those pesky oil leaks

[e3steve]

08.40, Wed June 24.

[rustywrench]

After reading the posts on this thread I had hope to finally put my leaks to rest. So since I had the side cover off replacing sprockets and chain, I thoroughly cleaned the grease and gunk in there and after a good warm up no leaks. The test drive and follow follow up removal of side cover showed no signs of fresh oil, and that really shocks me given the 25+ years this bike sat not running, yet the center stand, swing arm and wheel has a fresh coat. The only logical thing left is the pump and after reading so many posts about broken bolts there, I may just leave it until a tear down next off season. I dread the thought of twisting a bolt off and having to deal with that while still on the bike. I will file your tips on sealing the seals and case seams for future use and thank you kindly for the info. RW

[mike horvath]

Hey Rusty,
On your oil leak issue you mention you pulled the side cover off after a good warm up and ride. Did you by chance notice if the oil was dripping out of that weep hole on the bottom of the side cover at the stator? There were times when I would ride for a short trip (pre seal replacement) and wouldn't see anything. Then there were times I had to put a towel under the motor to soak it up. Without removing the stator, the seal and surrounding area are tough to see. I had to remove the side cover, clean up the entire exposed side, put the side cover back on just snugging up a few cover screws to kick the thing over, then once running, take the cover off and observe. The stator seal was the worst of the bunch, but the mating surface of the upper and lower cases were truly evident after the splashing of the oil in the gear box after maybe 30 minutes of riding. But if all that checks out, wash it down good and get your wife's hand mirror to watch the underside. So let us know what you find.
Good luck
Mike

[gramey7]

Speaking of stator seals, I just replaced mine. I had bought an NOS (new OLD stock) seal kit and used that for my rebuild. A bit of riding showed the seal was leaking so I replaced it which cured the problem. The problem was the seal from the NOS kit was much harder than the new one and would not seal properly. I think there's probably a limit on how old seals can be before they lose their flexibility and not seal properly.

[mike horvath]

Gramey7,
I think I agree with you. That same NOS seal was the toughest one, and separate in the kit as good old Nick must have run out of CL77 complete kits. One edge started to roll and at that point I had to work it gently and even had to slice off a small bit of the rolled edge but so far I've seemed to dodge the bullet on that one. On another note; Does your, or any other readers bike have this good vibration at road speeds that seems it can be felt in the seat, tank, grips and even vibrate your mirrors to the point that the visible images are blurry? If so, any idea as how to dampen it?
Have fun,
Mike

[rustywrench]

Well now ya got me ta thinkin'. When I pulled the side case I would have thought the rotor would sling oil and make a mess but I really do not have that much experience with these motorcycles. Seeing none I just assumed the best. However, Now life is getting in the way and it may be a couple weeks before I get back to it. I just noticed the rear tire is flat yet again, (third time in two weeks), my pack horse needs shoes before this weekend and the trailer needs a couple skins before we can head out for the fourth. Then there are the honey dooos. So what I'm trying to say is I'll get around to it again soon. When I do I'll strip it down and get serious about it. I hate this constant clean up and it's embarassin'. I'll keep ya-all posted when I do.

I get the numb butt also from a little vibration. I just thought it was part of the deal. Ride em hard boys, RW

[e3steve]

There is, supposedly, a method of 'shimming' the motor and mufflers into/onto the mounting points, as opposed to winding up the mounting bolts to meet the mounts. This method is reported to reduce motor vibes. Kinda makes sense, really. I've yet to make some shims (or, at least, slot some washers) and try it out.