95 RT Born Under Bad Sign

[abe456]

Started out 2 months ago planning to adjust steering bearings. That led to a couple of helpful posts from fellow airheads, and resulted in new bearings top and bottom. But wait there's more:

-left fork seal now leaking- all I did was remove and install the fork.
-dead battery from sitting up for a whopping 3 weeks - with neg lead removed. Go figure. Out of warranty.
-removed front cover to find source of oil leak, managed to kill the diode board.
-took it out for a test drive, readjusted steering bearings twice - tank slappers are worse than ever.
-and finaly,(Drumroll) the tranny is on the list for bikes with the missing circlip. Found that out yesterday. Which prolly helps explain the grinding shifts that developed @67K.

This is my 6th BMW, but first airhead. Spent an hour last nite on Ebay looking at Honda bikes. I'm suppose I will eventually calm down and straighten this mess out, but really, enough is enough.:banghead

[PGlaves]

Thanks for posting. We all learn from each other's mistakes and problems.

[88bmwJeff]

[Started out 2 months ago planning to adjust steering bearings. That led to a couple of helpful posts from fellow airheads, and resulted in new bearings top and bottom. But wait there's more:

-left fork seal now leaking- all I did was remove and install the fork.
-dead battery from sitting up for a whopping 3 weeks - with neg lead removed. Go figure. Out of warranty.


Dumb luck on these items, but I’d replace both fork seals. The right one is probably just about fail too.


-removed front cover to find source of oil leak, managed to kill the diode board.


If you didn’t know before, you know now not to remove the front cover without disconnecting the battery. At least there are some after market boards for these. Try Thunderchild and Motorrad Elektrik.


-took it out for a test drive, readjusted steering bearings twice - tank slappers are worse than ever.


Time to recheck to make sure the head bearings not too tight or too loose. I’d also check to make sure the forks are in proper alignment.


-and finaly, (Drumroll) the tranny is on the list for bikes with the missing circlip. Found that out yesterday. Which probably helps explain the grinding shifts that developed @67K.


Before you go tearing into the tranny, I’d check to see if there are any metal shavings in the oil. If not, I’d leave it be. At 67k miles, it’s possible the circlips been added.


This is my 6th BMW, but first airhead. Spent an hour last nite on Ebay looking at Honda bikes. I'm suppose I will eventually calm down and straighten this mess out, but really, enough is enough.:banghead

Yeah, it’s frustrating when things go this way. First of all...go pour yourself a nice tall one, if you haven’t already. :drink If this isn’t your only bike, which it doesn’t seem to be, take one other ones out for a ride. That should also help calm your mind down. Then you can go back with a fresh attitude.

[grumpyone]

Abe;
You said you adjusted and replaced upper and lower steering bearings? Did you also replace both races ? And did you lube them real good with the right kind of grease? Top bearing on the stem push on with out having to use any great force like the nut??? If the top bearing is to tight to press with your fingers down onto the stem it is likely oversize. (some had that problem)
We just did a 94rt and we found it easiest to do the entire top and align the forks at the same time. We also found that tight on the top nut with all three top nuts nice an lined up you have to tighten the middle nut pretty good, it ant no 10mm nut it requires some torque. We got ours just a tad loose and got shake using about a 18 inch brakerbar. Tightened it just about a 1/4 in. more on the outside parimiter of the nut, like two or three degrees (however you would explain that) and then had to back off about half that to get it just right. I think most people would tend to under tighten it as it sounds like you have maybe. ? We are by no means experts but we got it done with the help of lot of those here that are pretty much experts on airheads.
Brickrider is a good sourse and sounding board too.
Good luck and give the airhead a chance its got its days but you can do it yourself without paying 80 plus an hour to have someone else guess.
Jim and Esther.

[zoridog]

Buying an airhead has taught me one very important lesson. Delayed gratification.

I have made another airhead observation. Those who bought their bikes new have gotten many happy miles out of them before they spent serious money on repairs. Then they fix them or sell them to you and me. The worst part is that you never know when the "to do" list will end. I can tell you from experience that it does end and you will have many happy miles.

PS: You will enjoy your airhead much more if you do not keep a running total of the money or time you spent getting it almost perfect.

[grumpyone]

AND the WIFE will be MUCH! Happier! TOO!
Jim and Esther

[AnnapolisAirhead]

You will enjoy your airhead much more if you do not keep a running total of the money or time you spent getting it almost perfect.

Isn't that true of most passions? :dance

[abe456]

well, I finally calmed down and got back to work on the RT. Got the steering bearings adjusted, installed new diode board, sync'd the cards, and she's running good again.

I still have some issues to work through, including that tranny shifting problem. Gonna do my first ever spline lube as a starter then go from there.

[Radar41]

You will enjoy your airhead much more if you do not keep a running total of the money or time you spent getting it almost perfect.

Excellent advice! My gentle wife walks by my RS, touches it's windscreen gently and says "you little money pit", with a smile of course. :)

But aren't they sweet at full song on the highway???

radar