Valves, middle drive. and final drive....

[airborneXS]

After everything ive done to this bike to get it where it needs to be, Im sure that I have to mess with these three next....I havent and the PO screwed so much up.

1) My question is this, what do I need to know before starting a valve job on these bikes, and where do I source the parts and tools?

2) What special concerns do I need to know when changing the middle and final drive oil?

3) The middle drive boot has a fist sized hole in it, im sure I need to change, where do I find one and whats the process to do?

Lastly....I see alot of people do an 850 final drive mod, what does this do for the bike?

Thanks so much, you guys are a big help...Im on a few other forums for my other toys, and on those people seem to fight and bicker, here everybody seems cool....i dont get it....

[James England]

After everything ive done to this bike to get it where it needs to be, Im sure that I have to mess with these three next....I havent and the PO screwed so much up.

1) My question is this, what do I need to know before starting a valve job on these bikes, and where do I source the parts and tools?

2) What special concerns do I need to know when changing the middle and final drive oil?

3) The middle drive boot has a fist sized hole in it, im sure I need to change, where do I find one and whats the process to do?

Lastly....I see alot of people do an 850 final drive mod, what does this do for the bike?

Thanks so much, you guys are a big help...Im on a few other forums for my other toys, and on those people seem to fight and bicker, here everybody seems cool....i dont get it....

Firstly, this forum is excellently moderated and secondly, members are all a decent lot. That's why I use this US forum, although I live in the UK, on the other side of the pond.

Answers... final drive and middle gear oil are best changed after a run to get the oil warmed up. FD is dead easy. Make sure you find the MD oil drain bolt correctly. It takes an allen key like the FD. Use the toolkit dipstick to check both levels and do not overfill. If you don't have a dipstick, buy one first. They are still available new from eBay and other sources and they're worth having. Don't guess the levels. Use the correct SAE oil.

Valve clearances. Make a chart of your valves 1-8. Measure the clearances and record them. Establish whether they are in spec or not. Correctly shimmed valves are actually noisy compared to modern bikes. Quiet valves means clearances are too tight. Yours may not need adjusting.
Two methods to remove the shims... Pro-Motion tool (not great quality) or removal of camchain sprockets (more involved procedure which needs to be carried out very carefully on reassembly). Both procedures are documented in threads on this forum in great depth.

If you remove shims, you must record the thickness of the shim which is removed and mark it on your chart. Then you know the valve clearance and shim size for each valve.. Use the readily available shim chart to determine what shim you need to obtain the correct valve clearance. You will find that you can shuffle your shims around (thicknesses are etched underneath them) between valves and you may end up needing only a few different shims. I did my valves and needed only 2 shims.

Shims are available on eBay and from forum members. I have a supply of them and have several listed on eBay right now.

Drive boots are available new and used. If the hole in yours is huge, it's fit for the trash. If only small, you could patch with innertube rubber stitched onto it and sealed with rubber glue.

Hope that helps!

[airborneXS]

I can almost fit my hand through the hole.....

[James England]

I can almost fit my hand through the hole.....

Trash it. Look on eBay... there are usually several available. Of course, you'll need to disconnect the driveshaft at the front in order to get the new boot on but it's not a difficult job...

[3Phase]

Wolf, the filler plugs on the final and middle drives can be hard to remove and the Allen wrench can strip the hole.

Make sure you remove the filler plugs before you drain the oil or the bike might wind up sitting while you try to figure out how to get oil back in the drive!

[ddragon63]

Thanks so much, you guys are a big help...Im on a few other forums for my other toys, and on those people seem to fight and bicker, here everybody seems cool....i dont get it....

I can Attest to that! I belong to another for for my other bike... I think I posted on there about 3 or 4 times and gave up. Them guys seem to be more interested in bashing each other than actually helping a fella in need. I'm all about a little ribbing and trash talking every now and then but all in good timing and good taste.

Sounds like you got your questions answered so theres no need for me to tell you the same thing others already have.

[Schming]

Final Drive mod...

...is done to give the rear wheel a higher ratio and less rpms at cruising speed sorta like a 5.5 speed.

Here's the link:

http://www.xs11.com/xs11-info/tech-t...-6th-gear.html

[DGXSER]

Valve Job.....depends on wif you just want to check and adjust valve clearances, or actually remove the head and lap the valves.

The first is pretty easy and simple, outlined well by James. The second is much more in depth, trickiest part is dealing with the cam chain while your pulling the head and putting it back on.

On the 850 FD, yep, it is like finally having that 6th gear most of the Special owners are always reaching for. The engine just seems and feels MUCH happier at the lower revs for highway cruising.

[ddragon63]

On the 850 FD, yep, it is like finally having that 6th gear most of the Special owners are always reaching for. The engine just seems and feels MUCH happier at the lower revs for highway cruising.

I've found myself on may occasions trying to pull a 6th gear while on the freeway. no matter how many time I pull up its not there

I think I found my project for next winter. That sounds like a good swap for a fella like me that uses his XS as a traveler/cruiser

[James England]

I've found myself on may occasions trying to pull a 6th gear while on the freeway. no matter how many time I pull up its not there

I think I found my project for next winter. That sounds like a good swap for a fella like me that uses his XS as a traveler/cruiser

I did the swap and it really is great for cruising/touring. It transforms the bike and is well worth doing. The downside is that you kind of neuter the XS11 a bit for other uses (like tearing about). It's an easy job to change, do-able in 45 minutes, so I ran both the FD's. You just swap over if you go touring and swap back for local tearing about. I loved the swap. It's a great mod.

[BA80]

It really doesn't take that much away from the bottom end and it's great on the highway. The only time you really notice is at takoff and that's not even much.

[ddragon63]

I did the swap and it really is great for cruising/touring. It transforms the bike and is well worth doing. The downside is that you kind of neuter the XS11 a bit for other uses (like tearing about). It's an easy job to change, do-able in 45 minutes, so I ran both the FD's. You just swap over if you go touring and swap back for local tearing about. I loved the swap. It's a great mod.

I can see where if an xs is your only bike how that could effect ya. I've got a 430 lb 150 hp R1 for tearing it up