| Author | Message | ||
     Maximum |
With about 38,000 miles...the ole' Uly needed a little TLC...so here is my report. Since June I had been having issues with the bike shutting down and restarting a split second later. It was not an obvious ground issue, nor ecm issue...so I pretty much knew that it would probably turn out to be a wire harness issue, and would take some time and tearing into to find. I just finished setting up my "Man Space" in the new house last month...so I finally felt ready to take on the repair job.  So I decided to do a bunch of other preventive repairs at the same time. The list of things being done includes: 1. Fixing the intermittent wire issue  2. Installing new "James" intake seals  3. Installing new spark plugs  4. Installing new spark plug wires  5. Reinstall of PIAA 510(HID modified) aux lights to include a new wiring strategy  6. Reinstalling of Protaper Raptor handlebars  7. Installing new clutch cable  8. Installing new throttle cables  9. Installing new front isolator  10. Perform a complete fork service  11. Install Moose Racing fork skins  12. Rerouting crank case breather  13. Reinstalling open airbox kit  14. Reinstalling Drummer exhaust  15. Installing new comfort kit  16. Replace steering head bearings  17. Replace seat pan with new one  18. Doing a fresh TPS reset  Everything went pretty well, and was fairly straight forward...with the following exceptions. In tearing apart the wiring harness, I thought that I had found my main problem when I discovered a broken red wire, then a weak black wire at the main front ground point. But after completing nearing all my work, and then putting the front of the bike back together, I found out that the bike would not start when the handlebars were straight, but it would start if I turned the handlebars left or right a little. So I had to tear things apart again...and found a broken white wire to the kill switch. After another quick repair...all was good! The toughest part of installing the new James intake seals was figuring out what tools to use. Others have outlined solutions before...but this is what I found. a. Take the ignition coil bracket off the top of the engine...then you can get to the left side bolts with just a standard 1/2" combo wrench.  b. Cut a standard 1/4" hex wrench down to as short as possible on the short side and 2.5" on the long side then you can reach the right side hex bolts. You can also use the handle of a combination screw driver to get more leverage.  c. I did not have to shave the intake down as others have mentioned...but make sure that you have the flange with the "F" on it on the front side and the flange with the "R" on it on the rear side of the intake. That will save you a couple hours of work...because trust me...you will not get the holes to line up if they are backwards (don't ask)!  It turns out that both my original (38,000 miles) front isolator and steering head bearings were fine! I had been feeling looseness in the steering, but it turns out that all it needed was to be tightened. But while I was there, and had the parts on hand, I replaced them both. As my third fork service...this process is getting pretty easy. Hopefully the Moose Racing fork skins will help protect the seals this time. And the fork skins went on without too much trouble, with a little effort getting over the reflector...but I did soak the skins in soapy water first!  The Comfort Kit went in easy, but I did need to do a little extra trimming for the fuel pump line and wiring and drill an extra hole in the top for my rerouted crankcase breather. Since I was replacing my worn out seat pan, I decided to take off my right side seat frame support, which made the whole process easy, but did not require me to remove anything in the tail section. Optimistic about the reduction in heat, I decided to remove the BAS recall and move the sensor back up to the front of the battery. I like having the extra room in the tail for more gadgets! I rerouted the crankcase breather for the fourth time...from original, to an American Sport Bike catch can with K&N filter, back to original, and now I am trying the "wolfridgerider" technique...which you can see in a couple pictures above. Hopefully this will work better for me than the other two methods. All-in-all I spent about four days to do all the work (some of which was spent trying to figure out the right tool for the job), but the old Uly is feeling great!   And after my 250 mile test ride on Saturday with "F_skinner" and "Fireboltwillie"...the key issue (wiring problem) seems to be gone!  | ||
| Etennuly |
Excellent job Steve! Another self satisfied customer!  If you are sure you might be done with your stock uly bars, I may be interested. | ||
| Ratbuell |
Be careful with the self-satisfaction. You might start having trouble with your eyesight... | ||
| Wolfridgerider |
When can I drop my bike off for "Service"... LOL Good job... I will be doing some of the same this winter.... | ||
| Maximum |
I'm not fast...but it always seems to work out in the end. Vern, I got rid of my stock bars a long time ago because they we tweaked in a tip over...otherwise it would have been yours! | ||
| Etennuly |
Thanks Steve. Hey Rat.....I can't see what you mean!  | ||
| Treadmarks |
Sweet looking bike, I dig the red. | ||
| Chadhargis |
Fantastic! I love wrenching on my bikes. It's therapeutic, and nice to know the job is done right. | ||
| Glenn |
Great job on the write-up and pictures Maximum! This will be a keeper for me for future reference. I would like to know where you found the wiring harness breaks. I've had a couple so far and would like to know where to start looking if I have future problems. Thanks, | ||
| Cyclonedon |
nice work and write-up on your Uly Steve! whatever happened to Sean's Blast? Did I miss the write up on that? Don | ||
| Paralegalpete |
Good informative post, and nice clean shop I like it | ||
| Maximum |
Glenn: The breaks were is the steering head area...probably wires that were partly damaged by getting squashed prior to me upgrading to the 2008 wire harness protector. One was a red wire, and the other was a white wire that led to the kill switch. I also had a black ground wire that was connected to the main front ground that broke as soon as I started handling the wires. Don: You must have missed the write up that I did on Sean's Blast...I think it was about 6 months ago (or so) in a thread called "Back in Black". The bike is fine, but he has only ridden it a hand full of times. | ||
| Court |
I always enjoy reading these posts . . . . and learn a lot each and every time. I've got all of Steve's "Uly Posts" printed in a file for future reference. They always remind me of how darn little I know about the bike and how fun they are. Well done! Court | ||
| Jlnance |
My first thought was "wow, you look just like Frank Skinner." | ||
| Maximum |
Ahh Jim, you are just like me...look at pictures first, then read only when I have to! Frank mentioned that you were in town a few weeks ago...sorry I missed you. It would have been nice to join you on your trip up to the top of Pikes Peak. Court: The other great things about Buell motorcycles is how affordable they are to work on. All of the parts and supplies needed for my last project were only about 300 some dollars! | ||
| Mnrider |
Nice garage and the bike looks great. | ||
| F_skinner |
Riding to Steve's house is very much riding to Pikes Peak however, Pikes Peak is not as steep. | ||
| Maximum |
Good one Frank! It's the price one pays to have those panoramic mountain views. I'm glad you rode the Uly...your S2 might not have made it!  | ||
| F_skinner |
your S2 might not have made it! Its on now!!!! I do not ride the S2 when riding with Uly riders because I do not like to embarrass them.  | ||
| Snowscum |
Good Job Steve! That garage would motivate me to work on mine too. Lol I haven't had any wire harness problems yet but I only have 16k on my 06. Did you move up 285 somewhere? | ||
| Snowscum |
Golden Gate Canyon Road (the twisty road where I soon will live) Never mind. lol I have yet to travel that road. I see alot of people turning there when I go through Golden. I will have to try it one of these days. | ||
| F_skinner |
I do not think I could find his house again if I had to. I was enjoying the scenery in between trying to keep up with Fireboltwillie. Snowscum, it is a real nice area. Steve has a real nice "man cave". Lynn and I are looking at land down South around Westclif. I found the perfect place that has 35 acres and the only building is a 35 by 55 foot garage. Lynn said something about needing a house or cabin so I guess we are still looking.  | ||
| Crusty |
Route 96 between Wetmore and Westcliffe is a road that has stayed in my memory since 1975. When Terri and I went out to Colorado in 2005 we rode that way, and it's just as spectacular as I remembered. | ||
| Maximum |
Snowscum said: "I will have to try it one of these days." Mike, give me a call if you want to come by sometime. Golden Gate Canyon Road is a great road....I never get tired of it (but don't tell anyone). | ||
| Charlie_zulu |
How much of a pain was it to change the head bearings? Any special tools required? | ||
| Snowscum |
Will do Steve. I still have your cell. I tried calling you back when I had fuel pump problems. You never called me back. Lol |
