middle and final drive oil check

[barnfreshxs1100]

I am helping a friend from work fix up a barn fresh 81??? I think???) XS 1100.( a steal at $300 for an intact and complete bike with a few problems) My friend is needing a cheap bike to commute 44 miles a day on to our work and back. I have a lot of motorcycle experience ( mostly Kawasaki 3 cylinder 2 strokes from the 70s and big 4 cylinder 4 strokes from the same era), but have never been around anything with shaft drive. We got it to run after a through carb cleaning and tank flush. Considering how long it sat up it runs pretty well, needs a carb synch and needs to be run .30K miles. Fires right up doesn't smoke. I ran it down the road and it shifts into all 5 gears , what a ride with no brakes at all!!!.I cleaned the petcocks and tried to figure out the vacuum nightmare that is the fuel delivery system. We are currently in the middle of the caliper clean& rebuild debacle & will need at least one caliper piston for the front , we have yet to disassemble the rear . How does one check the level of the hypoid gear oil in the final driveand middle and how much does it hold ?
Thanks so much!!! in advance... I will have many questions as this project progresses...

Can anyone tell me exactly what model this is???

[John]

It is a 79 Special. My advice would be to drain the middle drive and final drive, and replace with new gear oil. The drain for the middle drive is on the bottom. rear of the engine. roght above the center stand. It is the 19mm hex head you will see it when you look. The drain for the final drive is on the bottom of the drive, and the fill is on the side of the unit at the three O'clock position. The top of the unit is the vent. Don't try to remove it. You want to make sure you can remove the fill plugs before you drain the drives. It would suck to drain the oil and have no way to refill it.
Concerning the caliper pist you need...they are obsolete, and nobody has new ones. The best you can do is a used piston. The rear caliper uses a smaller size piston, so they will not swap.

[randy]

From the looks of it, it's a '79 Special. On the headstock there should be a sticker that will tell you the model. The three digit prefix denotes the model, ie 2H7 is '79 standard and so on. Once you have the prefix, search here for confirmation of the model.

There is a dipstick for checking the oil level in the drive cases. If your lucky, it's in the tool kit under the left side cover. If you're not lucky, there is a post here on how to make one. Do a search for it.

The middle drive IIRC takes 10 oz. of 80/90, the final somewhere between 6 oz and 10 oz, depending on the version of service manual you have, you do have a manual, right? You're going to need one!

Have fun and welcome to the show!

There goes quick-draw John!

[barnfreshxs1100]

Hiow do you get the fill cap off? I wll send pics of the one on this bike. thanks for the prompt replies.

[Bigleo]

Partsnmore has new caliper pistons.
Leo

[BrianB]

My manual shows 12 OZ for the middle and 10 OZ for the final drive.

If you do not have the dipstick, you can make one from this template. I used plastic styrene to make mine.

http://www.xs11.com/tips/maintenance/maint13.shtml

[eroellig]

Originally posted by barnfreshxs1100
Hiow do you get the fill cap off? I wll send pics of the one on this bike. thanks for the prompt replies.

Beware: What most xs11 beginners think is the "cap" on the final drive is just a vent. DO NOT REMOVE IT!!. The fill "cap" is a nut a little lower down at the rear of the drive that takes an "allen" drive to remove.

[Ken Talbot]

Originally posted by eroellig
The fill "cap" is a nut a little lower down at the rear of the drive that takes an "allen" drive to remove.

The first time you try this, use a fresh allen drive, one that has not ever been rounded off even slightly. The fill cap is likely going to be very tight. Preferably, use an allen attachment meant for a ratchet, that you can plug onto the end of a hammer-style impact wrench.

If you get in there with a short-arm, slightly worn allen wrench, and you don't get it quite all the way down into the recess, you WILL round out the recess and end up back here looking for ideas on how to get out a stripped-ouit filler cap. The solution is not pretty...

[John]

Originally posted by Bigleo
Partsnmore has new caliper pistons.
Leo

A few years ago I did some extensive research, looking for front caliper pistons for the Specials, and discovered that nobody had them, they are obsolete, but I had 10 sets made at a local macine shop. The piston size is larger than those on the front of a Standard, and will not interchange.

[barnfreshxs1100]

Next ?

How do you get the rear caliper off?? Looks like a rubber plug is in the allen head , that is what had me confused,. Now I know how to drain and refill the final drive , will investigate the middle drive tomorrow.
Thanks,

[John]

There is a small screw on the back side of the caliper that must be removed. If you look at the caliper from the left side of the bike you will see it. You will need a long Phillips screwdriver to get to it. The front of the caliper has one bolt that secures it.

[Macamon]

Broken link

my manual shows 12 oz for the middle and 10 oz for the final drive.

If you do not have the dipstick, you can make one from this template. I used plastic styrene to make mine.

http://www.xs11.com/tips/maintenance/maint13.shtml

[bikerphil]

Try this link....

http://www.xs11.com/xs11-info/tech-t...-dipstick.html

[motoman]

Welcome aboard! Pretty unlikely those two fill caps will come loose with the appropiate allen size............hey, U never know. These bikes can sometimes be full of surprises, and some are good. If they don't wanna pop loose easily with an allen, snap a small pair of vise-grips tightly on the exposed shoulder of the plug/cap and tap vise-grips right smartly with a hammer the correct 'loosey' direction. Have not had one not come loose yet.

[fredintoon]

- - - I ran it down the road and it shifts into all 5 gears , what a ride with no brakes at all!!!.I cleaned the petcocks and tried to figure out the vacuum nightmare that is the fuel delivery system. We are currently in the middle of the caliper clean& rebuild debacle & will need at least one caliper piston for the front , we have yet to disassemble the rear . How does one check the level of the hypoid gear oil in the final drive and middle and how much does it hold ?
Can anyone tell me exactly what model this is???

Hi Tim,
It's an XS11Special and it has to be a '79 because the '80 has slotted brake rotors.
Have fun with the brakes. Yes, the front pads ARE tapered.
And the pads are handed, don't let the parts kid sell you two sets with the same hand.
The middle and final drives fill through a plug with a hexagonal hole that fits an Allen key. You'll most likely need an air impact wrench to move them but the caps are placed so you can't get one on there. I ended up filing two flats on the edges of my plugs to undo them with an open-ended wrench. Then I fixed the bastards by brazing a shortened M6 bolt into the drilled out hex hole so they undo with a box-end wrench like any sensible designer should have made them do in the first place.
Clymer's sez 10 US fl. oz. each. This list's consensus is to use synthetic oil in the middle and rear drives and ordinary oil in the engine.
If the bike has the original toolkit there should be a little double-ended plastic dipstick in there.
The model designation is XS11SF.