Saturday, April 28, 2018

Maintenance Notes 53K

It was time to do some maintenance/repairs on the Ural. It looks like the foam rubber sleeve that keeps dirt and water out of the driveshaft spline didn't survive the winter. There just a small ring of material still hanging onto the driveshaft. There is only about ½" of space between the side of the tire and the driveshaft so I think it would rub when riding through snow. A new part has been ordered. When it arrives, the driveshaft splines will need grease.

I pulled off the spark plugs and they still look fine. The gap is still within spec even with over 20k km on them. Even though I have a new set on the shelf, I went ahead and left the old ones in place as the engine still starts and runs fine.  The spark plugs were removed so I can easily turn over the engine to adjust the valves. The valves on the right side were rattling a bit more than normal. They were slightly loose so I tightened both 0.002" to 0.003" clearance. The left side was still within spec but I tightened them to match the clearance of the right side.

Both thermocouples for the CHT (cylinder head temperature) gauge have broken connections at the spark plug end. Apparently, the wires need to be welded as solder would change their behavior slightly. In this application it wouldn’t really matter but I went ahead and ordered another pair of “J” type thermocouples from Aircraft Spruce. The other pair lasted for about three years but have been acting up for a while. I guess I need to handle them more carefully as they seem to be somewhat fragile.

About one cup of 20w50 synthetic blend was added to the engine. Still about 1000 km until the next oil change for engine and transmission. I really didn’t ride much this past winter. 

Now, I need to start tearing carpet out of the RV. I don’t look forward to that task… 

3 comments:

  1. I understand why you're not looking forward to tearing out the carpet, but I'm looking forward to reading about your RV changes and updates!

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    1. I was thinking or just removing some of the carpeting. It's also in the slide and the bedroom and I was planning on leaving that for now.

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