4 maintenance questions

[macmac]

Originally Posted by tkd

Ok,

I feel bad that this thread has gone on this long. I'm just going buy a jack and go for it. I figure it will go one of 3 ways.

1. I'll give it my best shot, cuss it, get frustrated, put a wrench or 2 through the wall, but I will finish it.

2. I'll get it apart and never figure out how to get it back together--which means there might be some great deals on Ebay for Nomad parts

3. The bike will fall, totalling it, taking me to intesive care where I will spend way too much time.

The only thing guaranteed is that the wife will tell me I'm an idiot for trying.

anyone recommend a good jack? Torin at Northern Tool seems to be well built ramewise but it is still a bottle jack.

Roughly where are you located? More meaning do you suffer harsh winter, which is fine to put this sort of thing off till then.

Don't let machines beat you, so don't throw things. On a lift from Sears, Harbor freight, Northern Tool etc, you need tie down straps. Mine are orange.

I see no reason to be sorry about the thread going for "so long".

If you have a place to work you are doing somewhat better than me as the barn floor is sand for horses, but there are no horses now, and so I use a 4x8 sheet of beaten up ply wood as a lift floor.

I am prepared to give you names of brands and tools sizes, and can walk you right through this, but it will take more time.

Most of the tools you should have anyway, if you ever plan to work on the bike again.

Besides tools you need parts on hand, and you will have to order them at least 2 weeks ahead of time because the dealer probably has none in stock.

I find the most common parts are never in stock, if you just walk in and ask... Oh they will have oil and filters and maybe even spark plugs, and a air filter, but all in all stocked parts isn't the norm these days.

I am not certain doing this in your case is the best thing to do. It seems you bought the bike thinking service would be something you would pay for.

I bought mine knowing it would never see the dealer shop.

There is nothing hard to do, but there are details that you must follow in a exact pattern.

Have you read gadjets site on this?

http://www.gadgetjq.com/gadgetsfixitpage.htm

It is under Maintenance Tips

No comment on your wife...

[tkd]

MacMac,

Im in Minneapolis, so a harsh winter is pretty much a given, assuming you think temperatures below 0F for weeks on end is harsh. It qualifies for me.

On the tool front, I need a jack and a torque wrench. I should be good on everything else. I'm not new to mechanical stuff (I have done some engine work--rebuilt a mustang in highschool) but I am totally new to bike maintenance. Maybe I'm just psyching myself out.


I'll let y'all know how it turns out.

[macmac]

Well You will need 22 mm and 27 mm sockets or wrenches. Metric allens mounted in sockets.

Either be willing to shim with wood blocks of buy the lift adapter found here in classifieds.

A cinder block or wood block about that size, to set under the ft wheel BEFORE you drop the rear wheel. Bungie cords to tie the caliper up with.

Some form of narrow punch tool to depress the small pin that holds the drive shaft to the bevel gear's spline.

This:

Good chassis grease, moly lube that is very liquid (there is a stiff moly lube too) The seals part number 92049-1181 TWO of them.

It looks like you have V&H Baggers, so either HD, or Ma Kawii head pipe gaskets Pn 11060-1119 from kawii.

A great big bucket, so you can leave the rear brake line intact like I did.

Webbing tie downs (2) Rags plenty.

My e-mail is open here, and at mcusa, so feel free to post to me any way you wish any time you wish.

There are a few little tricks too, like when the pin is pressed in covering the area with a rag, so it won't fly out in error. Mine didn't but there is nothing to stop it from happeneing. Also before you pull the shaft off to stuff a rag in the case, so the pin can't get inside there either!

Another thing is it is likely you will be alone with no help, just like me, so to reinstall the rear wheel I sif on the left side of the bike right down on the floor, with my legs passing the wheel.

The axel bolt is in part way, and holding the long spacer. I lift the wheel and you can't see well, but you can align the wheel to the gear box easy enough, and when it looks right hear the clunk it makes as you rotate the wheel and pull a little to aling the splines you have GREASED.

None of this is hard. Maybe the hardest part is that to do this the way I did, means you must part way drop the swing arm and then with the gear box removed, still the drive shaft must be partly in the swing arm, so these are somewhat heavy at maybe 25 pounds I guess. It will seem akward.

The money for tools is well spent, if you care for them. They may not total the cost of the dealer labor.

You seem like you could be a hot head too, so just don't. If you get stuck have a smoke, There will be answers forth coming and I will type until you understand even if you hate me afterwards.

If I have too, I will rip my bike down and get better pics.

[tkd]

MacMac,

You have gone out of your way. Thank you very much. The only time I get frustrated is when I have the mental ability to understand, but not the physical prowess of having done it yet.

I'll make it. Thanks

[macmac]

Well I am killing time.. Otherwise i would have to work!

I did a by hand tire change which was enough for one days work for me.. I got the tire down and hand changed it. The nexr day I took the swingarm down, did the deed and put the the whole bloody mess back as 1 bike.

It might take 6 hours for you, since you won't need a tire, but it wll never take 6 hours again, and this has to be done again, and again each 7,500 by the book if you do.

Now have no plan to go by the book myself, but can see checking each 10,000 miles or so.

I KNOW the driveshaft os good, and I KNOW there is gobs of grease on every part that should have grease.

I forgot get antisieze, You can thank me later. Use it on all threads that loctite are not supposed to be on. There are none in this service that require loctite.

Clean any crud off any threads that have crud. The 4 studds holding the gear box on my bike were well cruded. I used a hand power wire brush to clean the crud off the threads and a battery brush well used and cleaned in baking soda to get in the holes. The studds are steel, and the gear box is alloy, and the two hate each other. Galvanic action..

Pull the rear shocks at the right times and grease the upper needle bearings in the shock towers. ( I had no idea they were there, as the 1500 didn't so far as I know.

I made a thin film of grease on the lower shock studs too..

Hell who knows maybe yer wife will love you in Grease! Mine does. She knows it ain't gonna' cost nuthin' more than 1/3 tank of hot water as her part. She gets to scrub me!

Oh yeah, will you please just call me Mac... even little mac will do...

I don't live in that fast lane either...

OT whats that I can see in the pic on the left rear of the sadle bag? Something chrome?

Originally Posted by cactusjack

... The lousy mechanics are easy to find. I wonder why that is??

IMO, It's because the good ones are always busy and don't usually need any more work.

[tkd]

Mac,

Thanks again for all the advice. I went out to the garage last night and spent about an hour "visualizing" the job. Based on your posts, I can see about 90% of it in my head. One think I did notice is that my brake line hoops aren't split already. Gonna have to cut them I guess. Oh well.

On the chrome question on the bag....I do have the lower chrome rails. I think you might be referring to the shiny spot about 1/2 way up the bag. That is the reflection from my taillight believe it or not.

The other thing you might be seeing is a simple red reflector I put on the back of the bag. Looks very stock and really helps visibility from behind at night.

If that's not it, I'll try again.

[rlfaubion]

I'm doing this job right now, and it's not as hard as it sounds or reads. I'm trying to cut groves in the swing-arm center spacer and add a grease fitting to eleminate as much of a tear-down next time. Mac gave a great description of tools needed and work to perform. It'll save hundreds of $$$ doing yourself.

[cactusjack]

Originally Posted by caddmannq

IMO, It's because the good ones are always busy and don't usually need any more work.

That was a rhetorical question, but you are absolutely right.

Rhetoric isn't always my strong suit. ;)

[ridemslow]

I did read somewhere that you can get U-joints for much less, and with a grease fitting so when you do need to service it, the job is not so tough. Might be worth reading that thread if someone has it to post again, or a link. Also, Gadget has instructions on his site about how to make it easier to greas this swingarm and to add a grease fitting for future service, check it out.

Originally Posted by macmac

Sorry it just gets to me that life is trusted to a dealer.

There are severl issues besides rust. There are needle bearings that have nearly no grease evidently from the factory, the allow the swing arm to move up and down with the road.

There is the driveshaft, which some haven't been greased well from the factory, and while you can't grease the U Joint, it can be inspected. The ends of the drive shaft require new grease on the ends as well.

For a dealer to tell you everything is ok, with out looking, and they can't see any better than you or me is just plain wrong. There is one way and one way only to see if the bearings are greased, and that is to drop the rear wheels and then drop the drive shaft.

I am upset because you were lied to. What will happen is you will have a problem, and the dealer will ask if you had done the 7,500 service. They won't be listening to "you told me it was ok."

If you can't get the job done yourself I would make an appt with the best dealer you know of. Have them get the seals before you take the bike in. There is no after market seals, and I have my doubts there are any seals in stock in parts.

Make sure to ask for a real close inspection of the U Joint as many are bad. I had one bad, and Cad had one bad, and many others have had that part bad. The rear swingarm is a major part in the suspention of the bike, and many of these bikes got nearly no grease from the factory. The dealers should know this, but they don't. I doubt the NH dealer I go to for parts has ever serviced one, and they move 6 or more Nomads a year.

This isn't a service to skip. I have no idea where you are located, but maybe there is a online buddy near by, who has already done this, and could help you do yours???

I would if you could get the bike here to me and my tools. I even have seals on hand.

In addition the top shock mounts have needle bearings on the 05 and up Nomads, which could use a dob of grease. These items are just as important if not more so when speaking of the U Joint, as any engine, or brake service.

It might be a good bet the problems people have with the bevel gear bearing are directly related to the U Joints. The U joint is like any other spicer U joint, and if it isn't greased well it's life will be shortened. If it is shortend, then it will be stiff in one plane of travel, and if that last long enough ot will semi seize, and cause stress on other drive line parts, which the bevel gear an it's bearing are a part of.

Gear lash is supposed to be in the driven direction and not both directions, and a stiff U joint will be exactly that.

I guess your choice was dealer servicing, which costs money. So what should have occured was when you needed a rear tire the dealer should have asked you if you also wanted the 7,500 swingarm service. The fact he didn't is very telling to me. They were more than 1/2 way in to get the parts serviced, and failed to do any of it.

If it were me in your shoes I might see if they will credit any labor from the tire change, and do this service. Still I don't know how you can trust them, unless you watch.

Everyone lives in HD country...

It seems to me that someone told me a couple of years ago that the u-joint is the same as is used on the mule. I think it even has the same part number.It was a lot less money. I wish I could remember more, unfortunately it has been several years. A good parts guy would know where to look and cross reference in the Kawasaki manuals.

[b2]

I'm reading this with much interest TKD.. please let us know when you get started.. the suspense is killing me !

I think if you get stuck you will have 3-4 folks turn up on your door step to assist..

I'm much like you.. I've not worked on a bike for about 25 years (yikes) but do consider myself somewhat mechanically useful, so should be able to tackle things like this.. I am a bit nervous about doing a big job, however I have listen to the counsel on this website and got myself a lift and soon the adapter to go with it.. the job your are about to start will probably be my first large one too.

BTW.. Today I paid about $600 for a new clutch on my bike because I wanted to get it done before an upcoming trip and was running out of time to try it myself.. almost $300 labor.. that would have paid for some NICE tools... :(

Dealers suck.

Good luck buddy !

Brian

[ringadingh]

Originally Posted by meanstreak031

It seems to me that someone told me a couple of years ago that the u-joint is the same as is used on the mule. I think it even has the same part number.It was a lot less money. I wish I could remember more, unfortunately it has been several years. A good parts guy would know where to look and cross reference in the Kawasaki manuals.

Gadgets web sight lists the p/n for the U joint separately. I think it was for the 400cc model mule.

[macmac]

Originally Posted by tkd

Mac,

Thanks again for all the advice. I went out to the garage last night and spent about an hour "visualizing" the job. Based on your posts, I can see about 90% of it in my head. One think I did notice is that my brake line hoops aren't split already. Gonna have to cut them I guess. Oh well.

On the chrome question on the bag....I do have the lower chrome rails. I think you might be referring to the shiny spot about 1/2 way up the bag. That is the reflection from my taillight believe it or not.

The other thing you might be seeing is a simple red reflector I put on the back of the bag. Looks very stock and really helps visibility from behind at night.

If that's not it, I'll try again.

I must got lost!.... There is 2 brake line clips open and 3 loops welded closed and i did not cut them, If you look at the pics you can see I did not cut them. I didn't remove the brake line either!

I simply lowered the swing arm and turned on the big blue bucket.

Don't cut the loops..