[DeezDub]

I changed my oil today @ 41 miles because I'm doing the not so gentle break-in procedure and wanted to get any metal shavings out.

I'm glad I did.

 

[DeezDub]

Please post updates as to how the break-in goes. Years ago I opted for a similar not-so-gentle break-in strategy on a new pickup, and the engine blew at around 1500 miles. Coincidence? Maybe.

I was reading an old post from former member qwerty explaining how that harder break in procedure was more suited to modern engines and not our old TDubs one. Hopefully I didn't mess anything up 🤪

I guess I'm probably gonna take a little easier for the rest of the break-in.

 

[DeezDub]

Installed a 12v usb charger/volt meter and ghetto rigged a very inadequate usb PC fan to cool the motor at low speeds until I'm able to get my hands on an oil cooler from Mekdad 🤞

 

[DeezDub]

Installed a Ricochet skidplate to the Tdub.

Also here's a pic of my ghetto fabulous blower that likely does next to nothing. It was hard to find a place to install it so I had to settle for under the fork brace.

Next up are some handguards when they come in.

 

[DeezDub]

Met up with a friend to take the Tdub out on her maiden off-road voyage today.

I was not gentle.

She handled admirably for the most part. I did bottom the forks a few times despite filling fork oil and adding spacers, but that was more due to my line choices...or lack thereof. At first I was taking it easy because I wasn't sure what to expect from those huge tires but soon enough I rode over anything with reckless abandon. I had to wait for my friend to catch up a few times but he was riding a BMW G310GS so that's to be expected.

I spent most of the time in 2nd as 1st felt like I was wringing the bike's neck doing anything over 5 mph. In hind sight I could have just went slower but I guess I haven't outgrown the fun of powering through gnarly terrain.

Vehicle access to the area is restricted to permit holders, which I was, but my friend wasn't and several hikers and beach goers were giving us suspicious eyes so we booked it out of there as quickly as we could. Regretfully, I only managed to snap a single picture and not a very well thought out one at that.

Oh well.

After heading home I decided to change my oil a third time @ 175 miles because of the sheer amount of accel/decel cycles I was able to do on the way to and from our off road destination. I was expecting to see a lot of metal particles but the filter was pretty clean. The oil was also pretty clean. I think the bike is close to being broken in already so I'll leave the oil in til maybe 500 then I'll switch to a synthetic.

Very pleased with this bike!

 

[DeezDub]

Installed Acerbis handguards and a D.I.D. X-ring chain. The Tdub is now wearing the proper protection it deserves. Wider foot pegs would be nice but I need to let my credit card cool down a little bit 😆

 

[DeezDub]

Send me your address in a PM, and I'll send you some NIB IMS Super Stock foot pegs for free. All I ask if you is to pray for Ski Pro 3 if you are a praying man, and pass something small along when you get the chance too.

Wow what a generous offer, I won't accept it for free though. Does Ski have a GoFundMe or similar set up?

 

[DeezDub]

Installed some progressive springs for the front. I went with 11-1115 for a little more stiffness, hopefully I didn't screw that up. The springs are a little skinnier than the stockers.

Looking forward to testing them out soon.

 

[DeezDub]

The IMS foot pegs, that Kingsize graciously sent me, came in this afternoon. These are so much wider than the OEM ones. Looking forward to putting the suspension and these to the test as soon as I can.

Don't mind the white diatomaceous earth and the red paint chips from my cheap Amazon jack on the floor 😅

Special thanks to Kingsize for hooking me up with these!

 

[DeezDub]

How did it break? Is it a weak point?

 

[DeezDub]

I'm wondering now when it would have actually broken, like if it breaking might have caused me to foot dab, which was when I twisted my knee. It's hard to tell it all happened so fast. I thought originally that it just wore out finally when we were loading it into the trailer at the ER, because that's when it squatted down suddenly. But if you look at the pic you can see it dented in the bracket in front of the mount, and I did hear my tire rubbing something once in a while on dips while I was riding out after the injury. I assumed I bent my subframe but I couldn't get off the bike to look. But now it looks like the shock was actually just sitting on that bracket for my whole ride back after the injury.... I was going very slow so as to not injure myself further, but if it jumped out while I was on the freeway that would have not been good 😅

I think this story is slowly evolving into blaming the shock, and Yamaha 😂

If the shoe fits... Glad it didn't break at a more dangerous time, like in the middle of a high speed turn or something.

 

[DeezDub]

Installed a inline 90° fuel filter for a little extra protection in case the petcock filter falls off as others have mentioned happening.

I took it for a quick ride to make sure everything was working properly and died a couple blocks up the road. I had forgotten to turn the petcock on as per usual.

 

[DeezDub]

That's cool. It must be nice to have a location where you can reliably find some historical artifacts. Do you sell what you find? I wouldn't mind having an arrowhead as a keepsake (assuming it wasn't illegal to export that is).

 

[DeezDub]

Oh yes.... It is beautiful.

However...

I've got a small leak, you can see the Teflon getting soaked by oil. I torqued the bolts down a little bit and went for a quick ride up the street to see if that fixed it but that doesn't appear to be the case. Now that I think about it, I should've waited until the part cooled before torquing it since aluminum is a softer metal. Oh well.

 

[DeezDub]

You need to push those hoses all the way up and you need to shorten the one nearly touching the header. Header gets over 400 degrees.

The picture was taken before I used a zip tie to hold the hoses away from the header (I was debating taking a picture after tying it specifically because I had a feeling it would be called out by some eagle-eyed readers haha) but I could shorten them some more I suppose. The leak is coming from the threaded part so pushing it up won't really help in that regard. I'll get back in there to give it another try though. These hoses must be bulletproof, I felt like I was going to rip off the oil filter adapter trying to push them damn things on.

 

[DeezDub]

Changed the oil again in the TW. This is the second one now, and literally no shavings at all unlike oil change #1. She runs better and better the more miles/hours she runs. Especially now after the second oil change.

How many miles are you up to?

 

[DeezDub]

I changed the first at 100 miles in late January, and now at 500, well... 498. I've really fell in love with this bike. Always wanted one, and so very glad I did.

Glad you're getting your rides in. I'm still at 250ish miles. I didn't want to commute with mine until I got the oil cooler installed first, in case I get stuck in traffic (no lane splitting allowed here, sadly).

 

[DeezDub]

Finished rigging up the oil cooler hoses properly and tightened down the leaky hose fitting. Seems the leak has been fixed but I'll be monitoring it for a little bit to be safe. I also added aluminum ducting tape to the hoses for more, hopefully not imaginary, heat protection. It might be aesthetically displeasing to many but I'm more of a function-over-form type of guy so I don't mind. I kind of like it actually, it draws attention to the oil cooler which is nice.

 

[DeezDub]

Oh steel braided hoses would look pretty nice too. I believe caked-on-mud would act as an additional insulating agent against the heat actually, though I would probably wash it off the first chance I got to keep the oil cooler nice and shiny.

 

[DeezDub]

I almost wonder if have an oil cooler could be more of a liability than benefit. If you spring a leak way out somewhere, it could be a real bummer. What benefits have you noticed so far and how do you like it?


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It definitely does add more liabilities and I haven't taken it off road since installing the oil cooler so I can't say I have reaped any benefit yet. However, the area I plan on off-roading the most has an arid desert-like climate and is also very rocky which prevents me from gaining any speed, thus any cooling airflow over the engine. Also, I do have to travel on minimum 45+ mph roads, with long uphills, to get to that area and back. I think the oil cooler will pay dividends in long term engine health, but I do have to be mindful of bashing it against things. Someone else made a great suggestion to keep the old filter cover in their pack in the event of a failure somewhere (though you would need tools and perhaps extra oil). I won't have any factual evidence that its doing anything as I don't have a temperature gauge but there is a great thread on here that covers the oil cooler effectiveness.

In short, I believe it was a worthy purchase and am pleased with it