Day: May 6, 2017

In my search for headlight parts I discovered beemerbits.com in Tuscon, AZ which lead to a long and pleasant conversation with ownder JD Stang.  JD really seems to know his stuff when it comes to airheads.   I learned a lot.

First, I knew that there had been a recall on the snowflake wheels, as they’re called, but hadn’t yet taken the time to determine if I had the newer wheels.  JD pointed out the webbing on my wheel and confirmed that they were.  According to him, the only people who had problems with the original wheels were cops who tended to run over curbs more than the rest of us.  There are some great pictures of new vs old and broken wheels and the original recall notice here.   I have to say that in those pictures, the new wheels seem to have more substantial webbing than on my bike.  So, just to be sure, I checked the casting date (5/84); this is a good wheel.

The second thing I learned from JD is that my Bing carbs aren’t the most desirable.  In his words, nobody swaps out their carbs for what I have on my bike.  He called them flat-tops and said they were only used a couple of years.  He suggested that if I ever have problems with them that I might want to swap out with carbs from either earlier, or later models.   I think as long as I can keep these working, as they have for almost 40 years,  I’m inclined to keep them on the bike to keep it as original as possible.  It might be kind of hard to find other carbs that look as clean as these.  It seems that full rebuild kits are still available, so I may have to order a set for backup, or to install if I discover that the bike could run better.

JD saw the picture of the oil pan damage and said he could sell me one that wasn’t damaged for $20.   That was a no-brainer, so I added that to my order for a used headlight bucket and mounting ears.  He told me that when I install the pan, in addition to putting sealant around each bolt hole, that I should also add sealant to the bolts to prevent oil leaks.   Something about bolts running through oil passages.  I’ll have to research that some more.

As I expect this project to take a while,  and I wanted it to be fun,  I splurged and purchased a 1000lb motorcycle lift from  Harbor Freight Tools.  It was on sale for $329. It only took a few minutes to assemble the lift which came mostly assembled in a huge, and very heavy wooden crate.  I took the windshield and right mirror off to allow me to run the table up to its highest position.

OK first new task discovered, replace the leaky neutral switch.  See the drop of transmission oil on the left terminal?

I spotted this oil-pan damage and repair before I bought the bike.  When I get around to pulling the pan, I may try and make to improve on the repair.  There are two spots with damage.

My first task was to remove the mufflers.  They came off nice and easy, though I did discover that one of the captive nuts on the right muffler bracket (frame side) had stripped, so someone added 10mm nuts backing the captive nuts on three of the four bolts.  I’ll probably leave that solution as-is.

With the mufflers out of the way, it was time to remove the rear wheel.  I didn’t pull the fender, which prevented me from getting the wheel out until I removed the hydraulics access panel in the lift.  That gave me just enough room to drop the tire away from the bike.

With the wheel out, it was pretty obvious that the splines are worn, and while they aren’t likely to fail immediately, I’m thinking I should look into having the splines repaired.  While it’s a bit hard to see through the grease, the wheel splines aren’t too bad.  As expected, the wheel bearings are shot.  However the outer races don’t appear to have spun, they’re press-fit in, so the hub should be in good shape.  Just needs new tapered roller bearings.

The final drive splines, while not yet pointy, are pretty thin.  One a positive note, the brake shoes look good, and there don’t appear to be any oil leaks from the final drive.  I’m not sure how much it would cost to repair, but a brand new drive is still available for under $1k.   I think I’m going to get at the clutch to to check the transmission input shaft and clutch splines before I try to solve this problem.

Next task, remove the swing arm.