Yamaha WR400F

[weatherm]

cool thanks a bunch. I'm going out of town for xmas so when I get back I'll look into that.

[a1fa]

Originally Posted by weatherm

cool thanks a bunch. I'm going out of town for xmas so when I get back I'll look into that.

It took me about an hour check the valves, and another 30 minutes to button her back up after my first try. I don't have good tools (and patience), and I managed to strip some bolts along the way.

Clean working environment is your friend.
Replace all stripped bolts.
Walk away if things don't go out right the first time.
I ended up dropping the cam clip into the engine, followed by the cam chain. I was so upset; and late for friends birthday party. When I came home I got both resolved without a hiccup. I also dropped a washer right into the spark plug hole... That was fun. Experience is priceless. I can now do all this within 1 hour; minus the dropping of things part.

[DBM]

Sorry if this is 205, but here is a site with some good info for dual sporting a 99 WR400F.

http://www.farplaces.com/dual.htm

[mrchristian]

The previous owner of my WR had a really hooptie contraption for holding the plate on the bike. He bolted a piece of carpet to the underside of the fender letting the plate swing around. Wish I had a picture; it really was really ridiculous. I took it for a ride just for kicks, and my friend nearly died laughing as he following me watching the plate swing back and forth, banging around all over the place.

Anyway, I got rid of that and I bolted the plate to a piece of aluminum and then bolted that to the fender. Anyway, it lasted a year, but the aluminum failed at the section where I bolted it to and on my last ride in the desert I lost my plate. Aluminum fatigues over time, $20 lesson learned.

So here's the rear fender. I was told that it doesn't have a 99 fender, but one from a 426. Anybody have any suggestions to mount my new plate cleanly (without a piece of carpet)?

[weatherm]

Originally Posted by a1fa

It took me about an hour check the valves, and another 30 minutes to button her back up after my first try. I don't have good tools (and patience), and I managed to strip some bolts along the way.

Clean working environment is your friend.
Replace all stripped bolts.
Walk away if things don't go out right the first time.
I ended up dropping the cam clip into the engine, followed by the cam chain. I was so upset; and late for friends birthday party. When I came home I got both resolved without a hiccup. I also dropped a washer right into the spark plug hole... That was fun. Experience is priceless. I can now do all this within 1 hour; minus the dropping of things part.

Haha..I have a bad temper and tools tend to get broken or launched into oblivion. Thanks for the specs and advice!

[dvgonzo]

I tried using aluminum too as I have had two plates crack all the way across right below where they bolt up and sometime later notice I am plateless. Aluminum did not cut it as it did the same thing but would last a little longer. I then made one out of stainless but really do not like thinking about what ANY metal backup plate or even the license plate could do to you in a get off. Think razor blade at speed.

How I finally cured the problem was I got a piece of 3/16 inch thick rubber that has a little fiber reinfocement in it and cut out a piece slightly larger than the plate. I used 5/16 inch NYLON bolts and nuts in all four corners to hold the plate and rubber sheet together, glued a real thin rubber edge material all around on the outside edge of the plate (to help prevent the razor blade effect) and then two more nylon screws about in the middle of the plate through the fender. I did use fender washers on BOTH sides where the bolts that mount the plate through the fender to help dissapate the flexing forces a little bit more and have had no more issues so far.

[a1fa]

I am glad that we are getting a bit more chatter in this thread. Plenty of you guys out there with WR400F/426F.

[mrchristian]

Originally Posted by dvgonzo

How I finally cured the problem was I got a piece of 3/16 inch thick rubber that has a little fiber reinfocement in it and cut out a piece slightly larger than the plate. I used 5/16 inch NYLON bolts and nuts in all four corners to hold the plate and rubber sheet together, glued a real thin rubber edge material all around on the outside edge of the plate (to help prevent the razor blade effect) and then two more nylon screws about in the middle of the plate through the fender. I did use fender washers on BOTH sides where the bolts that mount the plate through the fender to help dissapate the flexing forces a little bit more and have had no more issues so far.

Pics?

EDIT: Used my mad fab skills to create sort of the same thing. And by fab, I mean cut a piece of plastic with scissors and a hole punch. I plan on zip-tie'ing it instead of using bolts to keep the weight down (hopefully making it less prone to failure), then zipping it to the fender. Now, I just need to pick up some zip ties.

[dvgonzo]

Do not have any pics right now, last computer took them all with it when it died. Have not had time to get around to it with this new one yet.

Lightness was the reason I went to the nylon screws to mount it. They are better than zip ties and way lighter than steel ones, and can be had in most common sizes. #10's would probably have been good enough but I went 5/16 as I had a bunch on hand.

[mrchristian]

Originally Posted by a1fa

I am glad that we are getting a bit more chatter in this thread. Plenty of you guys out there with WR400F/426F.

Yeah I really dig mine. For some reason people haven't discovered this bike. In my area it seems people are asking close to $3K for used up XR400's if they have a plate which is insane. You can find WR's for a third less. I've ridden both and the old XR doesn't hold a candle to the WR, except for being a little less vibey. The XR is smooooooth...

[Kawidad]

Originally Posted by DBM

Sorry if this is 205, but here is a site with some good info for dual sporting a 99 WR400F.

http://www.farplaces.com/dual.htm

I'm in the process of legalizing my WR400, meaning I bought it with a plate but no equipment to make it street legal. Here in Commiefornia that is a recipe for a ticket, so I decided to make legal. I'm going to post up a thread once I get it done to make sure I did it right, but there may be an easier way to do it.

[dvgonzo]

Kawidad, I had heard that in Ca. they were not only no longer allowing you to plate bikes that did not come equipped that way from the factory but were now going back and pulling plates for bikes that had been made street leagal that they had granted legal staus to in past years. Is that true?

I know here in N.M. they quit allowing us to plate bikes that were dirt only about 2-3 years ago but so far have not tried to make it retro active for ones that were plated before that time.

We only had to sign an affidavit that stated we had added turn signals, horn, high low beam, at least one mirror, DOT tires, and brake lights before they stopped us licensing them. Some folks never did do all that but just said they had.

I never added the turn signals as it was (and I think still is ) still legal to signal with your hand here, but if you do not a cop can site you.

[Kawidad]

Originally Posted by dvgonzo

Kawidad, I had heard that in Ca. they were not only no longer allowing you to plate bikes that did not come equipped that way from the factory but were now going back and pulling plates for bikes that had been made street leagal that they had granted legal staus to in past years. Is that true?

I know here in N.M. they quit allowing us to plate bikes that were dirt only about 2-3 years ago but so far have not tried to make it retro active for ones that were plated before that time.

We only had to sign an affidavit that stated we had added turn signals, horn, high low beam, at least one mirror, DOT tires, and brake lights before they stopped us licensing them. Some folks never did do all that but just said they had.

I never added the turn signals as it was (and I think still is ) still legal to signal with your hand here, but if you do not a cop can site you.

Sort of.....

What they're doing is pulling plates on bikes that were made after 2004 and/or the plate was issued after 2005. So older bikes with plates are grandfathered in. What I'm concerned about is rangers with a sharp eye and an even sharper pen. Most cops don't care all that much, but in my experience, rangers of all stripes are far greener and therefore more inclined to write tickets for cheezy equipment violations.

[dvgonzo]

I know what you mean. We had a bud get written up cause his tires were not DOT approved ( everything else was in order) and had the misfortune to run into an LEO that was anal enough to look at the sidewalls for that. I think he just had a scooter hatred myself as he was a real a$$hat.

[Kawidad]

Originally Posted by dvgonzo

I know what you mean. We had a bud get written up cause his tires were not DOT approved ( everything else was in order) and had the misfortune to run into an LEO that was anal enough to look at the sidewalls for that. I think he just had a scooter hatred myself as he was a real a$$hat.

Yeah, I've never really run across any "real" cops who were that bad, honestly, many of them ride too, but rangers around here anyway are a totally different story. To most of them it is a religion, helping to serve Mother Gaia, but I'm not going to turn the thread into a JM style rant.