What have you done to your XS today?

Installed a steering dampener. The bracket is by Dixie International witch picked up from eBay.
 

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Installed a steering dampener. The bracket is by Dixie International witch picked up from eBay.
Nice. I bought my bike with one already installed and wondered if it was really necessary. Did you install yours to address an issue or to increase the cool factor?
 
Nice. I bought my bike with one already installed and wondered if it was really necessary. Did you install yours to address an issue or to increase the cool factor?
I installed it because when I get on the highway the front end I will feel it move left to right a bit. I'm gonna take it out this weekend on the highway to see how it handles. .
 
Nice. I bought my bike with one already installed and wondered if it was really necessary. Did you install yours to address an issue or to increase the cool factor?

Hi bosco,
IMHO you don't really need a steering damper on a solo XS650 if the steering head races are adjusted properly.
OTOH my XS650 sidecar rig really benefits from having one.
 
On my XS2 the steering dampener is infinitely adjustable. Lol.

Speaking of steering stuff. I installed the Mikesxs tapered bearing kit on my front end about 25K miles ago. I probably adjusted them about 10K ago. Well, I have to wonder if these bearings are correct for this application. Tapered roller bearings are basically for low rpm applications, right? Constantly spinning and wearing somewhat evenly for tens of thousands of miles on a car or truck. I think we can all agree on that, but a few may not.

Anyway, on our shakey little bikes, these bearings hardly spin a 1/3 of a revolution from lock to lock, and are mostly stationary or might deflect 1 or 2 degrees, if that, from center while riding. Ok, it appears that when I come to a stop that I can sometimes feel a notchiness or flat spot. I suspect that these somewhat stationary rollers are vibrating grooves in the races. In a few weeks when I can walk somewhat normally, I'm gonna pull it apart and inspect to see if my theory is valid. Maybe even install a couple of grease fittings.

Anyone with similar suspicions?
 
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Not sure if it's me but yeah prolly 10 or more sets so far. the races are harder than you'd think to get fully seated into the frame cups.
kind of long story but only one failure, on a royal star, due to improper adjustment.
BMW used a tapered roller bearing in the final drive, on a joint with only a few degrees of movement. Those bearings are very prone to race brinelling.
https://www.rexnord.com/blog/articles/what-is-brinelling
I feel tapered rollers resist brinelling cuz they have contact over a long section where angular contact (ball) bearings have only that small circle of contact between ball and race. I've thought a time or two that some sort of ratchet on the bearing cage could keep the ball positions changing and decrease or stop the denting.
Haha here's that scheme used in a high load, limited range of motion bearing.
https://www.motioncontroltips.com/prevent-false-brinelling-rolling-element-bearings/
 
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A quote from the Rexnord site: "False brinelling is caused by vibrations acting on the bearing while in a non-rotating state." Hmmmm!

Another quote: "In contrast, false brinelling happens when a bearing design only redistributes lubricant during large rotations of all bearing raceway surfaces. When such bearings only move a little bit, small oscillations or vibrations can squeeze lubricant out of loaded spaces. Then wear begins and only accelerates with move vibrations."

We will see in a couple of weeks! Thanks Gary!
 
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What is brinelling?

"Brinelling is the permanent indentation of a hard surface. It is named after the Brinell scale of hardness, in which a small ball is pushed against a hard surface at a preset level of force, and the depth and diameter of the mark indicates the Brinell hardness of the surface. Brinelling is permanent plastic deformation of a surface, usually occurs while two surfaces in contact are stationary, such as rolling elements and the raceway of a bearings and the material yield strength has been exceeded. The brinelling is undesirable, as the parts often mate with other parts in very close proximity. The very small indentations can quickly lead to improper operation, such as chattering or excess vibration, which in turn can accelerate other forms of wear, such as spalling and ultimately, failure of the bearing."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brinelling


Definitely a new word to teach my dog.
 
On my XS2 the steering dampener is infinitely adjustable. Lol.
Speaking of steering stuff. I installed the Mikesxs tapered bearing kit on my front end about 25K miles ago. I probably adjusted them about 10K ago. Well, I have to wonder if these bearings are correct for this application. Tapered roller bearings are basically for low rpm applications, right? Constantly spinning and wearing somewhat evenly for tens of thousands of miles on a car or truck. I think we can all agree on that, but a few may not.
Anyway, on our shakey little bikes, these bearings hardly spin a 1/3 of a revolution from lock to lock, and are mostly stationary or might deflect 1 or 2 degrees, if that, from center while riding. Ok, it appears that when I come to a stop that I can sometimes feel a notchiness or flat spot. I suspect that these somewhat stationary rollers are vibrating grooves in the races. In a few weeks when I can walk somewhat normally, I'm gonna pull it apart and inspect to see if my theory is valid. Maybe even install a couple of grease fittings.
Anyone with similar suspicions?

Hi Marlin,
swapped the stock crowded-ball headraces to Timkens a while back.
Stock bottom raceway had a full row of little dents in it.
My thought?
The bearing book sez that a roller race has 5X the capacity of a same sized ball race.
That capacity increase plus an added grease nipple should keep the bike's steering OK for WAY longer than I'll be riding it.
 
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Not Ready For Winter!
Last fall I told Mrs. Lakeview that she would be parking her car out of the frost and snow in the other bay. Despite storing the FJ09 and a couple XS's off site, between the recycling bins and the garden stuff and my side (pictured today), I ended up scraping the frost off her car all winter.
Plus I was not happy that the condensation in the storage unit left its mark.
So the chore to clear my bay to store 2 bikes and still have space for my lift and room to move around commences.
 
I've had the '76 (Miss June '20) up on milk crates for awhile, initially to fix a left-hand case leak.

Rotor 004.JPG


Seemed to be either the primary sprocket seal or shifter seal, so I replaced both.
Bob's nice photo-heavy thread was helpful
http://www.xs650.com/threads/replacing-engine-seals-part-one-the-shifter-seal.52589/

Upon inspection, there was a little bit of uneven drag in front brakes when I spun the wheel.
I had rebuilt the master back in 2013 when I restored this bike,
so I decided to rebuild the caliper, even tho the pistons were moving well.

There was just a bit of corrosion in the bores, and the pistons cleaned up nice with just a rag.

rotor.0010.jpg


Installed new seals.

The brake disk surface wasn't great, with pitting from neglect from the PO; he left the bike outdoors.

rotor.11.jpg


So, I sent it off to TrueDisk in Michigan, as I was unable to find someone local to grind a new surface.
His website is rather impressive. https://truedisk.net/
On the phone, Tom was friendly and easy to talk to.
He said he would true the disc first using a mallet.
Turns out mine didn't need truing.

He works at home, having a day job.
Promised me a day or 2 turn-around, but that didn't happen.
He got it on a saturday, and hadn't even looked at his packages yet when I called on wednesday.
Did the work on thursday, billed me on Friday, and shipped it that day.

Looks good:

Rotor 008.JPG


Rotor 007.JPG


The disc was 7.02mm prior to cutting, and 6.86mm after, so he took off .16mm.

Rotor 006.JPG


Cost:
Shipping to him $15 flat rate USPS medium box
grinding: $ 45
surprize surcharge $10 for "handling, insurance (no documentation of this provided), Paypal fee"
return shipping $15

So, it was $85 total. Nice work, but I think I'll look harder for a local shop to do this next time.

Gonna put it back together tomorrow........
.
.
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View attachment 177539
Not Ready For Winter!
Last fall I told Mrs. Lakeview that she would be parking her car out of the frost and snow in the other bay. Despite storing the FJ09 and a couple XS's off site, between the recycling bins and the garden stuff and my side (pictured today), I ended up scraping the frost off her car all winter.
Plus I was not happy that the condensation in the storage unit left its mark.
So the chore to clear my bay to store 2 bikes and still have space for my lift and room to move around commences.

Good to see no flat surfaces going to waste.........:whistle:
 
The SG suffered a condition that I had heard of but, I thought she would never get. Fractured swingarm shaft. I had noticed a change of handling but thought it was just need to adjust the chain. Nope. Found the shaft hanging out on the left and the nut and retainer missing on the rt side. Luckily I have a spare in my parts stash. I just have to find the best axle and spacer for the replacement.
 
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