XJ1 1100..........What to watch out for when buying one

Hello all. I am new to this forum, and only been back riding for about 4 years now. I was gifted a dead Honda CX 500 that needed a lot of work. That re-awakened my love of riding which had laid dormant for over two decades.

I owned a brand new XJ 1100 Maxim, in black (I later regretted not getting the burgundy when I had the chance), from 1982 to 1985. Sold it at a garage sale for $2700. Yes, it is a "what was I thinking" event that ranks up there with selling my 70 'Cuda, my 67 440 GTX, and my boat.

So I've started looking for XJ 1100's and have found a few scattered around. My experience with the CX and their forum (a great bunch of people) leads me to ask the following question(s)

-Are there any potential deal- breaker or catastrophic issues to look for and what are they?
-Are there any hidden "gotchas" to look for, ie no parts available for that, or they cost more than a house and will take a decade to find one ( for ex- 78-81 Honda CDI...it WILL fail, unexpectedly and someone will want a C-note for another 30+ year old part that's ready to fail or you can get an aftermarket unit for twice that.)
-Examples of any "everyone of them does/has this happen/fail....."

I appreciate any help and guidance anyone has to offer.

 

Welcome aboard.

You wil find that in about a month there will be plenty to choose from. As the spring cleaning sell off gets going. The nice thing about the XJ1100 is that is shares a lot of parts with the earlier XS1100. Parts are generally decently price, and reasonable to find.

Like all older bikes. Make sure the exhaust is in good condition. This alone can get to be one of those problematic situations of not being able to locate parts.

Side covers are another place to look at. Specifically the battery side cover. These tend to be in high demand as they have a habit of disappearing. Usually at highway speeds.

Beyond that. You will most likely find years of neglected maintenance, and general lack of use issues that will need to be taken care of to get the bike back up to safe riding condition.

And above all. Watch out for the kamikaze duck :lol: on the black, or white 550 seca. He has been known to chase down a fellow member to say hello! Don't worry to much. You will be glad to get to know him!

Ghost

 

Thanks for the tip. I would have guessed an exhaust would not be a difficult thing to fix, but it makes sense that there would be no real aftermarket choices available for a one year only model. I hope I can find something that I can afford. I remember that bike being a blast to ride.

 

if you're not set on the 1100 there are lots of 550 to 750 xj's still floating around.

good luck

I just got back into street bikes with my recent purchase of an 83 750 seca, I lucked out in that my front brake lines had been replaced along with the fork seals which are notorious for being problems. So far all i've had to do is rebuild my calipers, re-shim the valves and put a new battery in it and it will be ready for a safety.

When I was 16 I had an 82 xs 400 seca that I rode until I was 19. but thats another story

 

The first thing I'd be concerned with is the Tranny.
The 1100's Plant developed a ton of low-end torque.
The Dogs on 2nd Gear couldn't hack the load.
They prematurely wore-down.
Often, so badly that the Plant would slip-out of 2nd Gear.
The 1100 is notorious for 2nd Gear problems.
Ask about that before buying a load of trouble.
Lots of 1100 owners learned to crank 1st and skip to 3rd.

 

i know of a few things to look for but no real deal breakers. i bought mine running and driving but when i went to change all of the fluids the middle drive was full of shavings and had to be replaced. the fuse boxes are almost all garbage and will need replaced. and the cam chain tensioners and problematic. lots of people seem to switch to a auto cam chain tensioner off a 660 raptor. all of the epoxy holding the windings together in the alternator was cracked and falling apart and soon failed. that was a pain in the butt to find in good shape. FYI if your tach stops working odds are the alternator is not charging. the xs11 alt has less output that the xj alt. but i was told it will fit but you have to change all the parts together not just the stator or rotor. happy hunting...

 

Thanks alot, These are the types of issues I am looking for guidance on. Which leads to

Q-1 is the trans issue a non repairable situation or is it time and parts which are fairly readily available?

Q-2 - Cam chain tension-er issue sounds like a workable solution exists, but the alternator would be a bugger to get back to oem...true?

Q-3 With a FSM and aftermarket manuals, plus the forum, getting these things done should all be do-able issues?

Thanks

 

Regarding question 1 & 2,
the easiest thing to do to the tranny if it's jumping out of 2nd gear is to do the washer swap. I've fixed 2 of these gearboxes just by swapping the washer located at the side of 2nd gear. There is a very good write up with pictures here www.xs11.com . But not all of 'em jump out of second.
The cam chain tensioner can also be swapped for a VMAX item aswell, i've got them on both my bikes.

 

Maybe they all don't jump-out of 2nd.
But, the ones people are selling should be checked-out before sealing the deal.
The fix requires either "Dressing" the Dogs on the Gear and their respective Receiving Slots on the adjacent Gear with a Dremel Tool.
*Or*
Replacing BOTH the Gears.

BOTH Methods are LABOR Intensive.
Gears replacement would involve Engine Removal, Transmission Removal and the horrifying nightmare of obstacles in the form of Seized Fasteners during the R and R.

It's a Bit*h.

 

Thanks Rick,

No doubt that a functional and properly running bike is far preferable to sitting in the garage going " Vroom, Vroom". But it is good to know, should that particular tragedy strike, it is not the final chapter of the saga. I will be on the lookout though.
Thanks

 

Sorry Rick, i've got to disagree with you on this.
If you check out the latest posts on the subject on .com you will see that the washer swap is all that is needed. http://www.xs11.com/forum/showthread.php?t=39060
And it can be done engine in frame, bike flipped over.

 

The best fix is to do both the washer swap and dress the gears with the dremel. Have not had any problems with mine after 20K miles of hard riding.
You don't even need to remove the engine or flip the bike to remove the gears. Put the bike on the centerstand and go for it.

 

:lol: I must be a bit bigger than you. 8O

 

I've always wondered how you could Dremel the Dogs and Receiving Slots and maintain tolerances that would share the load, ... and not have one or two cut such that the Dogs don't make contact with the new surface on the Wheel Gear.

I appreciate the insight on the method involved in alleviating 2nd Gear Drop-out on the 1100's.

My comments weren't intended to be the answer to rectifying the problem.
My remarks were advice on what to look for and what to expect if the Bike was one of the many that spit-out 2nd Gear rather than taking the load.

Washer. Dremel. Both.
Major, labor-intensive fix.

Just prepping the Bike for a flip-over and safely initiating getting the Bike upside-down takes a good-deal of time and effort.

 

Nope, 6'4 and 230, thats wht I like the 1100s
You will spend some time laying on your back looking up. I would rather do that then bending over looking down.
Just like Rick said-- you will spend some time prepping the bike to flip over. The effort in that can be spent more wisely.
The dermel fix does require some carefull work Rick. I use machinist marking dye to make sure all the drive dogs mate the gear. There are diamond tipped bits available to make accurae cuts. If the gears are really bad they will need to be replaced. Decent used ones can be found on EBAY.

 

Well, one thing is for certain, If I find a bike and need any help with keeping it on the road (cuz I ain't starting out with one that's not road ready to begin with), there will be an abundance of help available here. And that is fantastic!!! Thanks!

 

I knew that it might take some time to find the right bike, and though I don't have the cash right now, I can only say I drastically underestimated the number of available XJ 1100's I would be able to look at. There just are not many out there, unless it is the winter season slow time. I'm hoping there will more to see come spring.

 

Cudaguy,

Try this...Forums > XJ4Ever-Supporting Vendor > The information Overload Hour > XJ1100 Builds. The camelman has a nice six page build thread there. There's a direct link there but I don't know how to post those yet.

Gary

 

Although the engine is basically an XS1100 with YICS, and the shaft drive and final drive are the same as XS1100, wheels are like the XS1100 Midnight Special, that's about where all the similarities lie.
They were only made for the US and Canadian markets and from what i can gather there were only about 1000 made, give or take a few hundred.
But they do turn up every now and then.
I swooped like a hawk on used spares when converting my XS's to run with XJ carbs and ignition, so keep your eyes peeled.