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SUZUKI CAVALCADE OWNERS GROUP NEWSLETTER Here is the July 2004 issue of the Cavalcade Owner’s
monthly newsletter. IF YOU DO NOT WISH TO RECEIVE FUTURE MONTHLY ISSUES OF
THIS NEWSLETTER, send me an e-mail with the subject field phrase “No Future
Issues”. My e-mail address is jay@treefarmtapes.com CADE RAID 2004 ~
BRANSON, MISSIOURI ~ Register On-Site at Cade Raid 2004. Waiting until the last
minute to decide to attend our bi-annual Cavalcade Owner’s rally “Cade Raid
2004?” You can register on-site at the Grand Plaza Hotel. Plus, the hotel has
promised to honor our group rate as long as there are still rooms available. We
have a special group rate of just $55.00 per night for up to 4 people in a room.
And if you want to come early or stay longer you can reserve nights before and
after Cade Raid 2004 at the same rate. www.bransongrandplaza.com
1-800-850-6646. For you campers, contact “ Cavalcade Store at Cade Raid 2004. You will be able to buy,
sell or trade at the Cavalcade Store. We have a room in the hotel transformed
into a store for Cavalcade related items. If you have items you would like to
feature in the “store,” contact our store organizer, Gary Bracken. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If you are planning a ride, rally, or other motorcycle
event of interest to the membership of the Suzuki Cavalcade Owners Group, send
the information to jay@treefarmtapes.com
and it will be posted in the next issue of this newsletter. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~ TRIPS AND TIPS ~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CADES IN Here a small story from the SOUND SYSTEM SEARCH I have been reading about the CB's org. equip. type for the
Cades. Who would have info on getting them or does anyone have one? Prices,
availability, etc. by the way am I alone in S.C. with my Cade. ~John I currently am using a Uniden 40 channel CB with a
"loud mouth" speaker mounted on top of that. It sets on the left
handlebar with a metal mounting bracket. This bracket has two adjustable screws,
one top, one bottom, for putting the radio on/off the bike, and adjusting the
level and pitch of the unit, the speaker is just a small external one that is
velcroed on, but it has great sound and the radio get out perfectly. The wiring
is run under the false tank, under the seat, and hooked up to a "Firestick"
antenna. With the cheap prices on these types units, maybe someone would be
interested in running this way. The only draw back can be the hand mike, but
once you get on the road, it poses no problem. Everybody ride safe and hope to
see y'all in Branson. ~Ed Ritchison. As I've described before, I also have an aftermarket CB.
Mine has the handlebar mounting system (air-rider), the CB (Radio Shack) and the
interfacing product that enables you to connect your CB radio to the existing
Radio Intercom connections (Air-rider). The kit includes all the necessary
connections including the push to talk handlebar button. I mounted the
entire interfacing arrangement in the left faring pocket. I mounted the CB on
the left side next to the Clutch Master cylinder. It uses a u bolt (chrome) that
will fit the 1" handlebars. When connected, the only time you will need to
adjust the CB is when changing stations or cranking up the volume (you can also
use the intercom volume). Now this is a more expensive way of doing it then
others have mentioned, but I like piping everything through my helmet. It's
easier on me and easier on those I travel with. The entire setup takes about 1
hour from start to finish. ~Micky TIME TO RETIRE? I have never purchase a pair of tires for a bike. I
know there are many, many choices. I ride in the mountains of northern VA.
Most roads have a lot of sharp curves. I'd like something that grips but Dwayne, I own an 87 and 86. I moved from Dunlop 491 Elite
II on front and rear to the Avon Venom X. I really like the handling
characteristics of the I saw a couple of people mention the Avon Venom X tires for
the Cade. I have never run anything except Dunlop elites on any big bike. How
are the Avons for heavy loading? By the time I get my giant economy size rear,
my delightful wife, a trailer, everything but the kitchen sink (looking for a
way to mount the sink (G)) loaded in the bags; old Fat Suzy is carrying one heck
of a load. Factory load specs were surpassed when my wife and I got on the empty
bike... The Dunlops have always done well under these conditions. How do the
Avons compare under such loads? ~Perry The TRUNK MARKER LIGHTS I’m placing running lights that go on the trunk with the
trunk rail and need some help. I ordered lights from JC Whitney and was
able to make them fit. But for some reason, they will not turn on. The
lights themselves have one wire coming out of them and I do not see a place
where a ground would be. I am guessing this is my problem and I hope it
will be an easy one, but I am just throwing blanks. I do have the holder
that was made for the Cade but not the original lights. I even tried to
hook the lights up to another battery, but still no go. If anyone has ever
used the lights from JC Whitney, please let me know or if anyone has the
original lights that you would be willing to get rid of, let me know. ~Sean Sean, Use a Volt-Ohm meter and measure the resistance
between the wire and the metal connection for the mounting screws. You should
see a dead short, or something close (assumes that a known good bulb is
installed). If you mounted the lights on the trunk rack, there's no ground
present due to the mounting method. The lights work the same as the lower bumper
lights. They get a ground from the frame. If that's the case, run a ground wire
from the inside mounting bolt and washer to the ground in the trunk for the
light. ~Micky FRONT LIGHT
PROTECTION Since there was a lot of talk about damage to headlights
and cornering lights I figured I better get something to cover them because when
you all start talking about it I get paranoid or it happens to me. I have
my cornering lights wired so I can switch them both on anytime. ~ Somebody
mentioned this web site http://www.xpel.com/products/default.asp so
I ordered a 12" X 12" of bulk film which will cover both cornering
lights and headlight for $15 plus shipping and it arrived in a few days. I
covered the cornering lights today and am very pleased with it. If you
didn't know and didn't get up real close you would never know they are there.
Haven't done the headlight yet and don't know if I will, but this stuff is
supposed to protect lights when hit with up to 1" diameter stones at
120 MPH. ~Kirby, 86 LX, DRESS FOR SUCCESS I recently found a very informative article on motorcycle
jackets, riding suits, boots and gloves at http://www.soundrider.com/archive/safety-skills/crash_padding-pt1.htm
In it, the author discusses safety and comfort aspects of leather
(cowhide, horsehide, goatskin, deerskin and elk skin) vs. textile, custom vs.
off-the-rack, boots, gloves, costs, etc. ~Gary B. RUNNING ON “E” I have a fuel gauge that is suspect. It’s about 80 or 90
miles before it moves. I always keep up with the mileage on the trip-meter
between fill-ups. On average, how many miles should I be able to go before I'm
walking? I suppose I could keep a gallon of fuel in a side bag and just let it
run dry once or twice to get an average, but I thought you Cade riders would
know. Trip meter read 150 miles the last time it appeared to be very near empty.
Any comments? ~Doug-‘86 LX in Bunnell, Fl I made it 220 miles one time and ended up walking. This
bike does not push very easily! I always get gas now as soon as it gets
close to the red line on the fuel gauge. ~David Doug. The tank holds 6.2 gallons, but I always fill
it up at about 5.2 gallons. At that time, my gauge is reading well
below the empty mark. But a couple of fill ups with recording the mileage
and you can come up with the miles per gallon. I get about 33, so the math
says about 200 miles. Don't want to push it (literally) so it is rare that
I don't fill up long before that. But once you know the miles per gallon,
multiply that by 5 and that is when you want to fill up. ~Tom I know this question has been asked before but I don't
recall if anybody ever tried them and can't find anything in the archive.
Has anybody tried the LED 1157 replacement bulbs for the tail/brake lights?
Would there be a problem with the display signal, giving false light out signal?
~Kirby, ‘86 LX The LED's will work if a 6 ohm / 10 watt resistor is added
to each side of the hot to a ground. This will keep the ok monitor happy and
will provide enough power for the proper operation of LED's. If you
place 1, 6 ohm resistor in each path in the rear housing, it will allow
the use of the same type of LED's (amber) in the turn/running lights in the
front. ~Micky ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Stator REWIND Is this a correct statement: You should have
continuity between the 3 stator legs but you should not have it between the legs
and ground. ~ I had a local rewind mine and it was ok for about 2 years then
went to ground. I just had it done again and found it still grounded so I
took it back and it is ok now if the above statement is true. ~Mike Mike, The windings should not have a path to the core. They
should have a path to each other. ~ BYPASSING THE I just purchased a new sealed battery for my ‘88 Cade.
Can you tell me how to bypass the battery sensor device so that I can get rid of
the battery symbol? I thought I read it somewhere in the Cavalcade web
site, but can't seem to find it anymore. ~Joe Tie the sensor wire to the positive battery post. ~ Gear Position
Readout When I started the bike yesterday to go for a ride, the
gear position showed 0 and the bike was in neutral, the green light was on.
When I started to leave, I put the bike in 1st and the gear position does not
show a number, when I shift, the 0 flashes between every gear. Running
down the road, no number is shown and the green neutral light stays on all the
time. I did notice that when I first hit the start button and the bike is
in gear, it will flash 1 very quickly, but immediately goes away. Any
thoughts on how to fix It might be the gear position switch down at the motor. It
may be the connection of that switch to the display panel. ~ Keep in mind if you find it is the gear indicator switch,
the 86 model vs. the 88 model have totally different connectors for
hooking into the wiring harness, just in case you purchase a used part,
try to keep with in the same year and you should be good. ~Don NAME THAT NOISE My Cade is running fine and I’m going to add the marvel
oil as suggested. The bike runs great in all gears. But in 5th gear at almost
any speed there is a whirling sound as if from a small electric motor. When the
clutch is pulled in the sounds vanishes, but comes back again when the clutch
lever is released. It only makes the sound in 5th gear and at constant speed.
Any ideas? ~Jerry I don't know that I would sweat that sound. I've noticed a
similar sound on several bikes I've worked on. I think it's normal. ~ REPLACING THE PLUG I have only had my Cade a few months and it only has less
than 11,000 miles on it. Can you check the VIN list to see if it’s been done?
If it hasn't do I need to do it now with this low mileage or? When? ~Tim SPRINGTIME FOR CAVALCADES If the springs show no wear or give no indication of
weakening what is the lifespan of the originals ones? What is the price of the
springs so I can have one less thing to worry about? ~Keith Keith, The springs don't "wear", however, spring
steel will lose some of it's ummmph over time. Personally, I think the stock
springs were a tad on the light side to begin with. That's not that uncommon on
a Jap road bike. The engineers had to compromise on plate pressure versus lever
pull effort. The problem comes when the clutch plates get a little less
sticky because of the slippage that occurs right before lockup. And,
sometimes, the clutch will slip a little without the rider even knowing it. It
won't be the typical engine RPMs getting higher without a MPH increase. It's
much more subtle than that and as time goes on, that minute amount of slippage
creates a layer of glaze on the clutch plate surfaces. Dino motor oil gets
really hot when it sits between slipping clutch discs and burns. This creates a
hard, glaze type surface coating on the discs and they simply aren't as sticky
as when new. Most clutch plates (the friction plates) can be revived
with a light sanding with 120-150 grit sandpaper if they measure within spec. The
sanding takes off the hardened glazed surface and exposes the original
material which has a much higher friction coefficient than the glaze
surface. The Barnett springs are not only more powerful than the
stockers (having 1 less coil, slightly thicker wire and a greater uncompressed
height), they're also made out of better spring steel. All steel has the
same modulus (in simple terms the resistance to bending) but there are
different grades of spring steels and some of them have better
"set" characteristics. In other words, the better steels will tend to
lose less of their ummmph with repeated cycles. When you first put in a set of Barnetts, it takes a
pretty good push to get the spring bolts started back in the clutch carrier and
the lever seems pretty stiff. That changes in fairly short order and if you were
to take those springs back out in a couple of thousand miles you would
notice that they install much easier the second time around. However, even
with a small amount of set, they are still firmer than the stockers and offer
a more robust "lockup" of the clutch to prevent any slippage at all.
Use of synthetic oil also helps keep the plates from glazing since it has more
heat resistance before burning. Lots of people think that synthetic oil and wet
clutches don't get along. However, if you changed the oil to synthetic in
the first few thousand miles of its life before the clutch had much opportunity
to slip and glaze then the synthetic oil would actually help prevent a
glazed surface. I use Wayne Koehn's bike as an example. He's got 135K on it
and put synthetic oil (Amsoil) in it with less than 1000 miles on the motor. He
has no clutch slippage and has not changed the clutch plates or original
springs and has towed trailers for many, many miles. And one of them
is a heavy SOB. He has no clutch slip. And, his motor is as quiet as any I've
heard. Are clutch springs anything to worry about? Not really.
However, if you want to eliminate the possibility of clutch slippage
notwithstanding the fact that it's something that probably wouldn't keep you
from getting somewhere (FTP or Failure to Proceed as Spike likes to call it), then
the change to better springs is a fairly inexpensive and easy task to undertake. My speed meter dos not work. I took the cable off and
tested it then The speedo drive (at the front wheel) can be taken apart
and lubricated. Most likely, it seized up and the drive tangs bent away from the
drive slots in the wheel. It's a common problem that comes about because the
drive doesn't get serviced often enough. It should be cleaned and lubed at every tire change. Here's some info on doing that from an old post. Remove the spring wire retainer. Take off the washer and
the drive plate. Grab the drive gear with channel locks and as you twist it,
pull it out past the seal. Clean it up good and grease the piss out of the
inside of the housing before you put the drive gear back in (again, using a
twisting motion to get it past the seal). Grease the piss out of where the drive
plate sits and on the washer. Make sure the drive plate is flat (they sometimes
get bent when they lock up and the drive tangs push out of the slots in the
wheel) except for the drive tangs which are suppose to stick up. OIL PRESSURE DROP As some of you may recall, we've had a few incidents of low
oil pressure reported. It really only manifests itself at idle since too much
internal bleeding will cause the pressure to drop to a level that may light the
oil pressure light if the idle dips down too low. There have been 2 reported
causes for the condition and I have yet a third. One cause is a dime-sized metal plug that is driven into
the crankshaft to seal the oil galleys in it. There are 2 such plugs used in the
crank, one on each rod journal. If one of them exits, it will cause an excessive
amount of oil to bleed and can drop the pressure by as much as 40 PSI. This is,
of course, is bad since the Cade has about 40 PSI at idle. Another cause was a sliver of wire wheel wire hung up in
the pressure relief valve. While cleaning gasket material off the clutch side,
an errant wire from the brush ended up in the oil pan. Since the oil is filtered
after the pressure relief, the wire got caught in the relief piston as it was
limiting oil pressure, probably on initial startup since the system can put out
100 PSI when cold. The third cause is one I just found in a motor I'm working
on. In this motor, there was no plug laying in the oil pan, there were no debris
in the pressure relief but the system would barely hold 10 PSI at idle. When the
idle dipped (it was also having carb problems), the oil light would flicker.
This told me that there was a problem since with 40 PSI idle/hot the OP light
should never come on unless the motor dies. There is a small brass orifice that limits the amount of
oil that gets to the top end (camshafts, lifters, valves etc). That orifice is
pushed into the upper case just above the left-side (stator) main bearing. In my
situation, that orifice was completely missing. And, since I cannot see any
indication that the motor has been apart before (even though it may have), then
the orifice could have been missing from the factory. Interestingly, if it was,
then it hasn't hurt this motor one bit. The main/rod bearings look fantastic for
a motor with 40K + miles. It's like they've barely had any miles on them at all.
The motor, inside, looks great with no signs that would indicate that it
had low oil pressure for any length of time. I would like to thank Jerry Tennant for helping me run this
down. Without him as a sounding board it would have taken me longer to diagnose.
Since he's torn them all the way down, he was able to remind me of the orifice.
It's shown in the parts breakdown but doesn't just slap one in the face as to
its location or symptoms if it's missing. Is this a problem on other Cades? I dunno but I doubt it.
However, if you have a flicker in the oil pressure light when the idle dips
below 800-900 RPM, then you may have low oil pressure and need to put a gauge on
it to see what it's doing. If it's good, it will idle hot with 40-ish PSI and
should have around 70 PSI hot at 3000 RPM. The gauge port (right side cover near
the bottom in front of your right foot peg) isn't standard thread but you can
get a 1/8" pipe thread to start into it and get maybe a turn or 2 on it.
That's enough for a test. It might seep a little but it won't matter for a short
term test. Just don't try and cram it in there too far as you don't want to mess
up the threads for the regular OP sender. If the OP is low, then it would really be a good idea to
look into it. Unfortunately, unless it's the pressure relief, the case has to be
split to get to the other 2 issues. ~ REAR END ISSUES I found another thing on the bike I'm currently working on
and thought I should pass it along. As some of you may remember, big S had a
recall on the rear wheel bearing (left) due to lack of lubrication from the
factory. This was confirmed when I spoke with a mechanic in On this bike, there was grease in the bearing but on about
1/2 of the outer diameter of the spacer that rides inside that bearing (the
spacer being the inside race of the bearing so to speak) the surface of the spacer
is worn down. About .015-.020". This may have resulted from wear
before the bearing was lubricated and the shop just didn't notice it when
they did the fix. Or, it could just be a fluke. That area of the spacer
is quite hard (it has been induction hardened to become a bearing surface)
but even with that it is worn quite a bit. The result besides being
un-nerving (now that I know about it) is that the rear wheel will shimmy
about some and handling will be poor. It might mimic loose swing arm bearings. The other thing I found on this bike was a loose pinch bolt
on the rear axle. This bike had some pretty nasty straight-line handling
problems (like trying to keep it in one lane) and both of these conditions help
to explain why. The moral of this story is that when the rear wheel is off and you're
doing a lube on that bearing (as one should do each time the wheel or final
comes off) then you might want to take a look at that spacer. This may be a
fluke but I can see that if other bikes that were part of the recall had wear
prior to the lube fix, then there could be a few more out there. Unfortunately,
that spacer is NLA from big S. Used or a rework of the worn part are the only
options. If you have to have one made or are repairing one, remember that the
bearing surface has to be damn hard (probably Rockwell C60-ish) and also
needs to have a fairly fine finish (ground or polished) to serve as an
inner bearing race. Also, make sure to tighten the axle pinch bolt after you
tighten the axle nut I haven't been a proponent of replacing the needle bearing
in the rear wheel, however, since the one I'm working on had a failed inner race
(the spacer), I thought it best to replace the bearing. Big S no longer has it
but a replacement is available. It's ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I have decided to sell both my Cavalcades and trailer which
goes behind my LX. I have an ‘86 lx with many LXE things on it. The bike is
painted dehailia blue with trailer to match this is the bike I’ve been riding
for 5 years if interested e mail me @ chopperonly @excite.com. I also have
a black ‘87 LXE that I will be selling after oil pan is replaced it has CB and
all chrome is good for those of you who know Brian and Cheryl this bike was
Brian’s. I also have a 4000 lb lift I will be selling as well designed for the
Cavalcade works well I just ran out of room in garage lift is battery operated
and lifts the Cade without a problem any one interested in any of this please e
mail me Thanks to this group for all the help you have given in the last 5 yrs ~Chopper
Email: chopperonly@excite.com I have a 1986 Cade LX with less than 30k miles. It seems to
run great a couple of cracked or broken pieces of plastic. It's not too bad, I
think the gentle man who owned this before me dropped it while sitting, and it
doesn't look like it went sliding down the road. Tires are in great shape. It
seems to have a lot of extras, chrome covers for the front disks, a hitch, and
it seems to have all the goodies. E-mail me or call for more details. I'd like
to get around $2000. I'm in the Air Guard and will be gone this weekend
but Call, E-mail, or just stop by. I always have a pot of coffee on. ~Ray
Keller, |
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