I ordered the swing arm bearing rebuild kit. I might as well do it while the engine is out. I imagine it is going to be a heck of a mess in there with all that grease. Probably enough grease to lube TWO gut wagons. Man I hate old grease. It gets everywhere.
A trick I use to remove bushings from swingarms, or lower control arms, or similar things is to thread a hacksaw blade through the bushing and very carefully slice the bushing lengthwise. Cut very carefully and the arm will not be touched. Once you get a saw blade width slot cut in the bushing it will collapse inward a little and be easier to drive out.
Your quite welcome. This is what's needed: Swing Arm/Rising Rate Linkage Bearing Install Tool Designed for installation of the swingarm bearings on late-model Japanese off-road motorcycles 200 mm long threaded installation bolt Puller draws bearing into the swingarm Includes three drivers for use with common bearing sizes Kits includes driver sizes I.D. 20mm / O.D 26mm, I.D. 21mm / O.D. 26mm & I.D. 22mm / O.D.27mm I have one in the tool box.
I am going to assume the gray/white coating on the rocker arm pads is the hard plating. When that wears through and it hits shiny metal it is going to wear fast. Does it seem the exhaust rockers have a shorter life than intakes? A and B rockers from the intake side can be swapped over to exhaust side?
What would cause my bike to sound like a barrel full of nuts and bolts rolling down a hill?!?! I was on a day trip desert loop in the natl park with my buddy on his v-star. mile 44 my bike starts making a racheting noise, i stop. It increased with revs and got really loud (i thought it was about to blow!) so I shut it off, smoke a bowl and a cigarette, and I go start the bike back up and noise is gone! WTF!! I rode the remaining 40 miles home with no problems and now I'm worried?? it starts fine, no loss of power or anything, I can't seem to make the noise reoccur either.... I couldn't figure out where it was coming from though it sound like the stator side Atleast I didn't have to ride home on the back of a cruiser, the Honda loves me enough to make it home.
That bearing race is extremely hard. Hacksaw is a no go. I dropped the swingarm out and am using a sawzall. Even that is barely getting a bite.
Well put another 25 miles on it going to and from work and such. seems to be fine now but I don't want to write it off as a fluke, probably be ordering the stuff for a top end soon and see what I find.
Well I couldnt wait any longer. After rebuilding my XL600RMG from the ground up I took it around the block half a dozen times today to get it hot and check for oil leaks. Front brake yet to be fitted and back brake shoes still bedding in, but, holy shit, how hard does this thing go???!!! Running 0.5mm oversize 11:1 Wiseco piston, Kibblewhite valves, guides and springs, and a Staintune muffler from a VTR1000. Goes much, much better than before the rebuild. Clutchless wheelies in first and second gear. I was wondering if any other XL600 owners here are running the 11:1 Wiseco piston and if you've found it made a huge difference to the power the engine produces.
Yeah they can move. When I put the 13t front sprocket on and go offoad, I often find myself getting into a mess before I know it, and I can climb the gnarliest hills around here without even thinking about it. Accidental wheelies if you're not used it :) I don't know what ratio mine is but the receipt from last rebuild just says "WISECO HI-COMP" as one of the parts. Me and my friend were racing around after work one night. he has some v-star 950 thing, and he said his speed was reading 105+ and I "flew by him" :eek1 Don't know how accurate his speedo is and I wasn't looking at mine either, but I have no business to go nearly that fast on anything again that was with stock gearing
Compression is the first wakeup call for sure on these big singles. I have run Wiseco 11:1, 102.4mm which worked well, though it actually calculated out to 10:1 when measured on install which is fine because that is about the upper limit for fuel availability. After a crankshaft breakage issue I opted for an XR crank which necessitated a new piston. I went with a JE 11:1, 102mm which also calculated out to 10:1. It also works well and runs great, but it is noisier than the wiseco till it warms up.
I got a dremel carbide burr to reach in there and a diamond coated sawzall blade. Tonight see what happens. No heat as I dont want to risk fire. Editing this post I would like to add the carbide burr works good at cutting a deep gouge into the race. I should have them out tonight.
