| Author | Message | ||
     Skifastbadly |
OK so a couple of months ago I posted about a distinct "click" coming from the front under hard breaking, and the consensus was that either I had bad bearings or I needed to adjust the chrome nut thingy to the proper foot/pounds (furlongs/fortnight in some countries). As part of that procedure, I had to loosen the clamps on the front forks. And I recall very clearly thinking "I'm sure I did the left side" with respect to putting it all together at the end. Well, I'm a moron. Today I jumped on the bike to back it out of the garage for a spin and I spied on the floor of the garage the yellow reflector that was previously on the left fork. "Well, that's odd" sez I. I hopped off and looked at the fork to see what might have caused it to ....uh, that's weird, the fork seems to have rotated, and...SHIT! I never tightened the left side bolts to secure the fork. And, I'd put a hundred miles on the bike since the adjustment. I'm an idiot and it's a miracle I'm not an ex-bad mechanic. Having said that, I think my starter is crapping out. I keep her on a battery tender yet when I tried to start her today, she 'whirlled' several times before engaging, and when I returned after a 90 minute ride, she whirlled some more and didn't engage at all. Is replacing the starter a major deal? | ||
| Fotoguzzi |
your symptoms don't exactly sound like a bad battery, but battery tender = bad for AGM batteries.. do a search. get a load test before you assume it's the starter. | ||
| Reepicheep |
Depends on the battery tender, but yes, some won't work on the AGM batteries (for example the harbor freight $6 one I got). Others work like magic, and have brought dead batteries back to the land of the living. But bad batteries generally don't spin, the just stick and dim the lights without turning the motor over. Never replaced a starter. It looked annoying, but not that difficult. The primary cover has to come off I think, but that at least gives you really good access to the bolts to hold it. | ||
| Natexlh1000 |
I did much the same thing with my X1. My fork legs were snugged in but not torqued correctly. All was fine til the first solid bump. One leg shifted up in the clamp about a cm! I've done this sort of self-destructive crap before too. Front caliper bolts finger tight=special floating design! | ||
| Bueller_bueller |
http://www.rareelectrical.com/p-9604-new-starter-m otor-buell-xb9r-firebolt-xb9s-lightning-xb12r-xb12 s-xb12xt-ulysses.aspx Sorry, put the link at the top,as I was tired of retyping the message when the link fouled up... First, glad you're OK. I think we've all been victims of our own bad habits- I think all that all that karma requires is greater attention in the future!  Next, the whirring noise you're hearing is likely your starter motor minus the sprag engaging. A common problem. You may get lots of advice about just replacing it, and reusing your starter motor. I got prices of $60 - $90 for the part, but opted for the $134 1.4kw uprated starter. To me, it was a no-brainer. All new parts for not much more money. Didn't have to worry about the condition of the bearings or brushes. A significantly more powerful motor = improved starting on my Uly every time. No hesitation when starting, ever. Hope this helps... | ||
| Uly_man |
Skifastbadly. I am very happy to hear that you are ok Dude but you are going to have to pay more attention to what you are doing if you want to work on your bike in the future. Your one (this time) lucky Guy. Happy hols folks. | ||
| Ratbuell |
This is another reason I have touchup paint on the workbench. The INSTANT I torque a fastener, it gets a paint dot. Not only for the "done" sign, but as an anti-rotation preflight visual check. Dots line up? Good to go. Dots don't? Torque it before riding. | ||
| Skifastbadly |
Rat, that is a very good idea and one that I'll be using henceforth. | ||
| Griffmeister |
Yeah, certainly sounds like starter drive slipping, happened to me too. A word of caution, there's a big clump of wires and hoses behind the starter that get shoved out of the way. Pay attention to where they go and zip tie securely when they're back in place. I let my trans vent hose get too close to the rear exhaust and burned a hole in it. Used a piece of copper tubing for a temp fix. Replaced it with a new hose when I had to pull the engine this past summer. | ||
| Electraglider_1997 |
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grbSQ6O6kbs |
