jse

Try: MAIN: 114 PILOT: 36 (38 OK) NEEDLE: D36 (2nd CLIP POSITION DOWN FROM THE TOP) SLIDE: 60 FUEL SCREW: 3.5 TURNS OUT TO START FLOAT HEIGHT: ARMS IN LEVEL PLANE WITH FLOAT BOWL BASE (PARALLEL) Jon

One of the tricks is to hang the bike up by the back wheel overnight. I've never had to do it but some of my readers swear by it. To this day, I don't have a simple, absolute, sure-way to bleed the rear brake that works every time for every rider but, as you are finding out, it usually takes a combination of small things to make it work. Bleeding the rear brake is a task on just about every model bike from what I've found. One time it's a snap and the next time all hair gets pulled out! Jon

Forrest, Try taking off the rear brake lever and pulling off the M/C boot and make sure the piston comes back to the circlip, it sounds like the piston is not coming back far enough to uncover the bleed hole to the reservoir (usually caused by the plunger rod adjusted in too far). By the way, only fill the reservoir about 1/2 way as it is not vented like the M/C's on the bars and if you are bleeding the system, leave off the cap while doing so. Sometimes, taking off the caliper (rear wheel off bike) and rotating it to allow the air bubble to feed through the bleed screw helps. I'm assuming you didn't "bench bleed" the caliper before installing (adding fluid to the caliper and working the pistons in to remove air from the caliper before fitting the line to it). The two main air trapping pockets are the top of the caliper and the top of the M/C. You may want to take off the M/C and rotate it around and press in on the piston with a Phillips screwdriver to work out the air. Jon

You could probably come up with a rough formula, but the problem is, due to the design of the leverage point, the relationship of pack thickness to finger height change is not a linear constant and depends on the starting point. The adjustment plates come in 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, 1.6 and 2.0mm in most cases (there's supposed to be a 1.8mm available but I've never seen one). Some riders sand the fiber plates, but that is a "one-way-street" and if you go too far, it could be a problem. The "final answer" appears to be the actual finger height measurement after the clutch is assembled.

In Inch terms (Dead King's Measurements), that's Intake: .004" and Exhaust: .006" O.k., Copey, for you that's Intake: .003936993" and Exhaust: .005905494" I know you like to get things exact................. Jon

The 03' takes DOT-3/4/5.1 brake fluid and differs, in part, from the 02' in that it uses an o-ring and seal in the clutch servo cylinder, rather than the double o-ring setup and the sidecover material is aluminum, not magnesium. Although a new clutch pack will usually measure about 17.5mm in finger height, it might be a good idea to check the installed height on your bike (the shorter finger heights will tend to make the lever harder to pull). Since you're down there, you might want to convert the clutch fluid to DOT-5 (Silicone), which usually gives a smoother pull at the lever. You'll need to remove, clean the internals of the master cylinder and servo cylinder, flush and blow out the line with compressed air and pre-bleed the servo cylinder (hold sidecover "upside down" and press on servo cylinder to get air out of that area). If the servo cylinder is reluctant to move easily, the o-ring on the tower may have swollen and replacing that will ease the lever pull. Mineral oil seals will usually be green in color, DOT-3/4/5.1 will be black. DOT-5 is compatable with both types of seals, since Silicone is essentially inert. However, the three types of fluids do not mix, in spite of what you may have read or been advised. Jon

Now, THAT is fun! I find that I play the game as well as I ride, except nobody needs to call an ambulance. My wife saw me playing it on the laptop and calmly remarked that I have finally removed all doubt that I have reached deep senility...... Jon

Ewan, Make sure the lever is adjusted far enough out, comfortably for her of course, so that when she pulls in the lever the piston has enough throw to be effective. The master cylinders only move a small volume of fluid and if the lever starts too close to the bar, it will not pressurize the system properly (the clutch is more sensitive to the lever starting in too far but I've seen it with brakes). The adjustment screw on the lever has to have a little clearance where it meets the plunger rod that pushes on the piston. Take the rubber boot off the M/C and check that the piston retracts back to the stop at the circlip or the piston return spring may be weak. If the rubber boot has broken and let in grit, you'll probably need to use a rebuild kit for the M/C. The front brake is probably the easiest to bleed air from, so I'm guessing that, after checking the adjustments, you'll probably need to rebuild the M/C. Jon

"ps. We have smarter know-it-alls on the Forum now...." O.k., maybe I spoke too soon on that matter.......... Jon

Brian R, You have my permission to feel vindicated and self-righteous. That method's been around since the 1950's as far as I knew, and they should have known........ Cheers. Jon ps. We have smarter know-it-alls on the Forum now....

My son's Fantic came with a tubeless front tire which was fine in the dry, but to get it to come off the rim: just add water! We changed to a tube type after cutting down the "safety bead" which is designed to hold the tire against the rim edge. Jon

My guess is that there is something else causing your engine to not run well at that gap. .6mm/.024" is the gap I've found that covers a wide range of operating conditions. The Pro stator output gives a good pulse at that gap (earlier engines with the MotoPlat seems to be better with a .020" gap). I'd check the plug cap, which gets a lot of tugging at and sometimes the wire comes loose. Also check the connections and grounds. What exactly do you mean when you say "dosent run well on this setting"? What gap are you using and how does the run at specific throttle settings and load? Maybe we can diagnose where the first, best place to look for the cause is. Jon

Dan, Another trick is, next time you have the airbox off, use a Dremel tool to radius the very front, inside if the boot, where it slips over the front lip of the bell of the carb. The boots of most airboxs are molded with a sharp edge to the front, inside of the "tube" and this makes it catch the "lip" around the front of the carb bell (which is designed to keep the boot from slipping off). Cutting a radius at that edge will allow the carb bell to slide in even when it's at an angle to the boot. Jon

Yep! And tell your buddy if he can find the rim locks on the back rim, you'll buy him TWO pints! jon

Martin, I'm guessing that any of the AJP clutch levers up through 2001 will fit. I think the 98' clutch lever has an offset adjusting screw and in 2002, when the Pro came out they switched to a non-offset screw with the little Pro clutch master cylinder, but I think the "Edition" models made after that still carried the larger master cylinder with the offset lever. Jon

It will work, but the viscosity is too heavy and will cause the clutch lever to feel "slow" or sluggish. The clutch mineral oil, like Magura Blood/Royal Blood, has a much lighter viscosity. Jon

The Marzocchi forks take a slightly heavier oil than the GasGas forks due to the damping mechanism. 7.5 weight rather than 5 weight seems to work best overall. What's nice about that is that you can use Dexron III ATF, which is about 7.5 weight and has the right additives like an anti-foaming additive, and has good lubricity. And while you're at it, pick up some Plumber's Grease from a hardware store (you'll only need a small container). Plumbers use it to lube o-rings and seals and is Silicone based (and inert), but it's real handy to lube seals/o-rings and safer than mineral based lubricants in certain places, like the servo cylinder "top hat" in the clutch sidecover. Jon

I'm guessing, but I think you mean "bottoming cones", usually aluminum. The easiest way is to turn the cartridge upside down, put the cone on the end of the cartridge (they usually only go on one way, and the taper part will be at the top when the fork is turned upright) and then slide the lower leg over the cartridge. You may need to wiggle them around a little for the bottoming cone to drop into the bore where it sits. Then put the basebolt in the lower part of the leg (don't forget the copper washer) and tighten it. Jon

The one with the outer coating fits the upper tube and the inner coated one fits the fork leg. The frizted coating on the top part of the bushing was probably caused by contacting the washer when you tried to pull the fork apart. As long as the inner part has not worn through (the part that actually is the Teflon bearing surface) you may be able to get away with using them again as the coating is quite tough and rarely flakes off, or at least until you get a new set to replace them. The "black oil" is caused by the outer part of the springs rubbing against the inner part of the upper tube (and the steel being worn off) and is "normal" but a good reason to keep fork oil fresh. The "sand", on the other hand, is not normal so I'd very carefully inspect the bushing Teflon surfaces for wear. You may be confusing "sand" with the small steel particles worn off the outer part of the springs that collect in the bottom of fork tubes (you could check what they are by using a magnet). Those particles can get in the damping shim stack (it's at the end of the rod that goes into the cartridge) and interfere with the operation of the damping. I usually spray the inside of the tubes with brake cleaner to clean them out. Jon

Tom, If it is a scratch or cut, sometimes they can be repaired with SuperGlue. Clean cut throughly and use SuperGlue to fill the cut, let it set and then take some 600 grit wet/dry on on a flat surface like a piece of 1/2" barstock and sand around tube (not lengthwise and not just in one spot to avoid making a depression and just to restore the area and cut down the raised edges of the cut) and then get a set of forksavers (Neophrene covers) to prevent further problems. It might save you buying new tubes. Jon

Great! Don't ask me where that idea came from, I was just trying to think of a safe way for you to heat the seal area and using a torch can be a little tricky as you need to know where to heat and how it will travel through the metal. Take some photos of of the bushings, especially the inside if you can, and then we'll guide you through the installation process (and some tricks that will help and I'll probably learn a few from other contributers) and how to properly set the oil level in the Zoke's. Cheers. Jon

Try to choose a circlip plier with a long, slim point as the "pudgy" types have a hard time reaching in to get at the circlip and use tips that are as thick as you can that fit the circlip holes. The circlip is small and it takes a fair amount of pressure to compress it and little thin tangs will often pop off it easily (and keep your fingers covering the area, those circlips launch themselves a long ways when the pop off the tangs). Make sure you have the top off the reservoir and expect the fluid to spout up so a rag placed over the top might help unless you like stains on the ceiling. After bleeding the system, turn the bars to the right so the reservoir is the highest point in the system and carefully pull in the lever and release it a few times (cap off, and the initial part of the pull should be slow till the piston goes past the bleed hole so fluid won't spew up). This way you can work out the very small bubbles left over and they will eventually disappear from the fluid coming back up from the bleed hole inside the reservoir. Your M/C cap should be green in color, so don't forget that the system takes a special mineral oil for clutches, and NOT the type you get in drug stores. Black reservoir caps indicate the system takes DOT-3/4/5.1 fluid. If you're taking the M/C apart to rebuild it anyway, you might want to convert the system to DOT-5 (Silicone) which will give a smoother pull but it entails flushing the whole system by taking the servo cylinder apart as Silicone and other fluids do not mix. I wish we could get just the boot for the M/C. When that splits or is broken, the piston seal is the next to go as grit gets in the piston bore quite easily. Jon

Also a good idea. Since the hex is a 6-point, you don't need something that is an exact fit. My other bike is a 12-point hex axle so it has to fit fairly snug. Jon

Now, that is a puzzlement. The upper tube is held in place inside the lowerleg by a combination of the cartridge and seal circlip (both you've obviously taken out). When you pull on the upper tube, the upper tube bushing contacts the washer under the seal and pulls it out. Sometimes the bushings contact and the "outer" bushings in the lower leg come out also, but rarely. Rarely do you need to burn anything to get the seal out. Lets try something bizarre and boil some water and pour it all over the seal area (at a little over 200 degrees it shouldn't hurt anything), and about 6" away from the seal on the upper and lower part of the tube/leg area and then try snapping the tube apart. Jon

Tom, Just to remind you, don't crank the axle in a lot and a lot of riders think the tighter the better. The axle clamp is what holds it snug so it won't back out. If you put too much torque on the axle, it will put a serious sideload on the ball bearings and cause premature failure so about 30 Ft Lbs or 40 Nm should do it. Cheers. Jon