Almost finished - what now?

[crackerkorean]

I am almost finished with getting the bike in rideable condition. NOTE Rideable and not presentable. ;D

this is what stil l have in store.
Front brake pads ( where can one get them )
Stainless Braided brake line

and some random vision only parts
Headlight bracket (non fairing)
YICS (or a good sub)
Foot pegs would be nice. ( do aftermarket ones work?)

MY main question to the community is before I start riding

What do I need to check and make sure is in order?
The bike sat for 12 years. I know to change the brake bolts.

There are many other rusted bits here and there. I will be taking both wheels off and will replace any rusted items in the axels. Anything else that I should look at?

[louthepou]

Hi there,

Besides all the proper maintenance (including all liquids changed), I'd check the steering head (maybe even regrease the bearings, if you're in there anyway).

I'd check all bolts, to make sure they're ain't any loose.

New tires?

Valve clearance check, and shim replacement is clearance is off.

While you have the wheels off, clean the axles, put a bit of grease on it, and on the speedo sending unit up front / gear drive at the rear; clean and inspect the rear brakes;

Checking electrical connections; clean, put dielectric grease while at it;

That's all I can think about at this moment, am at work, got to go!

Louis

[YellowJacket!]

Cracker,

I went to Lowes Home Improvement store with a bag of all the nuts, bolts and washers that I needed to replace.? I was able to match up about 95% of them there.? The rest I got from DGY ( http://yamaha.dgy.com/parts.aspx ).? I also got the foot peg replacement rubber from DGY (they also have the complete footpeg assembly). Other assorted parts came from DGY also.
The YICS I have rebuilt from some copper pipe and are hidden under the gas tank.? I'm going to put the original YICS in its regular place for appearence purposes.? Other parts and accessoreis I got off ebay.? So aside from the YICS, the bike is 100% original.
I thought I saw a headlight bracket on ebay recently.? I found that by searching ebay for all possible combiantions of Vision, XZ550 etc, I was able to come up with the most hits.
Once I get my bike up and running, I'm going to post a list of my available parts in the swap shop.
One last thing.  I did both google and msn searches by part number and came up with a couple hits for parts too.  msn actually gave me better hist than google, like the 83 petcock at surdyke.com .
Good Luck,

David

[crackerkorean]

I will have to head to the hardware store.
What washer and bolts should I replace?

I am thinking about going with after market foot pegs. Are they universal?

I have a line ona headlight bracket from some body here so thats good.

Thanks for the help and keep it coming

[crackerkorean]

Also how do you check the steering head?

[Blake]

To check the bearings you have to take off the triple tree, and then losen two nuts that are threaded onto the lower triple tree shaft.  Underneath the metal dust cover (under the nuts) the bearings are sitting right there.  Be careful though, more likely than not you still have ball bearings, and those suckers have a tendency to jump all over the floor and get lost forever, then again, you should change to roller bearings now anyway.  BIG improvement in ride quality.


Blake

[crackerkorean]

Where do  Iget them and how much do they cost. And Are there special tools involved

Mike

[Blake]

Im pretty sure I ordered my bearings from dennis kirk.  around $20 i think.  took 3 or so days to get since it's usually in stock.

As for tools, you dont need anything special, a couple of large mouth vice grips.  I actually make a little tool to help with holding the bottom nut while i tighten the top onto it (so the bottom wouldnt tighten the bearings too much and make it stiff), but its really not necessary.  i just had a spare piece of steel lying around and did it for convenience.  Now if only i knew where it was at...hmmm.



Blake

[Lucky]

That's not really the procedure for checking them, that's the procedure for greasing/replacing them.

to check the steering head bearings place the bike on the center stand & either have someone sit on the back of the seat so the ft tire comes off the ground, or place blocks under the engine to keep the ft up.

with the ft wheel up, slowly turn the bars side to side feeling for any bumpieness. smooth is good, bumpieness indicates wear & the bearings should be replaced.

next try to move the wheel forward & back. there should be no play here.  if there is & step 1 above was smooth, you can try tightening up the bearings by loosening the top nut Blake mentioned, tightening the bottom nut, then tightening the top nut.

you only want to tighten the bearings up so there is a slight drag when turning the bars side to side.

if you can get to this point, you can worry about replacing the bearings later. not too much later, but it can hold off till winter anyway.  you'll want to use tapered bearings & we can help you find those when the time comes.

--Lucky

[crackerkorean]

Well the wheels are coming off tomorrow to get tires and I will check the bearings then.

This winter the bike is getting even more attention.
Polishing what I can of the motor and rearsets
good cleaning of the exhaust
a coat of paint on the primer
Any maybe some other goodies we just have to see.