NAGF QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER Supplement

Valuable Infor ma tion from Project Builds

You guys that do not peruse the Project Builds Forum are really missing out on some good information. Do you ever get a complaint from your backseater about there not being enough room on the older Wings? Take a look at this interesting and workable modification to relocate the trunk as submitted by JohnnyP when the standard Trunk Relocator Kit did not provide enough space. Looking for a more versatile camera mount that will fit your GW and your other bikes? Dean has modified his original design and will soon be offering a handlebar mounted camera mount to provide that versatility. Need new rubber on your highway boards? Another great re-do suggestion by JohnnyP looks like the ticket. How about walking through a ground up restore of a 1987 GL1200I great information and pictures to walk you along the work path as submitted by custom shadow. Refitting the lighting on your Wing to use LEDs is on many of our members lists of bike upgrades. Lucky_x16 takes us through his conversion to LED lighting for his GL1500. Those are just a few examples folks. There is everything out there from major mechanical refurb to upholstery suggestions for your trunk and bags. Dont pass these threads up as you are browsing through the Goldwing Technical Forum. You just might learn a few things!

Volume 1, Issue 16 Supplement MARCH, 2011

Why a Supplement?
Too much has gone on over the quarter & we wanted to cover it all, but keep our main newsletter manageable for print & readability.

Inside this issue:

GoldwingTech.info Continued Short Local Rides to Enjoy 2 6

Wha ts New from Our Members

Over the winter most of us work on our Wings performing maintenance and upgrades. Take a look at how Digby ODell has tricked out his GL1800! Decisions, decisions what to do with my wheels? Help custom shadow out on this one! One of our newer members Gemini wants direction on what to pack on the bike for possible problems on the road. Take a look and help him complete his tool kit. Naked or notyou decide. Take a look at how Wren re-dressed his 1981 GL1100. How about Turbo charging your GL1200 Aspencade? Anyone tried this yet? See CarlHiler tackle this interesting modification. There is a lot more out there; help a brother out and learn a little too.

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NAGF GoldwingTech.info Corner by Rudy Continued from Q1 2011 Newsletter

Soft pads don't wear the rotors as much as harder, sintered, pads do. But sintered pads stop you better at the expense of some increased rotor wear. The Honda brand brake pads do a good job of finding compromise but if you really need maximum stopping power with no heat fade, you will need sintered pads despite the extra rotor wear. A fellow in the brakes business once told me that something has to wear. It can either be the pads or the rotors. Those that sell you lifetime brake pads are selling a lot more rotors than those who don't. E. Brake Function 1. Brakes firmness 1. Brake firmness comes from all of the parts working as they should. If the brakes are soft, something is wrong. The foot brake on the GL1500 is a case of under-designed master cylinder in my opinion and is almost always marginal. Stainless lines, bleeding, flat pads and rotors and fluids topped up will get you as far as you can go without rebuilding master and slave cylinders. I recommend a MityVac or similar for doing brake work because it is likely you will be doing some sooner or later. 2. Brake release 1. Brakes should release to only light touching in the rotors. 1. If they don't release, then you have a couple of things to do. 1. Disassemble the slave cylinders and put in rebuild kits. This is amazingly easy to do. Be sure to clean all the rust and pitting off of the pistons and lightly lube the rubber seals with silicone lubricant (not seal) when reassembling them. Speed bleeders can help when bleeding brakes after some pumping pressure is gained. DO NOT GET A SINGLE DROP OF BRAKE FLUID ON ANY PLASTICS!! Unless you like seeing them turn into potato chips, that is. 3. Caliper floating 1. The entire caliper should float to find it's place on the rotor as it turns. This is accomplished by lubing the more on one pad than the other will be good clues you have sticking caliper slides. F. Brake Lights 1. Brake Light function 1. Check them. Without them you are dead. 2. Front brake switch check 1. Test this for on and release. 3. Foot brake switch check 1. Test this for on and release. G. Turn Signals 1. Check Left 1. Easy enough. Make sure to check front and back. 2. Check Right 1. See 1.1 above 3. Check shutoff 1. You will have to be riding the bike to check this but on most models, it is a combination of time, speed and steering head movement. Many shut off sooner than most would like. Learn to hit it again just before the turn starts. H. Steering and Handling 1. Check steering bearings 1. Too tight or too loose steering bearings can cause a lot of problems, including

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NAGF GoldwingTech.info CornerContinued

personal injury. 1. Raise the front wheel off the ground and slowly move the steering left and right for any uneven movement. The bars should have slight resistance with no detent in the center of movement. The bars should not fall to one side or the other. It should resist to the point where you can feel it when using only your little finger to move it. If not, then adjustments and/or replacements are needed. 2. With the wheel elevated, grab the front wheel and pull it toward you and away. There should be no movement from the upper forks. 2. Check shocks 1. Read shocks should hold air if made to do so. They should not bottom out easily. If they do, I recommend replacement using Progressive shocks. 3. Check fork tubes 1. If the fork tubes are not tight when moving the front wheel off the ground or feel like rubber when going around curves at speed, it might be time to deal with them. Also there should be no fork fluid getting out the seals. 1. I recommend the following when rebuilding front forks: 1. Always flush and clean out old shock fluids. 2. Always use new upper and lower bushings. 3. Change the seals. 4. Add progressive fork springs if not already present. 5. Add a SuperBrace between the fork tubes. 6. Always rebuild both tubes at the same time. 7. Make sure the anti-dive valve is functioning properly. I. Clutch Function 1. Check cables 2. Check fluids Now that you have the bike safe enough to start and possibly ride, you next should look at things that can cost a lot of money to repair if they fail or to improve the reliability of the bike for the longer term. 2. Work needed to protect your investment A. Timing Belts (PRE-GL1800 ONLY) 1. If the maintenance documentation can't prove the age of the belts and the bike is under 8 years old or under 80,000 miles or has been sitting long term, change the belts. Don't take the seller's word for it (or do take their word for it... it's your investment). 2. I recommend using a good belt like Honda or Gates or NAPA or Goodyear, but not unnamed Chinese belts from un-reputable sources (I'll leave it to you to figure out who those are). 3. I have a photo-guide for you which may help: http://goldwingtech.info/timin gbelts/timingbelts.htm It is written for the GL1500 but is applicable to most others as well. B. Tensioners 1. Tensioners are roller bearings with wide outer surfaces that are wide enough for the timing belts to ride on. They should be checked like all bearings for smoothness and excessive off-axis movement. 2. If the bearing is not smooth and firm in movement then the bearing or the whole assembly should be

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NAGF GoldwingTech.info Corner Continued

replaced. There are guides available to replace the bearings despite that Honda intended that the whole assemblies be replaced. 3. Many people change the tensioners earlier than would be necessary. Tensioners usually last between 40k miles and 130k miles (which is a broad range) Also these do not need to be replaced in pairs if both don't exhibit problems. The assemblies are around $70 each in the US. All Goldwings prior to GL1800 use the same tensioners and there is no difference between the two sides. 4. Worn tensioner bearings often get chatty or hissy sounding before failing and don't typically fail suddenly. C. Filters 1. All Goldwings have at least an air filter and a fuel filter GL1500's also have a cruise and carb sub filter and the air compressor has a moisture absorbent which should all be checked or changed. 2. Most of the air filters are under the false tank. The fuel filters are either inside the gas door or in-line near the the carburetors. 3. The cruise sub filter is under the left side faux tank cover and the carb sub filter is under the right side faux tank cover attached to the frame. 4. The silica used for moisture absorbent is under the right side box in the compressor housing on the GL1500. The absorbent is usually baked in an oven at around 200F to dry it out and reused. D. Drive Line 1. Goldwings have drive shafts and their splines need to be lubed at both ends with MOLY 60 Paste only. It doesn't take much but it does need it. 2. Some final drives have splines that need to be lubed as well, again with MOLY 60 Paste. Not all splines should be lubed so refer to your service manual to verify if yours is one of them. times done very badly and sometimes unsafely an unreliably. 2. Remove the seat and the covers and look around. 3. I prefer to remove any and all non-stock wiring, repair any harnesses back to original, inspect the connectors and clean the contacts before doing anything else. 4. When adding accessories, make an auxiliary power delivery system that is separate from the stock system as it is not made to handle ANY additional loads of any merit. Review this page for info on doing that: http://goldwingtech.info/auxw iring/auxpwrwiring.html F. Loose or broken items

1. Get your eyes on. Look at everything you can. Be curious. Open things and grab things to make sure your bike has no loose or broken parts. Now is the time. You might as well clean it while you are E. Electrical there. There is no better 1. The most often abused and way to find things than to neglected part of motorcyclean those crevices uncles is easily the electrical derneath. harnesses and accessory Now you should start to be able add ons or fixes. Many

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NAGF GoldwingTech.info CornerContinued

to ride locally and reliably so now it's time to start addressing the rest of the bike's needs. 3. Recurring maintenance that needs to be done less often and doesn't affect safety or the investment. This is stuff that needs to be done on some type of schedule and repeated each year or as needed. A. Fluids 1. Front and rear brake fluid 1. Every year to two 2. Clutch fluid (later years) 1. Every year or two 3. Coolant 1. Every year 4. Oil 1. Every 3000 miles no matter the oil 5. Differential oil 1. 80 weight Hypoid Gear Oil 2. Every year B. Filters 1. Follow service manual guidelines C. Bushings 1. Front fork bushings are often overlooked and don't last that long. They should be checked with each tire change and always changed if the fork seals are leaking or the ride is getting rubbery on the corners. D. Seals 1. Fork seaks are self indicating. Be dillegent if they start showing signs of fluid loss. 2. Shifter seals are common sources of the slow oil drip. When that starts it doesn't get better with age. E. Plugs 1. Todays engines and spark plugs make these commonly overlooked. One good reason to look at them is to prevent them from galling the threads in the heads and siezing. This can cause big problems when they don't come out easily. 2. Use a dab of anti-sieze compound when installing them and reduce the book torque by 10% because the compound will slip more. 3. Use the most gentle method of torquing spark plugs when installing. They are ultra easy to strip out and they don't require much seating pressure. At this point your bike is ready to go anywhere but the comforts might not be there yet. 4. Work needed to improve the comfort or personal pleasure of the ride. This is a very broad topic area and these items will be addressed in upcoming articles of their own. A. Electrical improvements B. Clothing/protection C. Audio D. Wind Control E. Seating F. Foot/Leg Comfort G. Body comfort H. Navigation I. Hydration 5. Pizazz. Safety Chrome, LED's, etc. A. Everything else See you next time... ride safe everyone!!

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Time Constraint? Shor t Rides to Enjoy by AspectTwo

Many of us struggle with lifes demands on our time and energy. We love to ride, but just cant find long stretches of time to do it. By short ride, I am not talking about meeting the GWRRA group down at the Dairy Queen, although that can be very enjoyable too, but thinking more about local rides that are possible if you have a couple of hours after work. The days are getting longer, we have light to ride with up until 7:00 & 8:00 at night. I have asked several members over the past month to think about their favorite rides and share them with us on the forum and in the newsletter. The biggest obstacle our members seem to have on writing these rides up is the thought that rides need to be an event, with great attractions or twisties or scenery for others to enjoy. However, most of us have some favorite rides right around home that we enjoy just to get in the wind for a bit, escape the days worries, and see what has changed in the recent past. Chris and I have a favorite ride that is a 100 mile or less loop around and back to the house. We take AR Hwy 10 out past Lake Maumelle, not very twisty but somewhat scenic around the lake, to AR Hwy 113 up through Bigelow, AR. This is not in the Ozarks, so there are not vast expanses of mountain views, but there are many farms and small ranches along the way. We think it is interesting that this type of country still exists just outside of Little Rock, our capital city. Off Hwy 113, take AR Hwy 60 over the Arkansas River and into Conway, AR through Toadsuck. That is a great spot for a late dinner. Conway is a college town with 3 schools, so there are many good choices available and it has a restored downtown that makes you feel as if you stepped back 60 yrs or more in time. If its late and dark when we finish, its Interstate 40 back to Maumelle, about 30 miles. If we still have some daylight, well take Hwy 365 running by the Arkansas River and through Mayflower and Palarm on back into Maumelle. So what do we see, why do we enjoy this short little ride so much? Sailboats on Lake Maumelle viewed from Hwy 10 just outside the Little Rock city limits.

Remnants of our past in this dilapidated shack still standing, but barely in Bigelow, AR.

Downtown Conway, AR with its little shops and restaurants fit into 100 yr old buildings.

The sun setting over a marshy part of Lake Conway as seen from Hwy 365 just outside of Mayflower, AR. Union Pacific train as it runs on the closest stretch of highway to a track in the US on Hwy 365 as you come into Palarm, AR. You guys please think about your local rides and why you enjoy them & share them with us on the forum and here in the next newsletter.