Update on my "new" Maxim

Hello again everyone.

Well I FINALLY got a new battery for the Max and that has solved the cold starting problem! Took her out for a couple of rides today and she's running SWEET. Got her good and hot and changed the oil and we'll see if the slight clutch slippage at max blast goes away...I suspect that it will now that I KNOW there isn't any car oil in there. Tried but was unsuccessful at getting that rear drain plug out. My 1/4 drive 10mm standard socket is missing nad the 3/8 with universal shifted on me and marred the flats a bit. I'll try again in the spring but at least it has MOSTLY clean oil!

I've spent several hours making a battery tray, detailing the engine, flushing the brake fluid and checking and cleaning various wire connections. Most were clean and corrosion free wth the exception of a plug with 3 white wires. The plug had partially melted and I had to destroy the plug to get to the connectors which are now clean, greased and well wrapped. I think these go the reg/rectifier and if so this was an important connection.

The brake reservoir was so full of crud I was astonished. The sides were full of this brown scum sticking to the aluminum that I cleaned as best I could with varoius brushes and other home made soft scrapers clothes etc. Scrape, blast with fresh fluid, suck out reservoir, repeat. A turkey baster works well for this process. Once the reservoir was finally clean enough to suit me, I finally flushed the lines and calipers by bleeding repeatedly.

Still lots of detailing to do, but most of that will be done when it is too cold to ride. Also there's the hi beam problem.

There is definitely power getting to the hi beam switch, but this current isn't making it to the headlight plug. I do have the hi beam indicator light, but no light. If I'm reading the wiring diagrams in the Haynes manual correctly, the wires leading out of the hi beam swicth head first to the system monitor unit behind the instrument cluster, and then to the headlight plug. I hope this is fixable....

Thanks to all who have helped me so far. This board rocks!

Tim

 

Well, I just got t road test the oil change and I still have a touch of clutch slippage under full throttle just after shifting. She hovers around 8000 or so for about a second before locking up. Does anyone know if this will likely get better after more miles are put on with the correct oil, or am I looking at a new clutch in the not too distant future?

Thanks, Tm

 

Have you adjusted the clutch cable yet? If you have it a bit too tight you will have that problem.

There've been a number of really good threads on this... try a quick search.

I know I've posted on this but I've got 55 pages of posts so finding it might take a minute:

http://xjbikes.com/Forums/viewtopic/t=2306.html

HA FOUND IT

http://xjbikes.com/Forums/viewtopic/t=6 ... djust.html

 

Hi Woot,

There is some play at both ends of the clutch cable. It may not be exactly 3-4mm at the handle, but it is definitely not tugging on the lower clutch bracket at all. If hands are off the lever, it's fully engaged. The trans shifts effortlessly so I'm certain it is fully disengaging when the handle is squeezed.

Tim

 

How soon does the clutch engage after you start pulling the lever? If it's not *really* late I'd still loosen it a tiny bit. See what happens. If it doesn't do anything then worry about what it could be.

BTW - what oil did you use? In extreme circumstances really slippery synth combined with a worn clutch has lead to clutch slipping in the past.

 

I may slacken things a tad just to be certain. Frankly both the Max and the Sabre seem to engage a bit further from the handlebar than what would seem correct, but since I now have maybe 400 miles of bike experience total I'm still learning about what is and isn't normal for bikes as opposed to cars.

After agonizig for weeks about what oil to use, I stumbled on to this link

http://www.calsci.com/motorcycleinfo/Oils1.html#Oil

This guy was EXTREMELY thorough in his research and after reading this entire dissertation twice, I decided to go with 5-W-40 Rotella T Synthetic for both bikes. I don't want to start an oil thread here, but the main thing is that this oil, while marketed as synthetic, does NOT have any of the "energy saving" additives and has the perfect viscosity range for my needs right now.

This is a fairly long article, but I now feel I actually KNOW something about oil. I actually found it while looking for correct oil filters for both bikes (google linked me to his filter cross reference page).

I've gotten away with murder with the weather being SOOOOO nice and being able to do some riding the last few days. Alas, it is now starting to rain and November in Illinois wil return after the rain. Looks like a good night to grab the pre-mixed martinis, a couple of stogies and do some more detailing on my 2 new babies. I'll try slackening the clutch prior to the next dry spell and let you know if that does anything.

Cheers!
Tim

 

This isn't like Shell Rotella is it?

The 15W/40 Rotella is for Diesel engines and has special detergent additives specificly for diesels...... this oil is supposed to be disasterous on gas engines.....so I have heard!

Hope It's not the same stuff.

 

Ruh roh...I didn't really want to turn this in to an oil thread. Yes it is indeed Shell Rotella T, although it is the synthetic version.

I first heard of people using this a couple of mpnths ago, I think it was on a Kawasaki Vulcan 750 board/site. At the time I thought they were nuts for putting "tractor oil" in their prized possesions but a number of them were adament that this was actually much better oil than most of what's out there. Then last week, I stumbled on to the link I posted above and muddled through it a couple of times and what this man says makes a lot of sense.

I happen to be a big fan of synthetic oils for a number of reasons but the 2 main ones (that I knew about prior to reading the article above) are the ability to flow easilt in low temps and the fact that they generally just lubricate better.

For the bikes I need the low temp performance so they will start on cool but nice winter days. I also need a tough oil in general for the sake of the transmissions on both bikes and the air cooling on the Maxim in particular. The early V4 Hondas have a known camshaft oiling problem and there are mods to fix this but for now I'm just using synthetic oil and keeping the revs above 3500 on it to help prevent trouble there.

Anyway, the oil decision's been made, at least for now. If anyone can show me positive, documented specific information that there are bad things in the Rotella, I may decide to change it, but for now it stays.

 

I just switched to Rotella, and it runs better than any oil I've used to date. Used Castrol 25-50 before it became "energy conserving", then went to Valvoline VR-1 20-50 and the same evolution took place there. Chanced it on the Rotella, and I haven't had a hot clutch slip yet. Better mileage to boot.... Lots of people run Rotella, but I'd suggest stocking up, as the new diesel engines will require a change in the oil makeup soon.

Stupid progress.

 

Hi Pigmouse,

Let's hope it's changed only for the better. I may stock up just in case.

 

Took the Max out for 2 good runs today since the rain cleared up sooner than I thought it would. I actually kinda like cold (merely cool if you're Canadian) weather riding. After putting just a bit more slack in the clutch cable, it still slips a bit under maximun acceleration just after upshifting. Got home and slackened it even more...same result.

Since it works just fine under "normal" riding I'm just gonna live with it for now, but I'm assuming that a clutch is in my not too distant future.

Questions:
Where is the preferred place to get clutch parts? Original, aftermarket etc.
Is it wise or usually necessary to replace the clutch springs when replacing the clutch?
If recomended or needed, are springs easy to get?

Thanks everyone

 

There's a good many aftermarket clutch parts available from several good manufacturers.

You can go "Ala Carte'" - or - grab a whole kit, including hardware.

Barnett has a whole replacement kit that includes everything but the gasket and wrenching. The gasket you'll have to make or go to the Dealer.

 

Thanks Rick. The Barnett kit sounds good.

 

EBC has the full range of clutchs, disks and springs as well. I've had good experiences with them. Available at BikeBandit.com.

 

Thanks, Robert. I looked over the job in the Haynes manual last night and it doesn't look like it will be too horrible of a task. Right now the next major bike outlay will be tires for the Sabre. It's on a set of really old and hardened Metzlers. Hopefully, the Maxi's clutch will wait until spring before it starts demanding replacement.

BTW, a bit off topic but for some reason I'm currently prevented from editing my own posts. I checked the FAQs and looked at my preferences here and can't find anything to enable that function. What am I missing?

 

No one can edit their own posts anymore...

 

Thanks

 

The self edit function was disabled some months ago by Sno. Seemed there were entirely too many folks using it for all the wrong reasons and it was decided that spelling errors could be lived with. Should you need to have an edit done (spelling errors are not good enough a reason), forward the correction to any of the site moderators and it will be considered (no guarantees).
The clutch change is really easy, just be sure to get the pack built up correctly (friction plate, clutch plate, friction plate, etc...) and you should have no problems. Only issue I encountered was obtaining a torque wrench that would go low enough to use on the spring bolts. A very helpful tool is available for about $20 for holding the clutch basket. Best of luck on the Sabre, they are beautiful rides too.