ORGS build up

[One Less Harley]

Here's a link to a breather hose I made up, it'll give you some ideas...at least how to improve on it anyway.

[x3300]

Over the past month I've been plagued with a lot of drive shaft problems.

When I had welded the extension into the shaft I noticed what looked like some inclusions in one of the welds, but left the repair for later. I decided to take care of that a few weeks ago. I ground out the inclusions with an angle grinder using the edge of the disk. I felt like a dentist working on a tooth. Once I got all the bad parts out I welded up the voids and ground off the excess. To stress relieve the weld joint I heated it to a dull red with a torch then covered the shaft with rags to cool slowly.



Here's the setup I used to check the alignment.



The other extension weld looked OK, so I thought I was done with the drive shaft and had a confident feeling about it...

Before my trip to Hollister Hills I tried to do a wheelie over a speed bump to impress onlookers. It ended badly, and needed to bring the bike home in the truck. Here's what I found when I took it apart.



The break was at the other weld that had looked OK. There wasn't much weld penetration, and the crack seems to have started at some inclusions below the surface. As I had mentioned, I decided I didn't like the method of using a pin to align the shaft for welding because I thought the hole for the pin could trap air or machining oil that would contaminate the weld and lead to inclusions. I had used a narrow square butt joint for the weld, and I thought I would get sufficient penetration with it.



For the repair I made up this fixture. To get perfect alignment of the V-grooves I finished them with a single pass on a mill.



Here's the shaft in the fixture. I ground the ends to make a V butt weld joint this time.



I did the weld, more carefully than usual, removed the excess, stress relieved the weld and aligned the shaft and once again thought I was done with the drive shaft...

After coming back from my shake-down ride at Hollister Hills I noticed a clicking sound from inside the swing arm when I moved the bike around. On taking it apart I found one of the welds on the U-joint caps had broken and the cap was coming out of the yoke. I could also see scrape marks on the top inside of the swing arm where something was hitting.

I don't think the torque through the joint was the cause, but more that the swing arm was going beyond its intended limit while bottoming and putting a large downward force on the yoke when the yoke and swing arm came into contact, and this force is what broke the weld and pushed the cap out. I had noticed before that the yoke clearance was very tight when the shock was fully compressed, and I now think there is deflection in the frame or other parts that is allowing the swing arm to more than expected in relationship to the transmission output flange.

I re-set the cap and put a new tack weld on it. While I had the shaft out I also decided to clean up the two extension welds. As can be seen on the far right of this view the weld is under cut is some places, and also has a few stray grind marks around it. I laid new weld beads over all the bad parts. To finish the shaft this time I did the stress relief, aligned it, then turned and polished the shaft on a lathe to get a smooth finish.



I also decided to make a spacer for the coupler spring to stiffen up the damper. I had a few pieces of 5 mm thick 6061-T4 aluminum scrap I cut out the spacer from.



Here's how the spacer looks in the assembled shaft. This view also shows the polished weld.



To limit the shock travel I made a 3 mm aluminum spacer to put under the rubber bumper of the shock. I didn't take a photo of it though. Because the swing arm is at such an angle I need to jack the back end up to add the swing arm oil.



I fixed up the other shake-down problems and I took the bike down to Hollister Hills again for another shake-down. I tried to ride it hard to get things to break, but just found a few minor things not worth reporting.



-x3300

[Prutser]

What an AMAZING video !

Lot of respect for your build skills.

[Clay Spinner]

What a fun looking ride! Well done with all the mods as well... a real accomplishment!

[LukasM]

So you've got bike building, metal working and riding skills... Not that's a good combination!!

Really enjoyed reading this thread, thanks for posting.

[Zebedee]

Originally Posted by LukasM

So you've got bike building, metal working and riding skills...

... to the point that I suspect I'm not the only one who is extremely envious of any one of these talents individually.

Originally Posted by LukasM

... Really enjoyed reading this thread, thanks for posting.

+1 ... many thanks and congratulations on the quality of the build report.



John

[Stagehand]

really that is terrific. I want one!

[hardwaregrrl]

Man, sorry about all of your driveshaft issues. But really glad you're sticking with it! Thanks for the video, looks like a great place to test your welds.

[Beater]

SO! Those look good ...

Think you could make a couple more?



I would gladly supply the length, several more shafts ... What is your time and skill worth?

PS - Looking GREAT!!!!

[blaine.hale]

Originally Posted by Beater

I would gladly supply the length, several more shafts ... What is your time and skill worth?

PS - Looking GREAT!!!!

Fred, I don't think you need to supply the length of your shaft, man.

[Beater]

I'm proud. I've got nothing to hide.

[x3300]

After my first dirt ride I decided I should try some more aggressive tires. I had liked the D.O.T approved Dunlop D606 tires when I used them on my old XR650R, so put in an order for a 130/90-17 and 90/90-21 set.



Heres how they compare to the partially used TKC-80s I took off.

The fronts.



The rears.



I had met a guy once who was using IRC GP-110 tires on his R100GS, and he said that even though they were tube-type tires he was not using tubes with his tubeless GS rims, and that he often used tube-type tires without tubes and never had problems, so decided to try it with my D606s. Here's a photo of the IRC tires he was using.



The D606s were stiffer than the TKC-80s, so were a little harder to mount. The hardest part was getting the bead to seal with the stiff front tire, but with some effort I could get them both filled and balanced. This is the info printed on the tires:

                 TKC-80 D606
front tread      2 ply  3 ply
front sidewall   2 ply  3 ply
rear tread       4 ply  3 ply
rear sidewall    2 ply  3 ply

And how they look in use. An aggressive looking tire for being D.O.T. approved for street use. I found 14 psi (.965 bar) rear and 16 psi (1.10 bar) front seems to work well off-road.





After some use I got a puncture in the rear. I had been carrying some Slime tire plugs, a plug tool, and a small tire pump with me just in case.



Here's the plug after about 100 off-road miles. The Slime plugs worked well and can recommend them. I primed the puncture hole with rubber cement before inserting the plug.



I now have about 700 miles on the tires, most off-road, and the tube-type tires mounted without tubes on tube-less rims seem to be working OK.

-x3300

[Stagehand]

I'm a big fan of those D606's. Agreed on all counts in your post, but I havent had occasion to put a hole in one, yet. I'm running tubes, an 18" in the rear 17" tire.

I get about 3-4K out of them, at the outside, but at under $100 each its a great all around tire.

[kellymac530]

Just finished reading the whole thread today, every word, every reply.

1st- LOVE the build. Love the concept. Love the execution. Love the patience and attention to detail.

2nd- Love the D606 rear not so much the front. I am Stagehand on the wear, 3-4k depending on how hard I ride and what terrain I ride. Ocotillo rips tires up and so does Hi-desert, I get 3k . If I get somewhere more clayish or just easy riding I get closer to 4k. On the front I run the Dunlop D756 even tho it is not DOT. I have not been hassled about them yet. Here where I am at they want to see your current Registration, Proof of Insurance and your Sparky...tires have not been an issue yet and I have gotten better street wear and traction out of the D756s so I run that.

3rd- The only thing I would do much different would be the exhaust, but that is JUST ME. Your fit and finish is so awesome but that muffler looks a bit hodge podge. I think you will rework it once you make up some bags and bag mounts, so I have hope. I would do more of a megaphone starting right at the Y pipe and make a cone megaphone to the Supertrapp end diameter. Similar to the way they did them on the HPN Dakar bikes but not exactly.

Great thread, great build, great narration...thanks for sharing and I hope my 1 minor critique is not offensive.

[kellymac530]

BTW ther are a few fender options that might help with venting for the oil cooler but may still help keep at least some mud off of it here is one:

http://www.motorcycle-superstore.com...nt-Fender.aspx

There are also these scoops, not sure if they direct it to your specific cooler location, but they might, or you could make a similar concept:

http://www.motorcycle-superstore.com...ADS-Scoop.aspx

For your more street based riding a super moto fender is a little less drag and less lift on the front and cuts down on that twitchy feel of a dirt bike front fender, this one is vented at the rear as well:

http://www.motorcycle-superstore.com...T.ac=SLIsearch

The vents have flat areas that catch some of the upflinging mud while letting air straigh thru, might be good for you.

Again LOVE the build and bike.