Does anyone have any info about the charging system? I am having to put mine on a trickle charger about every 3 or 4 days.
True. But you don't need much more than a big capacitor. I ran a tiny little lawn mower battery in mine. First question: does your headlight work? If your headlight works then the charging system works. The headlight runs directly off the generator and through the regulator/rectifier. So if it works both of those should be working. So, if the headlight works, it is likely either a weak or damaged battery or a secondary issue like a corroded ground, bad ignition switch, loose connection, etc. But the XT350 charging system is stone ax simple and pretty robust. I would suspect the battery first, loose or corroded connections second, regulator/rectifier third. I believe it may be possible for the regulator to fail on the battery charging side independently of the headlight. But that seems unlikely.
Ditch the battery and get a battery eliminator. Its about the size of a d battery and weighs nothing. Ditch the weight and it never goes bad. Accell makes one for about 30 bucks. I have been running one for 4 years. You can even leave your key on all the time, nothing to drain down. thumpthump
Those are a big capacitor. I believe the Accel and Mallory battery eliminators are about 8000 µF. Not sure what voltage but probably 15v. At least that is what we used back in the day in SC where we didn't need signals. Capacitors can be less than $10 to about $30 from electronics supply shops for a standard can with screws on top. Once I moved to MD and had to put my turn signals back on the bike I found the capacitor wasn't very consistent at idle with both the brake light and signal on. So I went to a little 1.2ah sealed battery. It weighed less than two pounds and cost less than $20. It lasted for a couple of years in the XT350 and a couple of more in my XL600R.
So after reading this thread over, and wanting to get my xt350 a bit stiffer in the rear end. Am I understanding correctly that a 7.5kg/mm rear spring from a DR650 should fit in place of my stock spring with little to no effort other than changing it out?
Possibly. It does fit on the TT350 shock. The stock DR spring is 6.5kg/mm and is about right for the TT.
The problem I see with a higher rate spring on an XT350 is the compete and utter lack of rebound damping in the shock. I used to run my rear spring almost completely sacked out because of that. If I set a normal amount of sag it was like riding a pogo stick. Rebound with any spring preload set was almost completely uncontrolled. To me, it was better to run it with the spring soft and have it bottom than try to spit me over the bars in whoops. Which it would do if you added preload because it didn't have enough rebound to control the spring. Maybe it was just my bike. But the rear shock rebound sucked from day one. Adding more spring just made it suck worse. To me, the bike needs a new shock and a stiffer spring. But I never was able to find anything to swap into mine.
We never got the TT's that were sold in other countries. So finding a decent replacement shock here isn't easy. We did get a TT350 in 86 and 87 but it was an enduro and they damned rare today. Maybe international eBay is the way to go now that you mention the TT's.
Any chance anybody has a left hand side cover and a pair of plastic air scoops for the engine for a '85 XT 350 ? After having tried for a month in the parts section, I cant even get a single reply ?? :huh
I removed those useless mud collectors in 1986 and rode it that way until 2003. I moved the horn up under the tank and never thought about them again.
This eBay seller have them: http://www.ebay.com/sch/2redline/m.html?item=221230646104&pt=Motors_ATV_Parts_Accessories&hash=item33825fc358&vxp=mtr&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2562
Anyone need a stock metal tank of a 94? I've sold my bike and have a few spare pieces laying around. It's blue (IIRC) and I think it's straight. Make me an offer. Also have a stock alternator winding and a couple voltage regulators,,, cheap.
