The Zipsicle

Got back to work on the bike last night determined to find the reason for the speedometer not working. All leads indicated that there was a problem either with the speed sensor connection or the speed sensor itself. My reading had told me that the speed sensor is located on the right side of the engine and that the wires run up past the rear master brake cylinder reservoir and up under the top shelter. I tried removing the left side lower vent and the glove box and glove box lock mechanism but still couldn’t find the connection. I knew that I needed to find a three wire connector and that one of the wires would be white with a black trace on it. Finally I decided that there was nothing for it but to remove the top shelter yet one more time. I also removed the chrome cover over the oil fill and rear master cylinder location.

After a lot digging around in the wiring on the right side of the bike I finally found the speed sensor connection. It’s hidden in a boot along with several other connectors and tucked away between the vent tube and the bike frame low down on the right side under the shelter. Very difficult to find if you don’t know for sure what you’re looking for and I sure didn’t. Anyway, I found that indeed the speed sensor was disconnected. After studying the location of the connection and tracing the wire back down the side of the bike to the speed sensor it was obvious that I’d accidentally disconnected it while trying to remove the cap on the rear master brake reservoir. That cap is very difficult to get your fingers around to unscrew it and somehow, when I removed the cap to refill the reservoir, I’d managed to tug on the wire enough to pull the connector far enough apart that it was no longer making a connection. I plugged it back in and started the bike up, placed it into gear and yippee! The speedo works again! After a few moments of cursing myself for unplugging it in the first place and congratulating myself for tracking it down and fixing it, I once again began the arduous task of reassembling my bike.

I rode to work on it this morning and really appreciated having my speedometer working again. I also marveled at how well my bike runs and feels with all of its new parts. Ahhhh, that’s the way it ought to be!

Ride safe,

Zippo and Jax

So Sunday I spent most of my day working on the bike again. Wanted to install all of the pieces I’d missed installing when I put the bike back together last time on Friday after my luckless search for the wayward nut.  Tore it back apart and put it all back together, this time with all the pieces in place! Yaaay! Took it out for a test drive and got a few miles down the road before I realized that the speedometer wasn’t registering any speed and that the “F1″ light had come on. Turned around and headed back home and into the garage where I proceeded to tear it back down again. Boohoo! For the life of me I can’t find any wires that I’d missed plugging back in and I spent all of the rest of the day looking. Put it all back together again and still no speedo. My research is now leading me to the speed sensor connection located on the right side under the cover between the lower vent and the glove box. It’s possible that, somehow, I pulled the connection loose or loosened a wire in the connection so tonight I’ll get back into that side and have another look. It’s either that or, coincidentally, my speed sensor has gone bad.

Curses! Ah, well. Just another tiny and minor setback on the road to “doing it myself”! I am getting very good at removing the instrument panel and top shelter, though. Wonder if there’s a competition for that skill somewhere…

Ride safe,

Zippo and Jax

Friday I was off work early so it seemed the perfect time to bleed the brakes on the Wing with my new “One Person Brake Bleeder” from Griott’s Garage. The Goldwing has a very specific proceedure to follow when bleeding the brakes and it took me an hour or so to complete the job being as it was my first time. The fluid that came out of the anti-dive valve when I bled it was almost black and had small bits of crud in it so the bike was definitely due for new fluid. As it turns out I didn’t get a chance to test drive it to see how it felt after bleeding and flushing the brake fluid…

The brake bleeding job went so well that I thought I’d go ahead and install the REG Risers for the handlebars. I got the left side on just fine but, when I went to do the right side I managed to drop a nut deep down into the bowels of the engine! Dang nut! There’s almost no way to see down in there so I began to tear the bike apart to see if I could find the wayward nut (should have just gone into the house and looked in the mirror then got in the car and headed to the hardware store and purchased another nut! ). I removed the shelter and the air filter then removed the throttle body inlets and pulled up on the lower air filter box so I could try and look underneath it. No nut to be found but I did manage to pull the two breather hoses off the bottom of the box which meant I now had to disassemble and lift the front of the gas tank to be able to get at the two hoses underneath the cover to reattach them where the belonged. Shoot! Got that done, said to heck with the nut (which is what I should have done in the first place) and began to reassemble the bike. Got it all back togther and found that I’d forgotten to install a few pieces early in the process. Dang it, again! By this time I’d had enough so it’ll have to wait for further disassembly…

Saturday I couldn’t get back to work on the bike as I’d promised Jax I would work on assembling the greenhouse kit I’d gotten her for her birthday. It took us all day but the finished product looks like it will work pretty well for what she wants which is a place to grow some tomato and green pepper plants. Here’s a picture:

New greenhouse

I got it all done and put back together today and got a chance to take it for a ride. It’s simply amazing and feels like a completely new bike up front (which I guess it is… ). I’m pleased to have done all of the work myself and it was especially nice enjoying the fruits of my labor out on the road in the sunshine. I took it easy on my new front brake pads to give them a chance to break in (so to speak) but they feel very good. I’ve got a brake bleeder tool ordered that should be delivered next week so I’ll bleed the brakes and clutch when it gets here. I stopped in an empty parking lot and practiced some slow speed turns and the front end feels absolutely wonderful.

I also got my new (to me) trailer hitch installed. Since I bought it used it didn’t come with any instructions but when I got it down there behind the bike it was pretty clear how it must install and indeed, the install went very well. I took the time, while I was in there, to install an isolator and wiring sub-harness from a company called Electrical Connections. I see now that I will need to get a 5 wire to 4 wire harness to terminate the wiring to the trailer so I’ll get one ordered and on its way.

All in all, I’m really gratified with how easy this bike is to work on and now, how it rides even better than before!

Ride safe,
Zippo and Jax

Today, after stopping at a local Honda dealer for a couple more containers of suspension fluid, I got the second fork back together and both forks back into the bike. Installed new brake pads in both front calipers and installed the wheel, with the new Avon Cobra tire, and fenders back on the bike. Tomorrow I should be able to move topside and reinstall the hose retaining bracket, handlebars and the top shelter. Hopefully, I’ll get a chance to take it out for a short ride tomorrow and enjoy the fruits of this labor. Then it’ll be back into the garage to install the trailer hitch and wiring. I’m definitely making progress and it feels pretty good to have done this work myself…

Ride safe,
Zippo and Jax

Got the parts in yesterday for the fork rebuild so last night I started in on the rebuild. First order of business was to watch Fred Harmon’s DVD section on fork rebuilding. Very helpful. I was able to successfully get the left fork drained and disassembled without any problems. The old oil was filthy and sure does smell bad. Draining and flushing the fork oil looks to be so simple that I think I will plan on doing it fairly frequently in the future. I then cleaned up the upper and lower fork tubes and installed new bushings and seals. This much went very well. Tonight I’ll add the fresh new oil and new progressive fork spring and start on the right fork. Next up will be cleaning up the brake calipers and installing the new front brake pads. It appeared to me that the left side pads might have been contaminated with fork oil from the leaking fork so I’m going to replace them all. While I’ve got the front end apart I’m also going to install Hella driving lights up under the cowling and wire them in. Then I can start putting put it all back together. I hope to have it all completed by the end of the weekend if all goes well. And there’s no reason to think it won’t. So far, I’m finding this bike very easy to work on and that’s a very good thing.

Ride safe,
Zippo & Jax

Our new Piggy Backer trailer has been sitting in the crate just waiting for me to put it together. I got to it today. Here’s what it looked uncrated. Notice that some assembly is required:

Putting it all together took me just a few hours. It would have probably been quicker but some of the bolts they send with the thing are about twice as long as required for the task and, since the nuts are NyLock, you can’t just spin them on. It also takes me twice as long to gather my tools as it does most people since I organize them in such a fashion as to make them difficult to locate when I next need them! Here it is all put together and ready to go:

I pulled the wheel bearings apart and greased them heavily. They came greased from the factory but it was a bit sparser than I like to see. the tires call for 60 PSI and the instructions say 40 to 50 so I put in 55. I’ll keep an eye on them closely and see how they’re wearing and adjust as needed. I’m also not convinced that the “inexpensive” latches the thing comes with are going to stand up to the task. Fortunately, there’s a lock that can be locked that should keep the lid closed while it’s going down the road but I think I’ll see if I can’t come up with a more satisfactory latching arrangement. I also still need to get the hitch and wiring completed on the bike but at least we’re getting closer to camping (a thought that causes Jax some laughter as she constantly reminds me that we have a 35 foot motorhome for that sort of thing… ).

Ride safe,
Zippo and Jax

I pulled the front wheel on the Goldwing yesterday (a first for me) to get started replacing the worn tire and found that I had a leaking fork seal on the left side so, while I was at it…

I took the wheel down to a dealer and had them remove the old bearings – $10 + tax – which I thought was very reasonable. They said they had trouble getting them out and had to heat the wheel so I’m pretty glad I didn’t attempt the removal; I’d mostlikely still be cursing it. Took the wheel back home and installed the new All Balls wheel bearings. It’s a strange design that calls for two bearings pressed into each side of the front wheel. I also installed new dust covers.

Then I went ahead and removed both forks. Figured since the bike has 93,000 miles on it they’re probably due for a rebuild anyway. I’ll probably go ahead and add Progressive fork springs while they’re apart. The shop said they’d do the rebuild on them for $85 each (labor) which doesn’t seem like too bad a price. I’m a bit hesitant to tear into them myself but I’m told that the task isn’t really all that bad so I may just go ahead and have at it.

I will probably go ahead and replace all the front brake pads while it’s torn down, too. They look like they probably have some life left in them but new ones don’t cost all that much and it’ll be easier to do now that I have everything apart. Plus, I can’t be certain that some fork fluid didn’t contaminate the pads on the left side.

I also mounted my new Harbor Freight changer in the driveway. The bolts I got to go into the concrete anchors were a bit too long so the changer wasn’t as solid as it should have been but I was able to remove the old tire and get the new one mounted. I’m going to have to replace the concrete anchors and get some shorter bolts before I do the next tire. Still, it was with great satisfaction that I aired up the new tire and I smiled as I heard the double “pop” that told me the beads had seated properly on each side of the rim!

While I had things apart I removed the steering stem to replace the bearings with All Balls but found that a previous owner had already installed them and though they were a bit dry they seemed to be in great shape so I greased them thoroughly and reinstalled them.

Today I got all of the parts ordered for the forks so, hopefully, I can get this thing all back together next weekend and, again hopefully, it’s gonna feel like a new bike.

It was a pretty good day…