New sprockets, fork seals, oil

We're getting ready to do a day ride in a couple of days, & i've been meaning to change my sprockets & chain. I got new ones several months ago, but haven't gotten around to putting them on. Then i had a leak in my front fork seals, & needed to fix that, too. So i was whining about all the work i had to do on this bike, & my riding buddy Tom invited me over to work on it. It's about 50 miles & over the Jerome mountain pass to Prescott, & we just got a big snow load dumped over the weekend. But it was warming up, so i decided to head over.

It was nearly 2pm by the time i left, & it was quite chilly going over the mountains.. snow all over. Then i made a couple of wrong turns filled up with gas, & by the time i got to Tom's it was nearly 4.

He's got a nice hydrolic moto jack, so we raised it up & i started on the back wheel, & Tom on the forks. Everything removed uneventfully, & Tom even had a nice chain breaker to pop off the old chain. I've just drilled out a pin in the past, but the chain break was easy & worked well.

Do you think i was due for a front sprocket? ..about 9k miles on this.. lots of mud, sand, rocky off road, & plenty of slab, too. 4 broken teeth! Tom was surprised i made it this far. I noticed a couple of broken teeth after my last ride at sheeps bridge, & figured it was time for a new one.



Next the new back one. I wanted to go 14/44, & got a 110 chain which fit perfectly. I could only find an alloy renthal at rocky mtn, & it was a little more than i wanted to pay, but it works. I had an alloy back sprocket on my drz with over 18k miles on it, so i figured this should be fine on the 250. A new master link & everything is set.





I knew i had some chain wear on the swingarm, but was shocked to see how much. Nearly 1/4" had worn down. I was pretty careful to keep my chain tight, but a time or 2 it got loose & the damage was done. We both complained about Yamaha.. a poor engineering job, imo, to have the chain hit the swingarm this much just because the chain is a little loose. I should have replaced the slider while i had it off, but i didn't. I'm not happy about the swingarm, but will probably just live with it.. It will probably be ok. If i have any problems, i'll get a new swingarm or have this welded up. Next time i take off the rear wheel i might get a new slider.




In the meantime, Tom was taking off the forks. He drained the oil out, cleaned all around the seals, put in fresh oil & put the forks back in.



Even with the visiting & goofing off, it only took a little over an hour for us to knock this out. I put my windscreen back on for the ride home, & Tom did the final detail cleaning.. wiping my wild looking beast off for the long, cold ride home.



Paula generously made us sandwiches, & we checked out some things on his computer. It was nearly 7 by the time i hit the road. Temps had fallen below 40, but i stayed on the highway & was home by 8. ..ready for the ride on thursday.

clutch switch problem

A couple of weeks ago, i started having starting issues with my bike. I had taken off the clutch & kickstand safety switches when i first got it. The clutch was easy, just pull the switch out of the housing & stuff the wires behind the headlight. The kickstand had to have a jumper put between the pins. I did this so i could easily reinstall them if i decided to sell someday.

Last year sometime, it started to act up. The bike would only start if put in neutral. I traced it to my jumper coming loose. I squeezed the clips, reinstalled it & taped it up. Everything back to normal.

But during our moab, kane creek death ride, it started acting up again. I assumed it was the jumper come loose again. We were pretty occupied, so i just had to shift to neutral every time to start. When i got up to my daughter's in ogden, i checked both connectors. The kickstand jumper looked fine.. but to be sure, i cut the connector & just spliced the wires together. The clutch switch seemed ok, so i just lived with it.. it still would only start in neutral.

Last night i tackled it again. I pulled the clutch switch wire all the way out.. had to lift the tank off to access the plug. When i shorted the plug, it would crank in gear, so i had discovered the culprit. Even though the clutch switch was neatly zip tied behind the headlight, somehow it got corroded inside, or mud or water had impeded the contact.. kind of strange, since the switch was not being used. I had manually pushed it several times & rechecked it, but it still was not making contact. It was an easy fix.. i snipped the plug, spliced the wires together, & plugged it back in.

If my switch went out with no use, i can imagine it going out with use, although repeated activity might have kept the contacts cleaner.. don't know. But if your bike will suddenly only start in neutral, the clutch switch & the kickstand switch are likely suspects. I understand why yamaha puts in that sort of thing, but it is unnecessary for me, so i disable it. I automatically pull the clutch before starting, or make sure it is in neutral if it is on the stand, anyway. The safety switches are just something to go wrong out on the trail, which they did! My more permanent splices should do the trick, & i don't anticipate any more issues with them.

A few more bike mods..

A few mods..

Since getting the ims tank, i've been tinkering with a few other mods, getting ready for next weeks ride in Utah.  Here's a few of them.

Radiator guard.  Flatlands.






LED tail light, brake light, turn signal combo.

I added this to the existing brake & tail light, but removed the stock blinkers.  I might add a couple more led blinkers later.

I re worked the light housing & plate holder & added a pipe standoff for my saddlebags.








Open up airbox more..

I don't know if it helps much, but i decided to open up the air box some more.. it didn't seem like the basic flapper mod gives more air flow, & i didn't see any reason to keep the whole top of the air box, if i was going to hack it up, anyway.  I would gain maybe an inch if i get underwater.. an event i seldom encounter, so i just took off the top.

I used a small drill bit to take out the plastic rivets.. i didn't drill them all the way down, just the tops.



Then i popped off the top with a small screwdriver.. no problems.



Pull it off.. no snorkel, but no restrictions, either.




I was able to put my alloy tire iron/wrench combos, a spark plug wrench, Tow strap, & a small bicycle pump with CO2 filler under the seat.  it doesn't block the air flow, & gives some useful storage.

Stebel Nautilus horn.
I loved my *loud* horn on my drz, so i kept it when i switched to the yamaha.  I had to split it.. the pump from the horn, but i was able to put it under the shroud.  I rewired, remounted it a couple of times, then ended up with the pump beside the radiator overflow, & the horn where the old horn was.  You can see it in the pics below.

Left side protection.

Since i decided to leave off the scoops & shrouds for a bit, i thought some better protection for the stuff on the left side would be in order.

I put in a couple of box aluminum struts from the frame to the bracket that supports everything on this side.



Then i made up a screen, & put an angle aluminum brace between the struts.  This attaches to the steel brace.







New tank panniers.. Kolpins.
I raised them up so my knees could slide under them when i slid forward on my bizarre but practical seat.



It's rough. it's rustic.  It looks like something out of Mad Max.  But it works & it's ready for next week's adventure!



scotty

IMS 3.1 gallon natural tank

9/7/10

Well, today the delivery person brought this:



It came with the instructions, cap & hose, the tank, & the scoop clips.  I read the instructions carefully.. in a nutshell, it says,

Step 1.
"Remove old tank".
Step 2.
"Install new tank".




I had to ride over to Cottonwood before the MVD closed for my son's truck, but it was open another 2 hours so i surely had time to put the tank on.

I pulled the seat, all the tank bolts, unclipped the wire connection (that was the hardest), & pulled off the fuel line.

The electrical clip has a snap that holds it connected on one end of the connector.  You have to pry up that snap then it pops off.

The fuel line has an orange slider thingy that slides to one side, exposing some blue tabs.  Push those tabs & the hose pops off.

Naturally, i had a full tank.  I poured it into a gas can.. got most of it in.  Then i took off all the parts on the old tank, put them on the new tank, & put it on.  It took me about an hour, but i didn't get the plastic on.. i had to ride!














I roared off to Cottonwood.. about 25 miles away, & barely made it to the mvd before they locked the doors.

I haven't filled it, yet, & unfortunately i put some gas in, so i won't know the total from empty.  But the reserve light came on when i got home.. probably still about 1 gal. in there, still.  I'll fill it up & see how much it holds from the reserve coming on.

Anyway, it took me about an hour.  Everything fit fine.. no fitment issues at all.  I got a little gas on me when transferring from the old tank.. run yours as dry as you can before swapping it out.  It will not drain out the bottom fuel pump assembly.  I had to pour it out the filler hole.

But i can see the fuel line on the tank.. it says it is '3.1' gal.  So this looks like a keeper.  I might eventually fabricate some other trim pieces.. i don't think we really need the wide scoops.  But without them, hot air blows right on your knee from the radiator.  Otherwise, i might stay with the 'mad max' look for a bit.