Visionary
Posts: 8144
New Bohemia, VA | I don't think there are too many folks who buy a premium machine as the Victory Vision and decide to do their own work on it out of the chute. I expect that kind of thing to be left for the tried and true motorcycle mechanics. I do have an automotive and truck repair background and spent the better part of 20 years in the U. S. Army working on a sundry of mechanical things from the smallest of generators to tanks and recovery vehicles. But working motorcycles can be a little intimidating because as the adage of the sea and sky is unforgiving, so is the road while on two wheels. One must be careful when working on the motorcycle that nothing will be done to cause a failure on the road because something overlooked and I typically would leave anything pertaining to a motorcycle to the experts.
But having the confident to accomplish the task and also knowing that I have a dealer just a phone call away I took the plunge to do my 45,000 mile service consisting of changing the drive belt for the first time, replacing both tires at the same time, correcting the exhaust leak, and replacing the fork oil, spark plugs, and changing the oil.
While I had planned the service for when I did the timing of the weekend prior when while at a stop sign a car directly behind me rolled into me was uncanny. He that thought I had already pulled away and he was looking to see if traffic was coming and pushed the wife and I about 3 feet on the Vision. But incredibly there was no damage that would warrant replacing a single item on the bike; however, the left side saddle bag door was marred, which yielded and insurance check that covered the cost of the service.
My conditions to work in was less than ideal, as I have no concreted floor garage, just a 8' X 16' metal shed with a wood floor that I dubbed the "hanger" and a Craftsman motorcycle jack. My first task was to get the hanger prepared by making enough space to pull the Bentley inside. I had to move a lot of stuff to my other shed and then rearrange to make a workshop. The temperatures for the week was in the 90's and scatter showers, thus making it essential to work inside. I put a small high volume fan to keep air circulating while I was working on the bike.
It was a Monday evening when I brought the bike into the hanger and my plans was to start working on it Tuesday evening when I got home from work. This was so the bike would be good and cool since I ride everyday and that would have delayed me so had I rode it on Tuesday. My first step was to get the bike good and secure on the jack which went very well. I needed to replace the belt so I was going to have to pull the exhaust, right rear top over protection, right side body work.
The first thing that I noticed in reviewing the service manual of how incredibly simple it is to work on this machine. I recall reading one time that the Vision was truly built to run the roads, trim on required maintenance and easy to work on. I'm very impressed that the Vision does not have any engine adjustments to make, just belts, tire, plugs, fork fluid, oil and filter then a bunch of inspecting. Everything is very easy to get to which made the cramped space in which I was working more tolerable.
I got the bike on the jack so it would be ready to remove the tires Tuesday so that I could take them to dealer Wednesday morning. I removed the front tire first to have enough room to tilt the rear up to remove the rear tire. I found the front wheel relatively simple to remove by removing the calipers and putting them up and out of the way, and then removing the axle. Be sure to read your manual when removing the rear wheel so that it will be easier to put everything back together. The rear wheel brake caliper assembly is mounted to a bracket that should be removed together. When reassembled the rear I mounted the bracket first when I mounted the wheel. I soon found that the caliper assembly must be on the bracket at the time of mounting the rear wheel. I had to remove stuff and reassemble wasting precious time. I accomplished Tuesday's goal of removing the wheels so I could get those to the dealer Wednesday morning so that they could get the tires mounted before the day was out. I had to remove the lower shock bolts to free up the swing arm to allow removing the wheel. I used the jack to make enough movement to do this, however, the pump gives out when the valve falls out and it was on the lowest lock position. It would have to stay at this locked position which proved to be adequately high enough to remove the rear axle and wheel. However, to do the final assembly and to lower the jack to remove it I would have to have the jack fixed.
The wheel has to be moved down on the swing to remove the axle bolt. First the nut is loosened and pushed to the right far enough to remove the retainer clip. Then the axle can be pushed to the left to remove. If you are one to do your own maintenance be sure to make note of the spacers for the axles and know which one goes to what side. If at reassembly you forget, the manual will keep you straight. This also applies to the front axle as well.
One of my primary goals in doing the service myself is that I was replacing the drive belt and I wanted to see what that entailed. I quickly realized that it could not be done on the side of the road. The exhaust has to be pulled so that the front drive gear cover can be removed to remove and replace the belt. Pulling the exhaust would also allow me to inspect the header pipes and gaskets since I was suspecting an exhaust leak to cause my excessive popping. Pulling the exhaust in itself was somewhat a challenge as is all exhausts. The best way to do as the book would describe is to pull the muffler and the cross-over first. This requires removing the lower panels, which requires removing the saddle doors first. Once all the body work is removed the bolts holding on the mufflers are very accessible. After loosening the clamps and the hanger bolts, and good twist back and forth on the muffler a few times pulls them off the pipes. To remove the crossover pipe requires removing the oil filter to allow working back and forth to pull off the pipe.
The header pipes are two separate pipes and as recommended, keep the front pipe mounted and tight and loosen the rear pipe and work until you can remove it. However, I had to loosen the front pipe as well to work it back and forth some more to get the two apart. The only way to do this is to remove the right floorboard, which I did after I got the pipes loosened. I also left the brake control attached and just moved it away far enough to work the pipe.
After the pipes are removed it is time to remove the belt by removing the cover's three bolts and taking a rubber mallet and smacking a few blows to loosen it off the rubber seal. Once the cover is removed the belt is easily removed. Once I replace the belt the bike is ready for reassembly. It is at this point that I devote time to cleaning up the exhaust and find that mating service is rough, preventing a good seal. The roughness is not in carbon build up of leaks but of what appears to be poor casting. I take some emery cloth and smooth out the surface.
Since Sunday was Father's Day I was wanted to get the Vision all back together by Saturday evening so I left the forks to last as I didn't feel they were critical if I wasn't able to get to them. However, time was available so I took the plunge. I did not have a spring compressor so I would have to figure out how to remove the spring off the compressor. My ingenuity allowed the task to be completed in short order and very little difficulties. The job to remove the forks from the triple tree was made easier by a tool I fabricated to loosen the top pinch bolt. After bleeding the shocks of the fluid, I measured out the proper amount according to the book. However, I did not have the tool to bring the fluid down to the proper level so I went to get a vacuum pump to remove fluid and fabricated a tube that would bring the fluid down to the correct level. Once I had the bike together of the body work and the oil changed I moved the bike to the outside to put the body pieces back on.
I was able to get it all back together and take it for a test ride around 8:00pm. The first thing I enjoyed of the bike was the exhaust leak being fixed and was pleased that the popping as it was before is gone.
I rate that doing work to the Vision in the moderate level for the novice to expert shade tree mechanic.
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45,000 mile service on the Victory Vision
