250-500cc 1998 WR360: questions about carb and forks

The lock nut and inner seal can be replaced with just a seal, I have done it a couple of times. Honda likes to use the ring nut like you have above but of course they are a different size and do not cross over.

No stress buddy, im in the uk and have also imported a lectron was expencive but probably the best mod ive done too my bike.

Have spare carb and jets just cant give them away ... Lol

I run 98 shell here and find the only factor for a bad idling lectron is oil quality and quantity, swear the manual states 50:1 after running in procedure.

I think I'l just create a copy of that nut. It is the nicest method to keep the seal in place and there seems to be no standard seal that fits nicely otherwise.
If I fail to create that nut I will just choose the closest fitting oil seal and glue it in place

Regarding the carb, well, I think I'll just go for the Lectron. Now, how do I tell the missus that?

Keep it for when you sell the bike (if ever). It seems that the Lectron works fine on 4st bikes too, maybe small modifications needed.

Manual states 3% oil during run-in and 'not less than 2% after run-in'. I somewhat empirically decided to split the difference and use 2,5% (1:40) oil which provides a margin for mixing errors at the pump. Oil is Motul 800 2T Offroad at the moment; the Motul 800 is about the only 'high-end' 2st oil I can also buy locally.

What quantity of oil would you recommend for the WR, given the fact that 'full synthetic ester core blablabla' oil is used? Keep 1:40? 1:50? Or 1:32 or so?

Having to wait for moderation and not being able to edit the post to correct typos is quite irritating
How long does that last?

Anyway, I went for the Lectron from Kelly/Motosportz to replace that TM38.

I think you will be impressed with your choice for carbs. I've two of these now and really like the fact they are "bolt on and forget" items. Seems I've not much free time these days; so nice to be able to simply fire up one of the bikes and go riding!

DaBit, good to hear of your machining skills. Way back when, in another lifetime, I rode and wrenched on a v-twin Indian; '46 Chief. The result of trying to keep that on the road led to lathes, mills, grinders, presses etc. Ended up with a small aluminum foundry, green sand casting as well as CNC mill. Great hobby with many benefits; easy to go overboard with it. Kind of like the Husqvarna bike; it starts with one. Then two...

And ends never, dont think im ever going too sell my 360 not for what i want for it.
My kidneys will go before i sell that machine.

Good choice on lectron you will love it.

welcome to the lectron 360 club!

Both the machinery and bikes have to fit in the garage, so I have to make choices. I'll stay with one Husqvarna for now

We'll see when the Lectron arrives. Might take a bit of time.

Anyway, I got the rear wheel nut machined:



I chose steel instead of aluminium; if it ever seizes again there are far more possibilities to make it loose again.
I did chicken out though due to no threading tools and many things on my list, so this nut was made at a friend's place on his machines.


Wheel/link bearings are in too, so this thing is back together soon.

Another thing I do not like on this bike is the lighting. There were no turn indicators on my bike and the headlight is one of those shitty UFO things with a 12V/35W household lighting halogen spot in it. Good for nothing. And I do want at least useable light and some turn indicators; here in NL there are always stretches of road involved to get from one trail to another, and although I do not intentionally ride in the dark, it might happen because someone elses bike breaks down or a trip is starting early. A clearly visible headlight is also very handy for the guy riding in front of you; if the light disappears he knows something is wrong.

So I also ordered 4 cheap LED turn indicators, a 3000 lumens LED bike light and a 2,2Ah LiPo battery pack in China. Will do the charging/protection system myself; electronics is what pays my bills and I already did that before on the KLX650R. Disadvantage of LiPo is that the voltage of 11.1V is not standard and they can burn violently when misused. LED's do not suffer from the slightly low voltage, neither does the GPS, and the fire problem can be controlled also. Advantage is the weight of such a battery: only 190 grams/ 6.7 ounces.

So, I mounted everything this evening.
I got one of those 'All-Balls' bearing kits for the linkage. Those bearings are typically Chinese; brightness of the needles is not 100% consistent and upon closer inspection I found a bit of grinding dust in the grease.
Now, the problem with Chinese stuff is that is capable of doing it's job, but you have to do your homework. Thus, needles out, clean them well, clean the cage well, and reassemble with a liberal amount of Bel-Ray Waterproof Grease.



Some cleaning later everything went back together with even more waterproof grease (I love that stuff; have not found a better grease for this application yet)


(btw: phone camera distorts the image in the corners; the seals are pressed in square)

Homebrew nut fits:

For the record; that nut has an M45 x 1,5 thread on the outside, it is 7mm thick, and the hole in the center is for a 35x26x7mm oil seal.

And after some more cleaning and greasing: back together it went:


Questions:
- I still have about 2mm/0.1" of vertical play in the swingarm measured at the rear axle. Weird; bearings fit well in the aluminium and the steel bushings inside are a good fit too. Upper shock bearing has no play, and there is also no side-to-side play.
Is this normal? I have seen this with a new KTM before and the dealer said it was normal and happened more often. I didn't believe him back then.

- Something weird is going on with the rear wheel bearings/spacers/whatever. The length of the inner ring spacer between the bearings on each side of the wheel is approximately 1.5mm longer than the distance between the bearing seats. Thus, if you drive in the bearings on both sides until they seat the inner rings are forced outwards which makes bearing life short.
I should have seated the 2 6004 bearings and nut first, and then do the brake disc side. I seem to have that 1,5mm of space there since there is a small gap between the 63004 bearing and the seal. I did it in reverse and did the 63004 bearing on the brake disc side first, and cannot change that anymore without destroying at least that 63004 bearing.
Wheel fits like a glove in the swingarm though.

Does anyone recognize this?

The shock has the preload nuts tight right?
Could be play in that before it compresses.
As for the wheel spacer tube to long ive not noticed that before but will look out for it, perhaps turn another tube up the correct length.

Nice work on the bearing lock ring!!!

Shock has the preload nuts tight. I do not see or feel the bottom of the shock move, but to really test that I need an extra pair of hands. Probably it is just minute play everywhere in bolts vs bushings, bushings vs bearings, etc. amplified. 2mm at the rear axle is not much at the link.

Received some things from China today.

A 3000 lumens bicycle light in an aluminium housing measuring 44mm diameter and 66mm long.



That would be 3000 lumens if the LED's never got hotter than 25 degrees C and without optical losses, but it still produces a good deal of useable light:



Will have to take it apart to do the homework (always necessary with Chinese stuff..) regarding cooling of the LED's and mechanical durability, the beam pattern is not road legal, but it beats a 35W halogen hands down (and 55W H4/H7 too) and I am pretty sure it lasts much longer.

Also got these:



Flexible rubber ends, so they won't break immediately. But sooner or later they will end up in a state where duct tape doesn't help anymore. Not much of a problem given $9/4pcs.

Still waiting for the battery pack to arrive and I don't have DC yet, so fitting all this might take a few weeks or so.

What thread is required for the flywheel puller? I might want to make the lighting coil floating; that would make the voltage regulator/LiPo charger electronics much easier.

lol, want to make any more of those rings? i could use a few!
yes, bel ray waterproof is the stuff! its my fav. last winter i went thru and did all the bearings on my 360, flushed all their bearings out and used my bel ray! i do not have any up/down play you speak of, even after about 75 hours riding

yeah i have that bit of slop/play too. new bearings/bushes etc but still had it. no biggy

Bit late but it the first free weekend in about a month yay! View attachment 60437

I couldn't get away for more than a long hour, but that's what I did. I think the WR360 and I will become good friends .
It still runs like sh*t down low but since I was in hooligan mode anyway that didn't matter too much and since Kelly has the Lectron almost ready for shipping I am not going to tinker with the TM38 anymore.
Rear suspension behaves better with the new bearings. Front suspension is still not 100%; one seal is still leaking (only cleaned them, didn't replace them yet) and the clickers seem to do nothing.
Don't like the final drive ratio either; I am in top gear before the end of the street. I think it is 13/48 or 14/48, not 100% sure though.

I also farkled the bike a bit; added Acerbis hand guards with aluminium bars in them. Mounted the rear turn indicators and connected them, but these do not work yet because I am missing the turn signal relay. Oh well, will correct that when I build the regulator/recifier/LiPo charger. Also had a few 1W red power-LEDs in the junk box, so I made a LED tail light. With that 360cc paint shaker I doubt the regular bulbs last long.

I also wanted to make a new clutch cable, but it seems I loaned the cable set to some guy but cannot remember who.
(I have, euh had, various sizes of Teflon-lined cable on 5m/15ft rolls. Much easier to make the cable you need instead of hunting for one, and much cheaper too).

Honestly im still on the brake light the bike came with, same bulb too.
On 3rd headlight bulb tho first one shorted on the rectifer and died second was in a head on with a tree.
They last just fine.

I had to replace my taillight bulb after the first ride with the new (to me) bike. It worked when I picked it up..... Maybe a coincidence, maybe not.
Headlight is one of those stupid UFO front masks with 2x 35W MR16 household halogen in them. I don't need to light up the entire forest, but it would be nice if lighting is actually useable so that one has to go too.

New junkbox tail light:





After these pictures I did cover the components with polymer glue to make everything vibration resistant.
That LED bulb didn't cost me a dime, and since the battery I'm going to use is rather small the low power draw (<1W tail light, ~3W when braking) is a bonus too.

Battery:


These R/C batteries cost less than $15, weight less than 200 grams, and when used at only ~50% of their rated capacity (stop charging at 80% state of charge, stop discharging at 20-30% state of charge) last quite some time. I sold my KLX650R before the battery was worn.
Only disadvantage is that they cannot be charged from a normal regulator/rectifier and need a bit more protection, both electrically and mechanically. I am capable of building my own (MOSFET) R/R for this, and when combined with the battery in a single houding it should fit nicely at the location of the original AC regulator. Much better than stuffing everything in the air box.
With a milled aluminium housing additional weight added to the bike is 300-500 grams. Well worth the benefits of a stable power supply to the GPS, front/tail/turn indicator lights that keeps working when the bike dies in front of a traffic light, etc.

Also ordered a new cable set (25 euros for enough to make a clutch cable, backup clutch cable and longer throttle cable for the Lectron), a 15T front sprocket and 46T rear sprocket so I can play a bit with final drive ratio. Current sprockets are 14/48 which is too short to my liking.

360 has very little vibes compared to a "real" big bore, like my 430 or 500. the 360 is pretty smooth compared to those!