rowlyd

Hi Guys, I have a 1991 XJ600 which has been stood for 10 years, its running now after a carb and brake overhaul and recently passed its MOT, However the ride was very jerky and gear changing could be clunky up and down the box. I replaced the cush rubber but would just like some opinions on the end result. The story..............There was quite a bit of movement of the rear sprocket as the chain took up the strain and before the rear wheel started to move, I believe this was down to worn cush rubbers. With the bike on the centre stand and in gear I could turn the rear wheel forwards and backwards between 1/2" - 3/4" before the drive train stopped the movement. All this wear seemed to be coming from the rear wheel since the rear sprocket would stop but the wheel would keep moving, then in the other direction the wheel would move about 1/2" - 3/4" before the sprocket moved. So... not having done anything like this before I bit the bullet, marked the position of everything I thought I had to remove and took a couple of photos (just in case). I took the rear wheel off and looked at the cush rubbers. There were 3 sets of rubbers within the housing (a set being a big cheese shape and a smaller cheese shape connected together)They had some worn electrical tape bound around parts of them which I presume was to take up wear and the previous owner did not want to splash out the money for a proper job. I installed 3 new sets and I thought they would be a really tight fit into the housing but this was not the case. It all went back together very easily and though the rear has far less play than before, its definately not rock solid, I'd say its fairly tight but still has a small delay before the wheel starts moving as the chain takes up the slack. Should it be like this? I have read that some people pack out the cush rubber with innertube etc to make a really firm fit but as I didn't know what was normal I put it all back together just in case I mucked something up by having no movement at all. So now I have a small movement in the rear but nothing like before and gear changing is much much easier and slow speed manouvering is a lot more comfortable. Should I be happy with this or should the fit be a lot tighter with no slack between the sprocket movement and the wheel movement. And is this another little job to be done.........with the bike on the centre stand and in gear I can now rotate the rear wheel a large amount, say a quarter turn, before the gearbox stops movement, I have no idea how serious this is, it obviously contributes to some jerkiness at low speed, seems like I need to spend more money on her. Sorry for the meandering post, I'm sure this stuff is bread and butter to you guys but it was a big deal for me to remove the rear wheel and but it all back together again, the bike is going ok I just want to make sure that I don't wear out new parts through ignorance or when a simple mod would save me heartache in the future, thanks for taking the time to read this

Thanks guys, I'll have a look at the website for a suitable RR code. I suppose the one on the bike must have had a bit of a shock being called into duty after 10 years rest. It never gave any trouble before the layup so I suppose it was reliable in its own way. Also, knowing that this is quite a common problem and not something obviously wrong with the wiring loom etc gives me confidence to get one of the same type. Thanks for the help rowlyd

Hi Everyone, My first post here so I hope I'm on the right area of the forum and profuse apologies if all this has been asked before, I did a search but could not find anything to answer my query, which is... Tried to start the bike a couple of days ago and turned over very sluggish and would not catch. When I got home from work I looked at the battery and there was no fluid visible that I could see. Thought it would be toasted by I topped it up with distilled water and what do you know, it started the bike and has held a good charge since, (checked this with a multimeter 12.7v). Anyhow when the bike is running the battery is bubbling away like a boiling kettle and this got me worried enough to do a bit of research and I now think the rectifier/regulator may be overcharging the battery. I've put a multimeter on the battery with the bike running and I'm getting up to 17.5v at the terminals and never less than 14-15v. I think I need to do a diode check on the rectifier but I'm nearly sure I going to buy a new rectifier since the battery can't last long with this amount of overcharge can it? So the question is...... do I buy the standard rectifier/regulator which bears the code SH569a-12. It has a 4 pin (3 input 1 output) connector on the rectifier and seems to be grounded via its casing onto an aluminium plate/heatsink. Or is there a more robust model with some fins to help heat transfer which I think would help with longevity. I don't do a lot of electrical work so don't be fooled by the references to a multimeter etc since I followed the famous 'motorcycle charging checklist' from electrosport.com. I'll be following their diode checklist in the next couple of days. I don't mind spending the money (around £50 for a standard rec/reg I think) but would like to get as robust and reliable rec/reg as I can, any thoughts? Many thanks for the help rowlyd

Thanks guys, You've all just got A* * rating on what I had to do to get the old girl through the mot. Had to drain the tank and fill with new fuel, then drain the tank again so I could remove it to get at the carbs which were overflowing and leaking onto the driveway and into the crankcase (wow what a stink of petrol when I changed the oil!!). Did the usual new float seals etc and she's now running but a bit lumpy at idle, will need to get the carbs balanced I think. Then of course the brakes were binding so I had to strip these down and rebuild with new seals, bleed nipples etc which took an age to do because everything was stuck together with crud and I was trying to be gentle but in the end lots of brake cleaner and patience paid off. Don't get me started on the hours I spent bleeding the brakes, watching for little bubbles of air as I carefully pulled on the lever (and repeat) but all is well now, apart from a little (big?) electrical problem for which I shall start a new thread. I really appreciate the help and advice, and even though I've not really worked on the bike at this level I'm getting more confident as I read the forums and see that a lot of what I need to do is actually quite common and not just my bike giving up the ghost. Anyways thanks once again for the welcome ( I'm going to be looking for advice on the best replacement rec\reg for the bike which now seems to be overcharging (17 volts at the bat terminals when running, I'll try to post this in the correct place though) Rowlyd

What a great club, very friendly and lots of useful info. Just to say that I finally got my 1991 xj600 (pre div) back on the road after 10 years stored in the garage. I'm sure I'll be asking lots of questions as things go wrong with the little lady but for now its just nice to be part of a large crowd of like minded people Regards Rowlyd