Rehab thread roketa

[Angus67]

1and 1/4 is too big. Your 'memberin' is just fine. 1and 1/8 will do it
I got alot done today.
The mess of wires was gone though. I eliminated the turn signal wireing, and the horn. Took a wild guess at the head light wires, and whent with blue, wich should be the high beam.
I accidentally cut the connector off the left switch box, wires were too short, so i had to solder them back together. Spliced in the connector for my grote led headlight.
Wrapped it all back up nice and tidy, put the tank back on and the seat.
After wards , I turned the key to make sure i still had spark. Yup. Spark. But since im going batteryless, i cant check the head, tail or braek circuit. Cani hook up a 12v7ah battery to the red on the key switch? I cant start it untill i check valves and put the carb back on.

[Angus67]

I cleaned out the carb, and put it back on. Wondering if the cable is supposed to go under the the back bone or over? Its under right now, and dosnt snap back. Its at quite a dramatic angle coming out of the top of the carb. The cable sheathing is in poor shape.

[Azhule]

Have you already cleaned and lubed the throttle cable? The cable on our Bashan goes in at a similar angle and it will snap back easily

[Angus67]

It's pretty beat. I grab a new one. Thanks

[Angus67]

How do i drain the fork oil? I don’t see a drain screw. Do i have to take the forks off and turn them up side down?

[Angus67]

Adjusted the valves. They were tight. Fresh gas, full choke. Started kicking. 20 kicks the n it fired! Snicking thru the carb and worsened as it settled into idle. I had dumped a few shots of seafoam in the crank case . After i go it to high idle, and get hot, i drained the oil again. Was gray. Put in fresh load of 15-40 deisel oil. Fired it up. Puked oil alover. Drained excess out. And started fiddling withe carb. I have the idle mix screw 1 and 3/4 out(pz27). .”snickicking “ subsided but wont let it idle without choke. I set the float with the seam on the float parallel to the gasket flange, but i have gas weeping from the bowl seam. Did i set it to high?
In any case. I heard it run . Sounds strong, no wierd noises from the motor itself.

[JerryHawk250]

Originally Posted by Angus67

How do i drain the fork oil? I don’t see a drain screw. Do i have to take the forks off and turn them up side down?

There should be a drain screw on the bottom of the forks. Take them off and turn them over to drain would be the best way.

[Megadan]

To be fair, the bolt at the bottom isn't really a drain screw. It's the retaining bolt for the dampening rod. The easiest and least frustrating way is to remove the top fork cap and invert the forks.

Basic How-to.

1. Lift the bike in the air so that the front wheel is off the ground - many
methods to do this.
2. Remove the front wheel.
3. Loosen the top clamp bolts on each side. (steps 2 and 3 can be
interchanged)
4. Break the fork caps free (hex bolt shaped item on the top) but do not
remove them. Just make them loose.
5. Loosen the lower fork clamp bolts. While looseing these, have one hand
on the fork leg just in case it decides to slide out on its own.
6. Remove the fork.
7. Using a wrench/socket, and a rag over the top cap, loosen the cap
carefully until it comes free.
8. Remove the fork spring and preload spacer - careful not to lose these.
9. Invert the fork into a container or drain pan. Once most of the oil as run
out, pump the fork in and out a few times and this will help remove more
oil. Once I do that, I sometimes leave them upside down to help drain as
much as possible. I will do one, leave it upside down, grab the other and
start working on it.
10. Fill each fork leg with the recommended level of fork oil. Cycle the fork
a few times to help purge them of any air. I recommend taking the time
to measure the air gap of the fluid to the top of the fork tube with the
fork fully compressed. This will allow you much quicker/easier fluid
changes in the future, and also allow you to even the levels if one or the
other happens to be off. I use a metric ruler for this, but even a
measuring tape can be used. Obviously you don't HAVE to do this, but it
can be handy.
11. Install spring and then preload spacer. Then install cap and tighten it
down as much as you can manage.
12. Reverse the removal process. Before you tigthen the top clamps, give
the fork caps a good snug up. You don't need a ton of force on them,
just a little extra to ensure they are tightened down. Do NOT lean into
these, or feel the need to crank on them hard as you will strip the
threads if you do.


At this point you are done.

[Angus67]

Thanks dan. Im trying to upload a first start vid, but takes too long. It times out. Photo bucket really put a hurt on the internet. Im trying to use my phone to do it.
I need to pull the front end apart and see if the steering head bearings can be saved. I have no idea how long it’s been slopping around the way it is.

[Megadan]

Personally, I would just replace those head stock bearings. It doesn't take much of the wrong kind of pressure to cause a small amount of damage that will grow over time. For less than $40 you can have both converted over to taper roller bearings, which are simply better. Plus you can have peace of mind.

Just my 2 cents, so take it that way.

[Angus67]

Thats what I’d like to do, but having trouble finding the right ones. Tive done 4 conversions to different bikes and it has alway improved stability

[Ariel Red Hunter]

Originally Posted by Megadan

Personally, I would just replace those head stock bearings. It doesn't take much of the wrong kind of pressure to cause a small amount of damage that will grow over time. For less than $40 you can have both converted over to taper roller bearings, which are simply better. Plus you can have peace of mind.

Just my 2 cents, so take it that way.

That's right, if those steering head bearings have been neglected for very long, you'd need new cups and cones as well as new balls. Might as well go all the way and put in roller bearings. I've never had to re-place cup and cone bearings, as the bikes I've owned came fron the factory greased up big time. Chinese grease must be very expensive, considering how little they apply to their motor cycles....ARH

[Angus67]

Do you think bearings for a honda xr would be right? That’s pretty much what this bike is.

[Megadan]

Originally Posted by Angus67

Do you think bearings for a honda xr would be right? That’s pretty much what this bike is.

The only way to know for sure would be to pull the head stock at measure the I.D., O.D., and height of the bearings. You can do so without pulling the bearings, and a cheap pair of vernier calipers is all you would need. Measure the shaft just above or below the bearing and the head tube right where the race sits. Then simply measure the height of the bearings as they sit on the head stock.

Likely they are the same XR bearings that most of these bikes seem to use, as it is a common bearing for many Honda dirt bikes, but I would hate to say "yes" and it turns out to be some other bearing size.

[Ariel Red Hunter]

Originally Posted by Angus67

Do you think bearings for a honda xr would be right? That’s pretty much what this bike is.

Megadan would know more about this than I do. I seem to recall the the headstock has to be re-machined deeper in order to accept the tapered roller bearing. Perhaps he would be kind enough to address this question....ARH