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04 May 2015:
The needle bearings I ordered from store.proitalia.com on 06 Mar 2015 arrived in the mail.
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05 May 2015:
I finally got around to working on the bike. I got the new bearings in the clutch. I washed out all the grease from the needle bearing and put in Royal Purple Ultra-Performance Grease Multi-Purpose NGLI No. 2 with Synslide.
I ran into a problem, though... how to get the bearings out of the blind holes in the rear gear casing... I ordered a puller designed for doing just that, from Harbor Freight. I had a 20% off coupon from a magazine someone had brought to work, so that saved me a bit of money.
http://www.harborfreight.com/blind-hole-bearing-puller-95987.htmlOrder #4197058
Slide Hammer And Bearing Puller Set 5 Pc
PITTSBURGH AUTOMOTIVE
ITEM #:95987
Discount -$14.00
SUBTOTAL $55.99
SHIPPING & HANDLING (STANDARD GROUND) $6.99
TAX $4.20
GRAND TOTAL $67.18
This will handle bearings from 3/8" to 1-1/4" ID.
I also ordered 3 Gates 9802-31706 Boost+ Kevlar belts. This is a direct cross-reference for the 23100-LEA6-9000 Kymco belt, according to Gates Belts in their cross-reference PDF file.
I had to order them all the way from Germany via eBay, as I couldn't find any US distributors.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Keilriehmen-Gates-Boost-f-Aprilia-Leonardo-125-9802-31706-Motorrad-/231540045101Purchased From:
International BIKE T&D UG (lxs-bike.de)
Manager: Jens Gopel
Sternstrabe 14 / 01139 Dresden
Item ID: 231540045101
Transaction ID: 1178159388013
3x 34.90 EUR: 104.70 EUR
Shipping & Handling: 36.90 EUR
Total: 141.60 EUR
Total: $162.55 US
Gates makes two belts with Kevlar that fit our scooters, the Boost and the Boost+. The Boost has Kevlar for longer wear, the Boost+ has the same, along with Kevlar bands around the length of the belt to prevent belt stretching. My OEM belt has stretched by 11mm since new.
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06 May 2015:
I got email notification that the 3 Gates 9802-31706 Boost+ Kevlar belts I'd ordered from International Bike T&D UG on 05 May 2015 have been shipped.
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07 May 2015:
I got email notification that the Slide Hammer Bearing Puller I'd ordered from Harbor Freight on 05 May 2015 has been shipped.
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08 May 2015:
The Slide Hammer And Bearing Puller Set I'd ordered from Harbor Freight on 05 May 2015 arrived. I'll finish putting in the new rear gears and bearings on my next days off and hopefully get some road testing in.
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11 May 2015:
I finally got some free time to work on the scooter. I worked on it for about 14 hours straight.
First, I drained the gear oil, removed the gear cover and pulled the old bearings. In the process, I discovered that there are *two* needle bearings in the rear gear housing, so it's a good thing I ordered two when I did.
I learned that the smallest attachment for the slide hammer bearing puller tends to distort and pull out of the bearing unless you've got the pin that spreads the gripper arms super tight.
I also learned that putting the rear gear cover in a toaster oven makes the bearings practically fall out. And using a combination of heat and cold to expand and contract the different parts as you're installing the new bearings means they will literally drop right in. I used my wife's freezer and toaster oven, which she wasn't happy about, but...
For the aluminum parts that needed heating, I took the temperature up to 250F. For the bearings that needed heating, I took them up to 300F. The parts that needed freezing were taken to -6F in plastic bags (partly because my wife didn't want me putting metal parts in with the food, partly to prevent condensation on the metal).
For the input shaft bearing (the one with Gear #1), I had to heat the bearing and freeze the shaft, slide the bearing on, let it cool down to room temperature, pop on the outer bearing seal (which acts as a secondary oil seal to the OEM oil seal), then freeze the whole thing and slide it into the bearing hole in the gear housing.
So now new needle bearings, hybrid ceramic bearings and shims are in the rear gears, and it's got a new gasket. I reused the oil seals, since they were in good condition.
I discovered that I'd forgotten to order a 6203 hybrid ceramic bearing for the right-hand side of the rear wheel, inside the swing arm. I'll order one tonight.
After I got all the new bearings in, I put in the new rear gears and hand-turned the wheel axle without the gear cover in place, just to be sure everything worked the way it should. It did.
But, when I put the cover on and tried to hand-turn the rear gears from the wheel axle, they'd turn a bit, and lock up! Thinking I'd messed something up, I pulled the cover, checked the diagram in the service manual, made sure the bearings weren't seizing up, and checked the runout on the gear shafts. It was all good.
So, I tried again... and the same thing happened. Going around to the left-hand side of the bike, I slowly turned the Gear #1 shaft (the shaft that the clutch mounts on)... I could distinctly hear and feel three teeth on the input gear shaft (Gear #1) lightly scraping against the gear teeth on Gear #2.
Confused, I tried again. I pulled the gear cover off, and turned the wheel's axle and the input shaft. All was smooth, turned very easily. Put the cover back on... three gear teeth scraping.
The cover off again, I turned the wheel axle as I squeezed Gear #1 and Gear #2 together with my fingers... ah, that was the problem... three teeth on Gear #1 had been ground just a tiny, tiny bit thicker at their bases than the rest of the teeth when the gear was fabricated. With conventional bearings, you'd likely not even notice since the bearing play would allow the Gear #1 and Gear #2 shafts to move a tiny bit. But the hybrid ceramic bearings don't have much play at all.
So, I buttoned up the rear gears, filled it with 200 ml of Royal Purple 70W-140 Synthetic Gear Oil with Synerlec, and spent the next 8 hours using a ratchet wrench and an electric impact driver, spinning the rear gears in both directions from the input shaft and the wheel axle in an attempt to wear-in those three teeth.
By the end of the 8 hours, I could turn the wheel axle by hand and it wouldn't lock up anymore, but I could still feel a slight "cogging" as those three teeth in Gear #1 engaged with Gear #2. The gear oil had a lot of "glitter" in it when I drained it.
I opened the gear cover again, and I could clearly see the three offending teeth... all the other teeth had minor polishing on the outer ~70% of the teeth face, but those three were polished all the way into the crevice between the teeth. The three teeth sit next to each other, so Jan Vos may have made a mistake when he began cutting the gear, or when he was finishing.
Again, with regular bearings, I likely wouldn't even have noticed... if you'll remember, when the bike was new, there was a lot of "glitter" in the drained gear oil, as well, as the gear teeth got intimate with each other... but there was no gear "cogging" likely because of the bearing play.
If I had a 1/2 HP or so motor, I'd rig it to the wheel axle and let it run to wear in the three teeth, but the motors I've got are too small. Once I get the bike finished, I'll take it out for a long, easy ride to finish wearing in the gear teeth. I expect once those three teeth are fully worn in, there won't be any further problems in that regard.
But I gotta say, the rear gears do turn so much more easily than they did with the old bearings (which were in great shape, BTW, except for the needle bearing in the clutch, which was shot. It was replaced by a bearing that goes in a Ducati or Aprilia bike, rated to 20,000 RPM). Once the "cogging" problem is over with, it'll spin even easier.
I also put the new Avon AM63 Viper Stryke tire on the front wheel, along with the new Moto-D angled valve stem. It was a bear to get the tire on, almost as though the tire were too small for the rim. When I finally got it on, I took it to Costco's auto shop to seat the bead, but it wouldn't seat, it just kept blowing air. I took it home and tried to pry the bead up onto the raised ridge so the air wouldn't blow out, but as I pried, the tire kept collapsing away from the raised edge on the other side of the tire! Again, almost as though the tire were too small for the rim. I took it to a Shell station that has a high-capacity air compressor... I pumped it to 40 psi (which took all of about 4 seconds), and the bead just sat there. It wouldn't seat. I pumped it to 60 psi, and one side popped out and seated, but the other side sat there for the longest time not moving... and it had soapy water on the tire and rim.
Finally, in frustration, I kicked the tire and the last bit of bead popped and seated. Heh. I lowered the pressure to 40 psi, and took it home to balance it. I'll monitor the tires to make sure they're holding pressure.
The new hybrid ceramic bearings are in the front wheel now, too. I filled the new bearings with Royal Purple All-Purpose Grease with Synerlec, snapped on the seals, and since I couldn't fit the entire wheel in the oven (and I wouldn't have been able to heat it up much anyway, with the tire on it), I froze the bearings then lightly tapped the outer race of each bearing to seat them.
I also cleaned out and re-greased the speedometer hub and shoved some grease up into the speedo cable, and I thoroughly coated the rim hub, the spacer and the axle with grease to prevent any corrosion or water incursion.
The front wheel now spins very easily, as well.
I haven't found a good deal on a mini-lathe yet to make my own slider cores, so I'm going to go ahead and order 20 gram Dr. Pulley slider weights from PartsForScooters.com to use, since the ones I've got (18 gram) are too light.
169-259-20g Dr. Pulley 20x15 Sliding Roller Weights - 20g
Roller Weight Size: 20 Grams
Item Total $29.99
Shipping & Handling $6.51
Total $36.50
I also ordered the 6203 hybrid ceramic bearing from MicroBlueBearings.com:
Order number: 1361
6203 Ceramic Ball Bearing
17mm Bore, 40mm OD, 12mm Width (Side Seals Included)
Shipping: $0.00 USD
Grand Total: $65.00 USD
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12 May 2015:
I got email notifications that the 20g Dr. Pulley 20x15 Sliding Roller Weights and the 6203 hybrid ceramic bearing were shipped.
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14 May 2015:
The Dr. Pulley 20 gram 20x15 Sliding Roller Weights were delivered to me.
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17 May 2015:
I decided to try out the Pulstar spark plugs, to see if they have any effect. I ordered two of them from pulstar.com, after using their cross-reference guide to determine the proper plug.
Order #100546
Pulstar HE1HT9 Plug $17.50 x 2 = $35.00
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18 May 2015:
I balanced the rear wheel today. I was thinking that I wouldn't get the bearing and belts until tomorrow, so I decided to work on other parts of the bike. As I was working on balancing the wheel, the three Gates 9802-31706 Boost+ Kevlar belts and the 6203 hybrid ceramic bearing were delivered.
I froze the 6203 bearing and heated the right-hand swing-arm to 275 F in the oven, and the bearing slipped in with only very light tapping on the outer race to get it fully seated.
Then I let the swing-arm metal cool as I mounted the rear wheel. Then I put the bike all back together, using Blue Locktite on most of the fasteners. I put the new Gates 9802-31706 Boost+ Kevlar belt on it, and took it out for a very gentle test ride. I noticed as soon as I took it off the main stand and started rolling the bike backwards out of the garage that it rolls way easier than it used to.
Now the clutch starts engaging at around 3000 RPM, and is fully engaged by 4000 RPM, which makes it nice for low-speed riding. When coasting, the clutch disengages at ~2500 RPM. I only rode slowly, never going over 35 MPH.
The rear gears, with those three teeth still wearing in, sound like a Roots blower, but not very loud. They'll wear in eventually, and the sound will go away.
All I have left for this phase is putting the Counteract tire balancing beads in the tires, putting the new license plate LED light in, putting the new headlight in, and figuring out where I'm going to mount the six flush-mount bolt LEDs from Oznium.com.
As for the Gates 9802-31706 Boost+ Kevlar belt, I measured the new one I put into the bike:
The top width is 17.85 mm.
The bottom width is 13.85 mm.
The belt thickness is 10.75 mm.
The belt length is 825.5 mm.
This compares to my used belt, which is showing almost no signs of wear other than the nubs being rounded off and a bit of stretch:
The top width is 18.65 mm.
The bottom width is 14.15 mm.
The belt thickness is 9.8 mm.
The belt length is 828.1 mm.
The service manual says a new OEM belt should be 19 mm wide, and the belt should be taken out of service when it reaches 17.5 mm width.
Given that the new belt is Kevlar (and thus will wear slowly and won't stretch much at all), it should last for quite a while.
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20 May 2015:
The Pulstar HE1HT9 Spark Plugs I'd ordered on 17 May 2015 arrived. This entry is actually being entered on the 23rd, because on the 20th, my wife retrieved our mail and thought the container with the two spark plugs was a camera battery, and thus packed it away for her upcoming trip to Taiwan. After I checked USPS.com's website and found the package had been delivered, we went through everything she'd packed until we found the plugs. Heh.
I'll install one of the new plugs first chance I get. Most likely at the same time, I'll install the new LED headlight and flush-mount bolt LEDs.
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23 May 2015:
My 62nd fuel up, I filled up with 87 AKI octane fuel from Costco. The Fitch Fuel Catalyst is not installed. This tank was about halfway done when the bike was taken off-line to put the new taller rear gears in, the new hybrid ceramic bearings in the wheels and rear gears, and the new tires on.
Mileage: 9574.6 miles
Miles Ridden: 167.3 miles
Fuel: 2.573 gallons
Price/Gal: $3.299
Total Cost: $8.49
Fuel Mileage: 65.021 MPG
As regards the performance of the scooter... wow... I took it out for a 30 mile ride today after refueling, just to get the new rear gears to wear in faster. It's still got the get-up-and-go to jump out ahead of traffic when needed, and I had it up to 85 MPH today. The engine was at 8300 RPM at that speed. There's a slight imbalance somewhere starting at about 83 MPH, I can feel it shaking a bit. I'll rebalance the wheels and add the balancing beads, it should take care of that.
The new rear gears are wearing in just fine... I can only feel one tooth on the #1 gear now "cogging", and the rear tire spins almost effortlessly now. Once they're fully worn in, the friction should be even lower, allowing a bit more in top speed. I'll change the gear oil tomorrow, and we'll see how much "glitter" is in the gear oil.
Once I've finished with all my other projects on FrankenYager and get the new aerodynamic body fitted, it should easily hit its new top speed of 94 MPH at 9200 RPM. I'll have to get a better helmet, though... wind noise at 85 MPH is deafening, even when fully tucked.
The clutch, I find, is a bit weak for the taller gearing. If I want to take off slowly, it'll start engaging at about 3000 RPM (with a lot of slippage), and start locking up around 4000 RPM. To take off fast, 5000 RPM or higher is required. So I'll look into buying the Dr. Pulley HiT clutch for this bike. The larger clutch engagement surface area and the positive engagement mechanism of that clutch should make it lock up with less slippage than the OEM clutch.
At least until I can find a toroidal Infinitely Variable Transmission (IVT) to retrofit to the bike, the Dr. Pulley clutch will be an improvement over the OEM clutch.
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25 May 2015:
I ordered one pound of 0.6 micron tungsten disulfide (WS2), for adding to the engine and gear oil, from lowerfriction.com (MK Impex Corp.). This will not only reduce friction, but will help to alleviate some of the spur gear whine, which at 85 MPH is louder than the engine. That spur gear whine sounds cool, but that noise is wasted energy and hence wasted fuel. Despite the fact that spur gears are more efficient than helical gears due to there being no axial force generated on the gear shaft, they can be further improved by making them run quieter.
MK Impex Canada
6382 Lisgar Drive
Mississauga, Ontario L5N 6X1
Canada
Phone: 416-509-4462
Fax: 905-824-1259
E-mail: sales@lowerfriction.com
WS2 can be added in ratios of from 1% to 15% by weight of the oil, according to lowerfriction.com.
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For 200 ml of gear oil, that would be from 1.7 grams (1% dosage) to 25.51 grams (15% dosage) of WS2.
For 1000 ml of engine oil, that would be 8.5 grams (1% dosage) to 127.57 grams (15% dosage) of WS2.
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I'm going to the low side (1% dosage), since 1 gram of WS2 can coat approximately 413 square inches of metal. So 1.7 grams in the gear oil and 8.5 grams in the engine oil should be plenty to coat all the metal surfaces.
Keep in mind, if you decide to use WS2, that you'll need to drain your old oil, add the WS2 to the new oil in the bottle, shake it vigorously to mix it up, add it to the engine (and / or rear gearset), get your oil level to the correct level, then take the bike out for a long ride to evenly distribute the WS2 throughout the engine (and / or rear gearset). Don't let it sit after adding the new oil, or the WS2 can come out of suspension. You want it coating the engine parts, not the oil sump floor.
Ken Katakia of MK Impex Canada says:
"You can mix: 25 grams (1 Oz.) WS2 powder to 1 liter (1 quart) of engine oil. Therefore if your engine requires 5 liter oil, you will need 125 grams. Assuming that you need 125 grams, mix 125 grams in small quantity of oil and then add it to engine along with regular oil. Continue this for next 5 oil changes, and by that time the entire inside of your engine will get coated with WS2. You can then switch back to regular oil changes."
Keep in mind that you should add new WS2 to the oil with every oil change (although it can be a small amount, 0.5% dosage) just to be sure that the metal parts remain coated. I'll continue with the 1% dosage level each oil change, since the amount of WS2 per oil change with our tiny engines and rear gears is very small, and that 1 pound of WS2 will last a long time.
Receipt Number: 1473-3124-0934-0606.
Tungsten Disulfide (WS2) Powder: WS2, 99.9% Pure, 0.6 micron APS (MK-WS2-06/01)
Package: 1 lb in Plastic Bag $54.00 USD
Shipping Method: USA Ground
Shipping and handling: $25.00 USD
Total: $79.00 USD
I got email notification that the WS2 I ordered had been shipped via DHL.
Waybill Number: 1971358502
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