The XT350 thread

[SkidMarx]

Originally Posted by J-Ball

Hi all, I was very happy to see an XT thread going. Great bike, obvious limitations here and there but tons of fun and great for lots of things.

I will have some carb questions coming soon but for now I was wondering if someone could enlighten on checking the valve clearances. I was told by a local mechanic that they are set from the factory and they don't need to be adjusted. Is there truth to this? If not any insight on how to check the valve adjustments would be great. Thanks!

The valves don't move much, but they should be checked once in a while. I don't remember what the manual says, but I know it's in the schedule.
p.s. Don't take it to that mechanic.

[J-Ball]

Burtondr---have you tried going up to 15wt and adding about an inch longer spacer than stock? I did this, it helped some, no leaks yet. You should be able to bottom out pretty hard repeatedly with out self-destructing the forks.

I'd like track down some info on either swapping tt350 tubes and rebuild or better yet, is it possible to do tripple trees and forks off of a tt500/xt500 or ???? If so the same info for the back would be in order (most likely have to swap swing arms) AND you would most likely want to beef up the frame. All in all it is what it is, if you're out riding the XT perhaps it's time to upgrade the whole bike.....


Skidmarx---thanks for the reply. I figured as much. I only have 1600 miles on the bike but they've been rough, ass-hauling miles. Not too easy on the ole XT. I parked it for a number of months and began riding a yamaha powered street bike thumper. When I came back to the XT it seemed like the engine was kinda "pingy" sounding in the top end so that's why I was wondering about valve clearances. Perhaps it's always been like this and I was just forgot. Does this pingy sound familiar to anyone? Any more info on checking the valves on an XT350?

[The Full Monty]

I just finished cleaning my XT’s carburetor because it was running rough and the idle was set really high by the previous owner. The bike runs great now, in fact better then ever. But I still can’t get it to idle down and it misses every 5-8 seconds until it has warmed up for 15 minutes or so. Right now it is idling around 2,000 rpm. Mid and high rpm seems perfect.

Any advice on getting it to idle better?

[SkidMarx]

Turn the Pilot screw out a bit. 1 to 1 1/2 turns should do it. You will likely have to drill out the brass cap that covers it.
It is on the front side of the bowl. It will also start much better.
make changes of 1/4 to 1/2 turn at a time.
It's a good idea to screw it all the way in while counting turns so you have a baseline to return to if you get confused or loose count.

p.s. Black text is hard to read.

[Capsicum]

I'm just commuting about these days.
So I just ordered up a 50 and 47 tooth sprockets, new unbent bars, maxxis promaxx m6102/m6103 street rubber (they are crazy cheap at bikebandit and the customer reviews rated them as equal to the BT45.) and of course wheel weights and a pair of spoons.

Note: The Maxxis site says M6102 comes in 3.00-21 as does motorcycle-superstore, bikebandit has it listed as 90/90-21.

The 50t should give me a 9.1% drop in rpm or a 10% gain in speed, however you wish to view it.
The 47t should give a 14.5% drop in rpm or a 17% gain.
A 44t would give numbers of 20% drop or 25% gain, verses stock 55t

Shifting from 1st to 2nd is a 26.5% drop in rpm or a 36% speed gain.
I feel that 2nd gear with the stock 19/55t is borderline for taking off,(as I don't want to put excess wear on the clutch) so I stayed away from the 44t feeling it would make the new first too close to the old second. Also I like the quite stock muffler more than my supertrapp and pulling 6th with the 44t may need the assistance of the trapp.

Actually now that I look at my numbers first gear with 19/44 is nearly identical to 2nd gear with 18/55. (And 18/44=19/47 or dern close)

5th->6th shift is a 14.7% rpm drop or 17.2% speed gain.

Tune in in a few weeks for the empirical info.

[The Full Monty]

Thanks for the info SkidMarx, I was able to get the rpm down a little (~1,800) and the engine sounds good. It does take a loooong time to warm up though. I am just going to ride it for a while, before I make any other adjustments!

Capsicum- Looking forward to hearing what works best....


Oh, and thanks for the heads up on the black font...

[Capsicum]

The tires and handlebar are on backorder. ETA for the rear tire is next week, front is the first week of Oct., and there is no eta availible for the oem handlebar. I was hoping to judge the new handling with two new tires and a nice straight bar.
At least I can judge the effect of the front and rear separately now and my front tire still has enough life to last through Oct..
I can still fidle with the gearing though.

[The Full Monty]

A bolt is broken off on the right exhaust manifold flange. It is difficult to get to, because of the frame is in the way. It has been that way since I purchased the bike, but it did not seem to be leaking so I just wired the flange down so it would not rattle. But today, I noticed a rat tat tat tat sound and I THINK I saw the exhaust pipe vibrating away from the manifold (just a few thousands). I am now starting to worry that the exhaust may etch a grove in the aluminum cylinder head.

So…..I think it is time to make this repair. At first I thought best way is to remove the engine and have a local machine shop drill it out.

But after looking at it again, I think I might try first with a left hand drill bit. It will require removing the exhaust manifold, wheel and shocks, so that I can drill it straight. Has anyone else had this problem or know of a better fix….other then buying a new cylinder head!

[SkidMarx]

Originally Posted by FTL

A bolt is broken off on the right exhaust manifold flange. It is difficult to get to, because of the frame is in the way. It has been that way since I purchased the bike, but it did not seem to be leaking so I just wired the flange down so it would not rattle. But today, I noticed a rat tat tat tat sound and I THINK I saw the exhaust pipe vibrating away from the manifold (just a few thousands). I am now starting to worry that the exhaust may etch a grove in the aluminum cylinder head.

So…..I think it is time to make this repair. At first I thought best way is to remove the engine and have a local machine shop drill it out.

But after looking at it again, I think I might try first with a left hand drill bit. It will require removing the exhaust manifold, wheel and shocks, so that I can drill it straight. Has anyone else had this problem or know of a better fix….other then buying a new cylinder head!

Get an EZ-Out. You need to be carefull and make sure you dont walk the drill off the bolt and into the AL head. It will chew up the head in a hearbeat. I had one of mine strip out a while back so I put thread inserts in all of them. It's much stronger, and it helps with corrosion since it's steel on steel now instead of steel on AL. I also use a healthy dose of Anti-Sieze just in case.
You may need to pull the head. It would be very dificult to get to the holes near the frame.

[The Full Monty]

Originally Posted by SkidMarx

Get an EZ-Out. You need to be carefull and make sure you dont walk the drill off the bolt and into the AL head. It will chew up the head in a hearbeat. I had one of mine strip out a while back so I put thread inserts in all of them. It's much stronger, and it helps with corrosion since it's steel on steel now instead of steel on AL. I also use a healthy dose of Anti-Sieze just in case.
You may need to pull the head. It would be very dificult to get to the holes near the frame.

A guy that I work with has a machine shop. I don’t think I am going to mess around with it, I am going to pull the head and have him machine it out. SkidMarx, do you remember what size inserts you used? Or even what size bolts are used?

[Grreatdog]

With aluminum I skip the easy outs and just drill through the bolt with progressively larger bits until I can get the threads or whatever is left of the bolt out. I have done too many to remember like that on outboards.

IMO it is better to drop the motor (easy on an XT350) for an easy shot at drilling that bolt out than to pull the head off. Besides if you screw up with aluminum any decent welding shop can fill and retap your screw up.

I am a strong believer in high temp anti-seize for those bolts.

[SkidMarx]

Originally Posted by Grreatdog

With aluminum I skip the easy outs and just drill through the bolt with progressively larger bits until I can get the threads or whatever is left of the bolt out. I have done too many to remember like that on outboards.

IMO it is better to drop the motor (easy on an XT350) for an easy shot at drilling that bolt out than to pull the head off. Besides if you screw up with aluminum any decent welding shop can fill and retap your screw up.

I am a strong believer in high temp anti-seize for those bolts.

I like Grreatdogs suggestions better than mine. Especially the dropping the motor instead of pulling the head part.

[Grreatdog]

If you do it, start with a SHARP drill bit maybe half the diameter of the bolt or smaller and work up from there so you don't get into the threads. The first hole is tough. SO DON'T BREAK THE DRILL BIT OFF. The reason I don't like easy outs is because if - no make that - when they break off they are a #@*^% to drill through. Same for a broken off drill bit.

So be careful starting out, take your time and don't go too deep. Use the other holes to mark the drill bit. After that first hole it is easy to make the hole progessively larger until you can back whatever is left of the bolt out. You might need to buy the correct size tap to clean it out after drilling if the threads are really corroded into the head.

[moonie527]

Thought I'd chime in here. I just bought this '89 xt350 for $600 last week (actually I'm trading some electrical work that the owner was going to pay me $600 for ). It has 8900 miles on it and starts on the first or second kick. Other than a small dent in the tank it's in great condition although it does need some routine maintenance. I'm going to order a new chain and sprockets (worn) as well as new handlebars (tweaked a little) and various other small parts. I'll probably have tons of questions as it is my first bike and I have yet to receive my Clymers for it so any advice is appreciated.

[IMG][/IMG]

[moonie527]

Okay, first question. I took the bike out for a short 5 mile ride today and noticed that there was oil leaking from the oil fill plug. Unscrewed the plug, cleaned it and the area, then tightened it back down and went back out riding. Got home and noticed that there was oil seeping from the same place, is this common, or should I be worried?