Advanced Maintenance

Ediro's Note: The following was part of the 'old FAQ'. The following was credited to 'Chris on Maui' in the old FAQ.

I ordered tapered roller bearings from the local Honda shop. There are none specified for the newer VFRs. You should order the tapered set that goes into the 87 Interceptor. (Ed. Note: the following part numbers have been given: K&L part # 312224 had two bearings and two dust seals. Larger bearing #-32006JR Smaller bearing #3200SX. Both are marked with 'mci'.) Exact drop in replacement. There are some tricks to getting it right the first time. If you have a center stand on your bike things get much easier. I'm going to assume you do.

Once the bike is on the center stand, you can prop the front wheel off the ground by pumping a floor jack under the exhaust pipes under the motor. If you don't have a floor jack you can put a block on either side of the bike and put a 2x4 on one block under the exaust pipe and then lift the other end to lift the tire up and put the other block under the 2x4. This is easier if you have a friend sit on the rear seat to unweight the front.

Remove the brake calipers and tie a loop of string around the mirrors to hang the calipers on. Remove the front wheel and the fender and the brake line mounting hardware. This only takes about 15 minutes. You will need to remove the brake line from the retaining wire bracket by the lower steering stem brace. Don't undo any of the brake line fittings. Place a towel over the fairings underneath both handle bar grips and another towel aross the top of the gas tank. Loosen the clip-on (handle bar) bolts and lift the clip-ons off of the fork tubes and lay them on the towels covering the farings. Loosen the lower fork tube pinch bolts. Now while holding one fork leg loosen the upper fork tube pinch bolt and allow the fork tube to slip down and out. Carefull not to drop it. Remove the second fork tube. You will need a 32mm socket to remove the nut on the top of the steering stem. Once removed you can lift the top fork brace up and out. Remember the ignition key wires will restrict how far you can move it. I set the brace against the tach with a cloth over it. There are two nuts that are locked together on the stem. Between the nuts is a washer with bent up and down locking tabs which must be flattened to undo the nuts. There is a special tool from Honda to loosen these nuts which is very helpfull during reassembly. You can tap the nuts counterclockwise with a big flatblade screwdriver and a hammer. Careful when you remove both nuts not to allow the stem to drop out of the neck. Be careful to notice the position of the dust seal after you remove the nuts. There is an upside - downside way to reinstall them. Now the stem should drop out of the neck. The easy part is over.

Look at the stem and notice the dust seal underneath the lower race. With the stock roller bearings this dust seal doesn't contact the ball bearings at all. Some slight modification is necessary to the new lower dust seal to make sure it doestn't touch the tapered roller bearings your going to install. The tapered bearings are wider and touch the top edge of this dust seal causing uaccceptable friction. Removing the lower race that is pressed onto the stem is a really tough job. I almost recommend letting a qualified shop use a proper press to do this. I have done it with hammers, chisels, crowbars etc and it is tough. You can use a punch to tap out the upper and lower races from the neck. I used a steel rod about 5/8 inch by 24 inch. If you look closely into the neck of the frame, there are two scalloped out areas just at the edge of each race where you can put this rod to tap our the races. Be carefull not to cock the races and damage the machined part they press into. Now that you have removed the lower race from the stem, you can put on the new dust seal and lower race. You will drop the dust seal onto the stem with the rubber lip facing up. You will have to press or tap the lower race onto the stem. Honda sells a tool that is a hollow pipe that slips over the stem and is the same diameter as the race so you can tap it on. You can't do this properly without this or a similar tool. When the race is almost all the way on you will see that the bearings start to touch the rubber dust seal. Here is where the trick is. Take a screwdriver and work your way around the race tapping down the dust seal so it doesn't touch the bearing. Be careful to do little taps so as not to deform the washer plate. Eventually you will hammer the race down hard against the washer base. The bearings should turn freely with out touching the rubber seal. I do not recommend packing the race with heavy wheel bearing grease. I put some on the rollers and work the bearing around so there is a film of grease on the bearings. Too much grease will cause difficulty steering at slow speeds.

I tapped the races into the neck (frame) with a large socket on the extension. Just be careful not to cock the new races as they go in. Its not hard to do. Now slip the stem up through the neck. You can drop in the upper bearing over the stem and then drop on the dust seal. Put on one of the special nuts and tighten it as tight as you can with your hand and a rag. Dont use any tools. Try turning the stem side to side. It should move easily and not stick at all. The tricky part is to get the washer and second nut on without turning the the first any tighter. I found that the special honda tool works good here to secure the first nut while tapping the second tight. You will need to fold the washer tabs to secure the nuts. At this point check that the stem still turns easily side to side. If it no longer does, take a screwdriver and back both nuts out at the same time by tapping the lower one counter clockwise. Do this minor adjustment as many times as necessary to allow the stem to turn freely. Place the top fork brace on the stem and finger tight the big nut on top. Now you can replace the forks. Exact height adjustment isn't critical yet. Tighten the lower pinch bolts enough to hold the forks in place. With the 32mm socket you will need to tighten the stem bolt. I put a 2x2 block of wood between the right fork and the frame so not to allow the stem to cock all the way to one side against the steering lock. I tightenen the bolt in 10 lbs steps while insuring that the stem still turns freely side to side. If while tightening the big nut the stem begins to bind up, you will need to pull the top bracket off and back the two locking bolts CCW just 1/8 inch. Then reassemble the top brace and continue torquing it down 10 lbs a time. Once the bolt is tightened (76 ft lbs) and the stem still turns easily side to side you have finished the hard part. Up until now you have not tightened the upper pinch bolts or reinstalled the clip-ons.

You need to adjust the vertical position of the forks now. Loosen the lower pinch bolts so you can twist the fork tube in the clamp but it wont fall out. Twist the fork tube and push up or down which ever is necessary to get the mark that the spring ring clip sits in to be just above the upper fork brace. Tighten the lower pinch bolts to spec. Tighten the upper pinch bolts to spec. Slip the clip-ons over the fork tubes and tighten the pinch bolts. Check again that the steering turns easily side to side. I prefer it to flop side to side by gravity alone. Any tighter I don't like. Reinstall the fender and brake lines. Put the front wheel back on and the remount the front brakes. I hope you didn't squeeze the lever while the calipers were hanging. But if the shoes need to be spread a little you can twist a screwdriver between the shoes. Reinstall the calipers. Spin the wheel slowly while putting on the calipers helps get them in place.

Well you've done it. I found that I had to readjust and loosen the stem nuts a couple times before I was happy with the amount of friction. To do so you only need to loosen the upper pinch bolts, lift off the top brace and back the locking nuts out 1/8 inch. The symptoms you will find with too much steering friction are: Headshake while decelerating, a tendancy for the bike not to track straight at speeds under 25mph. Try coasting up to a stop sign hands off. My dealer never could solve my headshake problems so I did it myself and I'm really glad I did. You should get the VFR service manual from Honda for torque specs and exploded view diagrams. They really are helpful. Good Luck. --Chris on Maui, VFR, CB1

Here's one technique for pulling the carbs. Nothing makes it fun, but it can seem impossible!

Loosen the clamp rings on the boots & hit the boots & nipples with WD 40. Do something else while it penetrates. (Get out your BMF screwdriver, crowbar, etc.). Put the tip of the screwdriver under the reinforcement tabs by the float bowls, (careful, that pot metal isn't very strong!) and lift the carbs by levering them up using the cam covers as the fulcrum. Do this from one corner, and they'll peel off.

Getting them back on is less fun, and again WD-40 is your best friend. Grease 'em up. (Motor oil stays put even better than WD 40.). Insert the front ones, as far as possible (too far, if possible, to buy space). Rock them forward and to one side, and get the rear one on that side started... Then concentrate on the other side. Un-kink the boots if they've buckled a bit. Get lucky and they'll pop on. Again be careful of that pot-metal casting... I don't want to know what replacing a broken one entails!!! Once I get the carbs/boots started, I put a board (~15" piece of 1x6) across the top of the casting to spread the force of applying full bodyweight to the procedure! Honda was nice enough to put detents in the boots to keep the hose-clamps from rotating out of reach as you tighten them, but positioned them to be easy for the assembly line guys... That #4 (Rt. Rear) one is easier if it's facing the top.

Anyhow, a few thousand ks after having my valves done, the engine isn't quite as good as it was. Should I get the clearances rechecked, resynch the carbies, or just ignore it? I'd really like to have it running perfectly all the time, but I'm getting skeptical about the engine's ability to stay that well in tune. Could it possibly be just the carbies, and could I possibly just fix it myself quite easily? By all means have them reset again. In a perfect world, the carbs would stay clean & syncronized, the valves would not build up carbon, and the valvetrain would not wear. Unfortunately, in the real world, all of the above happen. Carb sync helps to keep all the cylinders working equally, but to get the most out of them, carry out all the maintenance on the carbs - clean them inside and out, check the float height, clean/replace the air filter(s), THEN sync the carbs. FWIW, synching the carbs is a wasted effort without at least checking the valves. If the valves have shifted off of tolerance, the carbs will be drawing different volumes of air and go off that much sooner the next time around. Odds are that the carbs have drifted moreso than the valves, but check 'em anyway. On setting the carbs... (6) using the Honda screwdriver set the mercury levels for all cylinders (except #2 which is the reference and has no adjustment), to as even as possible, at idling speed -- a minor screw rotation makes a significant change in the mercury levels and all cylinders are interrelated; (7) work quickly, if the electric fan turns on, you've allowed the engine temperature to go too high which affects the carb synch, if this happens, shut the engine to cool and continue later; (8) at idle you should be able to get all mercury levels to within 1/4" from each other, blip the throttle and verify all levels after each screw adjustment; (9) once the idle level is set, slowly rotate the throttle to maintain a steady 3000 rpm the levels may or may not be within the 1/4" target range, that's O.K., (10) rotate the throttle to obtain 4000 rpm check levels, again these levels may be outside of target range, but should also be slightly different than at 3k -- allow the engine speed to slowly return to idle, if too quick, engine vacuum may pull some mercury into it; (11) the height of the mercury is not that critical, the uniformity of all mercury columns is the critical issue.

If after doing the valve adjustment and carb synch, while riding, the engine has a slight surging between 4-5k rpm at steady throttle, you have a lean condition. The factory has limiter caps on the idle mixture screws preventing enriching of the low-speed circuit, which is what is needed to solve the surging problem. Grind down the tabs on each screw using a file or Dremel tool. Do NOT try to pry off the caps. You will most likely damage the mixture screw. A good baseline position for the mixture screws is between 3 and 3 1/2 turns out. If the engine still surges, you should increase your pilot jet one size larger. If all goes well, the engine's performance will be immediately noticeable with a deeper sounding exhaust note, smoother idle, and an overall increase in response to throttle input. The best analogy that I can give is that "it feels like the play in the throttle has been removed". - Cris Salazar

Concerning the valve adjustment, I do my own and follow the factory manual/procedure. The process is summarized as follows:

(1) check the current clearances;

(2) on those valves which are out of specification, you must remove the camshafts to determine the current shim thickness;

(3) after determining (measuring) the current shim thickness, there is a calculation that identifies what thickness of shim you need in order to return the clearance to specification. If this sounds a bit complex, it isn't, just time consuming (for your first attempt plan on 6-8 hours of work). The factory manual can be followed step for step without any problems.

Some tricks that I've found:

The best reason that I can give for not having the dealer do your valve adjustment is that they will check to see if the clearances are within the factory specs. The specs give a range, and the outer part of the range is not where the engine performs best. Minimum clearances increase performance. Don't be concerned about burning a valve or making contact with a piston. Setting the valves at their minimum specification will not do harm to the engine internals. I have 32k miles on my '92, have attended close to 20 track riding schools, operating the engine into red line and beyond, and have not experienced any mechanical failure. Lastly, don't wait until you have 16k miles before you check your valves, from the factory the valves are loose. My first valve adjustment was at 7k and ALL valves needed new shims. Once set correctly, check valves every 5-7k, you should only find one or two that need a new shim. -Cris Salazar

If you're within the specified tolerance range (usually 0.005-0.007 for intake, 0.007-0.009 for exhaust, in inches), running a little tight should be fine. Be aware that running outside of tolerance puts you at signifigant risk for a cooked valve or two, as the valves won't seat fully when the engine is hot, which means that they won't shed heat adequately, which means that eventually you end up with a roasty-toasty valve... FWIW, on the race bikes I run on the tight side of tolerances, but I also check the vavles after about five hours of operation. -J. Fielek

I wanted to take just a moment and give some basic symptons and troubleshooting tips for those of us w/ suspected clutch problems.

First, realize that ALL VF/VFRs (unless modified) have hydraulic clutches. There is no adjustment necessary for this type of clutch. Change the fluid ocasionally (I do it anually, as I'm doing brakes. That's a pretty often, but it's part of my winter maint. schedule) and you will not have to worry about it until you finally wear the pads out.

If your clutch is slipping... This is usually characterized in lower gear by attempting to accelerate and instead of rocketing off the line as per usual VF/VFR splendor, your tach needle winds up and your bike slowly speeds up. This can mean one of two things. Your pads or clutch springs could be worn. This shouldn't be a surprise condition. During the final stages of your clutch's life, you should notice the clutch grabbing further out on the lever. Being hydraulic it will self-adjust as much as it can, so once you notice this, start putting your pennies away, because it's going soon. Either way, it's time to crack it open. No quick fixes here (although it has been rumored that since we have wet-sump clutches, that synthetic oil has caused clutch slippage. There is NO conclusive evidence to support this, and please do not bring it up on the list.). If your plates look good, then your springs are likely worn out. At this point I would go ahead and replace both while you have the thing apart. If I recall correctly a clutch rebuild kit for my VF1000F runs ~US$75. Point being you're into more for your labor of tearing the thing apart, you might as well replace everything.

If you notice your clutch failing to DISengage. ie you pull the lever in, but your transmission still -thunks- into gear or stalls your bike, you likely have air in your clutch lines or your clutch Master Cylinder (the box by your lever) needs a good cleaning. Bleed the lines and clean the Master Cylinder (or rebuild it... Honda sells a rebuild kit w/ various rubber bits for in there) per your shop manual. If you still have problems, bleed it again... and again... and again. If you're convinced that you have all the air out, bleed it again (are you sensing a pattern here?). Someone mentioned a good method was to get a large amount of bleed hose, and run it form the Slave cylinder, up over your handlebars, and then to your receptacle. This way you have a large vertical to watch for bubbles. If you're still having problems such as the problem getting better after the bike is warmed up, it's possible that the seals that surround the pushrod from the slave cylinder are worn and allowing either motor oil or outside air into the system. Replacing these will require splitting the transmission, so exhaust all other possibilities first.

Date: Mon, 6 May 1996 23:06:54 -0400 (EDT)
Original-From: rider@pullman.com (Bill Johns)
Subject: mounting tires

Thoughts on the fine art of changing your own tires.

Tools.

• Bead breaker (or make one)
• 4 tire irons -- the bigger the better
• some soapy water
• various scraps of wood
• some small lead weights (any auto shop)
• felt-tipped pen.
• masking tape or scotch tape

Remove wheel from bike.

Break bead.

This can be easy or difficult as you wish. The really difficult way is to jump up and down and swear a lot. It doesn't work and gets you very frustrated. The very difficult way that works is to buy a bead breaker. Looks like a big C-clamp and you must use a wrench to turn a threaded shaft against the bead for about 3-4 inches each side. Time consuming and hard on the wrist.

The fast way to break a bead is to make a bead breaker. Two 2x4's and a couple of hinges.

(drawing by Brian Divers)

       wall
        |
        |
        |_A_____________________B__________P
        |                       |
        |                       |
        |                       |
        |                       |
        |                       |
        |                       | c
        |
        |                       X

Fasten to a wall, at point A, a hinge attached to a 2x4 that is about 3 feet long. At point B attach another hinged 2x4 which has point c sharpened to a 0.5 x 1 inch (very blunt) point. Put wheel at X using scraps of wood so that you don't grind a disk into concrete or anything dumb like that. I balance the whole wheel on a couple of strategically located 4x4's. Put the dull point on the tire right next to the bead and push at P. Can do the whole wheel, both sides, in about 30 seconds. My drawing is a little out of proportion The section from A to B is about half of the 3 foot length. If you are clever, you will mount the hinges so they will fold away flat against the wall when not in use.

Having loosened the bead from the rim, you must now remove the tire.

This is the hard part. I use scrap rubber from an old truck inner tube to keep from scratching the metal. You must work the old bead over the rim and then off the tire with the tire irons. Soapy water helps a bunch. Wear leather work gloves as you will pinch your hands and scream and shout and carry on if you do not. You will probably scream and shout and curse in any case. Kids from the neighborhood would all come over just to listen to me do this part of the operation.

Remounting the new tire is just the reverse of the old tire removal.

Make sure that you line up a dot with the valve stem at this point (Michelin's don't have a dot as they are so perfectly made (they claim) that they don't need it. In fact they are. I've mounted them and not had to balance them. Only tire ever that didn't need weights.) Make sure you have the tire going in the proper rotation with the wheel.

Once the new tire is on the rim and the little arrows are all pointing the correct position, it is time to reset the bead.

Remove the valve stem. Air goes in faster if the valve stem is out and you need to get air in rapidly. Go to a gas station and put air in the tire. About 80% of the time air will go in and with a little minimalistic massage of the tire the bead will pop on with a lot POP! About 18% of the time you will get most of the bead to seat but a small section will not. Put the valve stem back in and bounce the tire near the section that will not seat. It will eventually. Some folks say you shouldn't run a tire over 50 psi while attempting to seat the bead. I've gone a little over that and only had 4 tires blow up so I dunno if that's a fair statement. ;-) Only once did I have a tire that would not seat. Took it to a tire changing place and the fellow there with all the neat tools and belts and such took 20 minutes. Life happens.

Put the valve stem in and put the tire to working pressure.

Relax, the hard part is over.

Balance tires.

I use a couple of metal folding step stools I got at Costco. They are nice in that they have a section of round metal tubing along the back that is straight. Any stands or saw horses or whatever that have metal edges or tubes on them will work. Find a spot on the floor that is flat and with the two stools back-to-back and about as far apart as your axle is long less 1.5-2 inches make sure the two support surfaces are level in all directions.

Remove all old weights. WD-40 helps.

Put the axle in the wheel, wipe off all excess grease and mount the axle on the stool backs. Let the wheel find its own level. Mark the bottom. Rotate and confirm that the bottom is the heavy side. Go 180 degrees away and temporarily tape a small weight. Recheck the balance. Adjust. Recheck. Reiterate until the tire will stay balanced in _any_ position.

(This method of balancing is better than machine balancing and is in fact what racers do. Machine balancing is faster, not better.)

Once the wheel is balanced, secure the weights (they come with a strong foam rubber two-sided glue), remount the wheel. Test to a minimum of 135 mph.

I use to do all my own tires. Took about 45 minutes total once you get the hang of it. I now have a local shop that will mount and balance mail order tires for $10 a pop. If it went up to $20 per, I'd go back to doing them myself.

Ride Free,

Bill

-------
rider@pullman.com or w_johns@wsu.edu

DoD #00314  KotV, KotRR
FJ1200, KLR 650 & a Yam 650 Special in parts.

Here's the info I found, from my search to repair Dave's '91 VFR wheels (both pretty severely dented).

Speed Limit (708-339-2338), Markham, IL (Chicago area): $150. No VFR rear wheels.

Wheel Collision Center (1-800-292-RIMS), in PA: $100-150. They also paint if required (don't know if that's included in the price above)

Action Machines (908-359-3322) in New Jersey: $40-75. No VFR rear wheels.

The Frame Man (916-927-9712), Sacramento, CA: $45-50.

Obviously the exact price is going to depend on the severity of the damage. Call to confirm, YMMV, caveat emptor, etc.

Action Machines and Frame Man are obviously your lower cost options. Both are said (on the VFR archives) to do good work. Since we had front & rear wheels to fix, we went with Frame Man. They charged around $45 each, IIRC, and turned them around in a couple of days, with payment by COD. Shipping wasn't too expensive, since the tires (and air :P) were removed. I might add that upon hearing the price for the job, our local shop wanted Frame Man's address & phone#.

Frame Man did excellent work...kinda makes you wonder how they do it without leaving a mark, or requiring repainting, but that's their trade secret. FWIW, they are *very* nice people, and will take time on the phone to explain things and give you status, etc. I believe in some cases of severe damage, they will not attempt to repair a rim; but ours were pretty badly tweaked and they came out fine. Give 'em a call.