HD Sportster (2008) vs Suzuki Boulevard C50 (2005)

It's been four months since my last posting, simply because there hasn't been much to say. The bikes are working, the weather's getting cold, and that's that. This is why I'm not a great serial blogger: I don't have to make up stuff to ramble about, just to keep you coming back every week. :)

Anyway, here's what I have:

HD Sportster (2008) vs Suzuki Boulevard C50 (2005)

Chrome and Lights

It came with more chrome than the Sporty, despite being comparably priced. And it came with the extra headlights, which I like too.

Body

It has a larger body, so the turning isn't quite as sharp... but it's quite sharp enough for the mountain roads here.

But that larger body also fits me better, as my hips complain about being abused. The Sporty comes with mid controls as opposed to the Zook's forward controls, and I prefer mid. But the Sporty's frame is small enough that, when I bring my leg up coming out from a stop, a fair portion of the time my hip "catches" and hurts until I stretch out my leg several more times... while riding. This isn't quite a great safety practice, especially since those first seconds are usually not open highway and a straight line, but entering traffic and getting up to speed.

Looks like those folks who complain the the Sporty is too small for me... are probably right, at least now that my hips have put on a few years.

Mileage, Power, and Noise

The mileage on both is about the same: 45 to 50 mpg, running 92 all the time (clear when I can get it).

The power on both bikes is about the same. The C50 is an 800cc engine, the Sporty is stock 883 though with a K&N air filter. On the highway, there's no real difference: both bikes are pretty weak on torque and passing quickly, but easily do 70 mph when they get around to it. (Which one can do a faster quarter mile, or has the highest maximum top speed? I'll never know.)

The Sportster is NOT known for that famous H-D rumble, and when cruising the noise is about the same as the Zook. But, when you hit the throttle already at speed, the zook has more of a growl than the Sporty. I kinda like that, but it's not a major consideration.

The only real difference I note, is in the gearing. The Sporter uses all 5 gears, around town and on the highway. And doing 65-70 in 5th, the engine revs a bit high, and I think that a sixth gear or a larger primary gear would be good for. The C50 really only uses 1st, 4th, and 5th -- 2nd are 3rd are basically used for a few seconds to get up to 35 mph and 4th. Doing 70 on I-5, the engine doesn't rev as high as the Sportster.

Final Verdict

At this point I'm considering selling the Sporty, simply because I like to simplify and reduce. All other things are equal, but the Sporty and my hips just aren't getting along as well as they did five years ago.

XS400 finally working!

The last five weeks, I've been posting everywhere except here. XS400.com, Ride44.com, the Lane County Motorcycles group, ... And finally, tonight, vindication and success.

Putting the carb back together did not go as smoothly as my previous posts may have indicated. The carb has been a whole mess of problems since the night I got it back in. Here's a summary of the symptoms, and ultimately the causes and solutions. If one person finds this via Google and it saves them an evening, I'll feel quite good.

The Problems

Filthy, Sticky Carb

The bike's an '82 XS400 Maxim, and hasn't been treated nicely. The engine would hesitate on hills, was a huge problem to start, and would lag for seconds when pulling the throttle. It got worse over time, too, eventually stalling 40 mph.

So I did what any sensible person would do: blame the carbs. I pulled 'em, blasted 'em clean, replaced the gaskets, and put it back together. But this only uncovered more problems.
 

Lean Mix Syndrome

It would start okay, but would die when I hit the throttle. After 20 minutes' runtime it would rev very high: 5000 at a stop light, and wouldn't come down, which was kinda embarrassing. It would backfire. When I was at speed and let go of the throttle, it wouldn't slow down as I would expect, but would continue to surge forward.

This is typical of a lean mix: too much air getting in relative to gasoline getting in. This is often a vacuum leak, e.g. the carb throats or airbox boots not tightened properly, or a hose loose. But I gave the hoses a shot of WD40 and nothing came up. After disassembling and examining the carbs a few more times the best I can figure if that I cleaned out some gunk that was impeding airflow, uncovering some other misadjustment in the carbs. Back to the bench...

Dumping Gas!

I pulled open the carbs and cleaned everything again, checked seals, etc. Put the thing back together, and got a gas leak. When I would start the bike, gas would pour out the back of the carbs, into the airbox and onto the ground. Not a drop or two, but tablespoons at a time. Get this:

- "The blow test" is to hold the reassembled carbs up and blow through the fuel intake (use a straw if you're smart, yuck!). If the needle valves are seating properly, you can blow freely through the carbs when they're upright, but not at all when they're upside down (bowls up) because of the valve. And these passed the blow test.

- But once I got them onto the bike, and tried to start the bike, something went wrong. Once the gas started coming out the back, the needle valve had quit working. I could switch the gas cock to PRI and gas would flow out the back, switch to ON and it stops. The needle valves had quit working.

- Pull them off the bike, and they're working perfectly. Can't put air through them to save my life. Put 'em onto the bike and they're fine, until I try to start it. Then gas.

The Solutions

Blow Test

When doing the blow test to see if your needle valves are seating properly, try this: Turn them upside down and you should fail to blow through them. Now add a generous amount of WD40. On one of these two, I could hear a slight bubbly-hiss and see bubbles in the WD40. The needle valve itself (not the O ring) had a less-than-perfect seal, but only when it was wet.

This didn't account for all of the gas that was coming out, though; this was a tiny bubble, and I was seeing floods. But still another week of waiting on parts.

Sticking Floats

The big breakthrough to the leaking gas problem, came as I was reassembling them. I put the bowls on and gave a blow test... and it blew through. I shook them, and they sealed. Shake them again, one of them would reopen but only a little. Shake some more, it seals but I can hear that the other one is wide open. A clue!

I continued to carefully tilt the carbs back and forth, hearing the floats slam open, hearing them slam shut... or sometimes not shut. Fiddling with the bowls and a flashlight, I found it: The floats were sticking out too far, and were catching on the edges of the bowl, and not coming back "up" to close the valve. For the first time, I could replicate the valve failure on the bench!

Best I can figure, the floats had been straightened when I was adjusting them previously, and were sticking only after something raised them (letting in the gas) and vibrating them just wrongly (starting the bike). And I could never see the problem on the bench, because the act of removing the carbs from the bike would shake the floats loose.

I fiddled with the floats to bend them inward (bent too much by common wisdom, but these aren't ordinary BS34s) and then get the height adjusted (for me it's 23-24mm) until I could hear them slam open and shut reliably, and can't blow through them even once upside down.

HOORAY!

I took it for its first test ride last night, and it was great. It revs, and slows, and goes fast, and goes slow. It doesn't backfire, it doesn't surge forward, it doesn't hesitate, it doesn't stall. It starts on the first try.

Yay, we have a working Maxim again!

Other Lessons Learned

- There are Versions of the Mikuni BS34. The more common one, used on single-overhead cam (SOHC) XS400s, has a silver plug filling a hole between the carb bowl and the carb body, and the drain on the float bowl is at the bottom. The one used on dual-overhead cam (DOHC) XS400s (the Maxim and Seca) has that silver plug integral to the bowl, so the gasket for a sold for a XS400 needs you to cut a hole into it. And the bowl on the DOHC model has the drain in a different position. But otherwise, parts for a BS34 carb are pretty well matched to this one.

- The floats are not made of brass like the manual says, and are differently shaped, rendering the suggested float heights in the manual completely worthless. The float height in the manual is 32mm, which is absurd since that places the floats outside of the bowl.

- Just blow the $30 on every piece of rubber you can find for the carb, up front. Otherwise you'll end up buying it anyway, and paying for shipping repeatedly. I had to buy float bowl gaskets, an O ring and washer for the mix screw, and a set of float needle, float needle seat/valve, and its accompanying O ring. $30 in parts and $30 in shipping because I did it one piece at a time.

- This weird BS34 does NOT have a plug on the pilot hole. The manual shows a brass plug, and MikesXS sells a rubber plug. But on this model, the plug is built into the bowl and is not a complete plug. If you put a plug onto the pilot, you get instant Lean Mix Syndrome from the moment that bike starts: high revs and it dying if you open the throttle.

A word on float heights

So, you cleaned your carb and put it back together again. Good for you. But now the bike won't start. Battery and starter are doing their thing, it just won't turn over. Or it almost starts, and gushes gas out the air filter.

In our case, this kept me occupied for a full day: Float Height

What is float height?

The float bowl has those floats in it, which act like the float in a toilet to close a valve when the liquid level gets too high. The adjustment of your float is commonly measured by your "float height" That is, remove the float bowl and turn the carb upside down, and measure the distance between the tip-top of the float and the rim of the bowl (the rim of the top of the bowl, really).

Not the right carb, but an example of float height. From the rim to the top of the float, upside down.

In the case of a float this small, precision counts:

• If your float height is too high, the floats stick into the bowl too low. A small amount of liquid will close the valve too early, cutting off the gas before the bowl is full.
• If your float height is too low, the gas won't be cut off until it has already started overflowing out the top of the carb.

The problem is, the difference between overflowing and being bone-dry is often less than 2 millimeters!

Trust The Manual -- No Wait, Don't!

The manual for the XS400 states that the float height should be 32mm, plus or minus 1mm. Then again, the manual says that the blinker unit is under the seat and that the floats are made of brass, so you can't always trust this manual. To achieve 34mm, I would need to bend the floats to nearly a right angle, and it would be impossible to fit the bowl on.

The manual says that my floats look like this.

My floats really look like this.

I didn't note my original float height exactly, only that it was "about 20mm or 25 maybe". In an effort to richen the mix, I reduced it to 18 -- which resulted in gas dumping out my airbox when I tried to start. Pull off the carbs (again), empty the bowls (again), adjust the floats (again) to 25. This time the thing acts like it's out of gas, because it essentially is.

Keep in mind too, that the float height isn't REALLY what matters, but the angle of the tang that presses on the needle. If your float is at 22mm but the tang is at 20 degrees, that's not even the same as your float at 22mm and the tang at 15 degrees. The floats themselves aren't in a fixed position either; that metal bends if you look at it funny. We quickly found ourselves in a situation where the float height was basically irrelevant.

So, How To Figure It Out?

During the hours we spent on this, we figured out a few tricks to "shorten the development cycle" -- in other words, to do more testing with less time spent tightening the airbox and fender and throat clamps, then undoing them again.


Pull out the float pin and the floats, and  try to get them straight and flat. Flat tang, evenly balanced floats, all 4 as close as you can get them. Then put them back in.

A quick experiment. Get a soda straw, put it to the fuel intake on the carbeurator, and blow. (a friend can help) You should be able to blow through, and feel the air going through both of the needles. Push upward on the float, and feel the air being cut off, first one carb then the other. Okay, that was the practice.

Put one of the float bowls on, and with your finger close the un-bowled float valve. You should still be able to blow through -- the bowl should NOT close the float valve. If you can barely blow through it, or not at all, then your float height is too high and that bowl wouldn't fill with gasoline even if you were to put it onto the bike -- lower it. If you can blow through it, it may not be high enough -- raise it just a millimeter at a time until you can't blow through, then lower it again just 1mm.

Do the same for both bowls: raise the height until you can't blow, then lower it 1mm.

Go ahead and attach the bowls, and install the carb into the bike. Your "blow test" should get your float settings just about perfect. At any rate, with only 1mm between dry and flooded, that's as good as you're going to get.

Cleaning carbeurators on 1982 XS400 -- Day Two

Now that you have removed the carbeurator, it's time to clean it.

First, a quick tour of the outside of The Heart of Darkness.

Anterior view. The fuel line (5) simply lets gas drip into the float bowls (other picture). The carb throats (1) have butterfly valves (1) to control the output of gar-air mix into the engine. The throttle cable comes through a bracket (4a) and into the throttle lever (2). The choke cable goes through a bracket also, connecting to a barrel clip (4b) to pull on the choke lever (3a, 3b).

Posterior view. The fuel line (4) connects to the gas tank, and drips gas into the float bowls (2). The diaphragms (underneath 1) use air pressure to gasoline out of the float bowls, via a piston and needle (3).

The basic idea of a carb is this:

• Fuel drips down the hose and into the fuel line, into the float bowls.
• The float bowls fill with gasoline.
• Air pressure from the engine sucks downward on the diaphragms, and the diaphragms push upward on springs. These two forces are carefully balanced, so the piston-and-needle assembly allows gasoline to be sucked through a valve.
• The valve has little holes called "jets"
• The springs and needles are all carefully matched to generate the correct mix of gasoline and air, and can be thrown off entirely by any single thing being sticky, cruddy, too loose, or too tight.

So, let's get cleaning.

Step 1. Start by removing the diaphragm caps, to expose the diaphragms and the springs which hold them in place. Remove these and clean them thoroughly with carb cleaner. A few blasts should do it, but a soft toothbrush helps too.

The bracket that holds the throttle and choke cables. This is attached to the diaphragm caps. It's not necessary to clean it, but I like to.

The caps, the diaphragm springs, and the diaphragms.

Dorsal view of the sockets where the diaphragms used to be. Visible at the bottom of the socket is the "Venturi" valve, which you will see in more detail later.

Be sure to clean thoroughly. The whole system can be fouled up by sediments and sticky films that aren't necessarily visible. A soft toothbrush helps, as does a high-pressure blast of carb cleaner.

Tip: These screws tend to get stripped, and we did spend a half hour with the Dremel thanks to a stripped screw. My local hardware store had replacement bolts with hex caps, for 35c apiece. In the future I can use my socket wrench.

Step 2. Remove the float bowls. Clean them thoroughly. There will likely be some sediment or even rust, particularly at the bottom of the bowl. The bowls have a gasket to help seal them to the carb body, and if the gasket is old it will probably not survive the process. Fortunately, they're inexpensive.

The float bowls, and what's left of the gasket. They are not supposed to be brown.

Float bowls before and after.

When cleaning the bowls, also pull off the drain screw and blast it clean.

As with the rest of the carb, the general rule is Blast Everything Spotless Clean. Not a lot to say about the bowls, except that that's where the crud will be most visible.


Step 3. Inside the float bowl is a simple (but tedious!) mechanism consisting of floats and a valve, which works similarly to how a toilet works. It consists of:

• The floats. These act like toilet floats, shutting off the flow of gasoline when the bowl is full.
• A needle which is pushed upward by the floats, shutting off the flow of gasoline from the fuel line.
• A main jet, which sucks up the gasoline through the Venturi valve.
• A smaller jet called the pilot jet.

Start by removing the float pivot pin and then the float, to get a better view of the needle and jet. Blast these clean, inside and out.

Ventral view, and upside down. The floats (1) dangle into the bowl, and gasoline makes them float upward. These push into the needle (2, hidden) to prevent more gas from coming in. The pilot jet (4) should not be modified but should be cleaned. The main jet (3) will be removed and cleaned.

The float and pin have been removed, as have the needle.The needle has a screw and bracket, but they don't hold it in. I don't know why.

Step 4. Unscrew the main jet screw (the big brass one), and you can push the main jet (aka the Venturi) upward into the carb body. Again, keep blasting with carb cleaner, getting every trace of sediment and scum off of everything.

Be sure to clean the jets (the little holes) everyplace: from the bottom, from the top, all of the little ones in the Venturi. Some folks will stick a wire into the Venturi jets to scrub them, but that can damage or enlarge the jets, so I just rely on the blasting power of the can.

Posterior view. Having pushed the Venturi up out of its little "turret" from the float bowl, I see that it's covered in scum.

Step 5. Don't neglect the exterior of the carb! The interior is sensitive to crud, but the outside has springs and levers that can also get gummed up with dirt, oil, mouse hair, etc. You don't need to get every inch of the exterior spotless, but do spend some time cleaning all those moving parts.

Step 6. Go over it again. Yeah, I'm serious. Blast it, brush it, dry it, and keep at it. Even an invisibly thin film of crud can make a difference.

Step 7. Let it dry overnight.

Step 8. Put it back together. This really is, as they say, "the opposite of removal"

• Slide the Venturi back downward. Be sure to line up the notch and the peg, and to push it down all the way. Then replace the brass cap.
• Put the needle back under the float tang, reinstall the float, reinsert the float pivot pin.
• Put the float bowls back on.
• Put the needle and piston and diaphragm back together, and put them back into place along with the spring, then put the covers back on. The diaphragm will fit into a notch indicating the correct positioning, and it is sticky enough that you can push it down and have a few seconds to get the cover on too.

Step 9. Reassemble it. If you forgot exactly how everything went, refer to the previous blog post.

• Put the carb back onto the bike the same way you took it off: airbox and fender, four throats and clamps, choke and throttle cable, and tighten things down.
• Put your fuel petcock to PRI for a few seconds, and listen for the gas dribbling into the float bowls. Then turn it back to ON.
• Now try to start the bike.

It may not work. Invent some new curse words that would make George Carlin and Eddie Murphy flinch, and see our next exciting blog post... float bowl adjustment!

Cleaning carbeurators on 1982 XS400 -- Day One

My sweetie has a 1982 Yamaha XS400 Maxim. It's a 30-year-old bike and the previous owner was not particularly meticulous in their care and cleaning.

Symptom: It starts properly, though with the usual hesitations of a 1980s carbed bike. But then the idle is really inconsistent: adjust it down to 1500, and it still revs to 3000 or drops suddenly to a stall. The other day, it was particularly bad: it kept bucking and nearly stalling as if it were out of gas, and stalled out completely a few times.

Diagnosis: Uncertain. But last week I swapped out the spark plugs and the starter relay, and cleaned all of the terminals, so I think the ignition system is doing well. Next place to look, is the fuel system and that largely means the carbs. While I'm at it, the air filter is adjacent to that and may need some cleaning.

Goals here: Remove the carbeurators and clean and inspect them, and check and clean the air filter.



Step 1. Put the bike on its center stand, and remove the seat and battery. I put the battery onto the charger for good measure.

The bike on its stand, minus the seat and battery. The gas tank is held on by one bolt.

Step 2. Drain the gas tank. On the left-hand side of the bike, on the ventral side of the gas tank you'll see the fuel cock or stopcock. Connected to the cock are two hoses. The large one is the fuel line, which lets fuel drip into the carbs. The smaller one is the vacuum tube; when the engine is sucking air, the pressure through this tube causes the cock to open. (A quick tutorial: the Maxim has 3 positions: ON and RES both allow gas to flow, but only when there's suction from the engine ; the PRI position allows the gas to flow freely, which is useful for dumping the tank or for re-fiulling carbs after we finish emptying and cleaning them)

• Have a gas can ready.
• Set the cock to the OFF position, if you have it. If not, use the ON position.
• Undo the little clip at the bottom of the fuel line, and wiggle the fuel line off of the metal pipe connecting it to the carbeurator. Expect a few drops of gasoline.
• Put the fuel line into the gas can, then switch the cock to PRI. Gas should flow freely.
• You likely won't get all of the gas. We had a few ounces in the bottom of the tank that just wouldn't come out.

The fuel cock (3) and its connections: the fuel line (1) and the vacuum line (2).

Step 3. Disconnect the various hoses and cables from the carbeurator. They are:

• The vacuum line to the fuel cock.
• The fuel line (which you already disconnected).
• The throttle cable.
• The choke cable.
• For good measure, the cap on the right-hand carb throat.

None of these have a trick to them, really. The hoses wiggle off, but be gentle with them. The cables are like bicycle cables: twist the levers and grab the cables to release some pressure, then put the cable through the opening in the eyelet.

• 

  Dorsal view (from where the gas tank would be). On the left is the vacuum line (1) and on the right is a cap (2) on the carb throat, commonly used for a squirt of starting fluid.

View of the carb from the right. Note the throttle cable (1) and the choke cable (2).

 

Another view of the choke cable and throttle cable.

Step 4. The block of carbs is held into place by the four boots or throats, one connecting each carb to the air filter housing (where it sucks in air), and one connecting each carb to the engine (where the fuel/air mix is pulled into the engine). The carb sticks into each throat about 1/4" and that 1/4" is tightened down with ring clamps, to keep them from wiggling loose.

The XS400 has 2 carbs, and each carb has 2 throats, which means 4 throats and ring clamps.

The XS400 has 2 carbs, and each carb has 2 throats. That means 4 of these ring clamps (1).

There's no real trick here either, just go at it with your Phillips.

The orientation on them is not important -- when you put these back on later, point the screws whichever way is most convenient for you to get at them again in the future.

It's not necessary to unscrew them all the way until they pop open, in fact getting them back together is annoying. Instead, unscrew them until they dangle loosely around the throat and you're sure that they're not exerting any pressure on the throat.

Having removed all hoses, cables, and ring clamps, the carb is now held in place solely by the pressure of the air filter housing, and you should be able to wiggle the carbs a bit.

Step 5. Let's skip for a moment to the air filter. On the left-hand side of the bike, posterior to the carbs, you'll see a triangular panel. This is the access panel to the air filter. Undo all three bolts (on ours, all 3 were different).

Pull the air filter out of there. It should slide out gently, with minor wiggling.

The access panel on the left side of the air filter housing. On this bike, all 3 bolts were completely different but I'm sure that's atypical.

The air filter. This one is reusable, and wasn't even that dirty.

Check the air filter and clean it if necessary. Most air filters are reusable synthetic stuff, and not disposable paper filters.

To clean an air filter, wash it in soap and water, rinse it thoroughly, then dry it thoroughly at least overnight. Before reinstalling it, give it a light soaking in air filter oil. You can get air filter oil at any car or bike shop. In a pinch some folks use engine oil.

Check the air filter housing and clean it out too. Yours will probably just have dust and dirt. Ours had a mouse nest in it, chunks of fiberglass insulation, mouse poop, bits of paper, and we spent some quality time with the shopvac and paper towels. This air filter was removing mouse turds from the air flow, which is way above factory specifications.

Step 6. To remove the carbs, we need to slide the air filter housing back to release some pressure. To do this, remove the three bolts holding the air filter housing in place AND ALSO the two fender bolts, so the filter housing can slide back an extra inch. You WILL need it.

Two are on the dorsal side, straddling the unishock. One is under the battery cage.

A dorsal view of the air filter housing and the shock absorber. Two of the three (1,2) bolts holding the air filter housing in place.

The battery cage, and the third bolt (1) to the air filter housing.

One of the two fender bolts (1). Left side, posterior to the air filter housing.

Also  remove the two bolts holding the fender in place. This allows the fender and the air filter housing to slide back an extra inch, and you will need it.

Once these are removed, you should be able to pull backward on the air filter housing, and see some significant improvement in the wiggle room around the carb.


Step 7. Start yanking! Have someone pull backward on the air filter housing, to release some pressure on the carbs. Then just wiggle, squeeze, and pull to get the carbs out. It's annoying work, because by design it's too large to fit into the space given!

Step 8. Eventually, you'll get to the empty space in the picture below. Remove the carb throats from the engine with an Allen wrench, and clean them and inspect them for cracks or damage. Clean off the air filter throats too (they don't come off).

The void of the carbs. Clean off the air filter throats (3, 4) and clean or even remove and inspect the engine throats (1, 2).

Step 9. No step 9, that was it. The carbeurator is in hand, and tomorrow we clean it.

Boulevard C50

Yesterday, I went out shopping for a bike, something that would fit my sweeties. Things didn't go quite as expected. We found a small Boulevard, a 650 banger, that seemed that it would fare little better than the Maxim. Found a Shadow Aero 750 which almost fit, but the forward controls aren't so great with short legs.

On a lark I sat on a Suzuki Boulevard C50 in the showroom... and liked it! So I took it home.

This is a 2005 Boulevard C50. Only 16k miles, new tires and service. Has a windshield and a pair of supplemental lights. The headlight gets surprisingly good coverage, especially in high beam where it illuminates to the side but doesn't leave front-and-center dark.

It's heavier. The seat feels lower even though it's not. But it feels really good. My feet are forward and resting on platforms, and my back is laid back. It doesn't feel as nimble as the Sportster, but I've not really laid into it yet.

I'll put it through some paces during the coming weeks, and let you know.

Almost there!

The test ride didn't go entirely well. I put on 3 miles, heard a bad scraping sound from behind, and found my brake rotor burning hot. Hmmmmmmm.

The right-hand side of the rotor is touching the caliper bracket.

Brake pads were on overly tight, but after removing them entirely I found the real problem: the brake rotor was scraping against the caliper bracket.The inner surface of the rotor is actually touching the inside surface of the caliper bracket; not the caliper, but the bracket that holds in place on the swingarm.

Somehow, between the spacers and bearings and all, the wheel is about 1/16"too far to the left.

Left-hand (outside) of the rotor has visible clearance.

Possibility 1: I got the wrong left-side spacer. Maybe this specific bike, as opposed to all other 2008 XL883Ls, needs a left-hand spacer of 7/16" length instead of 1/2" It sounds stupid, but I have on my desk a 2008 XL883L axle which is 1/16th" wider than the axle from my 2008 XL883L, won't even fit through a 6205 bearing...

Possibility 2: Steve down at Fred's Honda points out, that perhaps the bearings weren't mounted flush. Makes sense: If the left-side bearing were 1/16" from flush, the spacer would stick out that much further, dragging the swingarm and the caliper bracket out to touch the rotor.









I dropped the wheel and took a good look at the bearings. I also looked at the spare wheel I have here. Looks like Steve was right. The bearing races are 1" deep on both sides, but the left-hand and right-hand bearings aren't precisely at the same depth. If you take the difference and divide by 2, it's just about how much too wide the spacer seems to be... Looks like the bearings weren't quite even, so the wheel is 1/16" off center. Not enough to see with my eyes, but enough that metal scrapes.

So, a quick trip back there, Steve hammered down the bearings to be even. I got it home, mounted it up, and it's perfect! Clearance on both sides, the caliper centered, and the brake pads dragging only gently against the rotor as usual. Looking good.

Tomorrow morning I'll refill the rear brakes, and that should get me back on the road!

Thank you so much, Steve at Fred's Honda!

Back (wheel) On The Road!

After three weeks of downtime, yesterday saw my bike's first test run on the new bearings.

Last weekend, Sasquatch came over and looked at my trashed wheel. Turns out it wasn't as trashed as I had thought: the wrecked metal was the remains of the bearing, but the race had only minor scratches which came out with a Dremel. Thanks to Sasquatch for noticing this and helping me to salvage a $200 (used price) wheel, and thanks to Duane at Bob Forrest Auto for yanking out the old bearing. And thanks to Tina and Laura for schlepping parts, holding things while I lifted, and generally being great moral support.

On Friday, the day after fixing my old wheel, my new wheels from eBay got here. I don't need them now, but I figure I can sell them at a small profit as I got a good price on them. Between the two new ones and the one 2004-era 3/4" wheel, I have a small stockpile of Harley wheels to slowly eBay away.

Installing the refurbished wheel had two surprises:

1. The brake caliper wouldn't line up with the brake rotor. I even took a photo of the caliper to show that it's completely impossible to fit anything larger than a sheet of cardboard in there. The issue, was that I had put the new pads in while the caliper was in the slid-out position. The caliper slides side to side to create space for changing the tire, and I had installed the pads in the slid-out position (I had just removed the tire). Thus the caliper only seemed to slide back inward into position, and wouldn't go fully and line up properly.

When installing brake pads, have the caliper in the "slid in" position. If you have it slid out, it will seem to seat properly but will leave you with this impossible condition.

I figured this out after an hour of examining my photos and checking Google, removing and reinstalling the pads a few times. The pads really do fit in well, the pin holds things properly, but the damn rotor just won't line up.


Moral of the story: Slide the caliper out to allow the tire, then back in before installing the pads.

2. I had purchased a new axle, as it was the only way I could find exactly the correct left-side spacer (remember it was welded to the trashed bearing to form a melted, ragged cylinder. very modern art). The new axle would not fit into the 6205 bearing, even with plenty of coaxing.

Not sure what the issue is there. The new axle is obviously slightly wider, but we can't see the difference with our eyes, and the spacers leave exactly the same little light when placed onto both axles.

Fortunately, the spacers are what I needed, and they fit perfectly onto my old axle which was in fine shape anyway. Despite the apparent, invisible difference in the axles' widths the spacers fit just the same.

Moral of the story: two 2008 Harley XL883L motorcycles can have identical axles... that aren't the same size. I'm baffled as to how that happened.

Anyway, it's all over now. It's been almost tragically stupid, how many wrong parts I've gotten, how many times I've had to carry my wheel down to Fred's on my bicycle, ... but in the end it's been educational and I'll be glad to be back on the road.

Changing Rear Brake Pads

As long as I have my bike apart for a new wheel, I took the opportunity to check out other stuff. And yeah, the brake pads are two years old. So I changed them with some new ones, and decided to keep a photo howto. This is for my H-D Sportster (2008 XL883L) but maybe it will be beneficial to you too.

First, an overview. On the left-hand side of the rear wheel (removed in a previous blog post) you'll see the brake caliper and brake pads.

Center: The brake pads inside the caliper.

View from the left. Note the brake bleeding cap, and the cap covering the retaining pin.

The pads are held in place by a pin/bolt that runs through them. So, let's remove the pin. First, remove the plastic cap. Then, get an Allen wrench and remove the pin. It was torqued down pretty good, so I had to use my socket wrench extender as a longer handle. Eventually, out comes the bolt and the two pads fall right out.

The Allen bolt was quite tight, so I needed a longer lever.

The plastic cap and the Allen head of the retaining pin.

Now we need to squeeze out some excess brake pressure, to make room for the new brake pads. After all, the new brake pads are much thicker than the old ones. If you try to squeeze the pads in now, there's probably not enough room, and definitely not enough for the brake rotor too.

A new pair of pads would completely fill the space, leaving no room for the brake rotor. So we need to go the extra step of squeezing out some brake fluid.

This technique worked well: The caliper assembly isn't bolted into place, so I could set it on to my toolbox. I used a metal rod (again the extender from my socket set) and simply leaned on the ppiston. I had an assistant (thanks, Laura!) with the 10mm wrench open up the bleeder screw to let fluid out, then tighten without letting in any air.

It's very important that you not let air back in to the brake caliper. When I was about to stop pressing on the piston, I had the assistant tighten the valve shut as fluid was still coming out. Don't stop squeezing, or you'll suck air into the brake system.

Squeezing the caliper with a trusty metal rod. Bottom-center is the bleeder valve. An assistant with a #10 wrench loosens to let brake fluid out, but tightens again before I stop squeezing so as not to suck in air.

Eventually the piston was flush with the caliper body, and left sufficient space for both pads and a good-looking space between them.

As the saying goes, installation is the reverse of removal. Seat the new pads just like the old ones, put the pin back in, tighten down what you loosened.

The new pads and the retaining pin. From here we just tighten things down.

The pads will only go in one way, but it's easy to forget. If you get confused as to the orientation of the pads, look at the old pads; they have clear markings on them which should clue you in.

Which way do the pads go? Check the old one. The circle is from the piston, the two dashes are from the C-shaped side. The holes are of course for the pin, so now it's pretty clear.

The inside pad (the one not against the piston) fits in to a little space at the bottom. You will feel it fit in to its slot, and the whole thing won't fit together unless you do it right.

So there you have it, a photo guide to changing out your rear brake pads. The process for front pads is nearly identical, just a slightly different set of nuts and two extra nuts for the fender.

2005: Harley Changes Axle Diameters and I bought the wrong wheel

So continues my education.

I got my new wheel and new bearings a few days ago, and ran it down to the shop to get them put together AND the new tire put on for good measure. Bad news: The bearings don't fit deeply into the socket and I'm sure there aren't any spacers there, and the axle doesn't fit. WTF?

I looked very closely and found that the bearings in the new wheel (559339, 3/4" wide and 3/4" internal diameter) aren't the same as the ones in my old wheel (6205s, 1/2" wide 1" internal diameter). Obviously this is the wrong wheel, despite having the exact same measurements, fitting the same tire, having the same 5 holes and thread for the rotor and sprocket, ...

In 2005, Harley changed the Sportsters from a 3/4" axle to a 1" axle, so this wheel obviously was not from an '08 but from pre-2005. In retrospect this is very well known, but the axle size wasn't something I knew to specifically ask about (feels like asking whether a light bulb will fit into a fixture inside a house wired in 2009 versus 2006, who thinks of that?). I have to return or resell this wheel, and find another one.

Aside: I'm told that the change from a 3/4" axle to 1" axle, was to solve some problems of bearings wearing out. The wider surface area, you know. I did play with the idea of buying new axle adjuster eyelets and an axle, but if the change was to solve a potentially fatal problem, no thanks.

New Wheel and Bearings Coming

I had a devil of a time finding a 2005+ wheel, unless I want to pay $1100 for gorgeous chrome or pay $507 for a brand-new one from HD. Troubador up here at Ride44 found one on eBay which I somehow missed, and I won both front and rear for $160. Not too shabby: my next best hope was $265 for just the rear. Thank you, Troubador!

I also bought a new set of bearings, as the ones I got last week have been installed and removed and I must presume them to be damaged. This time I'm spending the extra $6 for SKF brand, due to a recommendation from (again) Troubador.

That other chunk of metal?

I examined my pile of parts here, and noticed that I also need a new left-side (brake side) axle spacer. This spacer was pretty well ground down and welded to the bearing I was throwing out, so I didn't even recognize it as a part at first. Lesson learned: when making up a shopping list, in a situation where parts may be missing or destroyed, carefully examine the fiche to account for every part.

The left-side spacer has its inner side ground down and smooshed by the weight of the wheel as it tilted, and the heat has welded it to what's left of the bearing.

Turns out it's quite tedious to find a spacer that's exactly 1" ID, 1.5" OD, and 0.5" depth. I found one at Colony (part 2237-1) but it's only available within a $40 kit. I have a lead now on an eBay auction which is a whole axle, spacers, and nut for $40 -- if I'm resigned to paying $40 for one lousy spacer I can at least get a bunch of spare parts. But tomorrow I'll give a call to some local shops to see if they have this one spacer, hopefully for $5.

Another two weeks

At this point, it looks like I could have my wheel and bearings by March 11. The spacer is pending, but if I can get it at a repair shop then maybe, just maybe, I can be back on the road next week. Like I said last week. :)

Removing The Real Wheel From My Motorcycle

Last night I had a breakdown (scroll back to see that post), and today's work was figuring out what went wrong. Turns out the wheel bearings failed. What follows is a photo tour of the process of removing my rear wheel. I figure someone out there could use a visual walkthrough, and what's what the Internet is for.

The photos below are for a 2008 H-D Sportster 883, but  probably aren't very different for other models and makes.

First, support the bike on a lift, in such a way that it won't be a problem when 40 pounds of weight comes off of the rear end later on. I have a cheap Harbor Freight lift, and also one car ramp to support the front wheel when it's off the ground.

The area of operations

The wheel is held on by the axle, which acts as a very long bolt through the middle of the wheel. The axle is held in place by two things: a nut called the axle nut, and a metal clip called an E clip to keep the axle nut from moving even if it were to come loose.

So the second step is to pull off the E clip (a pair of pliers works, just don't bend it), then remove the axle nut. The axle nut was really tight and I couldn't torque it (good!) so I improvised a tool: the handle of my lift is a hollow tube, and it fits nicely over the shaft of my socket wrench.

The socket wrench, with a long enough handle -- the handle of my Harbor Freight lift.

Success! The axle nut and the washer.

Next up, loosen the drive belt. The tension of the belt, as well as the alignment of the rear wheel, is controlled by a pair of eye bolts and the nuts which tighten them. Simply remove the rubber caps, then loosen the belt tensioning nuts all the way. In a few minutes, your belt will be so loose you can remove it by hand.

The tension nuts and rubber caps. The nut changes the length of the eye bolt's shaft, and the eye bolt pulls back on the axle. The right and left side tension nuts are independent, so when we put the wheel back on these nuts will also control whether the wheel is facing straight.

Eventually there was a full inch of slack in the belt and it came off by hand.

Lastly, remove the axle and the wheel will drop off by itself. For the most part, this is done by hammering the left-hand side of the axle, pushing it out the right-hand side. The manual says to use a rubber mallet, but in a pinch I used a hammer wrapped in a rag (this is not good for the rag). I also made a tool to let me hammer it a bit further through, using socket wrench parts.

A rubber mallet... yeah...

To let me hammer an extra inch or so, I made this. It's an extender from my socket set, with an adapter to give it the right width. A rubber mallet or the rag trick, work well to not scratch up my extender.

Eventually, the axle comes out. I usually sit on the right-hand side and tug with a rag. The rear wheel will fall off, so have it supported. I have good boots and big feet, so it works for me to hold the wheel up with my foot as I remove the axle, and let it come down gently.

Right-hand side, the axle is coming out.

Did I mention the spacer on the right-hand side? Don't lose it!

And there you have it: no rear wheel, and open access to check out brake pads, a great opportunity to examine the wheel for cracks, to check out the tire, ...