What do I lube?

[Jerka]

Just got a 1979 XS400F and I am trying to do some general maintenance. I changed the oil, oil filter, and plugs and tightened every nut and bolt I could find. Now for my questions about lubing:

What do I need to lube?

How do you lube it? - Specifically, the cables.

How often should I lube it?

The bike seems to be running well so I don't really want to mess with it too much, but are there any other general maintenace procedures that I should look into? Thanks.

[BrewTrooper]

Jerka,

I have a 1981 XS400/H that I got this year. It sat idle for over 11 years and I can sympathize with your question on what to lube and what to use to lube it. Here are some of my suggestions:

Lube the throttle, brake, clutch, tach, and odometer/speedometer cables with silicone spray or graphite. I use silicone spray.

Lube the chasis with a lithium grease using a grease gun.

Lube the chain. I use regular motor oil, but this tends to spray all over and is messy. I'm going to switch to a chain lube product. This winter I'm going to remove the chain, clean it and re-lube it. I'll change products then since I don't want to mix two differently lubricants. There are plenty of recommendations about chain lubricants on this forum and others.

When you have it inspected, have the shop check the cable adjustments, the headlight adjustment. They should be able to lube the chasis for you for next to nothing. Be sure they check your brakes and chain wear too. It might be a good idea to have them check the front fork seals too.

Let me know if you have any specific questions.

I hope this helps and have fun. These are fun little bikes.

BrewTrooper (a.k.a. Ken)

[Jerka]

Jerka,

I have a 1981 XS400/H that I got this year. It sat idle for over 11 years and I can sympathize with your question on what to lube and what to use to lube it. Here are some of my suggestions:

Lube the throttle, brake, clutch, tach, and odometer/speedometer cables with silicone spray or graphite. I use silicone spray.

Lube the chasis with a lithium grease using a grease gun.

Lube the chain. I use regular motor oil, but this tends to spray all over and is messy. I'm going to switch to a chain lube product. This winter I'm going to remove the chain, clean it and re-lube it. I'll change products then since I don't want to mix two differently lubricants. There are plenty of recommendations about chain lubricants on this forum and others.

When you have it inspected, have the shop check the cable adjustments, the headlight adjustment. They should be able to lube the chasis for you for next to nothing. Be sure they check your brakes and chain wear too. It might be a good idea to have them check the front fork seals too.

Let me know if you have any specific questions.

I hope this helps and have fun. These are fun little bikes.

BrewTrooper (a.k.a. Ken)

Thanks for the help. When you say lube the chasis are you talking about attaching a grease gun to the two nipples on the pivot point of the swing arm? Are there other nipples on the chasis? How exactly do you lube the cables (especially the speedometer and tach)? Do you just spray the silicon down the cable? Thanks again.

[BrewTrooper]

Jerka,

When I mentioned the chasis, I did mean the two nipples on either side. There should only be two.

To lube the cables, I just remove both ends and spray into the top and spin or push/pull the cable inside until I see some lubricant come out the bottom end. You don't necessarily have to remove both ends though. This is what I do...but others may have different methods. If your method is different, please post it here.

Do you have drum brakes on both the front and back, or do you have disc brake(s)? If you have disc brakes, the procedure is more complicated.

Let me know if you have more questions.

Good luck,

BrewTrooper (a.k.a Ken)

[Jerka]

Jerka,

When I mentioned the chasis, I did mean the two nipples on either side. There should only be two.

To lube the cables, I just remove both ends and spray into the top and spin or push/pull the cable inside until I see some lubricant come out the bottom end. You don't necessarily have to remove both ends though. This is what I do...but others may have different methods. If your method is different, please post it here.

Do you have drum brakes on both the front and back, or do you have disc brake(s)? If you have disc brakes, the procedure is more complicated.

Let me know if you have more questions.

Good luck,

BrewTrooper (a.k.a Ken)

I have disc brakes front and back so I would assume that you don't lube a hydraulic brake hose.

[BrewTrooper]

Sorry, I didn't mean to imply that you might assume you'd have to lube a disc brake line. I was just curious, since the brake fluid in the line might gel. If so, you'd have to obviously change the fluid.

[Jerka]

Sorry, I didn't mean to imply that you might assume you'd have to lube a disc brake line. I was just curious, since the brake fluid in the line might gel. If so, you'd have to obviously change the fluid.

Oh, okay. I got it. I think I can handle everything except the throttle cable. Where do you lube it? I can't see an opening anywhere. Do you have to unscrew the lock nut and the long adjusting nut to get to the actual cable? Thanks and sorry for being kind of slow about this. My bike is in really great shape and is running like a top, so I don't want to mess anything up in the process of doing maintenance.

[YamaHead]

Take the throttle cable off @ the grip & hold it in a close to vertical position as possible.....then use silicone spray down in between the cable & the housing (small opening ) in attempt to get as much silicone as possible down the cable housing. It'll make a huge difference on how it feels.