New Guy

[tschutter]

Tim Schutter from Hudsonville MI. I have an 84 1200 Aspencade with 54k miles. I'm in the middle of replacing the head gaskets and I wish I were riding instead. This summer I have a trip planned to Glacier NP with my brothers (3). My GW will be the first in the group. For us, being well represented mean the fewest break downs. My brother Dan has a Honda ST1100 which is stiff competition. Great bike and he is good with the maintenance. Also represented is a Harley Road King and a BMW GTL. These are good bike too, but have had a couple issue. My previous ride was a Kawasaki Concours and it was solid. Anyway, my hope is to run the 4-5k miles without incident.
Thanks
Tim

 

[mjanderson]

Welcome!

 

[zman]

Welcome to the forum, check your block deck before you install the gaskets, recently a member had installed new head gaskets and blew again due to the deck/cylinder sleeves having too much gap.
Good luck.

 

[Steve83]

Welcome from Southern California!

 

[mcgovern61]

Tim, welcome to the site from New Jersey! :clapping:

 

[brianinpa]

Welcome to Classics from PA!

 

[Mad Dog Tannen]

Wecome sir,

take your time with those heads, it's worth it to be meticulous in those hard to reach places!

 

[julimike54]

Welcome to the forum, enjoy! Should make it just fine.

 

[slabghost]

Welcome to the fun. Good advice so far. Was one of the gaskets blown? Or is this precautionary maintenance?

 

[Winger 82]

Welcome from N.Western,Pa. :hi:

 

[Ansimp]

Welcome from Oz

 

[tschutter]

slabghost » Yesterday, 5:46 pm[/url]":2sezti4c]
... Was one of the gaskets blown? Or is this precautionary maintenance?

I was blowing coolant out the exhaust pipe from the right head. The left is more maintenance because I don't see any evidence of a problem.
Thanks
Tim

 

[slabghost]

Be sure both the heads and block are flat and smooth. Head bolts in spec. threads chased to be clean for proper torque and grease used on the head bolts. Torque a little at a time in the proper sequence and be absolutely certain the gaskets fit where they are supposed to. Especially the ring that fits the piston bore.

 

[tschutter]

Just as a follow-up to my head gasket repair. I was able to get everything together and running with a week to just run miles before my trip. My son(19) and I pulled a trailer (behind the bike) out to Glacier NP, then into ID and WY before returning home. The repair give me no problems. I did have an issue with my ignition but nothing to do with the head and coolant system. That was 4800+ miles in 12 days. I'll have to report on the ignition on another thread
Pretty happy with the bike.
Tim

 

[joedrum]

:BigGrin: great to hear ..thats a good test run ...

 

[mcgovern61]

Glad to hear it!! :clapping: