26,600 mile maintenance - Lessons learned

[double_entendre]

I know that some folks have opted out of lubing the forward suspension pivot because it's a pain in the ass to get to. I decided that as long as the bike was down anyway, I might as well take off the exhaust--I couldn't get it pried far enough out of the way--and lube that one pivot. Interestingly, that was the only one showing evidence of lost lube and corrosion. Sooooo, if that's the one you're ignoring, you might want to reconsider.

Got the valves adjusted after TWICE rotating the engine with the cam chain tensioner backed off. I can be such a moron sometimes. Memo for folks doing it in the future: If you use wire ties to hold the cam chain to the cam sprocket, you don't have to worry about it hopping a tooth. You do have to worry about a piece of plastic leaping into the crankcase when you cut off the wire tie, though.

Is hard starting normal after a multi-week teardown? I was really thinking that I was going to have to pull the battery and recharge it before she finally caught.

Speaking of, is it a bad idea to hook up a battery charger to the battery while it's installed on the bike? What about to hook it up to my Blue Seas fuse block which is attached directly to the battery with Big Ass Cables?

Last thing I need to do is lube up the steering head and then I'm done. That's going to be on hold for the moment until I get my socket from Roy. Can't justify spending money on the YamaMama tool when I'm going to get a real tool instead. Yay! Can't wait to get back on the bike in time for winter.

Rancho

 

[Mcgyver74]

Kudos for getting it all done! I've done valve adjusts on many bikes (Including 2v Ducati's) but Shim under bucket Valves where you have to remove the cams worry me since I've never timed an engine and I'd be terrified of detonating the motor by being off on the timing.... Hopefully when I reach 26,500 I can find someone to look over my shoulder to make sure I don't screw the pooch

But Kudos for the work! Now go ride that puppy!!

 

[Andyfjr]

I've just done the rear end service on my bike. I did it at 10k, just for peace of mind really. Its not too bad a job if you have reversed the bolts on the centre stand at some point (I did this while the downpipe exhausts were off) Using the side stand and a block of wood under the rear engine section the bike was pretty stable. For further stability I cabled tied the front brake lever as well. Once the centre stand and tailpipes are off, there is just enough room to remove the L shaped linkage, clean and lubricate the bearings.

At the same time I removed the swing arm, cleaned, lubed up the bearings, and whilst the drive shaft is out clean and moly 60 the drive splines, universal joint and final gear drive on the pumpkin.

Andy