I’m waiting for a clutch cover gasket for the ’87 Suzuki Quadracer. After spending some time and effort working on the starter clutch (kick starter), the cover was taken on and off so many times that I ripped the gasket. So, with that, we wait a few days for it to show up.
In the mean time, the Yamaha Grizzly comes in the garage for some work.
The first thing we needed to do is get the wheel spacers off. They were an experiment in looking for a cheap and easy way to stabilize the machine in the rough, off-camber trails we frequent in northern Kentucky.
I wanted to try them because this is the machine we use to ride more than one rider at a time. With one rider, this thing is pretty easy to handle with just body weight, but you can’t stand up with other riders, so this seemed like a decent idea. It does work, but only at low speed. The solution of wheel spacers is at the expense of higher speed stability.
The spacers change the steering geometry and are simply a sort of cheater solution. The short version of the story is that I don’t really like them.
The whole point of collecting all the tools and capabilities in this shop is to eventually be able to make a “proper” extended/ long travel suspension for machines like this one.
It really is a simple way to cheat when low speed lateral stability is the goal. The just bolt on to the hub, which you can then bolt the wheel onto.
Mmmm. That’s a pretty machine back there…
Here is a slightly better view of the ’87 LT250R and my evolving Milwaukee Packout that I’m loving for working on these machines.
This is a 2004 Yamaha Grizzly. It has had almost no maintenance done to it since we bought it new. It’s time to give it a look and overhaul any systems in need.
