Subject: RE: Recent updates
Author: Jesse Open
Date: Oct 12, 2002, 1:52 PM
Post ID: 1711195101
25 year update:
Greg ,
A couple of notes for now.
1 , It is not at all a good practice to secure a ball bearing outer
race by clamping with a set screw . The bearing will fail very early
because the race is forced out of round. Bearings assume the shape of
the corresponding bore or shaft and out of round will not live !
2, I posted a few days ago a series of steps that have worked very well
for me in keeping the generator bracket in one secure piece. It is not
any one thing but a combination. The gen bracket is a real nightmare and
worse on the Eldo than the Ambo. If the steps aren't clear I will be
glad to answer any questions you may have .
Greg Field wrote:
| A 50,000-mile Update I'm not just the editor of the Tips column; I've probably used more of them than anyone else. My daily rider is a 1973 Eldorado that I call Maude, after the character of that name in the movie Harold and Maude. I don't put on John Boettcher- or Ken Hand- or Karl Werth-style miles, but the old girl gets ridden basically everyday, mostly in Seattle but also on long day trips and a few longer rides to Nationals and such. And I don't have a garage, so Maude has to endure nine months of Seattle rain. Three years ago, I tore it down and powdercoated the frame, rewired it, lubed everything, and added some updated parts such as a 1974 disc front end with dual discs, a bunch of stuff like adding an 850-T rear wheel and cush drive. Many of the updates I made were things recommended by others in past Tips columns, and I've shared many of the things I learned while working on Maude in the Tips columns since I became editor. You could call Maude a Tips bike. In that time, I've driven it 50,000 miles and have done literally nothing to it besides fluid changes, valve adjustments, and a tuneup once a year. Recently, however, a couple of problems cropped up that got me to working on it again, so I thought I'd give an update on how some of the Tips I've applied to Maude have fared during the 50,000-mile test. U-Joint and Carrier Bearing Maude began to have a �shiver� vibration when I'd roll off the throttle at highway speeds, so I suspected a problem with the u-joint or carrier bearing. Fifty thousand miles ago, when I put the new carrier bearing on the 20,000-miles-old u-joint, I used every trick, including loc-tite to glue the two together. Even so, the u-joint still spun inside the carrier. That was disappointing, although 50,000 miles of reliability really isn't that bad. Still, I've got an idea that I think will really work. More on that later. I replaced the carrier bearing but even the new one was loose on the u-joint end (the u-joint itself was still good after a total of 70,000 miles). To tighten it up, I tried the technique of peening the u-joint's end shaft to raise ridges of metal. Be careful not to raise too much metal, though, because if you do, you'll never get that bearing over the shaft. Everytime I assemble the u-joint and carrier into a swingarm, I marvel at what a lousy design it is. Furst, you have to pound the carrier bearing into the swingarm, then install that humongous circlip, and then keep the u-joint shaft correctly aligned while you drive it into the carrier bearing. Seems to me you have almost certainly damaged the carrier by the time it's all in place. After that, I sprinkled some wicking loc-tite onto the ujoint to carrier junction through the driveshaft tunnel and once again prayed that it would hold together. Next time I do this, I'm going to modify the design to make it much easier to assemble it without damaging the u-joint or carrier. First, I will mill some metal out of the inside diameter of the swingarm so the carrier bearing is a snug slip fit. Then, I'll drill through the swingarm and tap for a hardened set-screw to fix the carrier bearing in place. That will allow me to get rid of the circlip, so I can assemble the carrier onto the u-joint and epoxy them together outside of the swingarm. When the epoxy has set, I can then insert both in the swingarm and lock in place with the set-screw. No more pounding and feeling for proper alignment and hoping it will hold. I'll report back after I've done it. Greasing Driveline Splines I assembled it all with the special BMW spline grease and I put some tranny lube in the u-joint area, as recommended in Guzziology. After 50,000 miles, all the splines were still wet with lube and in great shape. Though Dave no longer recommends this grease, I do. It worked really well for me. Having the cush-drive of the 850-T wheel probably helped, too. And as recommended in Guzziology, I had removed half the pairs of cush-drive rubbers and greased everything well, to keep it working its best. As a result, I noticed no increase in wear on any of the driveline splines over the last 50,000 miles. Dielectric Silicone Grease When I redid the wiring and cleaned all the switches, I lubed everything (or thought I had) liberally with dielectric silicone grease. I live in Seattle and don't have a garage, so my bike gets wet enough often enough that if I didn't ride it so much it would be green with moss. Until this year, no problems, but the I had a few problems with my spotlights, so I started pulling apart connections and found some with severe corrosion. Turns out I missed greasing some, and they were all in horrible shape. Those that had been greased were in great shape. That grease doesn't last forever, though. Many connections were starting to get dry, especially those exposed to the sun. I'll need to regrease them all next time I have the time. I also used it in the switchgear, and it worked great there, too. I finally had to disassemble the ignition switch last week because the grease had finally worn out and some connections were getting unreliable. A little more grease and it's good as new. The stock CEV handlebar switch that I use to run the spotlights has been totally reliable over the last 50,000 miles because of the dielectric lube and the relay that is in the spots circuit. Relays I put in relys for high and low headlights, spotlights, and horns, and they worked great. Those for the high and low beams fit right in the headlight shell, so they're really easy to wire in. Those for the spots and horn fit inside the police dash. Highly recommended. Generator Mounts Per Guzziology, I welded a strap on my generator mount to affix it to the distributor bolt and used hardened studs and loc-tite to mount it to the engine. Then I shimmed the space between the front of the generator and the pad on the engine block on which the gen is supposed to rest. And I ran a very loose belt. In short, I did every update I had ever heard of to make the generator-engine junction secure. Despite all that, last week I checked the generator for looseness and found that I could wiggle it back and forth on the block. When I took it apart, I found that one of the studs had broken off. I didn't have the time to pull out the broken stud, so I just reassembled it and will monitor it daily for looseness until I have time to fix it properly. G5 Springs and Dampers When I put on the disc front end, I installed the longer dampers and springs from a G5, which gets you an extra inch of fork travel and jacks the bike up about half an inch for better ground clearance in the corners. It also makes it easier to get the bike on the centerstand. These work great, but took a couple thousand miles to break in. I'd recommend them to anyone with a disc-brake Eldo. Dual Front Discs I had Bob Nolan make a special spacer so I could add a second brake disc to my front wheel. That added a lot of weight to the front wheel but more than doubled braking power. With the stock master cylinder, the lever feel is still what I'd describe as �hard,� but much less so than with one disc. Lately, I bought a new 13-mm master cylinder and plumbed it in. Now the lever feel is very �soft,� almost like having power brakes. I like it, though the lever travel required for hard stops is quite long. Still, I feel like I have great feedback and control over braking action. Gear Cam Drive For reasons I'm not fully sure of, I had a prejudice against Guzzi's chain cam drive, so I had Bob Nolan do a little machine work to convert my Eldo to run the old helical-cut cam gears. Fifty thousand miles later, they're still working fine. I wouldn't do this modification again, though, because I don't like the noise the gears make. If I do it again, I'll use a chain and the latest Guzzi chain tensioner (I don't like the noise made by the aftermarket tensioner either). That's it for now, but I promise another report after the next 50,000. On Friday, October 11, 2002, at 09:07 AM, Greg Field wrote: |
1969 V700 Euro
1972 Eldo LAPD
1993 Cal III Fuel Injection