Mech

They should have splattered a bit of mud on that right hand wheel..

And if that picture of them all standing around in their slippers is anything to go by, his idea of "aggressive trail riding", and mud that will rip your boots off, is a bit of a joke. My sons would have had that out of that mud hole in two minutes, If they'd ever managed to get parked in it like that, when they were twelve years old !! No winch required..

Looks like there's no answer to my logic... The thread was just an unjustified potshot because he was disappointed with his purchase. If Keys was a long time member here, and had done a bit of this "very aggressive trail riding", and wasn't a self confessed "newbie", then perhaps his post and experience would have a bit of credibility.. As it is, being as he joined up just to bad mouth a piece of equipment he wasn't satisfied with, unfairly, and can't prove the clutch in question was the culprit in his problems, then I really can't see any credibility in it. Quite the opposite. I also see that he joined up to several other sites on the same day, and posted the same bit of malice. It all just looks to me like mischief. I'm betting that if someone started slagging him off all around the web because they decided, in hindsight, that they weren't happy with something he'd sold them, he wouldn't like it. I doubt the manufacturers would like this thread either. I think that the manufacturers (who I think are sponsors here) should know about this and be given the opportunity to respond to these unfair and slanderous attacks, or the thread deleted.. Fair's fair.. This is not.

Oh ok.. And the "new" loom, was second hand I suppose ? That makes it a bit of a wildcard.. Hmmm. Well I really think you should double check that the two looms are identical. As has been said, they could have different pin placements in the plugs, and they might even be differently wired. Different years and/or different markets can and often do use different wiring, and components, and sometimes at first glance they seem the same, colours perhaps, but not the pins, and sometimes the pins are in the same places, but connected to different wires.. Check the pin places and what colour they are connected to. Then, recheck the earth and power connections are good, wriggle wires where they go into the plugs/terminals feeling for broken copper.. Start with the ignition, earth and power wires that run the ignition system. Perhaps disconnect the kill wire from the cdi if that's possible, to eliminate switches or shorts inside the new loom.

Oakely.. You did mean just the harness attached to the stator did you, not the whole bike's wiring harness ? And, if it was just the stator harness, check the bike wiring where the harness connects to the stator wiring for broken wires. Handling things might have been the last straw for a fragile wire in the wiring.. The wires can break inside the insulation, generally right where they connect to the terminals. Gently flex each wire feeling for resistant from the copper.. Plastic insulation bends easy, copper doesn't.

Lol.. I quite agree.. We went out in the morning with a "I'm going out", and were in trouble for not getting home before dark.. And yeah, during the day were were getting told off by strangers for riding(they were races really) bikes down the near vertical sides of volcanos or heading out, six little boys in a six foot dingy.. as the weather turned nasty.. haha.. They didn't stop us though, those strangers.. Now, because some people can't control their tempers and bash children because they are frustrated and angry people.... now we aren't allowed to smack.. slapping a hand before it touches the potbelly or pokes a screw into the mains plug is illegal. It's abuse. Go figure. As an adult I've still been, like you Ulf, heading out alone, on small boats without radios or flares or lifejackets.. and getting stuck somewhere over a night or two and coming home to find the authorities had been informed I was overdue.. haha.. only overdue to them.. I was quite fine. And I've had people tell me I should wait for the weather to come right, and that I absolutely shouldn't try crossing stretches of water, by people in nice yachts, far nicer and more seaworthy boats than my old things.. because it's too dangerous. And, it probably was dangerous.. but I read the signs, I only take calculated risks and I have contingency plans. Now everyone wants someone else to take responsibility and guarantee it's going to be a nice day and smooth seas. And yup, the more dependent they all get on an experts opinion, the more incompetent and incapable to make decisions and do stuff they all become. Bottom line for me is, Ya gotta have fun. And strange thing, all the "dangerous" things, are the fun things.. It's like you say.. technology, "things", owning sh**, is not my idea of fun.. Doing things is fun.

And yeah.. Savage's right, that air gap is pretty critical. Apart from effecting the production of a spark, it also effects your timing and your timing advance..

Lol... I'll google you and check.. When I was an apprentice even the tube patches were heated on ones.. None of this glue on stuff..

There are also 1998 and 2002 manuals there if there isn't the one.

"And yeah, the incendiary patches, they are still using them in other countries I know that. And in heavy equipment. But . . "911" ya know. have to take all that kind of stuff out of the hands of normal people. Thats why we can't find them, because this bull garbage run amok waste of a government we've allowed to grow out of control thought some sand potato might buy a bunch of the little trays and scrape out the ingredients and build a bomb that way.".. Settle.. settle.. We're backwards here(which I like), I'll see if I can find any.. I bet India has them..

If that bike has a barometric pressure sensor that calculates altitude, I'd check that sensor was communicating with the ecu properly. The dash gauge will show you what it's reading if you put it into diagnostic mode.. I think. I'm reading an 2016 Alterra 550 manual..

Did you compare the old and new wiring harness ? They might have the pins in different positions in the plugs..

It's hard to get seals for overhauls these days.. But if it's just the seals and they are available then it's worth a try.. Seals are cheap if you can get them. You wash everything in brake fluid and/or water, not kero or anything petroleum. If it's got gouges in the bore then it's probably not worth doing. If there are no gouges then don't hone it, just polish it up with a rag on a stick. Lube the new seals with brake fluid or rubber grease before stretching them onto the piston, lube the bore with brake fluid or rubber grease.. Fit the cylinder, use your finger to block the outlet while you bleed it, then fit the pipes back on and do a full bleed. Oh ok GW says the kits are dear.. I generally just bought individual seals.. back in the day.. haha. Now, for $25 perhaps it's simpler to buy chinese.

If the pumping seal in the cylinder is starting to wear out even though there's no leaks yet, the common symptom is that if you apply the brakes very slowly and gently avoiding building up pressure, the pedal will creep down. If you jab the pedal down the seals flare out and seal. I'd try that test. If it's a disc brake, and it passes that test the cylinder is probably ok. If it's drum brakes and it passes that test, there may be a valve in the cylinder that may be crook and the cylinder may still need to be replaced. To check the hose, you could use a clamp and gently clamp the hose near the master cylinder end and test the pedal. Best to try and diagnose things before throwing parts at it.

What sort of problems and have you tried stripping it and cleaning it ? You can probably get an overhaul kit for about fifty bucks or less with all new seals and a float needle. The diaphragm on top doesn't come with the kit I think but they can be got separately, and they are generally pretty long lasted and easy to change any time.

Are you sure it's the cylinder ? "very soft" is a strange condition.. If it doesn't bleed, and the pads aren't getting pushed back in by excessive wheel bearing play, perhaps the rubber hose is starting to bulge under pressure.

Are you sure you can't get those hot patches Ulf ? They were banned her decades ago for use on road vehicles, but they were still available for use on tractors etc for a long time. I haven't seen one for decades now, but then I haven't been looking, they might be available. They were good alright. I'll inquire at the local trye shops next time I'm in town. If I can get them I'm happy to send you a few. It'll be a few weeks though. You do have mail there do you ? Air pumps.. yeah most of the plug in the cigarette lighter ones are rubbish but for infrequent use they would be ok. If you stripped one down of it's plastics, and used a seperate hose, you could with a bit of ingenuity mount one somewhere. Most of them don't have an air filter, or a sump on the crankcase, so it would be good to draw the air from the air cleaner housing at least. If you want a good electric pump though, have a look on a jappa car wreck that has air adjustable suspension. They have really nice solid powerful pumps, with sealed crankcases, and rubber mounts built in. I've got one here I've thought would be good to mount into a 4WD.

Read the manual John..

!20 lbs should be enough to get it going. I'd check the valve clearances though because a tight inlet(or exhaust), will bugger up the vacuum which the pump needs. If your fuel tap has off, on and res then fuel should flow out freely on either of the two running positions. If the tap has on, prime and res, then it needs a vacuum applied to the back of it to make fuel flow on either of the two running positions, but fuel should flow freely in the prime position. If fuel doesn't flow freely in either type then you need to take the tap out and check it's sieve which is inside the tank. The fuel pump operates off vacuum. The way to test the fuel pump is, with the tap on, pull the fuel hose off the carby, and lay it on it's side into a bottle. Then find the vacuum hose that goes to the pump. On most models it's a fatter middle hose on the left side of the carby. The fuel hose is left rear. Trace both hoses though to be sure. The other hose on the left side supplies vacuum to the tap. So, with the fuel hose on it's side in a bottle, suck two or three times hard on the pump vacuum hose till there is a good strong vacuum built up, then release it suddenly. The fuel should come out of the fuel hose as a full diameter slug of petrol about ten or so mills long. If the fuel comes out full diameter then the pump works, but we need to test it is getting enough vacuum with the motor running. The pump needs a nice strongly fluctuating vacuum to work, so if the vacuum hose is old and soft, or been replaced with thin walled hose, the hose can partially collapse with the fluctuations causing not enough fluctuation at the pump. Check the vacuum hose is thick walled and sound. You could prime the carby by putting the fuel hose back on the carby and sucking repeatedly on the pumps vacuum hose, or, gravity feed fuel to the carby to fill it for the next test. To test it running, we leave the fuel hose in the bottle, on it's side(on it's side is important), but we reconnect the vacuum hose to the carby. Start the motor and with it idling the fuel should come pulsing out of the fuel hose, still pretty near full diameter but a shorter squirt. There's one more test for the pump once you get the bike running, which is to check the vacuum the bike produces is adequate when the motor is under load. To test that we do all the same test, tap on prime, fuel hose in bottle, vacuum hose on, but we hop on the bike, put the brakes on , start it, put it into gear, and open the throttle till the motor starts laboring. With a load on the motor the vacuum drops away, but if the motor is tuned, the valves adjusted, no air leaks anywhere loosing vacuum, there should still be enough vacuum to keep a near full diameter slightly pulsing flow of fuel out of the fuel hose laying on it's side. If you have the hose dangling down, the fuel dribbles out continuously and it's real hard to tell if it's a decent full diameter flow.

Yeah well a million is a lot of pieces of belt. I still think if you want to be absolutely sure it is the new clutch causing your problems (credibility) then you need to swap/test one part at a time.. that's the scientific/logical way. That's the way we mechanics have to do it.. We have to be able to demonstrate our reasoning was sound. You had the problem before you changed clutches. The problem arose after you'd changed tyres you say. Changing clutches didn't cure the problem, and it wasn't the cause of the problem. It's a pity that you are disappointing the new clutch didn't cure the pre-existing problem as you'd hoped, but I don't think it justifies bagging the new clutch. Consider this.. If the old tyres lack of traction in the mud was what was saving your belts from destruction, and enhanced grip in the mud with the new tyres alone was what was causing them to fail in only nine miles, if you are correct and it was in fact traction alone causing the belt failures, then the belts would have destroyed themselves driving on good surfaces where the original tyres were getting traction. That's logic. You were destroying belts in as little as nine miles.. Here's what the manual has to say about that. Perhaps some of the problems are not in fact the new clutch setup, or the new tyres. "A proper break-in of the clutches and drive belt will ensure a longer life and better performance. Break in the clutches and drive belt by operating at slower speeds during the 10 hours as recommended (see Chapter 3 – Engine Break-In Period, page 3.32 for break-in example). Avoid aggressive acceleration and high speed operation during the break-in period. After installation of a new drive belt, break-in new drive belts by operating at slower speeds during the break-in period ~50 miles. Carry only light loads. Avoid aggressive acceleration, high speed operation, and extended time at a specific RPM during the break-in period. In addition, when operating in sand/dune environments, avoid extended low speed operation at high throttle.". And again.. "PVT Break-In (Drive Belt / Clutches) A proper break-in of the clutches and drive belt will ensure a longer life and better performance. Break in the clutches and drive belt by operating at slower speeds during the 10 hour break-in period as recommended. Pull only light loads. Avoid aggressive acceleration and high speed operation during the break- in period.". I think you are drawing a very long bow trying to blame all your belt problems on the new clutch, and I think if you want to present a creditable justification for bad mouthing them you need to prove it is the clutch alone by eliminating the new tyres and your driving techniques as possible causes. You need to change one factor at a time and demonstrate that that one factor does, and only it does, cause the problem.

"I feel credible information is important; ". And so do I, and in fairness to the makers of the clutch you are bagging, I think it's important to point out a few things. First off, your theory and that story doesn't make sense.. For a start, mud does not use a lot of torque, quite the opposite. Sand puts big loads on your motor, horsepower and torque, but mud by virtue of it's softness and slipperiness can't use too much of either. If your new tires are getting so much grip now that there's no wheelspin and so you are applying more power, well that's one thing, but I'll bet that it's no more power than you'd get/use on a good hard surface. If the belts are failing now because you are getting grip in the mud, then the belts would have been failing when you got good grip on hard surfaces before. Secondly, you say the problems started after you changed the tyres/wheels, not after you'd changed the clutch.. You changed the clutch to try and remedy the problem the wheels had caused. How can you now claim it's caused by the aftermarket clutch ? Thirdly, you fixed the problem again by changing everything back to stock.. including the wheels. That doesn't prove it was the aftermarket clutch causing the problem, and it doesn't prove that it was the wheels either. It's inconclusive. In the interests of credibility, I think you need to be more methodical and change one component at a time before blaming it on that clutch. You've already tried the standard clutch with aftermarket wheels and the belt failed, how about trying that aftermarket clutch with the standard wheels and see if the belts fail in nine miles. If the clutch, and the belts survive, then put your aftermarket wheels on and see how things go... In the interests of credibility. To my mind there are a couple of possibilities causing your problem here, and neither of them are the aftermarket clutch, which was meant to be the cure for the problem, but didn't fix it... One is that you have changed the diameter of the wheels, and the other is that the belts need bedding in before using them hard. Did you change the diameter of the tyres ? Changing the diameter of the wheels could cause the belt pulleys to be operating too near the extreme range of their variability. They are designed to operate through a certain rev range, and when the bike is in it's power range the pulleys should be near the center of their diameter range, and at the low revs, and high revs, when the torque is less, they are meant to be using a small pulley and a large pulley. Small diameter pulleys can't handle as much power as large pulleys, so, gearing it so it's using the power when both pulleys are the same diameter will help transmit power better. Over gearing it and putting a lot of power through a small pulley will tend to promote belt slip. And, those belts do need running in.. the manuals say so..

There might be a manual in here.. Up the top, "more", service manuals, then in the new page a way down on the right choose your make and have a browse. The way it's probably meant to be done is to take the other side case off and undo a circlip or something and pull the shaft back through.

Yup, what Gw says...

You're not likely to get much compression if the rings are stuck. I'd work the rings free starting at their gap and levering the two ends apart a little with a tiny screwdriver, then once the ends start moving out, if you use a plastic screwdriver handle to tap the rings back into the groove while the screw driver is still in the gap you'll find that the ring lifts out of the groove a little further around. Then use a bigger screwdriver to lever the ends apart further and repeat the tapping so the ring lifts even further around the piston. If you keep spreading the gap, and then tapping the ring back into the groove while the rings ends are held apart you'll find they come free. Work the tapping from the gap along towards the stuck place. Once they move you could take them off and clean the grooves, or if they seem to free up nicely then just give it a good clean. Oil the rings and put it together and it might come right. If the bore isn't grooved then I'd just clean it. If the bore has alumiium stuck to it then I use caustic soda on a small brush or rag and apply it to the stuck aluminium. Caustic eats aluminium but not the cast/steel so you can avoid honeing the bore which will upset the rings being run in, and cause more wear as they re run in. You need to apply the caustic in a really well ventilated space and stand up wind because it produces some really exceptionally toxic fumes.. I mean the fumes will have you choking from twenty feet away even outside if you are down wind. Because the caustic has such a violent reaction with aluminium it's important not to get it anywhere except on the aluminium in the bore, don't try dropping the whole bore into a bucket of caustic or you'll end up with just a steel sleeve left.. The caustic is really handy if you have a bore that's nitro hardened and which won't hone. I've recovered two stroke motorcross cylinders that had been proclaimed beyond reuse by bike shops using caustic.

Yeah ok... Now I'm jealous !!