Everything HD-FXR

Posts Tagged ‘Zen’

Haven’t made it to the tool store to get a new breaker bar yet.  Kind of want to have some help available when I try to break the damn compensator lose.  So, I spent some time pondering what I might need once I get the inner primary off.

1. Let’s see.  Going to heat the compensator nut.  Could be getting pretty hot too (I understand red locktite doesn’t melt until 271 degrees F.)  Main shaft seal is made of rubber.  Rubber melts.  Wow, Zen in action.  Better get a replacement mainshaft seal just in case….  Order one.
2. Clutch hub in my bike had a lot of groves in the fingers and is original three adjustor hub.  Bike has been tugging a little bit in gear at stop lights.  Groves could cause such a thing.  Better replace it while the thing’s apart…. Order one.
3. Fiber plates in the bike are THIN!  Better replace them too (Damn, my clutch wasn’t even slipping – could it have been from the grime between those plates?)  One set of Barnett Kevlar plates….
4. Always a good idea to check the transmission mainshaft seal…. Order one.
5. As beat up as the compensator bolt  is I feel better with a new one….  Order one.
   The adjusting nut on the throw out assembly was kinda rusty?  Gotta wonder how that happened.  Order one….
6. Plus, gonna needs some gaskets (sooner or later.)  I’ll just get a complete engine set.  I’ll get the one with oil seals and then I don’t have to order a replacement.  Order one.  Cancel item 1.

That’s a start.  Now to get another breaker bar.

What Have I Got?

850 miles on the speedo now and I admit to myself that there is a vibration that comes and goes on the road.  Also feel some sort of “hammering” when just sitting astride the bike with it idling at a low pace.  I posted a query on a few other blogs and somebody suggested that the front drive sprocket on the tranny is known to work loose on this model bike and it could be causing the vibration.  Sounds reasonable to me.  That is just the kind of vibration it felt like – gear wobbling on its shaft.  Into the garage to pull the inner and outer primary so I can have a look.

The fun begins

Get the bike on a bike jack so I can lift her a bit off the floor for a better working angle.  Outer primary comes off  easy enough.  Gasket still good too.  Locate my trusty pressure plate washer.  Lock down the pressure plate springs and remove the pressure plate, 5 fiber and 4 steel plates of the clutch assembly.  Clutch hub nut (left handed threads) comes off just fine.  Now for the compensating sprocket.  Wow – what a surprise.  I have had many compensating sprockets off of Harleys in the past.  Some of them pretty damned tight too.  Nothing even compares to this one.

Wedge a gear jam between the bottom of the front primary sprocket and the top of the clutch basket sprocket to lock them gainst each other.  Get out the inch and a half socket and breaker bar.  Give it ALL I have and cannot budge the nut.  No problem I says.  Need a cheater pipe.  After acquiring a 3 foot piece of galvanized pipe we are back at it.  One guys holding the bike steady on the jack and two of us pulling on the cheater.  Nothing breaks loose.  Wow.  This SOB is TIGHT.

Take a break and then give another try.  Just me this time.  I put almost all I have into the counter-clockwise (right hand thread) bolt head.  Nothing.  A little more.  Nothing.  Screw this!  All I have got.  SNAP.  Half inch drive breaker bar twists off at the socket head.  Gear jamming tool is completely jammed between the sprockets.  Not coming out unless the compensator comes loose or I get a torch on it and cut it out!  The 2 hour project just got a lot more complicated.

We have decided that whomever put the bike together last must have filled the compensator bolt with red locktite and then put the damned thing back together.  A normal application of locktite would never have been able to withstand the torque I was applying to this thing.  So, I guess I am going to get a torch and heat the damned thing up to where the locktite melts and give it another try (after replacing my twisted off breaker bar of course.)  For today – done.

My motorcycle maintenence diary

As noted on my homepage  I recently acquired a 1982 FXRS with some 41,000 miles on it.  My rational analysis of the impact on my life of this purchase revealed that I would be spending more of my time in the garage until I had discovered any deep dark secrets my baby had in store for me.  She ran strong right off the trailer.  There were a few obvious things that had to be addressed right away

1. The motor shook quite a bit in the frame.
2. The front brake caliper on the left side was leaking fluids onto the rotor.
3. The front brake master cyclinder was leaking at the brake line connector.
4. The exhaust mounting system was inadequate to the task.

I ordered an aftermarket motor mount made of polyurethane polymer instead of rubber.  A much beefier unit than the OEM part (which was not only hard and worn out but was very loose in its connection to the frame.  Seemed that I was starting in the right place in my repair process.  Installed and correctly torqued the new motormount.  Big improvement in  item #1 above.  Maybe this is what was causing the exhaust pipe clamps to break as well?  Excessive shaking will do it.

Ordered dual disk front caliper seal kit to rebuild the front calipers, replacement brake pads and front brake master cyclinder rebuild kit..  I am a true believer in front brakes!  When I got the bike the front brake was so weak I couldn’t hod the bike on the trailer while trying to load it on the tilt bed!  Installed the seal kit.  Cleanup up the nasty rotors.  Then I pulled the master cyclinder apart and rebuilt it with all new seals and components.  After bleeding the air from the system I had some stopping power in my right hand.  Big improvement.  NOTE: if you order seals for a dual caliper system it will actually contain seals for both calipers – same is true for the pads themselves.  No need to order one for each caliper.  I now have a spare set for the future!

Next, replace the broken clamps on the front and rear exhaust pipe with a vintage pair of brackets left over from my 78 1/2 shovelhead.  Kind of ugly but they are strong.  Shaking pipe under better control now.

Change all fluids and filters so we know where everything stands in terms of lubrication.  Let’s ride and see what I’ve got.