The XT550 Thread: Info, Stories and Mods Inside!

[Futura]

Originally Posted by Zecatfish

What a Saturday.
Don't count out these old machines, with a few mods they're as capable a woods machine as anything built new today.
It will go in and back out again.

I had actually thought about retiring the old bike.

I have a KTM LC4 640 too, but it had proven less than reliable and its engine is in pieces on the workbench and I'm seriously thinking that its going to leave one piece at time when I get ready.

Overall I out around 370 miles on the bike over the weekend without much flaw. I'm fighting a WOT burble still and it actually straightened out for a bit on the way home and the thing reached the 80mph mark. Pretty good chore since I'm not a light weight by any means.

Great looking bike and I salute the dependability of these XT550...most of the time.

I used to take mine deep into the back country on Vancouver Island and it seemed that it was always the modern bikes that had a break down. My 'ol XT550 kept on trucking on. I used to take my beauty everywhere. Started on a couple of kicks and always brought me home.

No right now though.

I've been rambling on about my issues, so here's an update.

Put in a new petcock and was pleased to see plenty of gunk in the old one so I was hoping it was a fuel starvation issue. There was a crack in the underside of the right side air boot so I buttoned it up with some silicon sealant. There are no air leaks that I can find with starter spray. I then took the bowl off yet again and made some adjustments to the fuel level and made sure that was all at spec.

Then it fired up, idles ok with a bit of hunting, revs ok and it seemed to get better with time. So I jump on and $%&*#@&$ bogs down while under load, sputters and hesitates. It's got me perplexed.

If there are any other ideas let me know.

I'm about to go spend some money on an old carb to refurbish and see if that fixes me up.

cheers,

[Zecatfish]

Originally Posted by Futura

Great looking bike and I salute the dependability of these XT550...most of the time.

I used to take mine deep into the back country on Vancouver Island and it seemed that it was always the modern bikes that had a break down. My 'ol XT550 kept on trucking on. I used to take my beauty everywhere. Started on a couple of kicks and always brought me home.

No right now though.

I've been rambling on about my issues, so here's an update.

Put in a new petcock and was pleased to see plenty of gunk in the old one so I was hoping it was a fuel starvation issue. There was a crack in the underside of the right side air boot so I buttoned it up with some silicon sealant. There are no air leaks that I can find with starter spray. I then took the bowl off yet again and made some adjustments to the fuel level and made sure that was all at spec.

Then it fired up, idles ok with a bit of hunting, revs ok and it seemed to get better with time. So I jump on and $%&*#@&$ bogs down while under load, sputters and hesitates. It's got me perplexed.

If there are any other ideas let me know.

I'm about to go spend some money on an old carb to refurbish and see if that fixes me up.

cheers,

Okay so the carb seems good.
Replace the spark plug. Maybe it got partially fouled and underload its not firing.
I've had a coil go bad on the Jeep too that acted the same way, seemed to run fine but under load it was just not enough spark to fire and reated a miss.

Not sure what else to check after that. Could be a weak cdi box too. Earlier in the thread there was one or two that had issues because of a weak ignition module and wouldn't run out correctly.
....................................

[GoosePilot]

Originally Posted by Zecatfish

Acerbis one time made a 25Ltr Tank for the XT550.
I'm trying to find out if we could get a limited production run.
No idea on price yet, but I do need to know how many of you would interested if we could get them?

I managed to buy one of the ACERBIS Tanks from a chap in Germany....

It arrived........and although it will need some cleaning up, it's intact. It was sold to me and advertised as a XT550 tank, but cannot check as I'm in the UK and bikes in SOuth Africa..... but before I cart this all the way home... is there perhaps someone here that could confirm whether this is indeed the correct item..?

I think they were used on the XT550 & very early XT600's..........

Pics of the tank and the number underneath

[Zecatfish]

Originally Posted by GoosePilot

I managed to buy one of the ACERBIS Tanks from a chap in Germany....

It arrived........and although it will need some cleaning up, it's intact. It was sold to me and advertised as a XT550 tank, but cannot check as I'm in the UK and bikes in SOuth Africa..... but before I cart this all the way home... is there perhaps someone here that could confirm whether this is indeed the correct item..?

I think they were used on the XT550 & very early XT600's..........

Pics of the tank and the number underneath

That is an 84-86 XT600 tank not XT550, I was looking at one on ebay uk, but shipping was going to be $200+US so I backed out.
It sure looks like it would fit the 550.
The stickers missing that said Yamaha XT Desert.....
If I could find one someplace that postage wouldn't rape me I'd buy one to try. I did make a Tenere 8 gallon tank fit but it left you to far back and the front end light.


http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ws/eBayISA...m=110881320249

[GoosePilot]

Originally Posted by Zecatfish

That is an 84-86 XT600 tank not XT550, I was looking at one on ebay uk, but shipping was going to be $200+US so I backed out.
It sure looks like it would fit the 550.
The stickers missing that said Yamaha XT Desert.....
If I could find one someplace that postage wouldn't rape me I'd buy one to try. I did make a Tenere 8 gallon tank fit but it left you to far back and the front end light.

Zacatfish - so you were the bugger that pushed me up to 52.00 pounds!!

I'm bidding on that one as well......... have 2 XT550's that need (upgrading) Major Mods to take the tank .........

[Zecatfish]

Originally Posted by GoosePilot

Zacatfish - so you were the bugger that pushed me up to 52.00 pounds!!

I'm bidding on that one as well......... have 2 XT550's that need (upgrading) Major Mods to take the tank .........

I topped out on my bidding.. Shipping was going to kill it bad though...

[ForesterXTguy]

Do any of you guys know what sort of aftermarket parts are/were around for the 550?

[Zecatfish]

Originally Posted by ForesterXTguy

Do any of you guys know what sort of aftermarket parts are/were around for the 550?

I don't think there was much to be had.
Acerbis made a 25L tank, now nearly impossible to find. Discontinued in 1994.
I have not seen a specific exhaust for one either. Mostly I would imagine for the odd shape of the OEM one. They could not just make minor alterations to a current model and market it.
EBC makes better brake shoes thats about the thing still made except consumables like sprockets chains etc.

[GoosePilot]

Originally Posted by Zecatfish

I don't think there was much to be had.
Acerbis made a 25L tank, now nearly impossible to find. Discontinued in 1994.
I have not seen a specific exhaust for one either. Mostly I would imagine for the odd shape of the OEM one. They could not just make minor alterations to a current model and market it.
EBC makes better brake shoes thats about the thing still made except consumables like sprockets chains etc.

What are the chances that we organise a group-buy from ACERBIS....... I mean c'mon they MUST still have the mould and jig for the XT550 tank.
If they were prepared to do a run of say... 10 units or 20 units...... surely we'd be able to get enough people through Pre-selling to make it worth their while?

Maybe they'd refuse... maybe they would sell us the mould.... or maybe someone's got one of these tanks and would be kind enough to loan it to someone so we can make a new mould from copying it...?

[Zecatfish]

Originally Posted by GoosePilot

What are the chances that we organise a group-buy from ACERBIS....... I mean c'mon they MUST still have the mould and jig for the XT550 tank.
If they were prepared to do a run of say... 10 units or 20 units...... surely we'd be able to get enough people through Pre-selling to make it worth their while?

Maybe they'd refuse... maybe they would sell us the mould.... or maybe someone's got one of these tanks and would be kind enough to loan it to someone so we can make a new mould from copying it...?

I actually emailed italy and US Acerbis about this. I got a reply back from the US office saying they showed a tank for the XT400/600 but nothing on the 550 and I replied with a link to a picture showing it asking for a group buy limited run.
I got no further reply from them or Italy.
Wouldn't hurt for you to email them too.

[GoosePilot]

Originally Posted by Zecatfish

I actually emailed italy and US Acerbis about this. I got a reply back from the US office saying they showed a tank for the XT400/600 but nothing on the 550 and I replied with a link to a picture showing it asking for a group buy limited run.
I got no further reply from them or Italy.
Wouldn't hurt for you to email them too.

[Zecatfish]

Originally Posted by GoosePilot

Does that mean you emailed them too?
Heres an old picture of an XT550 with the 25L tank someone posted a long time ago on adv.

[Zecatfish]

I dropped another email to the italian side of things, in Italian too.
Hopefully they will respond and not just delete it.

[GoosePilot]

Originally Posted by Zecatfish

I dropped another email to the italian side of things, in Italian too.
Hopefully they will respond and not just delete it.

Cool man - yep I sent email to USA and Italy........ but I have had dealing with the Italians before (Milan & Northern Italy) and found them to be a difficult bunch! Have a lot of SOuthern Italy friends and they are great - but even they dislike the Northerners...

Lets hope they will respond!

[Zecatfish]

Originally Posted by GoosePilot

Cool man - yep I sent email to USA and Italy........ but I have had dealing with the Italians before (Milan & Northern Italy) and found them to be a difficult bunch! Have a lot of SOuthern Italy friends and they are great - but even they dislike the Northerners...

Lets hope they will respond!

Well if you decide to part with that XT600 Desert Tank let me know.
I would love to see a picture of it at least sitting on the XT550.
Just a proof of concept.
I bought a Tenere tank from a fellow in Austrailia.

I rode it around the field a few times and with the short swing arm, and rider forced father back, it was wheelie happy.
I had to make a custom seat pan for it too.
Amazing what you can do with waxpaper and fiberglass.
Now if there was actually a good epoxy that was ethonol/gas safe
I would just fab up a tank that way.

I did start one more 550 tank it holds 5 gallons, but it looks like a reject
from a MadMAx movie set.
I could pull it from the shed and cut out the welds and start over, and try for a better finish.