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What did you do to your dirty bike today?

I've always had bark busters on my XR400, but never the plastic guards. This year I put a large cactus needle deep into my knuckle in Baja. We needed needle nose pliers to pull it out, ouch! I just installed plastic guards which required drilling and tapping M5 x 0.80 holes. No problem. I also pulled and washed the air filter as the bike will be hitting the Sheetiron soon. More maintenance to come.
 

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That was a gnarly cactus needle. I'm glad I carry a leatherman with me in Baja. :thumbup
 
Finally got the pesky swingarm pivot bolt out of the CR. Bearings are shot of course, but I'm putting on the big wheel swing arm anyway so not gonna bother to fix up this one.

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Been working on my 450... Patched my F's airbox hole again (this time with a Pepsi can and Yamabond 6B), installed a No-Toil Super Flo (just a different cage and filter), removed the PC Ti-4 noisemaker exhaust, installed a FMF power bomb header and Q4 muffler.

My battery won't take a charge so I guess I'll have to get one of those lightweight ones.
 
Guoseph said:
Finally got the pesky swingarm pivot bolt out of the CR. Bearings are shot of course, but I'm putting on the big wheel swing arm anyway so not gonna bother to fix up this one.
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Alex, man that looks bad. Was it hard to get out? I've been dreading this job on my KLR and my XR...
 
Michael start soaking yours with penetrating fluid regularly now if you haven't already.
 
Cabrito said:
Alex, man that looks bad. Was it hard to get out? I've been dreading this job on my KLR and my XR...
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Had to soak with liquid wrench for about two weeks. Also you can't hit it too hard or you will mushroom the tip. Impact guns help if you have one.

Oh and liquid wrench stinks up the entire garage, I had to leave the bike outside.
 
1962siia said:
Michael start soaking yours with penetrating fluid regularly now if you haven't already.
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Guoseph said:
Had to soak with liquid wrench for about two weeks. Also you can't hit it too hard or you will mushroom the tip. Impact guns help if you have one.

Oh and liquid wrench stinks up the entire garage, I had to leave the bike outside.
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Thanks for the Pro-Tips guys. :thumbup
 
Cabrito said:
Thanks for the Pro-Tips guys. :thumbup
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Yours might not be this bad, my bike has no history so no idea how poorly maintained it was in the past. But I will say after this experience all my axles and pivot bolts are gonna get regular clean and grease from now on.
 
Years ago, I had an SR 500 with a permanently stuck swingarm pivot bolt. No soaking helped. Had to carefully cut between the frame & swingarm. Tedious & expensive.
All bikes get the swingarm service pronto. IMHO, once it's done properly, it's not getting stuck again.
 
Guoseph said:
Yours might not be this bad, my bike has no history so no idea how poorly maintained it was in the past. But I will say after this experience all my axles and pivot bolts are gonna get regular clean and grease from now on.
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Thanks...now I want to do this...I'll try to do it this weekend. The axles were terrible on mine so I imagine the swing arm will be even worse.

Also, I use PB blaster (penetrating lubricant). I also use it to clean the muck off the axles...works like a charm. Then wipe clean and re-grease.
 
Nice thing is that many swingarms are only $100 or so on eBay. If I bought a bike with a frozen one, I don't think I'd spend too many drops of sweat trying to pound out the old one.
 
Guoseph said:
Had to soak with liquid wrench for about two weeks. Also you can't hit it too hard or you will mushroom the tip. Impact guns help if you have one.

Oh and liquid wrench stinks up the entire garage, I had to leave the bike outside.
Click to expand...

Guoseph said:
Yours might not be this bad, my bike has no history so no idea how poorly maintained it was in the past. But I will say after this experience all my axles and pivot bolts are gonna get regular clean and grease from now on.
Click to expand...

I had the same issue with a rusted swingarm pivot bolt. Previous owner probably didn't do any maintenance ever. After whacking on it forever I had to find a solution. Liquid Wrench isn't that great. PB Blaster is supposed to be better. What you really want is Kano Kroil (Aerokroil). Hard to find and the only place I've found to have it in stock is Napa Auto in Morgan Hill. I had to ask for it because they keep in back. I used a bit of this and in minutes it started to break through the corrosion and I had the bolt out in under a half hour. The stuff is pretty nasty so wear gloves and eye protection and make sure there's plenty of ventilation. I only used a few shots so I have pretty much have a full can sitting on a shelf.

Motion Pro makes an inexpensive bearing tool that makes it easy to remove/install the needle bearings. Since the linkage is out, buy a kit and replace all of the bearings. If you still have a little slop after this, replace the bearing on top of the shock also. There are vids on youtube that show how it's done.

You should be able to pull the bearings through from either side but you may run into a situation where a bear race seats against a shoulder. (my bike had two like this) I was able to make a tool in a few minutes and pull them out also. If you have any questions, hit me up.
 
Started up my fo-fiddy with its new, quiet exhaust. Nice, now I'm not ashamed to start up my bike or even ride it. I installed a new horn and rear turn signals after going to the auto parts store to get a pack of those old-timey fuses. It's 95% street legal now. And stealthy!
 
Eric B said:
Years ago, I had an SR 500 with a permanently stuck swingarm pivot bolt. No soaking helped. Had to carefully cut between the frame & swingarm. Tedious & expensive.
All bikes get the swingarm service pronto. IMHO, once it's done properly, it's not getting stuck again.
Click to expand...

It took me about a month to get the swing arm bolt out on my XR400 early last year. It had never been out before. I read all the threads and started soaking it with PB Blaster while turning it with a breaker bar etc. I'd pound on it and soak it more night after night. It eventually came out and I was happy that I did not damage it or anything else.

Before I put it back in, I ran a long wire brush of the correct diameter through the assembly to clean all the dirt and corrosion out, then followed with a brush coated with Anti Seize. I made sure to run the brush through many times to coat the inside of the motor and everything that did not get greased, with anti seize. I finished it a week before the Sheetiron last year. I guess I should service it again.
 
Valves adjusted.

New MotoZ tires





Used my Baja No Pinch for the first time and bent it.... :wtf
 
Clutch cable
Petcock
Fuel filter

Ordered a street legal dual sport kit
 
Installed a 13T front sprocket (was 14T), set the tire pressures, and went for a ride. Got some nice pics I'll post elsewhere.
 
Couldn't find the oil change interval in the WR450F manual so I changed it. It came out barely dirtier than the new oil that went in, so I'm going a few more hours next time.
 
In preparation for the Sheetiron I adjusted the valves which were really really close, cleaned and reoiled the air filter, reinstalled my Big Gun after market ignition box, which I always remove for Baja, spooned on my used rear Maxxis Desert IT, because it is going to be dry, and refit the front blinkers. The oil only had the StonyBarf trip on it and is as clean as new, so I left it.
 
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