50,000 km Service

A minor milestone. The owners manual only lists maintenance for up to 30,000 km. So I'll just follow the 10,000 km list and call it 50k

• Change engine oil and filter. (See Lubrication List, chapter 11) 
• Change transmission oil. (See Lubrication List, chapter 11) 
• Change final drive oil. (See Lubrication List, chapter 11) 
• Inspect air filter element. 
• Torque cylinder head stud nuts. 
• Adjust valve tappet clearance.
• Change oil in front fork shock absorbers (on telescopic fork models) 
• Replace the spark plugs and inspect ignition leads. 
• Replace in-line fuel filters.

• Check:
• Carburetors while idling for synchronous operation 
• Check steering column bearings and adjust if required. 
• The condition and action of the brakes, lubricate the brake shoe fulcrum pins and cams. 
• The tension of wheel spokes. Adjust if necessary. 
• The toe-in and camber angle of the motorcycle and sidecar. 
• Electric wiring. Tighten connections if required. 
• Fasteners for proper tightening. 
• Check battery electrolyte level.
• Check tires, tread depth greater than 3/32” 
• Check the timing. 

• Repack the grease in wheel bearings, adjust the bearings. 

• Lubricate: 
• Foot brake pedal shaft
• Hinges of foot brake pedal shaft and linkage.
• Lever pins and thimbles of clutch and front wheel brake control cables.
• Drive shaft splines 

The rebuilt engine now has 5,400km and I was curious what the condition the oil was in. Not much swarf on the magnetic drain plug and no evidence of aluminum or even moisture in the drained oil. The last oil and filter change was at 1,500 km since rebuild. The "book" says to change the oil every 2,500 km but Mickey said that with the additional capacity of the deep sump and switching to the spin-on oil filter, I can double the change interval without concern. With the deep sump pan, the oil capacity increased from 2 qts to 3⅓ qts. Not an "official" recommendation but more a suggestion based on experience. Since the oil will be changed again in a couple of months to something more appropriate for winter, I used a cheaper 25w50 synthetic blend.

The transmission oil was last changed before my trip last summer using Amsoil full synthetic 20w50 oil so it has over 20k km on it. The folks at Raceway suggested the I can double the normal 10,000 km change interval with the Amsoil. The drain plug is on the right and the fill plug is on the left. No other metal or water in the transmission drained oil. The oil was actually still amber colored and pretty clean. It could probably have gone even longer. Since I didn't have any Amsoil full synthetic, I used some other 20w50 full synthetic that I had on the shelf. Hopefully, it'll be as good.

The final drive was replaced last summer by Raceway so the oil has over 15k km on it. This is the drain plug. No other metal or moisture in the oil. I followed the directions and flushed out the final drive by filling it 135 ml of engine oil, spinning the rear wheel a couple of revolutions and draining it out. No other metal or debris came out. It was black but still pretty clean. I refilled it with 135 ml of 80/90 full synthetic oil.

After the engine cooled, I re-torqued the head bolts to 35 ft-lbs and adjusted the valves. The left didn't need any adjustment at all and the right both needed to be tightened 0.001". In other words, the heads didn't need to be torqued and the valves were fine. The carbs were balanced using the TwinMax. Only minor adjustments needed but I think I want to check it again. Maybe tomorrow...

Jed had some of these stickers made and gave me one. Somehow, it seemed really appropriate today. Tomorrow, I'll start with the rest of the list.