Motorcycle help

[charby]

Check the inside of the tank for rust.

If it were rusty, are most Sporty tanks interchangeable? My wife brought home a tank from what I think is a 1998 sportster,iirc that she had won as a door prize or bought as a surplus item as an office decoration at one time or another....

Should be, they have used that peanut tank for years. Just have to make sure that the petcock will match up to the new tank.

[The Annoyed Man]

>Oops. I agree with both of these writers. The serious riders don't care about what you ride. The bikers are the asshats you need to ignore.<

I had a Hell's Angel tell me to start on a Hondamatic (to learn to ride), and had an Outlaw yell at me for "dissing my ride" (I'm currently on a POS '76 Goldwing). Honestly, it's mostly the posers that cause the problems: I tend to ask them how many miles they've logged this season (I've usually logged more miles in a season than they have in their career)...

[agricola]

How Harley riders can abuse anyone about the relative standard of their motorbikes amazes me.

[Monkeyleg]

I've had an 883 as well as a 1000 Sportster. I liked the 883 every bit as much. And I did more than just ride around town with it.

To check the steering head bearing, grab the front forks and push/pull them back and forth to feel for looseness. Also take a jack, put it under the crankcase, and jack up the front of the bike so the tire is just off the ground. Hold the bike level and turn the front wheel left to right. If you feel something like a slight notch when you reach the straight forward position of the wheel, the bearing is starting to go.

Rust in the tank isn't going to rust through, but it could get into your fuel system. If you take a flashlight and look around and see rust, you'll want to take the tank off. Put some marbles in it and roll them around to loosen any rust. Don't use metal bearings or anything else that can spark unless you've had the tank purged.

It sounds like you already know to check the chain and sprocket. Also take a flashlight and look between the primary case and the transmission. You'll be looking for signs of leakage from the tranny. It's a pain in the butt to replace the tranny seal. Leakage could also come from a worn out main sprocket.

Run your hand or a piece of paper towelling under the primary to look for signs of fluid. If the primary cover gasket is leaking, that's not a big deal to replace. If the gaskets between the engine or the tranny and the primary are leaking, that's a lot more work.

When the bike gets up to temperature, check the seams around the pieces of the rocker boxes, particularly the rear. They get dried up with heat and age and will leak. Replacing them isn't major surgery, but it's become a regular routine for my bike.

Also check the base of the cylinders where they meet the crankcase. If there's oil there, it means pulling the heads, cylinders and all the other fun stuff to replace the cylinder base gaskets. There was a problem with crankcases from the late 1980's through the early 1990's on the 1340 motors involving the use of two different types of metal for the crankcase halves. I don't know if that affected the 883 motors, but it contributes to leaky base gaskets.

There's lots more to check, but this should give you a start.

[brimic]

When the bike gets up to temperature, check the seams around the pieces of the rocker boxes, particularly the rear. They get dried up with heat and age and will leak. Replacing them isn't major surgery, but it's become a regular routine for my bike

That turned out to be the on only thing mechanically wrong with the bike- the front rocker box leakes a little on the second gasket down. The owner was upfront about it and told me that the local dealership wanted $40 dollars or so for a gasket kit. My buddy who came with me, is into drag racing and hotrodding cars, told me that he could probably cut a gasket for me very cheaply. I rode it home and put a piece of cardboard under her and collected about 6-7 drips. The front tire looks to have dry rot and needs replacement and by the looks of it, the rear will need replacement by the end of the year too. Everything else looks great- no scratches on the paint, the metal has a little grime but looks mostly unblemished.

The bike rides like a dream. It feels very solid and handles very easily. It just feels right. The virbration isn't as bad as I thought it would be- didn't bother me a bit at highway speeds but made the mirrors almost useless 

I'm in the doghouse a bit. When I go home, she peaked in the garage and said OMG what a POS, you can sleep with it tonight. Luckily I had a house key on my keychain as I unlocked the door, quietly slinked in, took as shower, and got a bottle of lotion and offered to rub her feet. Of course I got the normal response- don't touch me. A few minutes later she said "if you buy any more guns or crap on EBAY over the next three years, the bike is going up for sale. So I wrote up a lengthy contract which included other niceties as well, we both signed it, I gave her a foot rub and everything was right with the world again. Totally worth it

[wmenorr67]

"if you buy any more guns or crap on EBAY over the next three years

Good thing Ebay won't sell guns.

[brimic]

Anyone know if independant car service shops typically have th eequipment to change tires, if I were to bring jsut he wheels in?  Went to the local Harley Dealer and they wanted $180 for a front tire and installation. Yeesh. I didn't even ask them what they charged for a rear.

[Monkeyleg]

$180 is pretty much standard at HD dealerships. My last set of front and rear tires (tires, tubes, balancing) cost me nearly $500.

You can try some independent shops, but I've found that their level of expertise with even the most simple repairs is hit-and-miss. (Mostly miss).

If the second gasket on the front rocker box is leaking, it's likely that the second rocker box piece is slightly warped. If you don't want to buy a new one, try to have your friend cut a gasket from cork. The paper/silicone gaskets don't seal well enough with a warped center box piece.

[bedlamite]

Buy your tires here

Install them yourself

[brimic]

Actually I was mistaken,  its the very last gasket before the head that's currently leaking- kind of a metal piece sandwiched with silicone or something. I can see why a cut gasket won't work- the other three gaskets that I bought for the pieces above are rubber-like. I put about 40 miles on the bike today, and will probably ride for a few hours tomorow, treat the remainder of gas with seafoam, run it through, drain the tank if needed and change the gaskets either tomorow night or monday. I picked up a filter and oil to change right away afterwards. It all depends on how long my honey-do list is for tomorow.

Maybe its just time for me to learn to change tires myself....

$180 is pretty much standard at HD dealerships. My last set of front and rear tires (tires, tubes, balancing) cost me nearly $500.

Ouch. They also mentionaed have the wheel bearing repacked which would cost $45 (I'm assuming per wheel) + $20 for bearings if they need replacing.

I'm going to have to talk to my neighbor tonight. He used to be into bikes and is a mechanic, his wife made him get rid of his bike when he got married. She already warned me that she'd better not here him talking about getting another bike  He was over this morning checking it out when I started it up in the garage to warm it up.

[Monkeyleg]

They also mentionaed have the wheel bearing repacked which would cost $45...

That's nuts. Unless there's a reason for pulling the bearings, you should be able to clean them in place and pack them with grease yourself.

The bottom rocker gasket used to be paper. Then in the 1990's a company (forget the name) came out with thin steel gaskets with a paper coating and silicone on the sealing surfaces. Harley may have bought them out, or is just using those gaskets now as standard.

If you'll be taking the pushrods out, be sure to mark them. Maybe you already know that, but I screwed up once on that. Makes the engine run really smooth.

[brimic]

Buy your tires here

Install them yourself

Thanks. That looks doable.

If you'll be taking the pushrods out, be sure to mark them.

I'm not sure. I haven't gone through the details in the service manual yet. But I'll keep that in mind. Thanks.

[The Annoyed Man]

Dude... if *I* can change the tires, YOU can...

[JimMarch]

I pilot a very different version of your bike: a '97 Buell S3 Thunderbolt.

The people who talk about high maintenance costs on a Harley, esp. the Evolution Sportster motors we both have, don't understand these bikes.

Yes, repair/maintenance costs at a Harley dealer are high - you'll hear the term "stealership".  The good news: you don't need them.

The motor is stone-axe simple.  It has pushrods and hydraulic valves - you won't ever have to adjust the valves, something that's a MAJOR pain in the rump on most other rides.  A few of the newer Jap cruisers now do hydraulic valves too, but not many on the used market.

Doing the valve cover gaskets will be no problem at all.  Get some ball-end hex keys in SAE and it's a snap.

Another huge advantage is that your transmission oil is a separate pool of goop than your motor oil, plus it's a dry-sump system.  Jap rides generally do tranny and motor oil as the same pool, which long-term causes issues.

The 883 motor has more performance potential when modded than any other Sportster-based motor, mine included, if we're not talking about splitting the cases (read: custom crankcase/rods).

You have fairly small pistons that weigh less than those on a stock Harley 1200 (which is how mine came).  I've upgraded to a 1250 with Axtell ceramic-lined barrels and forged race pistons.  But because my crank is heavier than yours, I had to run heavier pistons than I could have if I'd started with an 883.  You can buy kits to swap barrels and pistons to 1200 or beyond from an 883 starting point, with lighter 1200 pistons than normal (forged to boot instead of stock cast).

The reason I had to swap barrels/pistons (and I did serious heads as well while it was apart) was that when I bought mine used, the moron had installed a higher-flow air intake without re-jetting the carb.  And then he didn't run it seriously.  He had told me it WAS jetted right...not.  So I melted a hole in the front piston doing 80mph.  Sigh.  Didn't hurt the bottom end any thank God.  Once I had the new piston/barrel kits in hand it was about a three day job swapping it all across.  The hard part was rigging a hoist so I could shake it upside down with the barrels and pistons off to get the loose piston bits out of the crank.  Yeah, the whole bike...Buell motormounts are a freakshow, it was just easier than yanking the motor.

Anyways.  My point is, Harleys are like Rugers: they respond well to amateur repairs and even modifications .  With 10.5:1 compression, Mikuni 42 carb, KT Engineering pipe and 2004-spec Buell heads with a stage 2 port, I'm pulling 0-60 in about three seconds .  Less than $2.5k with new parts would take your motor there and could be done in stages as desired.

[brimic]

The bike stil as the stock air cleaner and pipes, so there's cheap upgrade potential. As it is now, the stock motor has enogh power to scare the crap out of me at my level of experience.

[brimic]

Did the rocker box gaskets tonight. Was pretty easy and only took 1.5 hrs, much of which was dicking around with the tank and seat. I'll fire it up tomorrow to see if everything still works.

[bedlamite]

The motor is stone-axe simple.  It has pushrods and hydraulic valves - you won't ever have to adjust the valves, something that's a MAJOR pain in the rump on most other rides.  A few of the newer Jap cruisers now do hydraulic valves too, but not many on the used market.

Checking and adjusting shim/bucket valves is a 1-2 hour job every 15K miles, and is very simple to do (With the notable exception of Honda's VTEC system, and even that has a reputation of going 50K+ miles without needing shims). I'll gladly do a valve check every year or two to get rid of the power and rpm limiting hydraulic valves. There is nothing "MAJOR pain in the rump" about it on my Suzuki, I've checked them twice so far and haven't had to touch a new shim. My old Virago had solid rockers, and checking them was a 20 minute job, easy enough to do at first oil change of the season.

Another huge advantage is that your transmission oil is a separate pool of goop than your motor oil, plus it's a dry-sump system.  Jap rides generally do tranny and motor oil as the same pool, which long-term causes issues.

I'd be interested to find out what issues you think that causes. I know several people that have turned the 6th digit on their odometer with zero problems, and all they did was change the oil every 3K miles.

[charby]

When I go home, she peaked in the garage and said OMG what a POS, you can sleep with it tonight.

I would have responded, "Looks no rides for you, ever!"