[Haggis]

Doing a bit top end work and just discovered where my long term rattle may be coming from?
It's had a strange rattle for over two years.
Only when on a very very light throttle.  Sounds like piston slap or a little end.
Nice and quiet when under load or on a closed throttle.
I tried a replacement barrel and piston a couple years ago but it made no difference.
This not axial, side to side, play but radial, up and down.
I'm not using a lot of force so it isn't the main bearings.
You'll need the volume up to hear it.
https://youtu.be/jqg-2jUSYQQ?feature=shared

[rattonshaw]

New big end then.  A bit of a major job.  What's the mileage on the engine?

[Haggis]

New big end then.  A bit of a major job.  What's the mileage on the engine?

Just coming up for 20k.

[rattonshaw]

Just coming up for 20k.

That's not very encouraging 

[gizzo]

Wow, and it's been running nicely like that.

[Haggis]

Wow, and it's been running nicely like that.

Yep, runs fine.
Makes good power all through the rev range. No serious noises that would make you think anything was wrong.
Only odd sound was the light rattle that sounded like piston slap or little end, on a very very light throttle.
Nothing heavy enough to suggest a big end.

Here is a video of the engine from   a couple of years ago.
https://youtu.be/w56E-dHDByA?si=WIz_iJghaTsL1Pir

[Haggis]

Things are looking a bit weird in here.
Pulled the engine out to swap the crank.
When taking the sprag clutch off my hands turned red from something. Not the right colour for rust, ??
I had this sprag of about 16k miles ago in 2020.
It was clean and spotless then.

[rattonshaw]

Did you apply grease to the splines on the crankshaft when you reassembled the sprocket/sprag clutch 16k miles ago?  The gunge reminds me of aged grease.  In which case, nothing to worry about.

[Haggis]

I just coated the splines with engine oil which happens to be Motul fully synthetic and, it's red.
There's no sign of this, whatever it is, anywhere else in the engine.
Putting it the x files folder for now.

[BulletBrian]

Pulled the tank, removed all the craptastic evap cannister hoses and deposited into trash.  Routed new hose from tank vent back along frame spine to down around center stand area.  Installed FuelX Pro control module.  Bikes runs good, not sure I can feel anything different but until summer heat gets here, jury still out on effectiveness of the module.  Living at mile high elevation adds another bit of mystery to the fuel/air equation and relationship to the 10 maps available on the FuelX Pro.

The short ride I took around the neighborhood felt great and am very much looking forward to another riding season!

This is on a 2018, Classic 500 with K&N air filter, short bottle exhaust with glass wrapped cheese grater type insert.  Sounds really good, not too loud and a LOT lighter than the megaton factory torpedo.

[Handirifle]

Ok been mocking up my rear carrier rack with 1/2" emt conduit.  Have a good idea on build design, and my fabricating skills (or lack thereof) with my new tubing bender.

Emt is .700" OD so does not fit any of my dies as it should, but have been working it with the 3/4" dies, and its satisfactory.  A little flattening in the bends, but not real bad.  I have a bender designed for emt, but not as easy to use.

I just got off the phone with "local" steel supplier about a 40 mile one way drive.  They carry 5/8" .060" tubing, for $25 a stick, 20ft long.  No idea of conversions of those numbers for you folks on the other side of the pond(s).

The 5/8 is prob about 17mm, but thats a guess.  Anyway its a lot thicker than the emt, so that will be good.

My design is pretty much a copy of the RE one for the Himilayan.  Like this one.

[Handirifle]

Had minor back surgery yesterday, so will post a pic of the mock up when I get back on it.  Hopefully the next day or so.
I need to get that 5/8" tubing.

I want to get the rear rack done so I can use the top box again.  Its been off since I mounted the rear seat on the new rear seat frame.

Speaking of, using the recommended size bolt for the front mount, was not an option.  No one carries a metric bolt that size near me.   There seems to be up and down play, no matter how tight.  I had to use an SAE size, but now I forget.  Anyone ever put a shim piece of tubing in the front mount?

[Haggis]

Do you mean the rear seat front mount?
There is a spacer tube welded onto the frame that the long bolt goes through. Is this tube not on your bike?
You can see it here, next to the pcv.
When the bolt is done up tight the seat mounts clamp this tube with no movement.

[Handirifle]

Yes that is the tube, and yes it is on my bike.  As I mentioned, a metric bolt that long, is not available around here.  Rural area and not a lot of demand for metrics, that long.  In a typical hardware store with 2 isles of bolts, screws, etc, there will be maybe 1/10 of them will be metric.

Its not sloppy, but when I press down on the rear rack I made, there is noticeable movement, to me anyway, because I was looking for flex in the mock rack, made from emt.  Instead I see the seat frame moving.  If the correct size bolt does not allow any movement, maybe I will try to source it online for the correct size.

[Olbilford]

Installed silly handlebars and grips!
Bilford
Oh and drank beer…