You should take the nut right off and anti-seize that screw. The nut and screw are just plain steel and are prone to seizing up. Most new-to-me worm assemblies I run across are really stuck. Once I put one in service, it stays in good shape because besides the anti-seize, I keep that worm all greased up. It's always "wet" with lube in that area. Yours looks pretty clean and dry, maybe too much so, lol.
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My 60th birthday present
- Thread starter Mailman
- Start date
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- Tags
- 1977 xs 650d chain and sprockets clutch pushrod seal cranckcase seal new front master cylinder pamco e-advance pamco ultimate high output ignition rebuild brake caliper rebuild brakes rebuilt carburetors replace clutch solid state rectifier stainless steel braid front brake line starter gear fix steering head bearings vr-115 regulator
Ok thanks, I'll take a look at it. I can't remember if I anti seized that part or not. I had the worm gear all apart and cleaned it up and buttered it up with white lithium grease. But I'll take a look at that screw and lock nut.
+1 on that!!!! I spent a couple of hours today stripping my clutch worm actuator because that danged nut was too tight. Now, I also lubricated the mechanism and did a few other things in there too - but that nut was the key issue.
I'm not sure white lithium grease is the best choice for the worm, it's rather light duty stuff. I do use it in a couple spots on the bike, most notably the contact area between the plastic throttle twist grip and handlebar, and certain plastic to metal contact areas in the switches .....
For the worm, I prefer something heavier, in fact I use the heaviest stuff I've got, Sta-Lube Premium Red Grease. My local HF has grease gun tubes of it. Finding it in a tub is a little more difficult but I did find it at a local NAPA store.
For the worm, I prefer something heavier, in fact I use the heaviest stuff I've got, Sta-Lube Premium Red Grease. My local HF has grease gun tubes of it. Finding it in a tub is a little more difficult but I did find it at a local NAPA store.
DanielBlack
XS650 Junkie
The tub of Sta-Lube Red is regularly available at O'Reilly's.
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Ok guys, I'll pick up some of that Sta-Lube Red. That sounds good.
Alright, a follow up to yesterday's carburetor work. I was trying to improve the way the bike runs when you first start it up by increasing the pilot jet size from a 25 to a 27.5, I also set the air mixture screws using the dead cylinder method and also balanced my carburetors using my new home made manometer.
So what are the results you ask? Really pretty impressive. My old start up routine was to hit the starter button and it would crank and crank a few times , and then when it fired I couldn't take my hand off the throttle because for about the first 20 - 30 seconds it wouldn't run unless I held the throttle open. It would cough and miss and generally struggle to run until it was going for a while, then it would settle down and run pretty nice.
TODAY I hit the starter button and it fired right off, no stumbling and missing. I inserted a small slip of cardboard under the throttle stop screw to hold it open a little and just walked away while it idled happily. It was like a different bike. I took it out and went for a long ride, the morning was perfect for it, temperatures in the low 80's and some cloud cover kept the temps down. Well the bike is running better than ever, it feels stronger everywhere and smoother too. The bike accelerates with more urgency. I thought I had it running good but it just got a whole lot better. I didn't really think that the manometer would make much difference because I thought that I had everything adjusted pretty well. Daniel Black kept telling me I needed to get on this and I'm glad he was nudging me! It really made a difference.
I found this to be a little true, for the first 10 miles or so, the bike ran perfectly, but after it got heated up my idle crept up on me some, nothing major, I didn't have a hanging idle. Really only noticeable when you pull up to a stop. I've got a really easy to use thumb wheel on my idle screw so when I was at a stop I dialed it back a little. I'm only talking about going from 1200 rpm up to 1500 or so when it was really hot.
I rode it on backroads , I rode it slow and I also pushed it up through the gears to see how it accelerated, I also took it on the freeway to see how it performed at speed. It just ran perfect everywhere! I'm going to keep the jetting where it's at for now and see how it is over time. Sometime later in the year I plan to change the carburetor body out on the left carb and try to eliminate the lean condition on that carb. But if it never got any better than this, I'd be one happy camper!
Thanks to all who patiently answered carburetor and tuning questions, I finally feel like I'm getting this bike dialed in. Still plenty to be done, but I can ride it with confidence.
See you on the road!
Bob
So what are the results you ask? Really pretty impressive. My old start up routine was to hit the starter button and it would crank and crank a few times , and then when it fired I couldn't take my hand off the throttle because for about the first 20 - 30 seconds it wouldn't run unless I held the throttle open. It would cough and miss and generally struggle to run until it was going for a while, then it would settle down and run pretty nice.
TODAY I hit the starter button and it fired right off, no stumbling and missing. I inserted a small slip of cardboard under the throttle stop screw to hold it open a little and just walked away while it idled happily. It was like a different bike. I took it out and went for a long ride, the morning was perfect for it, temperatures in the low 80's and some cloud cover kept the temps down. Well the bike is running better than ever, it feels stronger everywhere and smoother too. The bike accelerates with more urgency. I thought I had it running good but it just got a whole lot better. I didn't really think that the manometer would make much difference because I thought that I had everything adjusted pretty well. Daniel Black kept telling me I needed to get on this and I'm glad he was nudging me! It really made a difference.
I found this to be a little true, for the first 10 miles or so, the bike ran perfectly, but after it got heated up my idle crept up on me some, nothing major, I didn't have a hanging idle. Really only noticeable when you pull up to a stop. I've got a really easy to use thumb wheel on my idle screw so when I was at a stop I dialed it back a little. I'm only talking about going from 1200 rpm up to 1500 or so when it was really hot.
I rode it on backroads , I rode it slow and I also pushed it up through the gears to see how it accelerated, I also took it on the freeway to see how it performed at speed. It just ran perfect everywhere! I'm going to keep the jetting where it's at for now and see how it is over time. Sometime later in the year I plan to change the carburetor body out on the left carb and try to eliminate the lean condition on that carb. But if it never got any better than this, I'd be one happy camper!
Thanks to all who patiently answered carburetor and tuning questions, I finally feel like I'm getting this bike dialed in. Still plenty to be done, but I can ride it with confidence.
See you on the road!
Bob
That Sta-Lube Premium Red is what 3M recommends for use (sparingly) on drum brake parts, the shoe and arm pivots, so now you'll have it for that too. If you've never pulled your rear drum apart, it's probably due. Nobody ever serviced those things, lol.
I actually rebuilt the rear brake following your excellent guideline , at the same time I had the wheels off to have new tires mounted. I put a new chain and sprockets on at the same time.
You have no idea how much of your groundwork and excellent instructive photos have gone into resurrecting this bike.
Your help has been invaluable. Thank you 5T
I'm glad I've been able to help. The manuals are good for all the technical info but aren't much for explaining techniques. I'm happy to share my procedures and hope they aid in preserving this fine old bike. I know there are many other ways to do lots of these things, and if I happen to run across one better than how I've been doing it, I adopt it myself (I'm not proud, lol).
That's the spirit!
Way to go Bob! What great news. Sounds like you're test ride was a huge success. All of your hard work has certainly paid off.
It's so nice that you can ride it and enjoy the fruits of your labours.
Those pics are amazing. Man you live in a beautiful part of the world!
It's so nice that you can ride it and enjoy the fruits of your labours.
Those pics are amazing. Man you live in a beautiful part of the world!
THE FIRST OIL CHANGE. All new filters gaskets and crush washers.
Alright I've put this off long enough. I've had the bike for ten months now but the majority of that time was spent working on my bike not riding it. I've only really started putting miles in it the last couple months. When I got the bike it had a fresh oil change and nice clean oil in it so I figured I would put some miles in it before tackling the first oil change.
So I pulled the two drain plugs and got my first red flag. I can only guess that the shop I bought the bike from did this. The rear drain plug had a strange resistance when I tried to unscrew it, at first I thought " Oh no!" They cross threaded it, but I soon realized there was no copper washer under the drain plug. Instead someone put silicone on the threads and under the head of the drain plug! Way to go fellas! Here you can see what I peeled off of the bottom of the case.
I then had to clean the threads up with a stiff bristle brush.
Then I removed the bolts from the sump plate and prepared to remove it. I have read horror story's about how hard they were to get off,
So I figured I'd start easy first and go from there. I took a short peice of soft wood 1x2 and a small ball peen hammer, placed the wood up against the sump plate and tap tap,it fell right off. Yay! This is going to be easy.
Then I realized the gasket had been cemented in to the sump cover and was hard as nails. I have it on my work bench right now with paint stripper applied to it to soften up over night.
I strained the oil to see what I might find and it was the usual suspects, a peice of the chain tensioner bar, some very small metal particles and a whisker thin metal shaving.
I don't think I'm seeing anything too scary.
Some of the gasket surfaces have been scratched by previous mechanics. I hope I won't have leaks when I reassemble. Here you can see some scratching around the right side bolt hole.
I hope once I remove the sump gasket I don't find it's been buggered up. I'll know more tomorrow.
I plan to meticulously clean all surfaces and apply a thin coating of grease ONLY on both gasket surfaces. I'll post a little follow up tomorrow after reassembly and start up.
Hopefully I won't find anymore funny business.
Alright I've put this off long enough. I've had the bike for ten months now but the majority of that time was spent working on my bike not riding it. I've only really started putting miles in it the last couple months. When I got the bike it had a fresh oil change and nice clean oil in it so I figured I would put some miles in it before tackling the first oil change.
So I pulled the two drain plugs and got my first red flag. I can only guess that the shop I bought the bike from did this. The rear drain plug had a strange resistance when I tried to unscrew it, at first I thought " Oh no!" They cross threaded it, but I soon realized there was no copper washer under the drain plug. Instead someone put silicone on the threads and under the head of the drain plug! Way to go fellas! Here you can see what I peeled off of the bottom of the case.
I then had to clean the threads up with a stiff bristle brush.
Then I removed the bolts from the sump plate and prepared to remove it. I have read horror story's about how hard they were to get off,
So I figured I'd start easy first and go from there. I took a short peice of soft wood 1x2 and a small ball peen hammer, placed the wood up against the sump plate and tap tap,it fell right off. Yay! This is going to be easy.
Then I realized the gasket had been cemented in to the sump cover and was hard as nails. I have it on my work bench right now with paint stripper applied to it to soften up over night.
I strained the oil to see what I might find and it was the usual suspects, a peice of the chain tensioner bar, some very small metal particles and a whisker thin metal shaving.
I don't think I'm seeing anything too scary.
Some of the gasket surfaces have been scratched by previous mechanics. I hope I won't have leaks when I reassemble. Here you can see some scratching around the right side bolt hole.
I hope once I remove the sump gasket I don't find it's been buggered up. I'll know more tomorrow.
I plan to meticulously clean all surfaces and apply a thin coating of grease ONLY on both gasket surfaces. I'll post a little follow up tomorrow after reassembly and start up.
Hopefully I won't find anymore funny business.
TimeMachine
SeventyEighte
Hey Mailman, pics are great. Having seen 3 similar filters and understanding your initial experience removing the drains and sump plate, I'd say oohmm .. normal 
would you share with us the condition of the sump strainer ? The usual tear present ? Just curious and glad to hear you've been riding instead of wrenching ! -R
would you share with us the condition of the sump strainer ? The usual tear present ? Just curious and glad to hear you've been riding instead of wrenching ! -R
Hey TM good to see you my friend! More photos? Sure thing! The old filter is not blown out but the pleats have been expanded. I have a new filter to install, I had planned on cleaning this one up for a spare. I might reinforce the weak spot. The only thing that gives me pause is looking down inside you can see some of the epoxy curling up and coming loose.
TimeMachine
SeventyEighte
Right on , I've sure seen worse.. You are sitting pretty.. enjoy some cooler temps soon ? -R
Yeah buddy! They're right around the corner! I can't wait!
Just an FYI, oil filter screen mesh sizes:
http://www.xs650.com/threads/oil-filter.72/page-11#post-422384
http://www.xs650.com/threads/oil-filter.72/page-11#post-422384
That's good info 2M, I like the idea of a paper filter, but I like the looks of a stock bike. I think I will settle for more frequent oil changes.
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