A forum for owners of Yamaha TTR250 trail and enduro bikes!

tripodtiger · Senior Member

RE: Resurrection of a scrapheap '02 TTR

TTRfan · Super Guru

It sounded real good until just at the end of the video wink

ttr steve · Super Guru

Agree, what a shame cry Hope it is an easy fix.

tripodtiger · Senior Member

So, with that in mind, I did this...

I hope it was that easy. I reckon that I've left it loose when I made my half dozen attempts to re-assemble the carb internals.

Fingers crossed, the next video will be of the Tiddlers Rally at Trunkey Creek, next weekend.

I did hear this one really concerning noise. I reckon it was reverb into my helmet because it was gone when I moved around trying to see the source.

Kaos · Senior Member

Thats a good result, hopefully fixed. Hows your throttle cable?

Similar happened to me (on a WR) and was because the throttle cable was adjusted just a bit tight. Or could be sucking air in somewhere.

-- Edited by Kaos on Sunday 31st of March 2019 12:29:14 AM

tripodtiger · Senior Member

It is fine now. Throttle cables was one of the first things checked. Sufficient free play in both.

Pretty happy after about 700km ride over the weekend. Wagga to Trunkey Creek, for Tiddler's 5.

About 37 turned up, raised $500 for the local primary school and tipped a fair bit more than that into the pub for food, accommodation and beers.

Before I left, I chased up the $6 DR windscreen. Mine cost about $10, when you add the cost of the extra bits that go into it. The garbage bin did cost $12. One can get 2 screens from a bin.

And, I attempted to do something to keep my soft bags out of the rear wheel. The didn't break but, they didn't work either. I ended up pulling the bags forward onto the side covers.

So it ran well, seems as long as the revs are there, it has a little bit of power left to accelerate and climb lots of hills in 6th. Let the revs drop a bit and 5th is almost all that is needed.

I held 100km/h for as long as I wanted it to - on the freeway run home, that was a couple of hundred klicks.

I had to come home on the bitumen, as the gear lever spline stripped. I thought it was my foot not getting into the correct position. Until I went to change down and couldn't find the lever.

The left fork seal is already leaking and the seal above the exhaust is still leaking.

It's obviously the source of the leak. The question is...

What is this seal for? Is it in fact a seal?

I figured it may be for a tacho drive for use of the head in some other Yamaha product. Any clue?

I covered it with Threebond, but that didn't work. The bolt immediately behind it, drains the oil from the adjacent cam well.

I looked at Yamaha parts microfiche for the head and it's not even shown. Can't order a replacement if it's not on the fiche.

Scraping off the three bond pulled some of the black plastic off and it is metal behind.

And a snap of one of the tracks I was on, Friday arvo.

ttboof · Super Guru

It's a blanking seal/plug mine started leaking bought a new one from the local dealer for a few bucks and good fix . There is a good replacment

One in Steve's shop

tripodtiger · Senior Member

Cheers. I stuck a thread on the repairs page. The replacement part from Steve's shop should be enroute soon.

Fat Leopard · Veteran Member

Where do you find the frame-mounted grab handle between the rear fender and the exhaust (as seen in your first picture of this thread)? It looks like an OEM part, are these common in Australia?

tripodtiger · Senior Member

The grab bar was on it when I got it. The fittings make it look oem. I can't say that I'm terribly familiar with TTRs, or the difference between models and changes for each market.

It looks like there should be one on the left.

No matter, I'm using the mount points on both sides for my next bit of Ray's Fukbrication (you've heard of Jim's Mowing etc - other proposed businesses are Ray's Muckanicing, Ray's Bewildering (building) and Ray's Welder Beasting. Ray's Electrickery has been around for ages) is a very simple rear tray.

I actually drew this at 1:1 and then bought (!) some plastic cardboard to mock this up. Then I took it all down to a sheet aluminium bloke (yeah, you know what I mean) and he's gonna cut it out of 3mm aluminium, with the folds 250mm wide. The indicators will be mounted on the outside, so it wont have the irregular shaped holes either side.

I reckon I'm going to follow UncleGra's lead and use 20 litre petrol jerrys inside my Andy Straps throw over bags and let the pillion pegs hold them in position. Suck it and see. He's got rid of racks and stuff on his 701 and DR.

-- Edited by tripodtiger on Saturday 27th of April 2019 08:14:44 AM

tripodtiger · Senior Member

I also scored an Acerbis tank. I had ordered a new one from the bike shop got home and has a squiz at Adv Rider. A bloke from Western Victoria offered me his unused one for a great discount. Even got it delivered to me at Broadford last weekend.

That's just sitting there for position. Looks like the taps will be very close to the lowest part of the tank.

The XR kit had a rubber semi-circle for the frame. That went on so the front of the tank rests on it and the rear rests of the TTR rubber. Given my skills with metal folding & shaping, I got on the net & ordered a Totally TTRs mounting kit. That will save me days and days of frustration and miles of walking between the garage and the fukbrication place, out the back.

I also got the Totally TTRs , Viton O ring blanking plug and some other bits, that have already gone on. Fingers crossed it wont leak now.

Beyond that, it's now got wires ready for my Zumo. And a B&B Offroad sump guard should be here next week. Why it wasn't here last week is anybody's guess.

I wont be riding it again until everything is mounted. It's a bit of speculation whether it will all go without too much trouble. Hope so, my elsies give me enough of that already.

tripodtiger · Senior Member

The tank is on. Thanks for the fitting kit, Steve.

The blue tank is a bit different to the white tank in it's fittings, not just material. You make that point in your video.

The rubber support that was in the Acerbis kit is too thick - only because the mounting plate wont line up with the frame. I used the foam strip from the Totally TTRs kit.

I tried moving the horn onto the tank mount. That didn't work. The bolt head becomes obscured and the horn itself doesn't really sit in a good spot. I had already bent the horn mount back out of the way (as per the video), so the horn went back on there.

Ity was far far far easier to remove the front guard to get a spanner, and my line of sight, into position to do up the securing bolts

I wondered about using locktite, as the Acerbis made tank on my 96 Tiger has captive nuts in the tank. They are very prone to rotating in the plastic if you use any force in doing them up. I figured that once both mounts are in they aren't coming back off in a hurry. Still, I was conservative with the locktite - just a small dot at the top of the thread.

The long bracket for the back of the tank doens't fit. It's not needed anyway.

And, I needed to open up the wings of the seat retaining plate to allow it to slide out with less force.

The biggest hassle I had was keeping the wiring out of the way when I fitted the tank over the frame. Geez, if that's the worst thing that happens today, life's pretty good.

The seat was really difficult to get into position. Actually, I couldn't get the bolt holes to stay in position for the bolts to be inserted. Not to worry.

I cut the thread off some 6mm s/s bolts

Ground off the cut end to a bit of a point & then inserted them into the seat.

Pushed the seat into position - very easily really. Then marked the thread exposed blow the frame so I knew where to drill.

I didn't but, I should've pulled the thread out for the next bit.

File a small flat at the paint dot. Then drill a hole through the thread.

With a healty dose of locktite, re-install the thread into the seat and wait for the locktite to go off. Just so you know it's tight.

Re-fit the seat. Fit two R pins with some tie wire and install the R pins to retain the seat.

Heaps easier to get the seat on and off than mucking around with tools and pushing seats to line up etc. And then finding the bolts and washers in the grass or dirt. or the black hole in the garage floor.

-- Edited by tripodtiger on Sunday 5th of May 2019 03:51:22 AM

tripodtiger · Senior Member

Nearly finished, except the tank is off again.

The B&B Offroad sump guard went on in about 10 minutes. No drama whatsoever.

My own design of rear tray also went on with no problem. For something that I measured and drew up, then took to a vapour cutter to put into aluminium, I am astounded. Fits perfectly. It is a bit fiddly, as there are spacers and washers between the tray and the bolt holes. I reckon some thicker walled aluminium tube would allow me to dispense with the washers.

Some space under there for???

It is very plain, at the moment. I will need to work on some test loading so I can then work on some suitably positioned holes or hook points. I could even bolt a wider plate over the top.

No doubt the cutter could be programmed to remove a bit of material in the sides, so it looks better. Maybe a TT-R logo? This one will just get stickers.

And the tank is off, again. Once I got the turn indicators connected (which worked fine), the horn was shorting onto the frame. I checked the horn switch before I pulled the tank, to be sure.

It's waiting as I have the historic roadrace bikes to finish - two meetings over the next fortnight.

Following week, I'm off to The Finke Desert Race on the TTR.

mossproof · Super Guru

You can do some subtle detailing on aluminium with a bit of wetanddry paper:

Polish the area with 1200, then T-cut or metal polish, then put masking tape over the bit you want to decorate. Draw the design then carefully score the outline with a sharp blade - this gives better definition to the pattern and cuts the masking at the same time. Peel off the masking tape leaving it only on the bits you want to remain polished, then buff the remainder with 400 or 800 paper back to a satin finish.

Your rack looks good. Amazing what time and patience can achieve. Some holes or slots cut in would break up the plainness too (And save weight )

Can you change the tail light bulb??

-- Edited by mossproof on Friday 10th of May 2019 07:54:26 PM

tripodtiger · Senior Member

Back! Been road racing, went to the Finke Desert Race and more time spent on the road race bikes.

I took mostly hand held video at Finke and not much of the racing. See what happens with all that in the coming weeks.

I like the TT-R logo, Mossproof. Sounds simple to do at home too. Might find some time, one day.

Next for this project is to dry some sand in the oven and stick it in some tube to make the saddle bag supports. I think I said above that I've followed Uncle Gra's lead with the bag straps running under the seat and the bags themselves far enough forward to use the pillion peg mounts as a tie down point. The pegs are gone. The support bars will bolt on there.

-- Edited by tripodtiger on Wednesday 26th of June 2019 08:15:28 AM

-- Edited by tripodtiger on Wednesday 26th of June 2019 08:16:26 AM

AGman · Veteran Member

tripodtiger wrote:

Some space under there for???

Spare Tubes and tyre repair/change gear.

tripodtiger · Senior Member

I've got v2 of the pannier supports almost done. Just need to correct the front mounts, the ones at the footpeg mounts.

I dried some sand on the bbq, then filled the tube. Just crimped either end in the vice at the appropriate time. A little bit of compaction too.

I'd already made a basic shape with some rod. Simply heated the tube with a torch and bent it, with corrections to suit as the two sides came together.

I've done it in 3 pieces. 2 side tubes and a loop joining them, over the front of the (what is becoming) a rack.

My tube bending skills meant it was far easier to bend the top loop out of 16mm tube to fit into the 2 sides.

Unless someone comes up with a scathingly brilliant alternative, I'm planning on bolting a flat plate where the foot pegs bolt in and welding a 16mm tube to that, to make another male/female joint on either side. Maybe make for easy dis-assembly too.

And the odd looking 90 deg turns at the lower rear? V2.1 will have 2 45 deg bends instead.

I've finally got the wiring from the battery extended.- I used a lithium battery from another bike. It fitted in the space but the terminals were on the opposite side.

And lastly, the auxiliary power for the gps is ready and waiting for a 3amp fuse and the Zumo.

tripodtiger · Senior Member

Some more snaps. You can see that the front mounts are just by bending the crimped tube. It's got a 5/5 warranty.

I had to throw the bags on for a look-see. Should work.

cheers

tripodtiger · Senior Member

I've been stressing, avoiding riding the thing, because of a clatter that I had convinced myself was from inside the engine.

When it first started making the noise, it was only on a slack throttle. If I opened or closed the throttle, the thing sounded fine. Sort of just ease it off and the noise was quite nasty, and obvious. It had a hollow quality about it. Whilst riding, I couldn't work out where it was coming from, no matter where I moved my head - forward, backward, left or right.

I've had it to pieces checking cam chain and tensioners, without finding a problem.

So I sat wondering and afraid of riding it, in case it broke.

Later, I had a very experienced mechanic mate ride it. He reckoned the noise was not from the engine.

So I rode it some more. If I concentrated, I could feel that the engine was still smooth, noise or no noise.

Then it dawned on me.

EDIT: I WAS WRONG. The noise isn't from the sidestand. I've got the clutch cover off, looking for wear there. see below

-- Edited by tripodtiger on Saturday 22nd of February 2020 01:21:06 AM

mossproof · Super Guru

Another one for the archive!
Well found, eventually. Now you can relax?

TTRfan · Super Guru

Is it fixed? If not, here is my mate Bob's solution - https://ttr250.activeboard.com/t57573423/floppy-sidestand-here-is-one-owners-solution/

tripodtiger · Senior Member

Now I can relax, yep. Isn't it amazing how simple things are when you actually find the cause?!!! It really does pay to have someone else have a look / listen (feel?) when you're stumped.

I'm happy to know that there are other ways of dealing with it. The way it flops around at the pivot tells me that it's worn there.
I'llgetaroundtuit.

Kaos · Senior Member

TTRfan wrote:
Is it fixed? If not, here is my mate Bob's solution - https://ttr250.activeboard.com/t57573423/floppy-sidestand-here-is-one-owners-solution/

+1 for this one, worked for mine.

tripodtiger · Senior Member

I'm back!!!

Well, short story is that the head & barrel came off this afternoon.

This is after months of fighting with the 350LC. After everything that I tried, changed, tested and then repeated, it came down to the ignition failing, again. I bought a different ignition and it's gone in, it seems to be running properly. We'll see.

Insofar as the TTR is concerned, it started to leak from the head. It's been parked, waiting for me to finish on the LCs. In the meantime, the 955 Tiger has been sold and the 900 Tiger, with sidecar, revealed it has a couple of hairline frame fractures. It's parked also.

Today, I got started on the TTR. Took a lot longer than it should, as I was taking photos and videos for later reference.

It looks like it's been blowing past the head gasket near the exhaust valves.

There was one washer missing from the head bolts. On the exhaust side. That bolt wasn't really that tight either. Is that part of the reason for washers?

Before it goes together, I reckon I should just make sure the head faces are flat.

And get another washer, perhaps?

Back 'ron, with snaps of my progress.

ttboof · Super Guru

All the head bolts have washers. Would pay to get one do it toques down OK. I used a ceramic tile from the hardware display stock and some fine wet and dry to make sure the surfaces were flat

TTRfan · Super Guru

As Les says, each of the four main head bolts should have their own washer.

The head bolt washers aren't always obvious on the two LH (outside of engine) bolts as they tend to get mucky and blend in with the head cry

Easy to check with a small round magnet.

Brian

tripodtiger · Senior Member

After ordering one washer, or 4 if they reckon they are crush type, I went outside and found the fourth one sitting on a bench. Unfortunately, all for valve buckets were there too. 1 way to put them in correctly and 23 ways to get it wrong. I have the clearances written down, somewhere. I don't think I have the shim thicknesses recorded. Bugga.

I was simply going to take the head and barrel to the machine shop to check.

Apart from finding a few things that I read on the head removal thread to be arse about, the only problem I had was resorting to force to get the timing mark cover removed. Wrong tools caused the damage. But, what is the correct tool for these things?

The head gasket was blown adjacent to the exhaust valves.

I've got oem head & base gaskets to go in, rather than the cheapies that were used. Also waiting on the cylinder O ring plus, gaskets for the cam chain tensioner and exhaust.

With faith that I wont be pulling it apart any time soon, I reckon I may use Hylomar on the gaskets. Or maybe some copper gasket spray instead.

This is another job where I'm not counting any chooks, yet. wink

-- Edited by tripodtiger on Monday 16th of December 2019 03:10:47 AM

TTRfan · Super Guru

Some thoughts on the cause of your head gasket blowing here

Regarding after-market head gaskets, I have always used the Cometic gaskets that Totally TTRs sell and have only ever had an issue where the problem lay elsewhere and the head wasn't torquing down properly.

You will see from your "washer on the bench" that the OEM head bolt washers definitely aren't crushable wink

Regarding the oil plugs, I use a very large thick washer to remove them. I have found that anything else can just destroy them cry

Brian

tripodtiger · Senior Member

Been busy.
I spent most of December pulling down my Triumph Tiger & sidecar as, following the sale of my 955i Tiger, I started to look at it to put back on the road. I found two small cracks in the frame immediately behind the steering head. Reckon the way I've ridden it the sidecar mount was trying to spread two tubes. So that has been bare frame to the welders before xmas. Add a project to the list.

Otherwise,

I crashed my restored aircooled RD250. It's an economic write off. Add a project to the list.

I sold my 350LC racebike, after fitting a brand new HP Ignition system in lieu of the Ignitech (which was the source of all the problems with that bike). Remove a project from the list (which I had essentially finished). The dollars helps finance the 375LC.

On to the TTR

Good news is that I've been riding it a bit and the head is oil & fuel mixture tight. biggrin It's going pretty well. I took it for a 400km day ride with blokes on big road bikes (all 900 or bigger). Yeah, some disappeared at 120 but, it just went with the slow blokes at 100-105km/h. Nearly WOT all day. Unlike other bikes, that doesn't seem to make it feel like it is working hard. It would be nice to know what revs it's doing.

Bad news is that the noise I thought was the sidestand is not.

Finally getting to it. Almost definitely in the clutch.

As I've become more accustomed to how the bikes works and how I ride it, it has become very obvious that the noise goes when power is on or off. On a trailing or very light throttle, the clatter returns. Disengage the clutch whilst it's clattering and the noise goes to.

So the clutch is exposed. See how I go.

ttboof · Super Guru

Just had on the off chance is it the chain touching the case saver on the front sprocket. It's something ttrs do it only just touches when on and off load easy fix just grind a little off the bottom end of the case saver

I had the back engine mount get a little loose sounded terminal but just needed a tighten up

TTRfan · Super Guru

I would go with Les's suggestion first. I had the clatter and it took me ages to work out the source.

The first photo shows the tell-tale marks from the chain catching and photo 2 shows my solution - which worked!

Brian

Sprocket cover.jpg

Sprocket cover ground back and radiused.jpg

tripodtiger · Senior Member

Cheers fellas,

I found almost nothing wrong in the clutch. Friction plates are all >3.0mm. Springs a near their limit at 41.0 - 41.1mm. They were over tensioned too. No obvious wear or free play anywhere.

It's back together with an oil change before I head to Phillip Island on it.

I had discounted the chain as the noise disappears with the clutch disengaged. The chain runs almost silently - amazing in itself.

Like I convinced myself it was the side stand. Then something in the clutch...mechanical diagnosis is a forte of mine. confuse

I know there is damage in the top rear of the case saver. I'll have to have a look at photos to see if, or how, it is different or changed since it went back on the road.

I'll owe beers if that turns out to be the problem and it's a half hour job to fix it.

Geez, how I'd hate to have to travel to UK again. wink I had such a bad time over there a couple of years ago (like not!)

I'llgetbacktoyoushortly.

-- Edited by tripodtiger on Monday 24th of February 2020 12:06:00 PM

ttboof · Super Guru

My bets on the case saver / chain clearence

It sounds terminal but really not a problem

tripodtiger · Senior Member

Thought you blokes had got it.
But, no.

I took the cover and the case save off. Cover was previously damaged and the saver was knocked about (actually looked like someone had attacked it with an angle grinder) and had a very small witness mark on the lower end. I gave that a bit of a touch up on the grinder.

Noise still there.

If I wear ear plugs and keep the revs up, I can't hear it.

I had a great ride down to the WSBK. Wednesday was the direct route to a mate's at Kergunyah for a chat. More of the same, slabbing it to Myrtleford for a late lunch. It went on

South of there was all new to me. Nug Nug, Lake Buffalo, through the forests to Whitfield, being ever cautious of log trucks and Mum's taxis bringing the kids home from school.Neither would be anticipating a bike coming through. Followed by a great fang along a real rider's road (bitumen) to Mansfield. Ridden that before but not at 80-100% of the bikes performance. Huge fun!

The bike went on to reserve around 430km. I recalled how a single just stops when it runs out. Stuck 19 litres in.

Then more new to me leading to a pub stay in Jamieson. What a beautiful little town.

Thursday morning was a bit chilly, about 5 deg C. One of the locals commented something about how long it would be before -5 deg C. Deep in the valleys, it gets loads of rain and, during winter, not a lot of sunshine. Good egg & bacon roll (with relish), coffee and a nice view of the shop owner set me up for an unknown route to Phillip Island.

Road switched between sections of winding, smooth bitumen to winding rough gravel. More fun, except the right handers where the blue metal was pushed up in drifts on the outside.

turn clock DSC_2676 - Copy.JPG

OK, how to rotate back to portrait?

Again, not fussed on encountering a timber jinker head on, it's less stress full to stay far left, deal with the gravel and have some chance of seeing something coming the other way. Pretty good call too, as there was a couple of 4WDs and at least 5 semis heading north. Some big eye moments.

The road climbs to about 1200m at it's highest. Across the top the route led me through a beautiful Mountain Ash forest. Almost straight, they grow to something like 50 metres. Not a Ash tree, it's just what were named by early Europeans. Must look something similar, maybe the timber is similar?

clock DSC_2691 - Copy.JPG

I went through the 'iconic' village of Woods Point. Why it is iconic is lost on me. It's an old gold mining town, plus timber. Burnt out over the years and rebuilt a few times. It's not much different to lots of little villages in the mountains. Not particularly pretty. The locals don't seem to be too worried about keeping anything tidy. Go figure.

Beyond that, I know I went through Warburton, the only major town that I passed through. Lots more winding roads and little towns. All never before seen by me. Until I popped out on the Bass Highway about 40km east of Phillip Island. Great way to travel, not knowing what's ahead.

The 300km from Jamieson to Phillip Island took 7 hours. Great ride. Now what to do with the .gpx file?

Got another 400km from the tank.

The air seat makes two tanks a day doable.

The rubber spacer on the exhaust dropped off somewhere, the pannier pushed the sidecover onto the mount, melted through that and started to melt the nylon pannier. Otherwise, everything was peachy.

tripodtiger · Senior Member

The Ballyboley Grandstand, Turn 11 at Phillip Island.

DSC_2703 (2).JPG

Stephen (seated, from Killinchy) and Wes (from Ballyboley) with another Ballyboley local zipping past behind. Stephen & I have been mates for a few years, since we did a sidecar trip in the northern Kosciousko Mountain area.

Missed out on race 3 win by 0.03. Great racing in all the classes. In the Superpole Race, there was 8 or 10 riders coming around MG, line astern and separated by maybe 6 inches. They were on it so hard no one had any chance of trying to slip up the inside. They can ride, the boys!

mossproof · Super Guru

Lovely write-up of what sounds like a great trip.
Would like to see pics of the view of the owner of the shop in Jamieson

When my bike is leaning that far over, it is classed as fallen over!
I'm sure Cubber will sort the pictures! Thanks for putting them up.
Ride safe, Simon.

TTRfan · Super Guru

Thanks for sharing that Ray! Dry roads, sun, great scenery, what's not to like? biggrin biggrin

Brian

ttboof · Super Guru

Could the noise be the engine pipe heat shield rattling or the engine pipe muffler joint loose and making a noise

tripodtiger · Senior Member

biggrin

The heat shield did loose one screw and the rusty witness mark shows that the wire extension has been resting on the pipe. I don't think it's that, as the screw was replaced and both were tightened and I pulled the extension away.

The mid pipe joint has been on and off a few times, and red sealant is in there. Same with the header. I'll check them again too.

Whatever. Good thing is that it's just a funny noise. There is no vibration or anything. The little bugger just gets smoother the faster it spins. I have a spare Trailtech Vapor in the garage so that may get a run one day. It never worked properly on either of my LC race bikes. Maybe on a four stroke it may work. I could even get a spark plug temperature pick up and keep a track of that. Maybe.

Did I mention that the spare seat is being widened at the back? It had to have a bit more shaping and the top foam wrap applied. Should be finished today, in blue gripper.

I rode it like that and found that it needed to be trimmed, scalloped under my thighs.

-- Edited by tripodtiger on Monday 9th of March 2020 09:58:36 PM

tripodtiger · Senior Member

Wider seat.

20200310_174340 (2).jpg

ttboof · Super Guru

Looking good nothing like a comfy seat after a few hours. Looks like it will be good all day

As for the noise thanks for the feed back. I see it has a bash plate give it a few taps with a screwdriver handle and see if it has any odd rattles.

Most noises I've had are loose stuff or something I've added.

But the bike looks good

TTRfan · Super Guru

Great result! Unique to you - you won't see another like that smile

PS The worst "engine" noise I had was when I had a late night session putting a bike together to take for an MOT the following morning. In my tired state I thought I would leave the engine mount bolts loosely on and torque them up in the morning. Needless to say, I forgot to do that and several nuts worked loose and fell into the sump guard on the way to the MOT station. Now, they DID make a noise biggrin biggrin

mossproof · Super Guru

Seat looks great. Well done.
RE Rattles - the upper chain roller gets struck suprisingly often by the chain, especially when the suspension is compressed (by luggage, or a lowering link) The chain is subject to all sorts of strange harmonics at different revs and wave patterns form along it. I spent a very tedious 5 hour ride overloaded across Northern Spain feathering the throttle to avoid the worst of the clatter when the rubber roller gave up the fight and the chain just started smashing into the bearings.
You could try taking the roller off to see if the noise changes. (Wrap some tape round the frame tube above it to stop the chain damaging the paintwork) Alternatively, a bit more tension on the chain might make a difference, but I prefered to learn to live with the clatter and leave the chain a bit slack.

Forgorin · Senior Member

I think the noise might be the upper chain guide roller thingy. Mine lost the plastic roller and was just the mettal bit sticking out. Makes a hell of a racket when the chain is 'lose'. Took it off and no more noise. Still need to get another one...

ttboof · Super Guru

Excellent sounds like you may have found the culprit

tripodtiger · Senior Member

When I changed the rear tyre, I noted that the chain links weren't loose, like I would anticipate with a chain that's not done much work. New chain anyway before I go away into the desert. I dismissed the chain as the source as the noise disappears when I disengage the clutch.

I'm going to start pulling bits off to see if I can find the noise.

Finding engine bolts in the sump guard is preferable to not finding them. Did the inspector discover that they weren't there or pass it with a casual glance?

TTRfan · Super Guru

tripodtiger wrote:
Finding engine bolts in the sump guard is preferable to not finding them. Did the inspector discover that they weren't there or pass it with a casual glance?

It was a long time ago to remember all the details but they were the bolts that fit the engine mounts above the carb so are pretty much out of sight to the tester. I think I re-fitted what I could and probably pocketed the rest to fit when back home wink

tripodtiger · Senior Member

Update:

It's in bits again!

For those that speculated / suggested that the clatter was the top chain roller - yep. The roller was half torn away and the chain had been banging on the bolt. That's been pulled off for the time being.

Reason - I'm too short for my weight. Or the rear spring preload is insufficient. Or maybe the rear spring just needs to be replaced. Loosing weight seems to not be an option as I like my food and my body no longer tolerates exercise. Bit sad that.

But, the cause of the dis-assembly is that it started to run a bit rough, wouldn't start properly, wouldn't idle properly, seemed to have a surging issue.

Maybe it was how I was using it but my first thought was that it was fuel supply related. As the tank got low, the symptoms go worse - seemingly.
I figured maybe there was a bubble in the fuel line that was ok until the fuel weight dropped. Bled the air from the hose. And re-filled the tank.

Given we aren't much allowed to travel, it's sat for a few weeks. Half a tank gone and same symptoms yesterday.

Maybe I got the cam timing wrong?
I checked that and it appears okay. Bit silly, as the bike's done about 1000km without drama since I set the timing.

I did find the exhaust valve clearance is on 0.20mm. only 0.01 within tolerance.

Must be something in the carb. The spark plug suggested it'd been running lean. Blocked jets?
Carb off.

Well, the inlet manifold had actually failed. It was mentioned during the re-build that I'd used aviation jointing compound to glue the rubber to the aluminium and wrapped a utilux clamp around it to help.
It did for a while.
But the rubber has just torn through.

20200422_172234[1].jpg

Reckon that explains why it's been hard to start, idle and the plug shows lean. (Yah Reckon???!!!)

Very fortunate that I caught it pretty quickly. I think I may have got away without causing any secondary damage to the valves or piston. Fingers crossed.

More parts required. More money going out. ce la vie. It could be worse, I could be crook as Rookwood with the virus.

Now to visit TotallyTTRs shop. See what's available.

Edit: Replica inlet stub is a lot cheaper than the oem one and so much cheaper than the Yamaha Australia price it's a no brainer. Fingers crossed it will be enroute from Old Blighty soon.

-- Edited by tripodtiger on Thursday 23rd of April 2020 01:25:42 AM

tripodtiger · Senior Member

still waiting. I thought the parts had left UK but the tracking is really unclear. One record says it's still waiting for international carrier.

In the meanwhile, I've repainted the fork sliders and have stripped the swingarm to re-paint it too. Paint tomorrow.

Any suggestion on how far I can pre-load the original rear spring? 50% along the thread too far?

mossproof · Super Guru

I think you can wind the preload to wherever you want - that's what it's there for!
I set mine so that the sag is about 25 - 30mm from "weight off the wheels" to "bike standing upright under it's own weight" When you get on in full riding gear it should drop another 90mm or so. If it drops much more than this you ideally need a stiffer spring. What you don't want is for the preload to be so much that the shock is at full travel when the bike is standing upright on it's wheels without you on it. This will damage the shock when in motion.

UK post and parcel services are a bit haphazard at the moment, but if Steve marked it as dispatched, he will have got it as far as the couriers I think.

Glad the chain roller was clattering. Better than a little end rattle! Some are made of softer rubber than others. Quieter, but less long lasting.

Edit: Rant about covid19 mismanagement removed - this is not the time or the place smile

-- Edited by mossproof on Friday 22nd of May 2020 08:38:11 PM