MILES: 24,734
Let’s see.. I did new tires, brakes, headlight, battery, water pump, fan switch, oil change and a few more things. I’m fresh off the NORCAL BDR and haven’t ridden the bikes since. Spoiler alert: the most exciting thing I updated was the water pump – but let’s blog this in the order of attack.
THE TIRES
I had just put on new Tusk D-Sports on right before the BDR 10/4/24. I did 2,551 miles on them and what I would guess would be around 800 miles of highway pavement and then rest being dirt, rock and gravel. It’s the long pavement that cups the front like this.
In any case, I had a new set ready to go in my garage. I put the bike up on the stand, took both wheels off and using pretty much only the tools I carry on the bike, I swapped out both tires on my garage floor. I’ve said it before – this might be a pain but it’s the best practice for when you have to do it out on the trail. I did use a larger tire lever to get the rear over the rim. You know that point where you need to get both beads up and over the same rim side?
I checked both tubes and they still looked pretty good. They are the heavier 4 mm thickness and have no patches on them. Once mounted, I balanced both on the workbench and pumped them to make sure they hold air.
Next up…
BRAKES
I mostly use the front brake, partly because that’s the one with the most traction, but also because I have a hard time with the rear due to a broken toe back in 1985ish. Charles said something about how my brake pads were looking minimal when we were at camp one night. I told I had a new set on the bench ready to go.
As I was balancing the front wheel I couldn’t help but notice the disc was visibly worn. Can you see that ring towards the outside? I checked on a new Galfer floating wave rotor and they are about $300.
So then I looked up the wear specs – 4.5mm / 0.177 inches
I love having a printed workshop manual!
Using my mic, it appears we’re still good to go! (Barely)
Next up it was Pad time. I had a few options to choose from.
The old ones were Galfer “Greenies” (at the top) and I am down to my last set of new “greenies” (bottom left). I also had a semi metallic from Tusk. I really like the feel of the greenies and I don’t think they make them anymore. They are a softer pad. Less rotor wear, good initial bite so I went with that option.
I super cleaned the caliper, pushed the plungers back, (seals looked good) and put it all together. No need to bleed the system as the lever has a great feel to it.
Next up…
THE HEADLIGHT MASK
I had a small recurring issue on the BDR. The headlight mask is held on to the bike with two M5 bolts at the upper side and then two dowel pins that protrude up from the fender. A couple of times I had to pull the mask off and relocate the mask on the dowel pins in camp. While Tomm and I were looking at it in the garage trying to come up with a solution, Tomm noticed the mask was also hitting some of the new wiring I had for my fuse box – so we needed to address that as well.
My best guess on what was happening is that the Ruby R7 and it’s bracket added a bunch more weight to the mask unit. That additional mass carries with it more momentum (simple physics, eh?). So when I hit a big bump and that momentum carries the mask upward it is enough to move high enough to clear the dowel pins on the fender.
Here’s the view of the bottom of the mask with the two dowel pin holes. The red line is what I ground off of the mask to clear the wiring.
I did that on my bench top belt sander with 80 grit. It didn’t need to be perfect, just give it a little more clearance. You can see that new clearance with it installed.
As for holding the mask down on the dowel pins. I found small plastic hooks for the top of a kayak.
I found the right place to mount one on the fender and one on the mask. I glued them and also put a small stainless M5 bolt and nut through them. I did this for both sides of course.
Next I was looking for an appropriate sized rubber o-ring that would apply just enough tension to keep the issue from reoccurring. I ended up with a piece of bicycle inner tube. It’s not right but for now it’s working. I might replace it with a zip tie.
Next up…
THE BATTERY
We had replaced the Battery in Sierraville when we found the old one had broken. Tomm drove to Truckee and picked it up. The issue was inside the battery. We could move the negative side copper thing (it’s not a post – more like a bracket) one way and it would start, and then the other and it was dead. The plate inside the battery that connected everything was broken! I’ve never seen that happen before.
In putting it back together (on the side of the road in Sierraville) we didn’t get all the connections back – just what I needed to keep going. So I took a few minutes to make sure all the wires were once again in their proper place and connected. Battery Tender, MoskoMoto Ektotherm Jacket – that kind of thing.
next up… The most exciting thing in this post!
THE WATER PUMP
I’ve always had an issue with the bike running hot. Just this summer I was climbing a large peak and it got so hot that the dash did it’s warning/flashing thing. I stopped and we made sure the water was topped off after it was cool and then I ran in the front (faster, better air flow) and didn’t have another issue. It still ran on the hotter side but wasn’t overheating.
I had ordered a new OEM water pump. It also came with the seals that go behind the impeller and you ALWAYS want to replace a seal if you get the chance. I also had ordered a lower temp thermo switch – I think it switches the fan on at 20 degrees lower than stock. While I was in there I was also going to replace the thermostat.
In doing the research for thermo switches I came across an aftermarket BIGGER water pump by NIceCNC. If you are not familiar with them they make ‘cheaper’ copies of some really cool stuff. In this case I couldn’t find the ‘better’ version that might have copied this bigger water pump from – so I bought it – but still wasn’t sure if I was going to actually use it. BTW: The only way you can make it bigger is to make the impeller taller and then an additional spacer for the cover.
I assembled everything on the bench.
Next I cleaned the area and then started to pull out the old water pump. If you didn’t know, there’s a drain plug on the lower right side of the motor.
And the water pump cover is on the right side of the motor. It’s held on by 5 bolts. 4 of them are obvious but little number 5 is hidden right in that gap. Make sure you get them all before you start prying things.
With all 5 bolts off I pulled off the cover. I saw nothing obviously wrong. But then…
That’s right. The Impeller should be driven solidly by the shaft it’s mounted on.
It SPUN FREELY!
I pulled the impeller off and found that what should be a “double d” shaped hole was just about round. There was no plastic left to drive the impeller!
The new OEM Impeller (on the left) was plastic just like the old one I pulled out. At that point I knew I was going with the CNC’d metal one.
Next, I pulled out the seal(s). There’s two. The OUTER one keeps the water from getting into the oil and the INNER one keeps the oil from getting into the water. To pull a seal I like to use the screw method. You simply drive a screw into the seal (not too far) and then use the screw for leverage to pull.
With both seals out I cleaned and inspected the impeller shaft – it looked just fine. I put a little grease on the seals and housing surfaces and reinstalled the seals.
Oh, speaking of seals. Looking at the two – they almost looked identical. Almost but not. Here’s the oil side (inner) on the left and water side (outer) on the right. Top is the old, bottom is the new.
If you weren’t paying close attention you might not notice the difference. The oil side (inner) seal is identical on both sides, while the water side (outer) is not.
I gently tapped the seals into place using a 22MM deep socket. Next I put the small washer on the shaft and torqued the locktight’d bolt to spec, the 2 locating pins into the case, the gasket on, and then the spacer. I chose to do the spacer in Orange because otherwise you might not know something special was in there.
Everything was looking good. Next it was another gasket and put the cover back on. They supplied new M6 stainless steel washers and allen bolts.
I looked up tightening torque specs and tightened the 5 bolts. Once again I love having a printed workshop manual!
Now, it was on to the Thermo Switch. I had pulled the radiator completely out, checked the fins, looked for leaks (none) and so the Thermo Switch was easy to replace. I noticed the new (lower temp) was yellow while the old one was blue. Not sure if that was significant or they just used different colors over the years.
Next it was time to install the new thermostat. Wait! Where is the thermostat?
I realized I had no idea. It wasn’t obvious. I looked up a microfiche for the part and it showed it as maybe going into the side of the cylinder. I could deduce that the cylinder cam chain slot was facing us so it would have to be near the front of the bike.
I found it, It’s a nondescript housing up near the exhaust. You can see it here with a very long extension on my socket , right past the 02 sensor.
I pulled the housing, pulled the old thermostat out from the motor. It looked fine but I didn’t test it. To test it you put in the water temp that it’s supposed to open up at. If it opens, it works. Super simple.
I put the new thermostat in, cleaned and bolted on my almost new Samco Hoses, put everything back together and filled it up with 50/50 coolant. Oh, and if you have a radiator grill that looks as good as this, you should clean it up too!
With everything back and in place I started it up and let it idle for 10 minutes.
No leaks. The fan comes on I think 2 bars lower than it used to. I’ve put a few miles on it and I think we’re ready to LAB2V!
He's an avid hockey fan, rides a mountain bike, sometimes rides a road bike, has a few motorcycles (he had a really fast one, had a big cool orange one, rode a really slow one, and is currently building a perfect "BDR Weapon"). If that isn't enough, he makes cheese and sourdough bread, loves strong beer and good red wine, and poorly plays the Mandolin.
- LAB2V 2024 - December 2, 2024
- PRE LAB2V Prep - November 11, 2024
- The NORCAL BDR (part 3) - October 29, 2024