Issue with advance rod

wally_nd

wally_nd

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I installed a Pamco and new advance that i just bought from Mikes XS and had a couple issues. I thought i would ask this group before i call mikes and complain. First issue was the threads in the advance retaining nut (# 1 in the photo) as they didn't appear to be cut deep enough. It turned onto the cam very hard and wasn't able to get all the way bottomed out. I used my old one and worked fine.

Second issue, when i tightened down the nut on the advance rod collar(#2 in the photo), the collar bottomed out on the camshaft instead of the advance rod and locked up the advance. i compared to the old rod and found it to be too short between the machined areas that ride on the cam bushings. I installed the old rod and it works fine.

Do you think i got faulty parts? or are there differences in years and maybe i ordered the wrong thing? I thought the only difference with the advance is the bushings in the cam after 1980.. IDK any ideas??


mikes_pamco.png
 
I wouldn't say mikes sold you a defective part, i'de say quality control on that particular rod is sub-sub-par. The rest of the parts are fine. just use your old rod.
 
Mikesxs is infamous for selling parts that have wrong dimensions, wrong threads, etc. etc.
Some of their parts just don't fit and are unusable.

Here's a thread with the same problem with the advnace rod, and some ways to correct:
http://www.xs650.com/forum/showthread.php?t=35068&page=1

Whereever these parts are made (Taiwan I suspect), either they are not working from the same parts drawings that Yamaha did, or maybe they are using the correct drawings, but there is no quality control with respect to dimensions and tolerences.
 
Seems strange that if there is a known quality issue that those parts would continue to be sent. Looking through the forums i see references a couple years old. Kind of disappointing.

Angus67, Not sure what you mean. the parts were defective, MikesXS sent them, and it seems it is a known issue.
 
Wally, this is something to watch for, the new wally-world style business practice of pushing Quality Control onto the consumer. Like wally-world, vendors should offer a 'no questions asked' return policy, but some don't, and makes these kinds of purchases risky.

Your best defense is to shelve any notions of 'plug and play' and adopt a philosophy of not trusting any import. Unless it's factory original, inspect and measure everything coming your way...
 
wally_nd said:
Seems strange that if there is a known quality issue that those parts would continue to be sent. Looking through the forums i see references a couple years old. Kind of disappointing.

Angus67, Not sure what you mean. the parts were defective, MikesXS sent them, and it seems it is a known issue.
Click to expand...

I've heard some people on the site give praise to Mikesxs. I can't do that because of the way they run their business. They knowingly continue to sell parts that are sub-standard and/or of wrong dimensions.

Seems to me its about 50/50 of getting a useable part or getting junk parts.

I avoid buying from them as much as possible. I try to buy from Yamaha whenever I can, as some OEM parts are still available.

The Japanese culture is very much about manufacturing high quality. Other countries don't have the same standards.
 
I agree retiredgentleman, even though I haven't bought a lot of parts recently, I now get my required parts from either Hoos racing in the u.s, heiden tuning in holland or twins-inn in germany....mikes can get fckued.
I got sick of their shit quality, and their consistent price gouging on shipping with international orders to Australia. There is now a re-seller of Mike's equipment in Australia, same shit different place.....
Lipstick on a pig......sorry to hijack, rant over.
 
In your first post, you said the old rod still worked, but mikes rod is too short. Or did I miss something?
 
Very good post. Will be helpful for the next guy too.and the one afterthat and the one after that

Don't blame the "over the pond crowd" I've done a lot od business on my bicycle side and can tell you that when you spec a order to be built. The manufacture builds to demands.

I could not knowing keep shipping problematic inventory to customers. I also couldn't let a vendor continue to couple my brand with their image. With that I'll say my business is strong and Serrotta, not so much.

Posted via Mobile
 
Holy crap... I just read this post earlier while i was at the day job.

Had a guy drop off his xs ... he has had problems ever since doing a full pma pamco install... Said he heard knocking from the top end... and he could never get the timing right..

I took out the advance rod thinking he lost the locating pin in the advance mech... but sure enough i pulled the rod out of my xs... and the one from the dudes bike was a few mm too short...

Ill have to bone up on how to fix... dont know if i have any lying around that i could use...

But he noticed that the advance was locked up... so he made a jam nut on the end of the rod to allow the advance to rotate.. but i think the entire mech wasnt tight on the cam.. so it was rotating free..
 
Yeah.... that definitely a fuck up... its not like the part is off by a few thous.... Its a good amount off... Like they dont even check them..

Does anyone know if there are differences in the dimension cam end to end in different years?
 
I don't think the length of the cam ever changed but I guess it's possible Yamaha didn't check them and make sure they were a certain exact length from 1980 on. There was no need to since there was no advance rod going in there any more. Even if the lengths did vary slightly, what you're talking about sounds like much more than just a little. But the fact also remains that an original fits fine.

No, I don't think Mike's checks any of their parts, except maybe the first few produced. Subsequent production runs probably don't get checked and this seems to be where the problems arise. At one time, there was a problem with the advance rods being a little too long. That was easy to fix with some shims, but this short rod is not so easy to fix.

Someone should probably let Mikes know they have a bad batch of advance rods. Should probably send them measurements of a good original and their replacement so they know just how short it is.
 
wally_nd is the person to contact Mikesxs. He received a part that does not fit, so he needs to send it back for a refund. Maybe if Mikesxs has enough bad parts returned, they will clue in ????

However, from past history of people returning bad parts to Mikesxs, they always claim there is no problem, and you must have bought the only bad part that somehow slipped through their otherwise pristine high quality supply of parts.
 
retiredgentleman said:
I've heard some people on the site give praise to Mikesxs. I can't do that because of the way they run their business. They knowingly continue to sell parts that are sub-standard and/or of wrong dimensions.

Seems to me its about 50/50 of getting a useable part or getting junk parts.

I avoid buying from them as much as possible. I try to buy from Yamaha whenever I can, as some OEM parts are still available.

The Japanese culture is very much about manufacturing high quality. Other countries don't have the same standards.
Click to expand...

What parts are still availble through dealerships? Mikes has been selling crappy parts from day one and would guess that M.L. is still in the background with the manufacturing do to his connections.
 
Jack said:
What parts are still availble through dealerships? Mikes has been selling crappy parts from day one and would guess that M.L. is still in the background with the manufacturing do to his connections.
Click to expand...

Parts I've bought from Yamaha dealer:

Clutch cable adjuster screw # 90123-08046
Clutch shim washer # 90201-256K6-00
Carb shaft seals # 256-14997-00-00
Speedo rubber damper #3H3-83513-00
Pilot jets for BS38 carbs

As I said, I buy from Yamaha whenever possible, but of course the parts they have now for the XS650, is very small indeed.

Yes, I totally agree. Mikesxs has a long history of selling poor quality parts, and continues to sell them, even when advised of the problem parts.
 

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