Forks are done.

[John Schmidt]

Jeff Parker stopped by Sunday after work and we succeeded in compressing the springs enough to engage the fork tube with the caps. Sure was a lot easier with two of us, don't think I could have done it again without his help. Even then, made him grunt a bit....serves him right for staying away so long.    All new guts for the forks, new guts for the Trac anti-dive system, new chrome caps on which I followed Wing And a Prayer's suggestion so drilled and tapped them for a 5/16" SS button head bolts. Today I decided to pull the steering stem down in case it was indexed.....it was big time. So I knocked out both races and replaced them with a new set I had for the Valkyrie, both bikes use the same parts. The bottom tree had a lot of surface rust to cleaned it up and gave it three coats of stuff that stops rust and it all turns black. Looks good as is so don't think I'll even waste another coat of black on top of it. Let it dry over night and reinstall the bottom tree tomorrow, then remove the handlbars and do the same with the top tree. Once that's done I'll reinsert the forks and be done with that part, just need to clean and paint the front wheel, mount the calipers which are already rebuilt/painted. Then off to J&P Cycles to pick up brake and clutch lines. Still haven't decided on gauges, what I want is kinda pricey so might be awhile.

Still need to break the bead on the rear tire to install a metal valve stem. The rubber one on there leaks and goes flat overnight, push the stem to one side and you can hear it hissing. Don't really want to pull the back wheel and take it to a shop just to change the valve stem. New tires, kinda irritating.

[FloridaValkRyder]

As always, I'm happy to help. It's amazing how far that bike has come since we went and got it so many months ago. 

[John Schmidt]

Yes Jeff, the tub of parts that came with it is almost empty now. Basically, when I got the bike it was a frame, two wheels, motor & handle bars. Not much else left other than a chopped up main harness which has created some hours of "interesting" work to repair it. I think the guy that had it before had a thing for wire cutters. He said he had rebuilt the carbs in the prior year. When I rebuilt them, I had to scrounge up a few missing parts. Nice rebuild! When I disassembled the forks and the anit-dive unit, it was obvious someone had been in there before. Some parts were missing, some misplaced when put back together. Both engines were junk but I tried some repairs on the second one best I could. We'll see if I wasted my time when I get it on the road. On both engines, it was obvious why they both swallowed a valve. The left timing belts on both were so loose I was able to remove them without loosening the tensioners. The right side on the original engine wasn't far behind. No wonder it jumped at least three teeth, producing the scene below.

Refreshing your memories, this is what the second engine looked like. The first one was the same, just the adjacent cylinder plus it had major scoring in the cylinder walls which I couldn't hone out.

[Flrider]

keep up the good work John, can't wait to see how it turns out, I am sure it will be great 


BTW nice to have a buddy that comes over to lend a hand, just be careful with the horn going off as you never know how he will react to it.
I once honk the horn and the guy takes off like crazy and another time I honk the horn and almost give the guy a heart attack. 

[FloridaValkRyder]

keep up the good work John, can't wait to see how it turns out, I am sure it will be great 


BTW nice to have a buddy that comes over to lend a hand, just be careful with the horn going off as you never know how he will react to it.
I once honk the horn and the guy takes off like crazy and another time I honk the horn and almost give the guy a heart attack. 

That's neither funny or true...OK, yes it is. 

[John Schmidt]

Got the forks all in place, was ready to mount the wheel after cleaning it and decided to check the bearings. No need to guess that outcome, so picked up a couple new ones at Miller Bearing and headed home to pop out the old grinders. Not so fast.....they wouldn't budge. Ended up going to Home Depot and picking up a 5/8" concrete anchor, had to grind it down a bit to fit but finally was able to get it in far enough to bite when I screwed the nut down. Three good licks with the hammer and it popped out....what a mess in there. The center spacer was covered in rust and wet. This evening everything got cleaned real good, new bearings installed along with either the dust seal or grease seal. Still need to take the wheels down and have my new 90 deg. metal valve stems installed, wish I could break the bead myself but haven't had any luck. Any voluteers?     Once that's done, the front rotors go on and the wheel will be mounted. I have a nice replacement front fender coming next week, looks like a possible color match of the silver on the tank. If so, I might just add some black glossy highlights and call it good. Then mount the calipers and brackets and on to the wiring for different gauges. Oh boy, that's going to be interesting!!!   

When I get the fender and wheel mounted I'll take a couple progress shots, probably midweek next.

[Bert AKA,Valkaholic]

 Still need to take the wheels down and have my new 90 deg. metal valve stems installed, wish I could break the bead myself but haven't had any luck. Any voluteers?    

 Hey John Have You Tried Breaking The Tire Bead With A C-Clamp?
The Local Parts Store Will Usually Loan You One If Needed !

[_Sheffjs_]

 Still need to take the wheels down and have my new 90 deg. metal valve stems installed, wish I could break the bead myself but haven't had any luck. Any voluteers?    

 Hey John Have You Tried Breaking The Tire Bead With A C-Clamp?
The Local Parts Store Will Usually Loan You One If Needed !

[John Schmidt]

C-clamp....yes, no luck. I'd like to break the rear tire while still on the bike, valve stem leaks and I want to install a metal 90 deg. one. Front wheel still off so might experiment with one of the methods in the pictures, but my big c-clamp won't budge it.

SUNDAY UPDATE: With the front wheel still off the bike, I used a piece of 2x4 and a short chunk against the tire with the short end of the lever under the car. Even with my fat carcass it took three good grunts to break it loose. Laid it on a stool and used a c-clamp to compress the tire near the valve stem. Cut it off and installed a new metal 90 deg. unit at a slight angle. Did so due to close to hitting the caliper bracket. Used some LockTite on the nuts, she's real solid. Then wrapped a ratchet strap around the tire, soap suds on the rim and hit it with the air compressor. Soon she goes POP and I loosened the strap and ran it up to 38 psi. I'm going to try the rear tire a few more times before I pull it, I've only tried about 18 times so far so will shoot for an even two dozen. 

[Bert AKA,Valkaholic]

You May Try Spraying Some Lubricant Or Soapy Water On The Bead Of The Tire While Using The C-Clamp, This usually works For Me,Good Luck !

[John Schmidt]

Tried it 2-3 more times with no luck so pulled the rear wheel off, something I didn't want to do. Got out my 10' 2x4 and an 8" chunk for a fulcrum, laid it on the drive in front of the car and started pushing on the 2x4. Two things happened.....the bead didn't break and I cracked the 2x4. I'm having sooo much fun with this. @#%*&$@   

I did discover one thing re. the metal valve stem....one of the nuts was missing. Went to ACE....no joy. Finally went over to Toys R Us for men.....Skycraft Surplus Sales a block off I-4. Regular nuts didn't work due to the extremely fine thread. However, the flat thin nuts used for locking down toggle switches and the like work perfect, they have a different thread.....appears to be about a 32 thread. At 2/5 cents, I bought a half dozen. Cost me a whopping 16 cents!