Installing UTV Winches
Regardless of the reason, whether it be to lift a plow, pull downed timber or to pull out a stuck riding buddy, adding a winch is one of the most requested modifications off-road dealers get.
Off-Road Maintenance
Take the time to educate your customers with what’s involved in properly servicing and maintaining their off-road machines. Being transparent with them will build trust, help to avoid misunderstandings and could score you some additional work.
Tech Tips: Winter Pre-Storage Service
If you’re not selling winterization packages, there’s still time.
Tech Tips: Maximize Your Service Potential
Standing out from the crowd of other bike shops and subsequently winning loyal customers doesn’t take being the best — you just need to be better.
Servicing Honda CRF250L Forks
The Honda CRF250L is a great bike to get into riding motorcycles. New owner’s and technicians will also find it a good bike to service and upgrade with fairly simple components and inexpensive OEM parts. A larger or more demanding rider very well may want to upgrade the budget stock suspension. An aftermarket replacement is
Neglected 4-stroke Bottom Ends
1. We are now well into our second decade of high performance 4-stroke motocross bikes and their derivatives. Most folks have become accustomed to the maintenance-needy valve train components and small oil change intervals. The titanium valves cost an arm and a leg and the short skirt pistons don’t endure for long. That is
Exhaust System Service
Exhaust systems often need to be removed for vehicle service. The components of the exhaust system may be few and simple, but installing and removing them can be frustrating. Use these tips gained from years of experience to make it easier for the technician and a better experience for the customers. 1. Be prepared for
Yamaha V-Max and V-4 Valve Clearance
The Yamaha V-Max showed up in 1985 and ran for more than 20 years in its first generation form. Derivatives of this V-4 engine were also used in the Venture, Venture Royale and Royal Star models. The firing order of this engine is cylinder: #1 (0°), #3 (180°), #2 (430°), #4 (610°). There is a
Adventure Bike Shock Service
Adventure bikes rack up hard miles. The shocks on these bikes are especially prone to wear and deterioration by how they are used and their construction. We stopped in at Cogent Dynamics and learned about shock service and improvement from owner and suspension specialist Rick Tannenbaum. Our guinea pig is the KYB shock on the
Setting Up Customers’ Sport Bikes for Track Days
Sport bikes are so fast it is hard to enjoy them on the street without danger to life and license. Taking them to the race track allows the rider to enjoy the upper end of their performance envelop in a controlled environment free of slow cars, double yellow lines and speed limits.
Technical Training Opportunities
The end of winter is in sight. To be clear, I’m talking about spring coming not the international scientific consensus on human influenced climate change and record high temperatures this past season. Anyway, service business is going to be booming with the warmer weather. This is a great time for technicians to catch up on
Yamaha Dry Sump Maintenance Tips
Many Yamaha sport quads use a dry sump oil system. A dry sump system stores engine oil in a remote oil tank instead of a deep crankcase oil sump in a wet sump engine. This makes the crankcase smaller and allows for the engine to be mounted lower in the frame. The disadvantage is a
Harley-Davidson Spring Plate, AKA The ‘Grenade Plate’
A grenade plate sounds like a piece of military equipment used to upgrade the armor of a vehicle or fit a grenade launcher to a rifle. Unfortunately this has become the nickname for a component found in the clutch pack of some of the most popular motorcycles on the road. The spring plate in the
Mechanical and Hydraulic Linked Brakes
Linked braking systems on motorcycles and scooters have become more common over the years. Hydraulic systems use proportioning valves, delay valves, and multiple master cylinders to combine the activation of the front and rear brakes in a smooth and logical fashion. Mechanical brake systems use equalizer junctions to link up the cables for the front
Hydraulic Tappets
1. Hydraulic tappets are used to eliminate or reduce the need for valve clearance adjustment. An engine without hydraulic tappets must have a gap between the tappet and valve or tappet and camshaft to allow for the change in clearance as the engine components heat up. If this clearance is too small the valve may hang
Torque Specifications
1. Tightening fasteners correctly is key in mechanical work. Most folks are familiar with torque specifications as the common form of estimating fastener tension by how much force it takes to rotate the component. The fastener tension can vary at an identical torque spec under different conditions, and it is the tension that matters. 2. The
