I had my WeeStrom down for fork maintenance last Sunday, and it slipped off the jack and took a nap on the right side. I didn't discover it for at least four hours as I was away in the afternoon. My question is: if it spent about 4 hrs laying on its side, would there be oil in the cylinders (i.e. I'll have to do someething about that, before starting it up to avoid hydrolock/bent valvetrain) ? How would I be able to tell? I don't want to try starting it until I know it's ok to do so. Thanks in advance...
Pull the plugs, put the plugs back into the caps, ground the plugs on the head/cylinder, turn the bike over a few times, look for oil to come out the plug holes. When my son's Mustang spent some time on its roof, there was oil in the combustion chambers, and it locked trying to turn over. We pulled the plugs, sprayed carb cleaner into the holes and then turned it over a few times, watched the stuff come spraying out. Re-installed the plugs and it started up, smoked like gangbusters for awhile and eventually cleaned itself out.
Thanks! Since the 07 has dual plugs, I'll pull the side ones out..easier to get to...and see what pukes out.
Just sit it upright for a few hours; a day if permissible. If it shares the same internal structure as the Vee, the airbox probably took on some oil as the crankcase breather hose is routed into it. If you want to be proper, you'll need to remove/drain the oil.
Yup, it goes to the airbox. I agree, set it upright for a while and restart it. Though if it sat upside down for 4 hours I want to know the story (and how it got righted).
Haha, well the moral to the story is: if you're going to support a DL650 on a harbor freight dual-rail motorcycle jack by assorted wooden blocks, please be sure it's strapped down DAMN tight to something that won't move. I thought strapping the rear end down to an 8 foot 2x6 running under the rear wheel would do. It didn't. I and a friend employed a hoist thru the handlebar to the garage rafters to lift it, then suspended it from said rafter to the crashbars on either side. It has been thusly suspended for two days while I wait for parts, and is what I should have done in the first place. To a man with a hammer, every problem looks like a nail, I guess. Also, the top triple-clamp is now misaligned to the bottom one. How hard is it to realign? And if I were to redo my head bearings (unnecessary but, everything's apart) what bearing tools are needed?
Triple clamp, wait till it's on the ground, and have a friend help. Loosen the axle pinch bolt, the top and bottom clamp bolts, while one of you stops the front collapsing the other shimmies the front side to side, slowly decreasing the magnitude until it's straight and centred, check the front wheel is still seated, tighten the clamp bolts, bounce the front a few times (push it forward with the brake on) retighten the pinch bolt. A spanner for the bearing clamp rings is highly recommended, doesn't need to be the official one. A pin spanner (Think it's called that) will do it. Otherwise, some strong chopsticks and a hammer - spanner is easier. If you do those bearings, for gods sake use tapered roller bearings. Also, adjusting, there's the official way, and the way that works. Get them seated, overtighten SLIGHTLY, no more than 16th of a turn, swing the bars gently side to side a few times, then back it off GENTLY in SMALL steps until it moves with little finger pressure. (If you don't do it like that, there's a film of grease on the bearings, it'll squish out in 20k's or so and they'll be loose again). Pete
Pete, thanks for the input. So if I understand correctly, to fix the misaligned triples, you are proposing: Mount the forks and wheel, into the lower triple clamp Have someone hold the bars Have someone else wrestle the wheel side to side till both triples line up Slide forks home -Do I have it right? Could I make the process easier by loosening something? My upper triple is misaligned with respect to the bottom triple, such that I cannot get the forks into the upper triple from below. I've decided to leave the head bearings alone due to lack of funding for parts. Much as it burns me up to do so, I just can't afford to touch it right now (Christmas, yada yada) and it's working fine, no grinding or looseness. I just need to get the forks in and the job done.