved....for now....*bum bum bummmmm!*

So anyway my primary jobs right now are

Oil filter/Oil Change (oh god the black gunk that came out of my poor bike)
Front Brake system rebuild

 

Its all original lines I just found the faded year...O.O The Horror!!

 

I've had good luck with getting stainless steel replicas from HVC Cycles. They are about $25-30 each and are of better metal than the OEM ones. They sell on eBay, but have a site, too. http://www.hvccycle.net/

Chacal, of course, has the actual OE stuff if you need that.

 

Yeah, don't be afraid to just email Len (aka Chacal) and just ask him what you need. He's a very helpful and patient man. For the filter, I'd say just grind the bolt off and get the spin-on conversion kit. I realize budget may limit that. The minimum is about $92.

 

Will this Piston fit my XJ650? It's the only one on the site I could find.

/http://www.hvccycle.net/yamaha-rd250lc-rd350lc-xs-xj-brake-caliper-piston/

 

For now its out of my range but would be something to look into later. I want to keep this bike as long as possible and I know through the years I will slowly work on restoring it that might be a neat little mod to do just that I know about I like stuff like that. right now I need transportation that is what prompted the fix after it's been sitting for 3 years (long story) but I have kept it in a garage and now there are jsut a few small doo dads to fix (which lead to bigger and more doo dads to fix) *sigh* old bike syndrome

 

This is my baby



Just got done repainting it had a giant dent in the tank
I got it re coated on the inside in case of rust
Filled all the dents with bondo and sanded down
Wet sanded and layered rattle can engine enamel paint clear coated with more engine enamel
and Voila ten $ Paintjob that doesnt look to shabby

I have never used a forum before so I hope I'm doing this right and not annoying any other users

I also have a windshield, seat backrest for passenger and the original handle bars if anyone is looking

 

Pitting is only a problem if the pits are in the swept-area of the piston where they contact the seals.

You are definitely not annoying us.

 

Thanks! The pits although very small are were the piston makes contact with the seal inside the caliper. Ill try to figure out a good way to upload pics later but just to be on the safe side I ordered one from Chacal I figure if I'm re-doing it I might as well just re do everything. It would suck to have all new nice shiny parts, have bled them and cleaned them and all of a sudden *FREEZE* so yeah lol they do appear to be along the seals

 

Good call. New pistons cost less than funerals.

 

My thoughts exactly

 

The nice thing about funerals is that you don't really have to pay for your own.

I think I still have my filter and bolt assembly from doing my conversion. Message me an address and I'll send it your way. Just pay for the shipping, which should be pretty cheap. Then you can feel free to destroy your bolt as you get it off.

 

I've never had a 650, so I don't know. Measure it?

I can tell you that when I was rebuilding my XS, I ordered pistons from them. I got wrong ones, they were for the 400 Seca. I sent them back along with my original piston and they exchanged them for the correct ones, no charge.

 

Dad paid for his. Grandma paid for hers.

 

That's sad

 

Anyway so....does anyone know if I could just run one straight brake line or do I have to use that weird dohicky in the middle

 

I think of it as being thoughtful. All the arrangments were made while they were still healthy. All we had to do was show up and celebrate their lives.

 

That's how I would like to do it it saves a lot of grief

 

Use the doohickey. It adds rigidity to the line, and that improves braking performance. You can run a single line if you want. In either case braided steel lines are a must. CHacal has pre-made sets at a competitive price.

 

I would avoid retrofitting a straight line.
Use the doohickey and order your stainless steel braided lines from XJ4Ever; everything will fit and you will be happy.

Our new farm property is on the top of a tall hill, told my wife to bury me under the rock pile that I got the tractor stuck on. I can watch the sunrises, sunsets and stars for eternity.

 

There are arguments both for and against using the connector.

If you use braided lines, I don't think it makes a real difference. I've seen people use one-piece lines on larger bikes with larger dual-caliper brakes - they just bolted the two lines right to the master cylinder. Nobody had any issues.

Personally, I got my lines made by a local hydraulic hose supplier to replicate the originals, but that's just personal preference.

 

And what's more, if you don't, the state doles out about $30,000 of tax payer money in arranging your funeral and dispersing your estate (lawyers, court costs, social work hours, etc, etc.) so yeah, please do, everyone. I'd much rather that money go to repairing the roads, for example.

Agreed on the advice to keep the doohickey. Chacal does not sell a single line replacement, but does do custom lines. It would be cheaper, easier, and stronger staying with the doohickey setup.

 

Ok so I'm keeping the dohicky...the brake light on my hand brake doesn't work but the back one does so I think I'm going to take the wire off I'm trying to clean up the wire mess in the front too

Is it difficult to change the clutch wire mind is too long

 

It's mildly difficult to explain how to reattach it to the throw out lever the right way, but once you understand what's going on, it's simple.

I highly recommend replacing or fixing the hand brake light switch. That's your primary means of slowing down, and you don't want to surprise people behind you with how quickly you can stop.

 

A new front brake switch costs around $7.00. There will be situations where you will not have your foot on the rear brake, but will want the brake lights illuminated.

 

I think its just detached the guy who had it before me detAched EVERYTHING I've had to wire up the whole bike

 

Take pictures for the PO (Previous Owner) Masterpieces thread!

 

+1 on the braided lines. I did it to my xj650 pretty soon after I got it and the difference in feel and stopping power is worth it, particularly if you are replacing your 34 year old rubber hoses.

Congrats on the new bike! And the color choice is great, particularly for me who is a SF Giants fan. I just rattled my whole bike white, didn't come out great, but I think it will be good and functional. Wilł match the dual sport that shares the garage with it once I get a few more plastic bits and a bigger tank...

 

While I'm thinking of it, since you're new and "college poor" - I want to make sure you know about JIS screws/screwdrivers.

JIS is Japanese Industrial Standard. It looks just like a Phillips head, but it's angled ever to slightly different. Long story short, if you use a normal Phillips screwdriver on a rusted JIS screw, you're probably going to slip, cam-out, and strip it. BUT you can modify your Phillips head screwdrivers to work a lot better. You just need to grind off the point just a little bit. Enough so that the driver sinks into the screw head a little deeper and gets a better grip. Night and day difference, trust us. Here's a picture to compare the different tips.

 

1. Got it thanks guys! I wish I had taken pics before fixing a few things up it was just terrible. The guy was nice But I feel like he didn't care to much for this bike it was filthy and beat up. I've had it 3 years but I haven't really done to much I just drove it when I got it I'm going to do a little more work on it today I'll post picks of the brake parts later

 

I have a small set of those that came with the bike

 

Nice looking bike, shockney! Welcome aboard. Hey, ya gotta get a grab bar back on there--- looks funny without it.

 

The guy I got it from had a lugage rack grab bar. Looked even sillier with that on it

 

So I am now I'm the market for a grab bar

 

You know I knew something was weird and I couldn't figure it out so I went and looked it where my grab bar used to be and realized I took it off because it was this ugly luggage rack on so I guess the next thing I need to buy is a new / old grab bar

 

I might be interested in it .... Depends, may be a swap----

Dave

 

Just noticed-- you said it's a 1981, did you swap the engine? That's a 1982-1983 engine there.

 

No it's all stock are you sure?

 

Yup.
1980-1981 had non-YICS engines.
1982-1983 had YICS engines.

You have YICS engine in your picture.

I guess it's possible to get one that was made juuuust at the right time to still have a 1981 title, but a 1982 engine already on board.......

Check the serial number on the steering stem, and compare that with the number on the engine near the oil fill cap. Heck, compare it with the number on your title while you're at it...... Lol

Dave

 

Hey Kate.
If you want my advice, I would trust what Dave (Hogfiddles) says more than I trust anything the previous owner says. He owns more Xj parts and bikes than most of us have seen! His horde is legendary! Here's some proof:
http://www.xjbikes.com/forums/threads/at-lost-for-words.71351/page-3#post-476563
http://www.xjbikes.com/forums/threads/yamaha-seca-xj750-tank-alternative.62135/

 

Cheapest ideas For the filter bolt.... In no particular order:

1. If the head is big enough, grind new flats on it to get a wrench on

2. Weld a nut on top and use the socket on that

3. Grinding the head off, being careful, as you get close to the housing, not to grind into the aluminum. When the steel is thin enough, the spring will pop the cover loose. Pull the cover and filter, remove the rest of the bolt with a pair of pliers and toss it. Get a new oil filter bolt.... $10-$15 bucks.

Or, leave the filter in for now, refill and ride to you're able to get the bolt removed. At least the oil you put in I'd better than what you took out

 

I wouldn't bother ordering it.... For one, it's missing the groove for the dust boot and spring. If THAT is not correct, who knows WHAT else isn't correct with it. Get the right part the first time.....