90,000 mile service history

At 90,000 miles these are the major things I've replaced or serviced

Two sets of front wheel bearings: One set was rusted due to me using automotive wheel cleaner to clean the brake dust and road grime off the wheels. The wheel cleaner caused the wheel bearing seals to deteriorate and allowed water entered the bearings. The second set of bearings were replaced just because they became noisy.

Two alternator stators: The first stator failed because I ran the engine very low on oil for several hundred miles returning from a trip to Canada. The engine oil is used to cool the stator coils and without oil some of the coils overheated. Years later the second stator just became weak and wouldn’t generate a full charge.

The crankshaft seal and the final drive seal (behind the clutch bell): The crank seal began as a slow leak and after many months the leak became much worse to the point that I wasn't sure whether all the oil covering the belt case was coming from the crank or final drive seal. So I replaced them both.

Rebuilt the front and rear brake caliper pistons & seals.

Replaced the front brake disc -primarily due to the fact that I ran several brake pads down to bare metal and gouged the disc.

I haven’t had clutch shoe wear problems, but I have been using a Dr Pulley HiT Clutch for probably about 50,000 miles. Even with the crankshaft seal leak those clutch shoes only needed a good cleaning with carb cleaner.

Next service I’m due to perform is to replace the steering head bearings and probably a new set of front wheel bearings at the same time. That’ll happen as soon as I can bring myself to stop riding for a few days and pull the front end. Not having a shop or adequate work space I’m limited to laying down on a large piece of cardboard in the driveway to do any work.

The belt is due to be replaced soon and at that time I intend to disassemble the Driven Pulley and helix and replace the lithium grease and clean/replace the pins and rollers.

I probably need rear shocks too. When my budget allows I’ll order Hagon shocks rather than OEM shocks.

I installed Progressive front springs many years ago and haven’t had any problems with the front seals.

Tim

Addendum: I've also rebalanced the air screws a couple of times.

I replaced the fuel pump/sending unit because the fuel gauge would suddenly quit working at about 3/4 of a tank and then resume working at about 1/2 tank. Hindsight is 20/20: the problem was due to fuel varnish deposits on the sending unit wiper which could have been resolved by adding Techron to several tanksful. But I was impatient and uninformed so I eBayed a fuel pump assembly.

Thanks Tim.

Most everything that failed sounds like a consumable or out in the weather anyway. I have heard of the stator failing in a number of cases, that maybe shouldn't be.

Was there water in the brake fluid that caused the brake cylinders to require the overhaul or was it normal wear?

Have you heard of people needing rings and engine bearings? Sounds like this engine is very trouble-free.

Thubbadubba wrote:

Have you heard of people needing rings and engine bearings? Sounds like this engine is very trouble-free.

I was in to my dealer a couple of weeks ago and the service manager said they had never removed or replaced a motor in a SWing! Now granted this is a small dealership but they do sell the Silver wing (I bought mine there) and the beast has been out a long time so looks promising!

Thubbadubba wrote:

<>Was there water in the brake fluid that caused the brake cylinders to require the overhaul or was it normal wear?

Have you heard of people needing rings and engine bearings? Sounds like this engine is very trouble-free.

No water in the brake fluid, and no pitting in the caliper walls. It was normal wear that prompted me to overhaul those calipers. Oh, I did replace the brake fluid with synthetic DOT-5 brake fluid when I rebuilt them. It has been several years since I've done that and have had no problems. One thing about synthetic brake fluid is that it does not absorb water. Big plus there.

Never heard of rings and bearings being replaced. Though there has been an occasional report of an 'engine going bad' (unspecified reason) which was then replaced with an eBay motor.

FYI: I also added a couple of addendum to that original post.

Tim

Now, the deal with DOT-5 is the ability to withstand high heat? I think DOT-4 is also supposed to be 'water-proof'. I was thinking about flushing my RV and replacing with DOT-5.

Quote :

Silicone based DOT 5 was originally introduced to give higher temperature performance over glycol DOT 4. Silicone fluid also has other advantages, it does not damage paintwork and it does not absorb water.
However, silicone fluid is a poor lubricant and does not lubricate ABS pumps as well as PAG fluids. It is also more compressible than PAG fluid s, which can result in a sluggish or spongy

Taken from https://www.opieoils.co.uk/pdfs/tech-articles/Brake-Fluid-Explained.pdf

I was under the impression Dot 3 and 4 are interchangeable.

Quote :

Silicone based DOT 5 was originally introduced

Thanks! Duh!  I must have tunnel vision, I know how to use a search engine too! (face, get un-red)

Silver Dave K wrote:

I was under the impression Dot 3 and 4 are interchangeable.

Dot 3, 4 & 5.1 are interchangeable bud, but Dot 5 not compatible with any others

Thubbadubba wrote:

Quote :

Silicone based DOT 5 was originally introduced

Thanks! Duh!  I must have tunnel vision, I know how to use a search engine too! (face, get un-red)

No prob's bud I have had that on file for ages due to having a bad memory for such stuff

I did see you were thinking of going Dot5 in your RV, two points that may be salient are it's weight & does it have ABS ....

Quote :

silicone fluid is a poor lubricant and does not lubricate ABS pumps as well as PAG fluids. It is also more compressible than PAG fluids, which can result in a sluggish or spongy pedal.

The point about ABS is also relevant to some S-Wings as well