2003 XB9R Rebuild

[badmotorscooter]

I purchased a set of stands from GPI Industries. https://www.gpiindustries.com/stands
I got the ones that are mandrel bent (GP PRO series), NOT the two piece version(GP PRO series II). They are still out of stock on the steering head lift portion, so I made an adapter for the right fork leg to make it equal length. This allows you to use the standard lift brackets. The adapter I made would apply to any standard fork lift style, not just this brand. It was easy to make with a 3/8-16 bolt/(shallow)nut and a piece of 1/2 thick wood. I made a 1.625" square with a hole in the middle for the bolt. The head of the bolt will go up in the fork leg so the adapter can't fall out. You will need to inset the nut(3/4" spade bit). Someone with a cnc machine should make a billet piece with a neo magnet insert so it will latch on the axle. These stands are more than adequate to hold the bike for ages. You should however, loosen all bolts before you lift the front if you are taking anything off, or putting it back on.

 

[charlevoixboy]

Got the new wheel bearings in the front, and the weird diving / turning is gone. The old ones were pretty crusty. Newest problem is the bike isn't charging so that's a bummer! I'll be trying to diagnose what's wrong. Any good place to start? Fuses maybe

 

[Cooter]

Theres an easy set of tests for the Stator and VR played out in the Service manual. Easy check.

Buellmods.com or Buelltooth.com has it for free.

 

[TPEHAK]

Test voltage regulator and stator according electric manual procedures. Not sure if service manual has this information.

 

[charlevoixboy]

I'm getting 15v ac at idle, around 25ish at 2k between each of the 3 pins in the connector in front of the drive pulley. Tried every combination with my meter and didn't see any differences between the readings that stood out

 

[charlevoixboy]

Those are stator readings btw. So it looks like that's checking out good. Could it then be the voltage regulator? And if it is should I leave it unplugged so it doesn't fry the stator?

 

[Silverrider]

I see a can of seafoam on that John deer. Is Tea bag helping you ?

Good eye Outlaw . LOL

 

[Outlaw]

Thanks Silver Rider

 

[charlevoixboy]

Rode it around some and it seems to be keeping the battery charged. I'm going to replace the VR anyways because it's probably on it's way out, and I think I'm going to switch to a newer bikes one, such as a yamaha or a cbr. Seems like the consensus is those units are a lot more efficient and seem to last a lot longer.

 

[Cooter]

So does it work? Not work? intermittent? Confusing post is confusing...
You have a DVOM to check the stator output but have to ride to see if the battery "seems" to be charging?


Stock VR's are cheap and reliable. The Buell's are a shunt-style so it wastes any electricity made by the stator directly to ground, making the charging system work 100% all the time.
An upgrade to the stock Buell VR would be a non-shunt style so the stator only makes the electricity it needs to on demand, and MOSFET switched of course.

Put your voltmeter on the battery. You should have 12.5 DCV nominal. Any less and stop, charge it with a battery charger. Then continue. NOTE: A battery tender is not a charger.
Turn on the ignition and crank the bike. You should have greater than 9.6DCV. Any less is probably a bad battery.
Idle should have 12.5DCV, 2500+RPM should be 13.5-14.7DCV. Less could be lots of things, more is a bad VR.

 

[charlevoixboy]

From what I've read the newer style mosfet (still shunt) are a lot easier on the windings due to a better efficiency in the switching electronics. I'll have to investigate other ones as well.

The battery is being charged by the car battery charger I have, 15 amp at roughly 13.5v. When it reaches that it goes into tender mode. I charged the battery when I first got the bike, and it made it around 130 miles, countless starts, idling, etc before it refused to run right and I stuck a meter on it and discovered the dead battery. I would imagine the battery would have been stone dead before then if the it wasn't being charged at all by the VR. That's why I feel like it's intermittent.

An older post I dug up claimed the buell VR's like to fail like this, large voltage swings, sometimes blowing headlights and other times randomly not charging. I just figured I'm experiencing the latter, a VR that can't quite keep up and the battery slowly dies. I'll investigate more tomorrow and report back!

 

[charlevoixboy]

Well let it charge overnight, took it out and let it warm up and tested voltage when I got back, at 2k I'm getting a tad over 13v vs idle of 12.5v. So it does appear to be working. I'm wondering now if the battery may be the culprit? It's an older battery so it may be to blame at least in part.

 

[Cooter]

Turn on the ignition and crank the bike. You should have greater than 9.6DCV. Any less is probably a bad battery.

..........

 

[TPEHAK]

Install voltmeter on the motorcycle and you will know what exactly is happening https://www.buellxb.com/forum/showthread.php?52809-Micro-voltmeter-in-handlebar-control-housing

 

[njloco]

Did you clean all your grounds really well ?

Teabag, I'm sure he wants to go through the trouble of installing a voltage meter now, before he figures out why it's running out of juice. Don't put the cart before the horse !

 

[charlevoixboy]

All grounds are cleaned, and extras between the frame, engine and ecu are all tied into the battery. It just seems odd that the battery was fairly dead (bike cranked slow) and when I tested voltage while running I wasn't putting out good voltage at 2k rpm. Then when the battery was charged up via a battery charger and tested while running the bike appeared to be charging the battery just fine. I'll keep my eye on it before I go throwing parts at it, just figured I'd post it up in case someone was having similar issues and I figure out what was causing it. Obviously the bike is charging now, so that's good. I'll keep my eye on it.

Thanks all! Next thing on the to do list is put some miles on! I'm still trying to figure out why the bike seems to search / lightly lurch when maintaining al almost no load cruise. Say I'm going 35 in 3rd and ramp if the gass just a tad, where I'm not accelerating or decelerating (that in between spot) it almost feels like the bike wants to misfire. I let off a little and coast and it's fine, or if I roll into it a tad it pulls great and doesn't miss at all. Is not a specific speed, it seems to be load related. Any ideas? No Engine Light or codes so far

 

[TPEHAK]

Bad VR. My motorcycle did not charge the battery sometimes. It happened for short periods of time and I even did not know about it, tests showed everything is fine. So install voltmeter before you will have found yourself far from home in the middle of nowhere with dead battery.

 

[Cooter]

....Say I'm going 35 in 3rd ....

You should be shifting from 1st into 2nd about 35mph.

Sure, these are torquey V-twins, but they are also performance motors. Lugging them at a super low 2K rpm and trying to accelerate will cause high cylinder head pressure and be rough on crank/rod bearings.

Don't be afraid of the tach. Highway cruising in top gear is about 4-5K rpm and it will do that all day long with no ill affects

 

[TPEHAK]

According user manual 3rd gear is 30-40 mph.

Higher rpm causes more friction cycles and huge inertia forces which is less desirable situation. Operating engine at hight RPM you are killing it much faster.

 

[Cooter]

TP: The manual also says modifying your bike could be deadly. Cough cough.


This is for the poor OP, who has to deal with you in his thread:

1) In the same gear you would have exactly the same about of "friction cycles:upset: haha" per mile no matter what the RPM is. Duh.

2) "Inertia forces" depend on balancing, not RPM, and it would make sense that engines are designed to be smoothest at whatever RPM highway speed/top gear is. (Buells is about 4-5K). Ride your bike, note where it runs the smoothest.

3) I wouldn't consider 4-5K "high RPM" cruising in 5th on the highway. It is way, way, below redline. Which BTW your engine can safely run up to with out damage. That's why it's Red. And a Line.

4) IMHO. You can cruise at super low RPM (2500+). I suggest you downshift to accelerate.

Opinions abound and it's your ride:up: