Help with new 1999 Nomad

[gleam]

Hey guys, I'm new to the forum. About a month ago I got a 1999 VN1500 Nomad, and I've started fixing it up. It looked really great in terms of rust and condition, but now that I'm starting to get into it, it seems like a lot of the maintenance wasn't done, or started being skipped in recent years. I'm not sure how you guys like to do things around here, but I have some questions about it that I'd like to ask. Is it okay that I make one thread for my whole project, or should I split it up into separate issues? Overall I'm considering all the major maintenance items due to be done. I have a Clymer, and a pdf of the Kawi book.

I'll make a proper intro in the right forum here soon, but for now here are some things I could really use some help with. Thanks for reading.

Swingarm
I've been familiarizing myself with the older threads about all the issues with servicing the swingarm and final drive.
-With Honda Moly 60 no longer available, is Honda77 considered acceptable now? Where should I use this, and where should the more average moly grease go, specifically? It seems expensive. I saw someone say they cut the 77 with normal moly. I'm not very familiar with this bike yet, so I could use some help with which grease goes where in the swingarm.
-All Balls doesn't seem to have swingarm bearings for this. Are these the needle bearings I see people mention they are rebuilding, and if so, is that why I'm not to replace them. I'm supposed to rebuild them?
-Are there any items a beginner might not know to order here, o-rings and seals and such?

Carburetor
-In Canada here the season is pretty limited. Have any Canadians done the carb coolant bypass and had problems with it? I'm considering doing that but need more info.
-Any tips for getting the float pin out? On this one there's not really anything to get purchase on, and I'm aftraid to crack the tower if I try to punch it out. It's in there solid.
-Suggestion for a Canadian online source to get carb parts? Sirius doesn't seem to have a full kit for this.
-Bike came with K&N intake and V&H Bagger exhaust (another story). The carb doesn't have a jet kit, and I see V&H makes one themselves? Which one is recommended? I see a DynoJet, V&H, and K&L on the site.

That's probably good for now, there's a bit more but these are what are on my mind at the moment. That and the fact that it's already June and my bike looks like this. Thanks for any help in advance.

[VulcanE]

Welcome gleam.

Swingarm
Any good quality moly grease will work just fine on the swing arm pivot bearings, and they are needle bearings, but the needle bearings that you see people mention they are rebuilding, are the ones in the u-joint. On mine, I disassembled the u-joint, cleaned it good and reassembled it using the Honda moly 60 (I have several tubes on the shelf).
I can't help with the carb, but I would strongly recommend you check your oil pump gear. The 99s came with a plastic oil gear (POG) and they do give out.

[gleam]

Thanks for the welcome and the advice. The POG was something I was able to read about when I was researching the Nomads, so I asked the seller about it. He said the dealer looked up his VIN and told him it didn't have the plastic one. I'm pretty dubious about that, but since I was gonna check for myself anyway, I went ahead with the buy. I'm sure I'll find lots of info about it here, but is it just something where I buy the new part and swap it out? Sounds like I'll be buying an engine gasket, eh?

[cnc]

Originally Posted by gleam

Thanks for the welcome and the advice. The POG was something I was able to read about when I was researching the Nomads, so I asked the seller about it. He said the dealer looked up his VIN and told him it didn't have the plastic one. I'm pretty dubious about that, but since I was gonna check for myself anyway, I went ahead with the buy. I'm sure I'll find lots of info about it here, but is it just something where I buy the new part and swap it out? Sounds like I'll be buying an engine gasket, eh?

Kawasaki was changing the pog to a steal gear for 10 years after purchase. Maybe armed with the VIN # a dealer can look up if it was done, that might be what the previous owner means if he is not the first owner.

[gleam]

Well I got some more parts off but a bit of reading here has me feeling a bit more worried about this POG than I was in my pre-purchase reading. I guess I didn't do enough research, becuase this bike seems to be the exact bike that has it, and that fails the worst. This post here seems to offer a clue in determining if it's a G1 or a G1A, which was going to be one of my many questions. The pictures are too small to be of any use, could someone please tell me what to look for?

I was all for swapping out this gear until I read that you have to split the cases. It's already June and the thought of having to do that is just. Well, I'm lost for words, really. I had plans of a long trip this year rather than a couple short ones. If this thing fails on me a couple thousand kilometers from home that's gonna be a problem. Right now it has some 50,000km on it (about 31,000 miles) so I guess it's past the usual point of failure. Not sure if that's reassuring or not.

A bit more info on the bike: I bought it from someone who owned it since new in 1999. It came with Vance & Hines true duals (bagger duals I think they call them), and the rear header cracked on me on my fourth time riding it. I was hoping to save the major maintenance stuff till the winter, but now I'm into all the bearings since the steering head bearings were in horrible shape. The notch in the centerline was unreal.

People say replacing the gear with the steel one is a 'big job', but so is what I'm up to now. I don't imagine the engine just comes apart like the stuff on the frame does. Splitting the cases feels a bit out of my skill and resource level. Looks pretty grim right now, hopefully someone can guide me a bit in figuring this out.

Edit: He did say the dealer told him it was a steel gear by the VIN, and I suppose he could've been lying. However, this new information that they were replacing them under warranty for 10 years makes me think he probably would've done that given that the option would've been open to him. Unless they didn't do it in Canada, I suppose. None of this really matters until I see what's actually in there.

Edit 2: I figured out the diagrams from kawasaki.com. Says VIN not found for my VIN though, hopefully that's just a not-US thing.

[cnc]

99 was the only year that Kawasaki used a plastic oil gear on the Nomad to my knowledge, they were changing them in Canada too. Yes to change the gear with a Kawasaki steel gear you split the cases, but there is a split steel oil gear ( judge's oil gear or Jog for short ) that can be installed without splitting the cases and many went that route. As a matter of fact I meet a guy a few years back that worked for Kawasaki Canada during that time and he told me they started using that gear instead of splitting the cases. I believe the jog is still available, others will know more than me. A few guys have also modified a stock steel gear to slide on the shaft and tack welded it. You do want to know asp what you have as a gear, but you can see that without splitting the cases in two. I am sure given a bit of time others who have been through this will chime in with more details.

[gleam]

Thanks cnc. I'm now pretty sure I don't have the POG. The sticker under the seat says made in 2/98, which makes it a GA and not a GA1 according to this site. I also used the parts diagrams on kawasaki.com to see that my right side cover matches the G1 fiche, not the G1A one. Mine does not have the little round thing at the bottom rear of the cover. I hope that this information proves useful to other readers.

I've got the final drive and shocks off now. It didn't have much oil in it, but maybe that's just because it wasn't warmed up first, and I don't know how much goes in there full. I'll just change it, and then change it again soon after.

Questions
- I'd like to clean out and put new grease in the speedo gears, which type of grease should I use?
- What was the proper way to remove the built-in zipties holding the cables to the handlebars? What should I replace the ones I destroyed with. I tried.
- Sirius has a brass elbow for the carb. What's the story here, do the plastic ones fail? Are the o-rings available, or can I use something from my kit?

I'm grateful for any comments anyone has.

[mick56]

As i understand it, the POG was used on all 1500's prior to 2000.It just became more of a problem on both the 98 & 99 GI &G1A/G2 European,along with some 2000 bikes.The only way to know for sure is to remove the casing and look.Its a white plastic cog about 2&1/2in diameter.An English bloke called Phil Halling bought a new Kawasaki cog/shaft and machined the shaft off,here are his words.

"Just sorted my oil gear out, got the replacement complete with shaft, had the shaft machined off to leave an exact hole the size of the existing shaft, broke the plastic gear off - then heated up the new steel gear and slid it on and put 3 tack welds on it.costings wise, it was about £55 for the gear and a new RH gasket, then £75 to have it machined and took us 2.5 hrs to do. In my mind a better fix than Judges oil gear and a lot easier than splitting the crankcase or dropping the oil. The only testing bit was stopping the existing shaft from going back into the case a few mm, we got over that by using one of those little round magnets on a car ariel type thing - the magnet was the same diameter as the shaft, so the hot (expanded) new gear just slid down the "ariel" and popped straight onto the shaft.
Pity they dont sell just the gear with a 12mm hole in the centre"

I spoke to Phil recently,and after about a thousand miles,everything is fine.

Several people have mentioned that getting a Judges oil gear is a bit hit & miss,as nobody seems to know who has the patent,and some have sent money to EZ ON and still got no cog. I reckon Phil's method is favourite.

http://www.ezonmotorcycleaccessories...esOilGear.aspx

[gleam]

Originally Posted by mick56

As i understand it, the POG was used on all 1500's prior to 2000.It just became more of a problem on both the 98 & 99 GI &G1A/G2 European,along with some 2000 bikes.The only way to know for sure is to remove the casing and look.Its a white plastic cog about 2&1/2in diameter.An English bloke called Phil Halling bought a new Kawasaki cog/shaft and machined the shaft off,here are his words.

Thanks for that info. So far this is the first time I'm seeing anything about POG in all pre-2000s. Actually putting my eyes on it seems to be the only way to know, so I'll have to consider that carefully. I'll have to check eventually, I'm sure, but for now I'm not sure that I want to buy another gasket to have a look. In my last post I was sure I was good, but now I'll have to rethink that. Can anyone else corroborate that?

It probably would've failed by now, right? It's at 50,000km.

Steering Bearings
How much further would I have to go to get the engine out of the frame from where I'm at now? Does seem like much more unless there's something I'm not aware of. Can you pull the frame up and off the engine with the engine still sat on the jack? Thanks

[Monkeyman]

I'm not a mechanic so I can't help there but it would seem to be a good idea to fix everything you can while you have the bike torn down. Better now than later. Even if you miss out on the entire riding season, it's not like you can't ride next year. If you spend this summer fixing EVERYTHING then you can ride worry free next year.

[mick56]

How much further would I have to go to get the engine out of the frame from where I'm at now? Does seem like much more unless there's something I'm not aware of. Can you pull the frame up and off the engine with the engine still sat on the jack?

Looks like you got the jack on the frame,so unless you move it to the engine,you cant get the frame off.The right floorboard needs to come off,along with the crashbar.There are 4 Allen bolts on the right side of the frame,2 halfway up,2 underneath,you need to take them out,and remove the engine mounting bolts.You can then pull that section out,and lift the frame up and back off the engine.I would'nt do that alone,the engine is going to be pretty unstable on the jack.You might be better to make a wooden block to sit the engine on the floor,it wont have so far to fall.

[gleam]

Originally Posted by Monkeyman

If you spend this summer fixing EVERYTHING then you can ride worry free next year.

I went into more detail in my intro thread about this, but none of this was really planned. The bike is new to me, and I had hoped to strike a nice balance between doing all the things I felt it needed to make it reliable for this year, but not doing too much becuase it's already late in the year. Now things have gotten a bit more complicated than that. I would rather get it done properly and have a nice time at the end of the season, than cut corners and be worried about it.

Originally Posted by mick56

...it wont have so far to fall.

I probably should've gone out there and actually looked at it before asking that, eh? Seems so obvious now. Those adapters are going between the frame and the jack, yes. When I was looking at the parts fiche I saw that removable frame section, I thought maybe that had something to do with taking the frame off while it's on the jack. But now that I've read what you said, it's obvious that the removable section is there to get the engine out of the frame so that you don't have to wiggle it in like on older bikes. Everything is so big that would be impossible.

Well it was a plan C at best so I'm happy to put all that extra work aside, thank you.

[MAS Tequila]

Just pull the clutch cover off and look behind the clutch basket.

If it has a nylon gear it's a POG, stop trying to second guess and what if this thing to death.

With all that you've removed already, what's another 30 minutes?

Some POGs failed in as little as 20,000 miles while others never failed.

If it does have a POG, and the teeth look worn or chipped, get a JOG and if you install it correctly and let the Loctite set up properly it will last forever, and you don't have to split the cases.

Or just find a 2000 or newer donor engine and swap in.

And please, never order from Ez-on or whatever they call themselves. Too many have sent them $$$ and not gotten their merchandise.

MT

[mick56]

Hey MAS. Doesnt the footboard and frame section need to be removed to get the casing off ?

[Bud2rat]

Originally Posted by mick56

Hey MAS. Doesnt the footboard and frame section need to be removed to get the casing off ?

Yes it does.