Triumphrat

Ohio-Rider · 05-07-2009, 12:07 PM

Hello everyone, This past winter I acquired a quite a complete matching numbers Bonneville from its original owner. This machine has not been ridden in twelve years so I’ve got a little work ahead of me before I will get the thrill of that first ride. I thought that while I am picking everyone’s brains here as I learn my way around this bike that I would document what I’m doing for the next guy. I’m no stranger to wrenching on old machines but this will be my first experience with a Triumph.

My intentions are to bring this machine back to show room condition over the next three years when it will turn thirty five years old. I am completely aware of the long journey I have ahead of me but I’m looking forward to it. When complete this bike will serve as my sport bike for those days that I feel the need for speed. Those days are getting a bit farther apart as the years begin to catch up to me but I’m hoping this British bomb shell will fill the need when asked to do so.

Well this long journey I’ve chosen starts today. My first goal will be to get the bike into some type of riding condition so that I can evaluate what will require my attention. The previous owner set me up with a service manual and parts book for it so I should be able to communicate with everyone here with some degree of intelligence.

Ok, lets get at it. Upon my first attempt of kicking over the engine (not attempting to start it) I discovered that the clutches are frozen and that after a few kicks the kicker arm locks up solid so I’m going to begin this project by removing and cleaning those clutches and finding the reason for the kicker arm locking up. I’ve found that when the kicker arm locks up I can get it free again by rocking the bike while in gear. That should tell me something , but I’m not sure what it is as of yet. But will find the reason shortly. By the way I’m pretty thick skinned so please feel free to question anything I’m doing because I sure will be questioning myself. -Steve

GrandPaulZ · 05-07-2009, 06:27 PM

Howdy, and welcome.

The sticking kicker is related to worn transmission bushings, maybe just the one for the kicker shaft.

Ohio-Rider · 05-07-2009, 08:25 PM

Thanks GPZ, That’s twice today that you helped me out. First with the info about removing the exhaust before the primary cover and now about those bushings. I’m zoning in on freeing up these clutches first and then I’ll be looking into those tranny bushings. Maybe I’ll get lucky and it will be a simple fix.

While removing the primary cover today to get at those clutch disks I got to noticing five different places that the previous owner had used “duck tape” to fix a problem, and that doesn’t include any of the electrical circuits. I’ll post a picture of that pile of spaghetti when my youngest one gets home from a baseball game with MY camera. Gee’s….. He even used duct tape for a gasket around the primary cover. After thinking about it awhile maybe “duck tape” isn’t the worst choose available in a pinch.

sonny walker · 05-08-2009, 12:18 AM

lets see some before shots

GrandPaulZ · 05-08-2009, 08:38 AM

I'm with Sonny - take several good "before" shots, especially one from each side, straight-on.

Ohio-Rider · 05-08-2009, 10:30 AM

I thought you'd never ask!

Ohio-Rider · 05-08-2009, 06:45 PM

I removed the clutches today and as was suspected about half of the stack was stuck to one another requiring a flat screw drive to pry them apart. Pretty much just normal looking wear to them so I’m going to clean them up some and reinstall them.

Now that the clutches have been removed from the hub, I can’t get the kicker arm to freeze up as it was doing with the clutch basket assembled. I’m not sure what to make of that? I think I’ll work that kicker arm through about 40 or 50 cycles and if still doesn’t freeze up then I’m going to call it good for now. Job number one for me now is to reassemble and button this primary side back up and move on to inspecting the pushrod settings.

I didn’t see in the service book about how much if any “wiggle” the clutch basket may have when the clutch plates are removed. Mine has a small amount wiggle, but not enough that it truly concerns me at this point. Should it?

Ohio-Rider · 05-14-2009, 03:43 PM

While giving the fiber clutch pads a good cleaning with brake cleaner I noticed that the last fiber pad installed into the basket had a sizable metal chip impregnated in to the clutch fiber. This has slowed things down considerably because now I have to find out where this chip of metal came from. Every thing inside the primary cover appears just as I would expect to see from a 25k mile machine. I will need to do a much more detailed job of cleaning out of the primary side than I had expected to do at this stage. Can’t assemble till I know where that chip came from. –Later-

Ohio-Rider · 05-28-2009, 04:15 PM

After giving the primary side a good cleaning, I have not been able to find where that darn metal chip came from, so for now I have reassembled the primary side. When it gets a complete tear down next winter I’ll investigate this further, but as I stated earlier my main goal for the summer is to get the bike road worthy so I can determine any major problems before the complete tear down of the bike this coming winter.

I removed the fuel tank this week for flushing and guess what I found. Yep…..More duct tape!

Did anyone notice that in my last post after removing the primary cover, I found duct tape was used for the gasket?

Ohio-Rider · 06-02-2009, 06:29 AM

Ok! The fuel tank has been cleaned out and re-installed. Other than a small amount of yuck along the bottom the tank from setting to long with fuel that was left in it, the tank is remarkably clean inside and has no leaks that I could detect while doing a low pressure air test on it. I’ve also put the left side exhaust back on. There most be an easier way than I did it because I had to muscle it back into place but its back on there now.

After doing a compression check and finding that to be good I’ve decided to forgo checking the valve adjustments for the time being. All that leaves for me to do now is to clean up my points and due a few electrical checks and I should be about done with this phase of my project. I’m starting to get a bit excited to hear this motor purr.