| | 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 |