Went for a ride yesterday and after shutting down for a few minutes mine had a loud "clacking" sound. The sound went away after a minute or so but it sounded like a collapsed lifter. If it was my old Shovel I would adjust my "solid" lifters to get ride of it. But instead I ordered ROCKOUTS, I hope they take care of the problem.

http://www.rockout.biz/

 

More to come, few more inches throughout the day.


But on a brighter note.

 

Well I feel kinda bad for posting this after I see how many cant ride due to weather.... but I am throwing a new battery in her and then going riding!

 

Texas is such a great place to live. Granted neither of us have the mountains or scenery of the above posters, but we don't have their snow either.

Have a safe ride. tp

 

Texas is great for the weather. I've put about 3400 on since Jan. 1. I work from home, so no commutes. Big state too, well... duh.

 

It's kind of big.

 

Your state is rather large too. Shame there's so much of it where no motorcycle can go, or car or snowmobile either. Lots of beautiful fly over country there. It's currently 80 here, and 1* in Barrow with a blizzard. All part of the same country. Crazy.

 

A 6 hour budget and planning meeting; Really? Who does that on a Monday morning at 8am?



When that horror was done I ran home and opened a beverage and started doing something that's actually important: working on the Wide Glide

Got the new spacers and fluid in the forks; the 15wt was set to 160mm instead of 150mm and I used the 5.25" spacers instead of the 5.5". Got them in the clamps and leveled out. Next up is checking the spoke torque on the front and installing the spoke coats and the Arlen Ness Big Brake rotor and new Lyndall brake pads.

A few tricks if you've never done the forks before and want to change your fork oil or springs: It's easier to break the caps loose while they're still in the clamps. After you remove the front wheel and caliper back off the pinch bolts and slide the tubes up 1.25" and snug the pinch bolts back down. If you try and break the caps loose while they're still under the top clamp you'll end up beating the ever loving snot out of them gouging the chrome; with the fork cap slid up above the top clamp it's an easy job to get the cap loose. From there remove the forks from the bike to invert them to drain the fluid. Move the sliders on the tubes to assist getting all the fluid out.

Add some of the new fluid and pump the sliders slowly to remove the air, when the fluid level is set and the spring, washer, and spacer installed just hand tighten the fork cap against the spacer; slide the fork tubes back in the clamps with the cap above the top clamp, snug the pinch bolts and torque the cap down; if you try and torque it with it held in the top clamp you'll never get the correct torque.

Level out the tubes and torque the pinch bolts; done, enjoy beverage. Oh, be sure to degrease the insides of the clamps and the fork tubes when you install them.

 

Couldn't figure out where the rattle was. Discovered it was the gas cap that was loose, regardless of the number of "clicks". Ordered a new Kuryaken (sp) from ebay with free shipping and no tax. $15.97.

 

Holy smoke! I couldn't hear a marching band over my bike, let alone a gas cap rattle.