It's been a while,,

[Earl Svorks]

 Hello  again, it has been a year or more since I have been active here. One or two of you might remember
Earl Svorks. After back injury led to me losing my position as a Heavy Duty mechanic,I eventually had to sell
my FJ. This left me ,after 27 years of owning that bike ,in a state of , I don't know what to call it. Let's say I wasn't feeling very social.Well , I guess I'm over that. Lady luck has put two  FJs back in my shed. One being a '90 exactly like my erstwhile favorite. It's rough but it's a beginning.
In the meantime I haven't stopped thinking.
   Now, I have read where the fix for a speedometer that makes the screaming whine we get when the bottom bushing goes dry, after 20 or so years is to be had at the hands of an instrument mechanic with the right
expertise. How many places are there with such abilities? Nothing in my neck of the woods.  Well , I made up a little device that has proven to be very effective at getting some light lubricant up into that bushing. See pictures.
This amounts to a small hydraulic cylinder that uses a zerk, or hydraulic fitting at one end, grease under pressure from a little grease gun, acts against a sealed piston fitted to the bore, above which, there is some light lubricant. This cylinder is threaded to fit onto the input of the speedometer. With the air bled out, about one half a stroke on the little grease gun and no more dry bushing. I have used this on two Yamahas so far with instant success. It cost me nothing but a little time with my lathe.

[Pat Conlon]

Welcome back Simon!
I'm very glad you've come back. I've been thinking about you.

I still marvel on your SS sleeving the clutch slave bore. My buddy Paul is a 45 year machinist who has just retired and he is in the process of setting up his home machine shop.
Trying to replicate your sleeving process is early on the agenda.

Reminds me, re: your spark jump test on coils, did you ever get a Dyna green coil to test and compare?
Also, it would be interesting on how the coil relay mod affects the test. Running those coils at 14.4 volts (battery charging voltage) should make your results more exciting.

Thanks for the tip on the threaded zerk bushing, question, why not pump the grease directly from the zerk fitting into the speedo bushing? Why the need for the brass piston?

So many questions for you....again, glad you're back!

Cheers.  Pat

[rlucas]

Thanks for the tip on the threaded zerk bushing, question, why not pump the grease directly from the zerk fitting into the speedo bushing? Why the need for the brass piston?

This is clever. Kudos.

My guess on the need for the brass piston - lighter lube\grease goes in the speedo-bushing side of the tube, tube gets screwed on to the cable fitting of the drive, grease gun gets used to force the lighter lubricant into the speedo drive. The piston is there to keep the two different greases separate, since the heavier grease wouldn't be appropriate for the drive, or  (maybe) available\practical in grease-gun size cartridges. Make sense?

rossi

[Pat Conlon]

Thanks Rossi, makes sense.

[Earl Svorks]

   
The reason for the separation and the two different lubes had more to do with my not wishing to ever pump enough grease into the speedo that it might find it's way into the cup at the end of the input shaft. You would need to disassemble the speedo to get it out. A light lubricant would just run off. Here's hoping I never need to prove that theory.
  Cheers Simon