Main Bearings

[The Lorax]

I have a '79 f model, I purchased it for 75 bucks and have since dropped a few hundred getting it running. After about 300 miles of way fun riding around my little metropolis; the trans. locked up. I was in the process of tearing down the trans ( broken shift fork. and found that the middle main bearing is spun and the journal that holds it looks very bad (i.e. as though the casing began to melt.). obviously the bearings are going to be replaced and probably the crankshaft. but can anyone tell me if the casings can be repaired (machined down and a slightly larger main installed. also, does the middle journal have an oil duct like the other two interior journals or is it like the outer journals with no duct. please assist. thanks in advance

[John]

The cases usually can't be repaired that I know of, and there aren't any oversize bearings for that purpose. I have had a few of these apart and replaced the bearings, and I seem to remember all five of the main journals to have an oil passage. The main oil galley in the lower case feeds the mains and the crank.You can locate this galley by looking just below the ignition cover on the left side of the engine. See that hex headed bolt right there? That is one end of the galley, and the other end is behind the alternator cover. In fact the alt cover holds the galley plug in place. Don't try to run the engine with the alternator cover off, high pressure oil will come pumping out. Unfortunatly it sounds to me like you'll need an other engine.

[edgo]

There's a crank on EBay now acuction 4595022335

Ed

[Winterhawk]

Somebody might of ran it with gas in with crankcase.

[The Lorax]

Well, I have Purchased the cases off Ebay, most all of my parts have come in, so I bagan the remainder of the teardown and rebuild of my engine/Trans. only to find I have three other gears that have excessive wear on the dogs....back to the bike shop...buy more parts. Oh well, I suppose it will just take a little longer to finish. i was hoping to get most of it together this week as I am leaving the country for a few weeks and wanted to get her as close to whole as possible before I left. Thank you all who replied to my original post as your input was invaluable. hopefully I will have it all together by june.....oh, one more thing, the tech tips are nigh unto perfect. thanks again fellas, I will update again in mi to late may.

[The Lorax]

Made it home! Good to be back in the States. My other three gears have come in and my engine head is done...BTW anyone in the Dayton, Ohio area, there is a bike shop in North Dayton that does work on some older bikes....did a valve job and such on my Engine head, Dayton Performance Cycles on north main street, these fellas are quite the helpful crew. anyway, back to my incescent ramblings. I picked up all my toys as soon as I got stateside, unfortunately, my Office has me on a tour of the mid-west right at the moment (I am languishing outside of St. Louis watching 2 wheel tuesday). so hopefully, I'll get back into the bike thursday evening.....this kinda sucks...too much to do, no time for my XS. anyway...amazing what boredom will drive a man to. BTw, India is really hot this time of year

[The Lorax]

The Beast Roars!!

I finally got the engine re-installed in the frame over this past weekend, connected everything up and fired it up. it sounds great! I am extremely happy with the way it sounds, thanks again to all who replied to my original post as well as the authors of the various tech tips as your insight and experience has been invaluable. now that it is running again, I have other questions; first, my headlight is not functioning, I have considered that the bulb may just be burnt out as it sat for a long time before I got it and a long time after the trans locked up but I have not checked it yet. if the bulb is good, where is the next most likely place for the circuit to go bad. second, my petcocks leak like the proverbial sieve, is the gasket that goes inside available or am I going to get that same ol' song and dance that it is a non-rebuildable part. apart from those two little issues, all is good with the XS, and I am once again glad I bought it. any assistance would be appreciated as I am getting ready to chase down petcock parts and would like a guess as to the aggrivation headed my way.
Thanks again for the help, both past and future.

[mro]

hi ya Lorax

When my head light went out it also took out the fuse. Located under right side cover, belive it was a 20amp.

Partsnmore or mikesXS may have rebuild kits for standard petcocks.



mro

[The Lorax]

Many thanks sir, I will be going to a local bike shop today to check if they have them, otherwise, I will be ordering them straight away.

[John]

Petcock rebuild kits are readily available. They are on ebay all the time, and some of the parts supplies like Bikebandit, or maybe PartsnMore, will have them.

[The Lorax]

Thank you, it's good to know that these pieces are available, I have an old kaw with a similar issue & when I attempted to procure said rebuild kit, I was told " those units are not rebuildable". so I figured I was going to find the same thing with this....thankfully not. thanks again.

Matt