Central New York Carb Clinic #12 - June 8, 2019

On the first leg of my journey! Waiting for crazygnat to get here before we start out together towards the clinic! It's a bit nippy out....

 

6:00 am- not a cloud in the sky, 45 degrees
Time to start the coffee

 

Coffee is on

 

carbman is here

 

About 40 miles away... I’d be there already, but I’m encountering some traffic...

 

To be legal,Pass on the LEFT (yeah, I know--- up here we pass on any side ..... left side, right side, sometime the top side----even the SIDEWALK).

 

Caught up to Saftie!

 

Saftie, nuch, dkavanagh

Xhondahack,smeagleb, crazy gnat, nuch

 

Nice--
Larry Manske's bike... and it's still firing!!

 

So--
nuch is doing an oil change
Dkavanagh is doing a valve clearance check
Smeagle is pulling his carbs
Larry is replacing plugs and caps

 

I’m going next year. Damn this work day stuff!!!

 

Jburch is wiring on a gauge cluster

Ken had issues with a trailer axle enroute, and is heading home

Saftie is on an oil change

 

And the best news is: your package has arrived. It is on the porch at your front door.

 

I just got home, it was a good day. Met new people, new connections.

Be ready for lots of questions.

Dave, thank you for hosting the clinic!

 

special thanks to Len Chacal for the donation of a "spin-on oil filter adapter Kit" as a door prize.

The USPS delayed delivery andvitvonlyvarrived after we were getting ready for our group photo and ride. But that's ok-- cuz as the day unfolded, Ken (fleetwood) was unable to make it..... first, a strap broke and his bike tipped over and badly dented the tank ( xj700 airhead)..... then, to add insult, a little while later a trailer bearing blew out the bearing buddy and overheated. They were able to get a grease gun to reload it, but turned around and headed home in the interest of safety. He was planning to do a fork seals replacement. SO--- the decision was made to give Ken the Spin-on kit, as the "Hard-Luck Door Prize". It will be sent to home for his 700.

Everyone else got an xj4ever helmet sticker, and NAPA donated a few cans of carb spray, Gates-Cole Insurance donated a lot of little goodies, too.... so everyone got some cool things.

 

We got back from our ride around 5-ish and the began loading trailers, packing tools,or setting up tents.

Goodbyes said, and plans Initiated for next year already.

 

Pics:

John (Fuller56), and Tony (xhondahack)


Dave (Dkavanagh) showing Tony how to do an airhead shim clearance check


Carmine(Nuch) takes over at the grill and added awesome steaks a grilled asparagus to the menu --- DELICIOUS!!!!! Plenty of good and time to catch up on the year


Jim (jburch) New member to the forums brought xj650rj carbs and gauges to be worked on

 

By special request--- A FLY-OVER!!!!

( no not really by special request.....but a cool fly-over by four really big helicopters!!!)

 

Staff photographer, Nuch, get me uscreadh for the photo-shoot..... he'll post his pics later

 

Time to load up/pack up/head home

 

End of the day

 

Special visitor on the shop door after dark.... a Luna Moth

 

So here's a compact list of what was done:

3 bikes synced
1 clearance adjustment
1 oil change
1 fork oil change
1 rear gear oil change
1 speedometer opened for service
1 tachometer replaced
1 carb rack opened and adjusted ( other issues to be addressed after trip home)
1 auxiliary light replaced
A few electrical issues solved
A lot of food and sodas consumed
A few misc broken parts replaced
Replaced a faulty petcock
Replaced a broken/shorted right-hand control
Re-connected an electrical connection during our afternoon ride

I probably missed something, so more updates from others will fill in the gaps

Dfox

 

THANK YOU TO ALL WHO ATTENDED!!! It was another great carb clinic, and a great time for catching up with friends--- time to gear up for CNYCC#13...June 2020

SPECIAL THANKS TO LEN CHACAL AND XJ4EVER For all the support!

Thanks also to Gates-Cole Insurance and NAPA for the door prize donations---your support is MUCH appreciated!!!

 

Sunday morning:

After coffee and donuts, as Geoff and Dustin were preparing to leave, intermittent electrical issue that Jeff was having yesterday caused his bike to shut down…

While working on his bike, there was another helicopter flyover .



After some investigating we found a shorted and burned wire in his ignition switch. We dug another switch out of the parts stash… And after a little while wereable to start up with no more issues.



On leaving, though, his bike started to mess and sputter... and then stalled out. I flipped his switch to PRI, it started up-then he noticed when he had moved his tank, The vacuum line had slipped off. That problem was taken care of-so now everyone is happily on their ways home.

The clean-up crew has arrived


Plan ahead --- CNYCC#13 is scheduled for June 13, 2020. That should be easy to remember --- " The 13th on the 13th".

Dfox

 

Glad this got sorted. Hope the guys have a good and safe trip home.

I got back as well. Took advantage of the weather and having all day and chose scenic routes to get back home. A
I am very glad I spent a few dollars on a crampbuster and a cooling shirt for underneath the jacket.

Definitely another great CC weekend.

 

His venturity looks bent, LOL

 

Obviously out of order...
- bike lineup without riders. Nuch will have the official one.
- the scene in the morning as work got underway
- Dave sync-ing my carbs. The master works fast!

I got home at 11pm, unloaded the bike, shower then bed. Great day and super nice to meet folks from here. That was a great ride at the end of the day as well! I wished I had my go-pro!

 

Just arrived home after an eventful post-clinic day. On our ride last night my bike had been cutting out intermittently while riding, but would either catch up on it's own or I could get it started with the starter button. I assumed I just knocked something loose when I was fooling around in the headlight bucket while replacing the tach and putting new LEDs behind the Speedo and tach. When we got back I made sure everything was snugged up, turned it on and it seemed to run ok. Thankfully, we actually planned to to a quick running synch this morning, because while warming the bike up it kept cutting out until finally it wouldn't start anymore. After investigating we found, as Dave said above, there was a short a wire connected to the kill switch. I hastened its demise while clumsily fiddling with it and pulled the wire out of it's barely soldered connection. Fortunately, the east coast parts hoarder was there to save the day and we were able to quickly get it up and running with a replacement.

Despite my issues, and Dustin's, it was a great ride. We had to do a little bit of roadside service to my fellow Pennsylvanian's ride half way through. Thankfully, it was a brief intermission and we were able to quickly get back to enjoying the fantastic scenery around Dave's place.

It was great to meet new XJ enthusiasts and catch up with old acquaintances. Thanks to Dave for hosting again and sharing his yard with us! Thanks, Carmine, for the awesome food and bringing those sweet new XJ threads; I'm wearing my new shirt as I type this. And thanks to everyone else for the great conversation and making this community great!

 

From where I sit, I count at least one jealous Canuck.

 

I wish I was over there in the USA so I could go to the Carb Clinic too.

 

My friends. Thank you for making this year's carb clinic another great one... Just got back home and of course I'm swamped with other things already. I'll be back on in a few days to post more pics and share some thoughts but I didn't want any more time to go by without sharing the group photo.

Until then...

-Nuch

p.s. For some reason, the forum is compressing my image down to 1200 pixels across. The image I have is of course much larger... Can't figure it out...

 

Having been part of the XJ community here on XJbikes for some time, I wanted to say that I had a great experience finally making the 8 hour round trip to attend this year's clinic. Looks like everyone made it home safe.

Got a chance to help out a bit, and even learn how to do a valve adjustment on an "Air-head".

Thanks Dave "Hogfiddles" for hosting a memorable event, and look forward to getting together at the next one.
And maybe we'll be blessed again with weather as nice as this year's, and I'll ride up Friday and do an overnight.

Tony

 

Tough-looking bunch............

 

No tractor driving pictures this year?

 

Yea New York is a bit of a jaunt for me

 

Soooo jealous I missed yet another one... Life gets in the way of my life...
Maybe next year and happy for you guys that were able to get together!

 

This was an exciting trip to say the least! Sunday morning my phone had some technical issues which inevitably lead to me losing the video I was going to post of all the bikes...
I had been having issues with feeling like when I turn left my rear tire slides to the right, which right before Geoff and I parted ways , lead to me not being able to pull out of a turn and almost slamming into a concrete center divide... After ariving at my aunt's several hours later and camping for the night, the next day when my 14 year old nephew and 10 year old niece got home from school they where asking me a bunch of questions about my bike and while showing them how the speedometer worked and how to replace it I notice the bolt on my left fork was barely on and stripped out! I'm thinking what has been going on is that this caused my wheel to shift enough on turns and making the rear wheel slide a bit. After replacing the bolt and making sure everything was tightened properly I haven't had issues with the tire sliding out!
After waiting out the worst part of a storm I arrived home safe and sound ( and very exhausted) after about 6 hours....can't wait till the next clinic!!

 

@smeagol21b Glad you made it home and even happier you figured out the problem! Every little thing is making that bike better and before long, you'll be wondering if you ought to just paint it because that's all that left! Hope to see you next year!

 

I've already got it planned on how I'm going to have it painted! Just need to invest in another bike so I can do a full frame off restoration! I'll be sticking with the same color, quartz silver, but with a touch of metallic flake, decals will be painted with a blue with flake and a pearl essence white! But first I need to fix carbs to get rid of that hang idle lol

 

Smeagol ---you left out the part about your bike shutting down on the ride!!!! ( a few miles into our ride, his bike lost power and c old barely move. If finally gave up when we were heading up a hill to a stop sign. Run out of gas? Nope, still plenty there. What the----????? Well, I felt the pipes and 2/3 were barely warm. I could keep my hands on them. Ok, so the 2/3 coil is dead. As soon as I said that--crazy gnat says, "I KNOW WHAT THE PROBLEM IS!!!!! REMEMBER THAT CLIP THAT CAME APART LAST YEAR ON THE WAY HOME!?!?!? THE ONE WE DUCT-TAPED?? THAT WAS THE 2/3 COIL....I BET IT SLID APART WHEN YOU PUT THE TANK BACK ON". So, we pulled the tank.....sure 'nuff--------pulled the now-soft tape 0ut of the way, pushed it back together, and I stretched the tape around it as best as I could to hold it tight til we got back. Now it's zip--tied together tightly.

I suspect the idle issue is those o-rings, as we discussed here. It'll be interesting to see what happens after y0u swap them for the correct seals. I suspect that as the rack warms up, they start to bind as things expand. But I will say, it sounds much better this year, and we were able to actually get it synced this time!

It also sounded a WHOLE lot better than last year, and I've been enjoying watching this one slowly come back to life and become increasingly reliable! Geoff has done wonders with that engine, I'm glad he didn't give up, and it's been a fun challenge to diagnose all the issues......

I have heard from everyone now, so it's nice to know that everyone's arrived home safely.

I have most everything put away now, and just have the loose ends to finish up. I should be done doing that just about the time to start pulling everything back out to set up for the next clinic......lol

 

Yeah it's running MUCH better! I stopped every 100 miles to gas up and most I put was $7 in gas! But yeah once I get the money together I'm going to order the proper seals and hopefully that fixes the issues! Getting that carb needle in properly helped a lot too, but we already know why that was a problem lol! Like I said Sunday I probably won't make it to the clinic next year but I'll be there in spirit!

 

Looks like we all got a year older

 

At least the bikes still look good!

 

Ouch

 

Planning this year’s CNYCC was extensive. I/we have attended 6 of the prior 12 carb clinics with Dave Fox. Always a fantastic event and all prior ones the rain God blessed us with rain. It is about a 200 mile 4 hr drive. The 2019 event had fantastic weather in PA and NY! But we missed it due to a series of small disasters that mushroomed, due to some seemingly minor details in planning. Not only did the motorcycle come off the center stand, on the trailer, it fell over putting a large dent in the gas tank. Thirty miles later a wheel bearing went out on my trailer. We also had the pleasure of meeting a very nice PA State Trooper, rent a new trailer, spend almost 12 hours in a Turnpike rest stop working at solving things, and ended up traveling more miles than if we had attended the carb clinic! Arrived home 3 AM in the morning! So, I don’t forget to add this: Alicia (my Fiancée) was wonderful and a tremendous help throughout this whole ordeal!

A few months ago, I purchased an XJ-700 Maxim airhead, with 12,000 miles. I knew it had some rust in the gas tank and would need the carbs cleaned or rebuilt. After it had been sitting in our garage a few weeks I noticed some fluid on the front rim. It had either leaking forks or leaking calibers. So, I decided I will rebuild Forks at the CNYCC, and there we can look at the calibers. In the week prior, ordered a basic Fork kit with seals from Len. He was fantastic getting the parts to me. Since my 2003 Escape has over 200,000 miles, for this trip, we bought a new hitch for Alicia’s 2017 Escape, and new wiring kit. A few days prior I completed installing the hitch and the wiring. BTW: I highly recommend E-trailer if you need a hitch or wiring! This trip we were trailering the 86 XJ-700 in my trailer. I have had the trailer for over 15 years. Even added Bearing Buddies years ago and I try to keep them greased prior to every long trip.

I have trailered my bikes 5 or 6 times before and I am very methodic and detailed when strapping them down. Bike on Center stand, separate strap from each handlebar down to floor hooks. Remove the seat and connect separate straps to each side of the frame where the seat goes. Strap front wheel to wheel chalk bolted to floor, strap to front of trailer tongue. Strap around the rear tire/wheel a few times and tight to each side of trailer.

Saturday morning, we were loaded up and ready to leave around 8:45 AM. Although we wanted to leave by 7AM, Alicia got home late the night before & we had been up until midnight.

This trip I ran a long strap looped 2 times around the center of handlebars, Error #1. This trip I ran a long strap looped around middle of frame near seat (not using 2 separate straps), Error #2. This trip, (since I had just used the trailer a few weeks before) I skipped greasing the Bearing Buddies, Error #3. BTW: packing the car, I had my hand on the grease gun in the garage ready to bring it, but decided I already had too many tools loaded, Error #4…… As a precaution, after about 20 miles, I pulled over and put my hand on each hub. They were cool, not even warm. Bearings should be fine…maybe, maybe not!

Around 10:00 AM we were near Wilkes Barre cruising the Turnpike and a PA State Trooper had someone pulled over so I moved into the passing lane. As I went to get back in the right lane, as I looked in my rearview mirror, the Trooper had pulled out and was coming up behind me. That was when I had the unexpected pleasure of watching as my bike slowly fall over in the trailer smashing the gas tank against the rail. Pulled over right away and the Trooper pulled behind us and got out to help us. I noticed the front strap holding the front wheel had been cut by the edge of the trailer, never had that happen before. That gave the bike slack to slide back then go forward off the center stand. The looped straps gave it enough slack for it to fall over. So there on the side of the Turnpike with the help of the State Trooper we chatted as we got the bike strapped down properly this time. The Trooper was with me in the trailer and Alicia was getting more straps out of the back of the car. It seemed strange that every time she reached into the car to get more straps, he watched her like a hawk! I mentioned to him we were from Fleetwood, he said he knows, he ran the tags! I said, gee by now you probably know the name of our dog! He laughed and said, you would have to be a pretty bad character for that to come up.

After about 20 minutes of changing the way it was strapped down and adding a few extra straps, we were on our way again. As we pulled out, I said to Alicia, he was really watching you getting the straps. And it hit me: she has a permit to carry. Most likely that came up on his system! We were really lucky he was a such a nice guy!

About 30 miles later, I started feeling a tug like a wheel bearing going. We were now above Scranton. Alicia also felt it. She said what was that? I said feels like a wheel bearing! We pulled over right away and I felt both hubs, the left wheel hub was really warm. I explained to her the problem. We decided to drop the trailer with bike, and she drove to a Pep Boys and bought a grease gun and tube of bearing grease. Knowing my lovely lady, she explained the situation to the guy at the store & the guy convinced her we needed the best grease gun they have! OH, Lucky me, (I now have 3 grease guns)! The new gun can load grease into a bearing up to 5,000 psi. Anyone want to guess the strength and coordination it took me to compress that grease gun spring in order to get the cap on after loading the grease tube in it? I fought with that cap and spring for almost 10 minutes on the side of the road! And the longer you fight with it, every drop of grease on the case, the plunger, the spring and the cap makes it that much harder to get together! Well, I finally managed to grease both bearings. Then Alicia says, so how long until we get to the carb clinic? I said no, we are turning around. She was bummed out! Told her, the bearing can still go out completely. If we ruin the bearing, I can get the bearing replaced but if we ruin the axle and hub it is a lot more expensive. Not worth trying to chance it, driving further puts us further away from home and compounds the problem if it goes out!

We made it about 50 miles back and I felt the bearing binding up again. We had 2 miles to a Service Plaza/Rest Area. Slowed down and made it into the parking lot. When we got out to look at the trailer, the Bearing Buddy had blown completely off the axle with grease all over the rim. The new, thicker strap holding the front wheel had been cut again by the edge of the trailer. As an added level of safety, I had also put a strap from the center-stand forward to the front of the trailer locking the kickstand in the up position! That additional strap saved us from more damage to the bike.

In hindsight, there is a chance I may have overfilled the bearing with the high-pressure grease gun. Or with years of wear the bearing was just ready to go! Either way we now needed a plan to get everyone and everything home. Alicia said: What are we going to do? I said, I don’t know, and I got that deer in the headlight look from her? Most likely I had the same look! I said, we’ll start by going in and getting coffee and thinking it over. My decision after relaxing about 10 minutes, we needed to rent a trailer.

After about 10 calls it was about 3PM and we needed our plan in place before rental places closed at 5PM. We were able to find a rental trailer in Allentown at Home Depot (60 miles away) for about $50 for 24 hours. By 6PM we were back with the rental trailer. I started unstrapping the bike to roll it off my trailer and said wait a minute. We need to first disconnect the rental, hook up my trailer to the hitch to get the bike off. Then, reconnect the rental to get the bike on the other trailer. That was time consuming! The rental trailer was about 10 inches too narrow to load both the bike and trailer together so we had to first take the bike home. On the way home we thought about things we might need to take back: a few extra tools and more straps. Alicia said how are we going to get the trailer on the rental trailer? I said we need to disassemble my trailer and load the parts. (Here is where I forgot to bring WD-40 for all those rusted bolts, but I did remember to grab a breaker bar). We had to take the front panel off, the back panel, the sides and wheels off the trailer to load it. By the time we got back to disassemble and then load the trailer it was 10PM. At one point a nut rounded off and we were already exhausted. I said we will need to come back with more tools! She grabbed the vice grips and said will this work? It did. Then the same bolt kept binding and not coming out even with the vice grips ion the nut. I said, I will need to come back with a chisel tomorrow. She said get me a hammer I will get it apart. She announced: That bolt is between me sleeping and getting a hot shower, we are not coming back! We snapped the bold off twisting it with the socket & breaker bar. Finally arrived home at 3 AM in the morning without any injuries beyond a few bruised knuckles. In hindsight could not have asked for better weather, it was a beautiful day!

We rolled out of bed about 11 the next day. Took our time getting started on our day. Looked out the front door a few times to the trailer loaded on the trailer and kept procrastinating dealing with unloading it! Finally, we harnessed enough motivation, and we were able to get the trailer unloaded and returned the trailer by 4:30 the next day! On Monday I found a place to drop off the axle. They said the axle is fine but need a new hub and bearings. I said, do both sides with new bearings and hubs. Now that the trailer is in pieces, I will strip the paint and repaint it. What an experience. I must say we were very fortunate for good weather. We stayed calm and jointly cooperated working together the whole time! Sorry we missed seeing everyone at the CNYCC. We missed the only year of beautiful weather! Always fantastic people there and a great time! Looks like you had a good turnout! Dave Fox always has a great Carb Clinic. Alicia & Ken

 

She definitely sounds like a keeper there! Bummer about the bike and trailer but all things that can be fixed easy enough.

 

On the bright side, we had fun talking with you on the phone throughout the day......lol

Dave

 

@Fleetwood You're really good natured about all that! Of course, a week later, it might be possible to find the upsides and a little humor. Bummer about the bike tipping over!

 

Wow, quite an ordeal. Was planning on helping out with the fork seal replacement. Sure looks like it's due.
Hope things work out for you next year.

Tony