What did you do to your Yamaha today?

Slapped the tank back on and took her for a spin. Need to wait a couple more weeks to wax the tank and reinstall the tank emblems.

 

You know what is a problem with Maxims, at least with the original seats? They always rub on the back end of the tank and ruin the paint finish.

 

Right, I had the upholstery shop bring the front lip of the seat back about a half inch so there's a bit more space and it doesn't press against the tank quite as much.

 

Hello friends.
Walking around with my xj750 I noticed a buzz and a strong vibration at the input of the dash.
Note that if I loosen the cable thread the noise disappears but appears at times even at low speed.
With the motorcycle moving I adjust the cable and it stops vibrating.
Behind the headlight the cable is in contact and could be making an axial force.
Any suggestions?
Is it lubrication? What is recommended to lubricate with? Oil? fat?
Greetings and thanks!!

 

Pulled out my yellow seca , first ride of year whooo , bike is dusty , and I pulled the mirrors , windshield, side covers so need to put it all back on .

 

Spoke wheels!

 

Nice job looks great

 

I am not fan of having spoke wheels but I do have to say that does look Sweet!

 

Did my Secas front end, new seals and oil change. PO had messed up, (what a surprise). left one had one spring washer squashed in the bottom of the fork lead, both bolts at the low side of fork legs had wrong size copper washers and right side had 0 oil in it. They were different to each other too, internals and fork leg both which is weird. Well, got it done anyway, went with Motul fork expert sae15 and took a little test ride too, seems good so far.

 

So, I've been riding my XJ650 alternating with my other bike. Back when I first got it running a couple months ago and I was fiddling a lot with it, the plugs were really black from all the idling and starting up with fuel enrichment. Now that I'm just riding it, and I have new plugs, I pulled them yesterday to look at them now that the weather is a little warmer.
They all 4 look great. Very pleased with how the bike is running right now. I still have not ventured more than 30 minutes away from the house on the XJ though, I may start to do that soon.

 

Installed progressive suspension for the front end since I was getting a death wobble at like 85+ on the highway. It kind of fixed the issue. I still sometimes get a death wobble, I suppose the steering nuts need to be tightened but what's strange is I don't get any drifting at lower speeds if I let go of the handlebars, the bike moves perfectly straight. Perhaps rear suspension is also causing the issue?

Also, this bike HATES turning in my opinion. It is so top heavy and leaning into the bike makes the pegs kiss the ground. I'm so used to hitting twisties hard on my DRZ that I have no idea how a cruiser rides. I believe the XJ750 is a cruiser? The footpegs are in a sporty position though like a sportbike so it had me confused.

 

Today , changed oil and rode a few miles . Even got my beetle out .

 

Went to start bike it was cranking over but not hitting like it should . My AGM battery is a couple of years old . Since I recently bought another battery for my 100$ special, swapped battery out still not any better. Pulled starter from other bike and put in bike , spins over fast now . Put starter on 100$ at some point may have to tear into starter .

 

Dove into cleaning up the exterior of the motor. I've been avoiding this since its fairly un-rewarding, tedious work. After degreaser and scrubbing, which did almost nothing, started in with wire brushes on the drill and Dremel. The before/after photos don't show how much better its starting to look. Years of baked on oil dirt sludge with heavy oxidation throughout. Also found a little oil in the alternator. Not sure what changing the seal in place will entail because an M16x1.5 pusher bolt isn't real common around here so I had to order one.

 

@Roast644

https://www.xjbikes.com/forums/thre...ith-pictures-applies-to-all-xj-models.108126/

Tabaka already done it on his bike. Check there is no damage to the oil spray nozzle from the alternator/starter chain when you are in there.

 

Oh wow! I hadn't even got around to researching this job yet, and didn't even know the oil nozzle existed. This is an awesome write up! thank you

 

The nozzle is safe as long as the chain guide is in good condition. The locating pin on the nozzle is there to make sure the nozzle sprays oil in the right direction on the starter/alternator chain.

 

Wrestled my carbs back on today after pulling them awhile back to check the float levels. Now I just need to find some time to colortune them and drive myself crazy trying to set the idle.

 

ordered new dunlop 404's. 13-14,000 mi on bridgstone spits and because I got the RWL, witch aren't available anymore, i need to get a front tire too, or I'll look stoopid.

 

Installed Progressive Suspension 11-1106 fork springs and fresh 15w fork oil. Raised the front end at rest and the ride is noticeably better.

 

Today went to the new Cycle Gear that just opened in Hobart . Great place bought a new cargo net my old one is well OLD has to be 30 years old lol . Was eyeing new tires might go with Dunlop 404 .

 

I gave my bike a special treat in honor of it being 40 years old this year. It received an OEM oil filter with Yamalube, detailed decreasing and cleaning of the engine, wash, wax, shining the chrome and re-polishing the aluminum. After the ride to dry off the engine, I too discovered a fresh drip of oil below the alternator. Tabaka's write-up on the seal / O-ring replacement is going to be very helpful.

 

@Roast644 bike it's the small o ring on the oil spray nozzle that was leaking. Yours could be either but check the nozzle while you are there to make sure it has no marks from the starter/alternator chain. Better just changing both o ring and seal when you have the rotor off.

 

Since I had to remove the handlebars to fix the fork air valve, I painted the riser clamps and the center plastic piece just to clean things up. My wife had pointed out how that looked when she said, this bike look so old (uh, it is).
I'm slowly cleaning up the look one bit at a time. I'm going to clean up the forks next. I need to pull the front tire so I can get to all of it to remove the faded/yellowing clearcoat on the aluminum. I'll hopefully paint the caliper at that time too.

Rode the bike Sunday for a 45 minute joy ride. I had pulled the windshield off last week cause it was warming up but had to put it back on cause it dipped below 60 Sunday. The amount of cushy foam on the XJ650 is SOO much more comfortable than my 2 other bikes that its forced me to get better seats for those 2.
Brakes on this bike compared to the other two is the main thing that is worse. I have to really be ready to pull hard on the XJ. I did stop by a parking lot to practice some emergency braking with it, something I'm trying to do on all 3 bikes.

 

I know this was from over a year ago but is there any chance you have a link to the kit and could you also tell me the two different size bullet connectors? I have a 1980 XJ650 in really good shape and well taken care of. At night I've been going out to the garage and messing with it slowly just fixing things up a little, cleaning, etc. I recently started tidying up some of the few wiring issues. Everything works there's just a few little electrical tape hack jobs where all the bullet connectors from the rear connect to the female terminals on the right side under the seat by the battery. From my understanding I need an open barrel crimp tool and the bullet connectors I'm just not sure on the sizes and the Amazon kits are all over the place when it comes to the various sizes in the kits. I'm also debating about running new wires into the two plastic connectors right near those bullet connections. The pins inside look very skinny and flat do you know what they are called and what size they are also? Thank you!

 

Bullet connectors are 4mm on the Yamaha harness. Large spade connectors 6.3mm.

 

Thanks! I was doing some searching on Amazon and found these which I "think" are the correct size? https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07FCG92N...olid=2DPPKCMXYV9W2&psc=1&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it

From what I read they are called 4mm but are technically 3.9mm like the link above is that correct?

Besides the bullet terminals what are the ones inside the plastic connectors called? If you look at my pictures above the dark green wire is coming out of a plastic connector. I am planning on replacing those wires so each one is a single wire from the plastic connector to the male bullet connector. Just not sure what those terminals are called or what size. Also not sure what type of tool I need to remove the ones currently in the plastic connectors. Thanks

 

I have these to remove the terminals from plastic connector blocks.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/nuosen-Ter...ocphy=1007341&hvtargid=pla-756758021946&psc=1
You can use them to bend back the locking tab inside plastic connectors to get the wire out.

Don't know what the connector you have with the green wire coming out of it. Just replace it the way you mentioned. Yes l have those connectors in your post and they are 3.9mm.

 

The 6.3mm uninsulated terminals inside the harness plastic connector blocks have the small metal tab you need to push down to release the wire.



Here is another photo of the same connector.

 

I put one of them up for sale, a 1982 550 Seca. You can find it on FB Marketplace in Minnesota. $2,500 obo

 

Been working on bike , I added a dual port USB charger , with a built in volt meter , very cool . To make it work ran directly to battery , and put a switch on the leads . Still have not decided where to mount it . I tried to put leads on the fuse block , but I could not get consistent voltage . The other chore I had was the valve cover seaping on the left side . Swapped out the spare engine cover , installed and started up , seemed to be running on three cylinders . I quickly found out number four plug wire came out of the coil. I use Honda CB750 coils that have replaceable wires , so got it back in all good .

 

Finished mounting micro switch for new USB charger and reinstalled fairing . Of course it is cold out and raining . Next I want to work on my 100$ bike , still cant get front brakes to work , wont bleed and even swapped out master cylinder. I rebuilt both brake calipers so need to look into it more.

 

Took a buffer and some rubbing compound to the tail light housing and it's nice and clear again.

 

Tire day

 

Took a two hour joy ride around town and am still amazed at how much better it rides with the new fork springs. Night and freaking day difference - no more bottoming out and so much smoother over dips and bumps.

 

@McTavish it looks like you surely got your money's worth out of the Bridgestone!

 

Saw it there, looks great!

 

Sanded bodywork and prepped for paint.

 

Pulled the forks on my 650 maxim to refresh the oil. Should have waited for the new seals to arrive but I had an inkling this might be a twice over job amyway. Found one mudguard mount had a snapped off bolt in it ( covered with epoxy?), and some smelly oil, and one spring upside down. Anyway once I'd machined out the bolt end on my mill, I filled with straight 20 fork oil, changed the tyre and took it for a run - much improved, maybe the straight 20 will do the trick..
Easy enough to do, but should have waited for the seals...

 

Back to the Church of Clean on my carbs! Fully disassembled & ultra sonic cleaned.

Found out the enrichment jet in each bowl is super clogged; for sure the reason why this thing never starts cold. Going over carb parts list and realizing my jet needle is one which is not recommended to use - Y403s. Could explain a number small running issues.

Got those bowl jets cleared out today with heat, air & lots of carb cleaner.

Ordered some parts from Len!

 

My god, the streets in Dallas are absolutely littered in garbage. Went out to ride this a.m. but picked up a nail in the rear tire at some point yesterday. Had to replace the rear innertube on my Honda a couple weeks ago because of a staple in the tire. There is some sort of screw in the rear tire of my Tundra right now, same tire I had to replace three months ago because of irreparable damage from a screw/bolt. I'm like a moving magnet or something.

 

Hang a magnet in front of your wheels to catch the screws before they get stuck in the tires....

 

I now have half of my Secas in the garage (wife let's me have the whole garage in the summer). The 550 on the left is for sale and I should have the red 900 for sale by next week after some prep work.

 

Not me checking my bank account and realizing it won't be this time around for that 900...........

 

Installed my new geips today

 

Spent Sunday , replaced left controls, stripped and repainted clutch lever . The left control was broke for clutch cable attachment . While I was at it found the clutch cable was worn through the covering in a couple of places. Looked at my 100$ bike snd cable looked like new , so swapped them out. Finished the installation of the dual USB socket , I put a toggle switch to shut it off when not needed . This is pretty cool as it has a volt meter in it .

 

I now have working signal lights again!
I installed a 2 pin electronic flasher relay hoping to get my new LED signal lights working. I had to put on new pins and plug shells and all is good. I even have working hazard lights as I changed both left and right side switches/controls last week. Almost there. Only one more issue to resolve and I can take her out!

 

Quick question about front brakes.

Before anyone says anything YES I am replacing my brake lines, banjo bolts, crush washers, and also rebuilding master cylinder and caliper!

I took the lid off my master cylinder just to see what condition everything was in.
After putting the lid back on the brakes were pretty bad and if you really squeeze you can get the lever almost all the way to the bars. I added some more brake fluid today but no change. Do I just need to pump the lever a few times, hold, and then crack open the bleeder?
Only thing I can think of is that air got in there just don't know if it's an easy fix or if it's gonna turn into one of those pain in the add bleeding scenarios I've read about on here. Thanks!

 

I'm no expert on how bad things can get on a bike cause until this winter, I've only done my cars and they were always purchased new or 3yrs old.

My XJ650 did not look much different than yours before I did all the work you mention (rebuild caliper/MC & brake lines). I cleaned it all up and it works fine. My brakes did not want to release so good before the rebuild. Works fine now. I even took plastic polish from a headlight restoration kit to the outside of the sight glass which was hazed over. Now I can see the fluid level.
Just as a precaution, I have been checking my disk to see if its hot/warm at the end of the ride or if I stop somewhere. Plus looking for any brake fluid leakage. So far so good in the 300 miles I've ridden it since reworking things.
Good Luck.

 

Installed a modified shifter pawl arm, new gasket and oil seal from xj4ever, along with an oil/filter change (Lucas 20w50 conventional m/c oil) since it needed to be drained to crack the shifter case. Shifting from 1st to 2nd is sooo much smoother and going up and down through the gears is much improved as well. Finding neutral is a breeze now too. If the shifter on your XJ feels clunky you will be very pleased with this upgrade.

Shout out to Len and xj4ever for the outstanding part and service - sent my order and payment Monday, parts went out Tuesday and hit my doorstep today. The best!