What Do I need to fix ?

[Blurred Vision]

I have a stock 82 vision and am wondering what kind of preventative repairs are acctually necessary on the vision. I heard bits and pieces about soldering but that's about it. I would much rather fix something now than be stuck somewhere!

[Walt_M.]

A lot depends on the condition of your bike. What is its history? How many miles, was it stored outside? If outside, you probably need to clean all (as in every one) of the electrical connections on the bike. As for soldering, I am against it! The suspect connections are from the stator to the R/R and possibly the R/R to the harness. The reason I am against soldering the stator to R/R connection is that these wires tend to run warm to hot and, eventually the solder will fail. I used heavy duty solderless crimp connectors on mine but plan to go back to the stock connectors if/when my stator or R/R goes.
There is plenty of info available on the forum so have at it and have fun.

[Lucky]

Soldering all the R/R connections is generally the reccomended procedure, these connectors tend to corrode & fail, taking with the stator & R/R with them, an expensive repair that's preventable.

if the connectors have allways been kept clean, tight & corrosion free, i'd say you could leave it, as long as you keep them on good shape, & i mean religously.

If you want to forget about worrying about those connectors costing you money, i'd reccomend soldering them.  there are several solder joints in the stock harness that have never failed, so to me, that's not a problem.  Walts solution is fine too, again, as long as the connections are kept clean & tight.

along with soldering those connections you'll want to provide additional; cooling to the R/R.  it's method of diapating unused current provided by the stator is to convert it to heat energy.  in it's stock location it sits above the rear exhaust... not good.  some have had luck adding a CPU cooler on to of the R/R fins, but the more prevelant method is to move the R/R to either the left passenger foot peg, or under seat frame rail.  you'll have to fab up a bracket out of mild steel, not hard to do.
You'll most likely need to lengthen the wire harness a bit for this.

other "must do" items include replacing the starter clutch bolts if they haven't been done (see my site or othewr posts here for an explanation http://www.xz550.com)
replacing the starter seal, shift shaft seal Clean & tighten EVERY connection on the bikes wire harness, test & seal the YICS, clean & seal the tank, add a fuel filter, dip the carbs..

those are the ones that'll bite you in the butt sooner or later, & there are more, but that's enough to scare you off for now, lol

Merry holidays!

--Lucky

[Coil Coyle]

Jay,
        Check the air in the tires, fluid in the front brake, brake light and tail light, headlight high and low, oil level in the sight glass, coolant in the catch bottle and make sure the radiator is being kept full from the catch bottle. Thenfill the tank and ride it until it lets you know you need to get back to us.. ;)
If the back brake makes noise when you use it, don't use it until you have bad weather and can fix it.
$0.02
coil