She's Alive! Now The Questions...

Discussion in '1st & 2nd Generation 1983-1989' started by pjrocco, Jun 23, 2008.

  1. pjrocco

    pjrocco New Member

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    So after 2.5 months and hours of wrench time I finally got my 84' VF500F running and riding. So now I have a couple questions...

    First and most important; when I take a hard turn the handle bars start to wobble and twist pretty bad. At high speeds the front seems to be unstable as well. Finally, I hit a little bump today on the way to work and the front forks bottomed out and made a huge clunk. What causes this?

    Second; the bike idles at 1,300 RPM, but while idling it will rev up and down about 300 - 500 RPM. It doesn't happen all the time, but a lot of the time. What gives? Do the carbs need to be synced?

    Third; if I down shift to a low gear while moving pretty quickly the bike will die. Not all the time, but it happened twice.

    Fourth; the front brakes are horrible. I have to hit the lever pretty hard and almost bottom it out to stop fast. The pads and rotor look pretty good, do I need to look at the caliper? I change brakes on my cars all the time, I'm guessing it's the same basic idea?

    Lastly; this baby needs an oil change, but I was told that if it hasn't been does in a while that I should do it. By changing the oil I could actually wreck my clutch.... Is this true, I never heard engine oil wrecking a clutch?

    Thanks in advance!
     
  2. VT Viffer

    VT Viffer New Member

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    Sounds like the front forks need to be serviced. Probably have REALLY old fork oil in them, and it couldn't hurt to replace those fork seals, too.

    The idle issue sounds like a sticky choke slider on one or more of the carburetors.

    New pads are cheap, and the first place I would look if you have lousy braking performance.

    Hope this helps!
     
  3. pjrocco

    pjrocco New Member

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    Thanks for the info!

    The fork seals and oil were replaced about 10 years ago. I don't have any junk on my forks, but I guess that could mean I was out of oil as well.

    Does anyone have a schematic for the carbs? I'm not sure where the choke slider is.
     
  4. derstuka

    derstuka Lord of the Wankers Staff Member

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  5. pjrocco

    pjrocco New Member

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    I've been enjoying the old lady these last couple days, although I'm developing another issue. In low gears; 1,2,3 I'm getting a weird lunge or jerk when I first hit the throttle. It doesn't matter if I barely touch it or give her a little gas. It's a bit scary especially when I'm trying to make a u-turn or any tight turn.

    I know I need a new chain. It is 16 years old and it is rusty as all heck, but I don't feel any tight stops. Could a rusty chain cause this, or is this a clutch/trans issue?
     
  6. Rev

    Rev New Member

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    You've got carb issues, brother. Time for a rebuild'

    You should change the brake and clutch fluid if you can't tell if it's been done before. You may even need to replace the lines since rubber cracks after a few years, and yours are mighty old.

    Change the fork oil; that old stuff is crap. It will make a huge difference.

    Oil is what lubes the clutch; the only thing that will ruin it is 'high-mileage' auto oil
     
  7. pjrocco

    pjrocco New Member

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    I think the previous owner did something to the gearing of this bike... But then again, it's a V and a 500 which is something I'm not used to.

    Is it normal for these bike to sit around 7k or 8k when in 6th gear doing 55MPH? At 75MPG she sits around 10k...
     
  8. Oakley_burn

    Oakley_burn New Member

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    A clunk at the start of power application in any gear in my experience is down to worn cush-drive pieces. These are little cheese shaped rubber wedges that live inside your sprocket mounting housing hub. I had the same problem and after the usual checks of chain tension, alignment and 'hooking' of the sprockets, changed the cush drive and everything was smooth as silk.
     
  9. moreirdan

    moreirdan New Member

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    I rebuilt my carbs using the Keyster carb rebuild kits. Cleaning out the old jets seemed like it might be a bit chancy. It started right up as soon as I had done so. There are some great articles in the 1st Gen forum that detail how to do it. The most important thing apparently is to make sure you do NOT detach the individual carbs from the mounting plate on top.
    The other challenge I had was the fuel tap / petcock. I replaced the diaphragm in the tap, then had to figure out the connections to the vacuum system.
    Clymer make a good manual for these bikes as well.
     
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