Stevie’s French '98, Mid-90's WR/YZ/DT (An idiotproof guide to building your own DTR)
-
@SpookDog It's the same front mudguard but a slimmer headlight cowl with a smaller light, same as the yellow one on @Stevie-Wonder 's USD conversion. These were a genuine Yamaha DTR part in countries which don't have the same rules on headlight types as we do and transforms the look of the bike, possibly at the expense of brightness.
Agreed I don't think you need a sidelight to pass an MOT, all the TDR250s I had never had one, never even had a space in the light unit for one. Just anything fitted has to work as you say.
-
Bye bye stainless bolts. I got to the bottom of what bolts go where. Both YZ triple trees and WR front ends use domed bolts up top and recessed on the lower tree and axle.Only a small thing but I can’t deny feeling better about knowing it’s exactly as it would be if bought brand new from a dealership.
Was only a matter of time before something doesn’t fit, at least it was only this though. It’s my fault for forgetting I didn’t have WR triple tree’s and that the YZ’s ones a have are an ‘02. Must’ve been some variation or change I didn’t know about or realise.Luckily fowlers and CMSNL stock the guide used by the ‘02 YZ. A pleasant change for once. Oddly enough they’re identical and according to CMSNL list of bikes that use part no. 4EW2331EL1 an ‘03 wr450 is amongst them???
Strange… nonetheless I’ve ordered part no. 4EW2331EL1 Fingers crossed it fits.
Here’s a link for the part in case you feel nosy.
Feels good to get this piece back. I’ll be using some thread locker to make sure it doesn’t go missing a second time. I’ve also ordered a 1/4” torque wrench, found a service manuals online for ‘02 YZ, ‘03 WR450 and the DTR and have decided to do everything up finger tight until I know I’m finished working on everything.
Once that’s done then I’ll do everything up to torque value’s. I was reading as well apparently you shouldn’t grease your bolts? I was always taught this where good practice? Apparently it misses with the torque values ?
I see on jauce people making replacements for the outer part of the ignition and was wondering if anyone did identical replacements? If not nevermind it adds character.
New clocks who dis?Only a couple differences between them too. The models have an embossed Yamaha tuning fork logo which I think is a smart detail, the temp is replaced for the symbol, font is different and the new ones are white by the redline however i think this is just discolouration from age.
The clocks having taken them off properly and had a closer look don’t look too complicated and now I have another working set I can safely take my tacho apart without fear of breaking anything. I’m very eager to see how they work or more importantly why they don’t work!
Poor rubber has started to detoriate, finding another would be nice.
They rubber dampers have also come unstuck from the clocks, would anyone reccomend me some form of sticky rubber sealant?
Better photo.I also noticed my new clocks had an extra washer behind the hairpin keeping them firmer in place. Oddly enough I always thought there was something missing or wrong with the way mine or that they all moved a little in the frames.
I’ll definitely be stealing that idea! It’s bugged me for a long time that they didn’t sit in there snug and tight!
New bulb
We now have light! I love looking at that dash so much. I’m so glad I never went digital.
I’m a sucker for that glow. I can’t wait to be on to road and watching those needles jump when I whack the throttle open into powerband.
Tried to progress more with the headlight however I can’t begin to make a sub assembly when I don’t have the parts for it. I ordered two grommets and got sent one, unfortunately it was eBay so I couldn’t prove they were wrong. Nonetheless full refund but unfortunately no part.Speaking of the headlight I have found a very reputable alloy welder local to me that can travel who’s willing to have a look at those forks.
If someone provided me the tools I’d be more the. Happy to try great or modify a frame but alloy welding? With cast alloy? I’ll leave this to the pro’s, I think he’s also a machinist so I could kill two birds with one stone getting his help.
I have ordered a new rear caliper and hanger from France that’s in amazing condition, hopefully it won’t need rebuilding and all I have to do is chuck some pads in bleed it up and then we’re away. I done well on the caliper too, I took a punch to mine whilst trying to free it from the hanger and left some nasty gouges in it, nothing too crazy but enough for it to annoy me.
Having seen how much rear callipers are going for (in awful condition and without a hanger) I’m in a good mind to just sell my old one at U.K. DTR tax prices and recover the money I’ve spent.
All the bike needs at this point in time for an MOT is a rear brake and for me to connect the 3ET headlight. A pretty good feeling.
I’ve ordered another 4” cable extender and jap pattern tacho cable so that even with the 3ET headlight and currently mounts everything will work properly (touch wood).
Realising I might be close to finishing her up / getting her on the road I’ve started to collect bits to create an OEM rear taillight / number plate holder assembly as I that’d be pretty cool.
I’ve starting writing a secondary fowlers list for bits to finish up like new mirrors, some panels from bikerpartshop, brush guards and fork guards etc. Ya know all the little cosmetic bits or things I wouldn’t want to fit until last to avoid my grease hands leaving prints all over the brand new plastic
YZ front end specs for triple tree’s
Before I get to that stage though the torque wrench must come out. I took @HOTSHOT-III advice and got 1/4” sealey one. Lifetime warranty and calibrated for £35. Can’t argue with that and at a much more practical size then a 3/8” I can see myself using it a lot.
WR’s front end torque spec's
It’s going to be nice to have piece of mind that everything’s done by the book, every nut and bolt done up properly as intended. No more give it one more for luck and pray the threads don’t pull through or the bolt doesn’t snap.
One other thing I want to attend to and make sure is right is the routing for all the cables. It makes such a big difference seeing it organised properly.
Some pics I’ve nabbed for reference.
Also a reminder for me, when I’d done the rebuild I had some bits and bobs left over and one of them I could’ve swore where these metal bendy clip things. I must check I still have them and that I put them in the right place.
See luckily my electrics don’t look that bad if I’m using this for a reference. If it weren’t for the Tesco bag holding the relay and some overspray then it’d probably look pretty good.Also looking at the way the headlight frame mounts has me wondering.. surely it wouldn’t take much to use what structure I already have to attach the headlight frame too. The only issue is the ignition / clocks. They’re going to need to be very careful tucked away and much lower.
How anyone rebuilds a bike or does a full tear down and returns every nut and bolt exactly back to where it came from I honestly don’t know. I think I’d call even the most experienced mechanic a liar if they told me they didn’t have at least a couple bolts left over that definitely belong someplace.
Anyways until next time. I might post about my other bike I’m working on but to be honest I think I’d be doing you a favour if I didn’t. No one wants to listen to me give a thousand reason why not to buy a Chinese bike and why they’re shit. Peace and as always ride safe! Looking forward to keeping you updated with what happens!
-
I always try to clean up the threads in the male and female side before torquing down. With a tap and die…
I went through the same dilemma before when doing head nuts. I figured that I’d rather they were all lubed with grease than some of them were dry and binding. I’d go with a tiny bit of grease every time…
I can’t see it making a significant difference…The dial lights look wicked bright!
I want one of the dial rubbers, I’m using a bit of old mouse mat!…P.S. yep, 1/4 drive torque wrench’s are lovely bits of kit! They’re like toolbox jewellery!
… -
Torque wrench bought, great little thing I’m looking forward to using it.
Mph conversion sticker on, I can’t afford anymore points or guessing how fast I’m going.
Hopefully this fixes the guide problem with the triple trees
Bingo!
Very happy to have solved this little issue.
All I’ve got to do is tap and die the axle, remove the snapped bolt and put on a new hose cover then that’s all done and as it should be
Looking forward to getting the headlight assembled and put on. It’s hard to notice the front ends been swapped unless you put another DTR, I’m quite pleased about this.
It’s been my aim to only use Yamaha parts and keep everything look factory with a few upgrades.You’ll also notice both Speedo and Tacho are hooked up now thanks so some cable extenders.
Just need to replace the right hand fork guard with a Yamaha one with the cable guide and then that’s that done too.With that being said besides a headlight I’ve basically managed to fix all the issues I’d run into since swapping my front end. Im pretty please with myself.
Tap and die set arrived. I’m a big fan of US pro tools they’re great value for money for you average do it yourself mechanic.
New bolts. I have a couple sets of OEM ones spare but I love the look of the gold ones. I had to order a whole pack after the bottom right radiator shroud went missing.
Pattern Japanese speedo cable, I’m not one for not going OEM but I’m pretty happy with it. Seems very good quality.
Pro tip, tape some insulation tape round the end to keep it in place
Same again the other end.
There’s a gap in the oil bottle where you can thread the cable through, jig it about a bit and eventually it’ll come straight through to the bottom. 5 minute job.
For the first time since I got the bike I now have working dash. I can’t bloody believe it to be honest with you.
New calliper
It’s in amazing condition too. Very happy with the purchase.
Even better it’s not seized, i can’t lie after taking it apart it looks practically new. I’m very lucky.
Calliper off, time for some new pads
After the ballache of my calliper seizing before I’m not being shy with the copper grease
That’s her on! The piston was still stuck out a little bit so I had to use my dead low hammer and I little bit of wriggling to get it on but we got there eventually. It was a long time ago I hit a bit of wall with not having a Calliper so it’s nice to have that issue sorted.
The seals and everything where in much better condition then mine so I saved myself a bunch of money getting that calliper.Not long now until she’ll be on the road and better yet as sound as she was the day I bought her, no little issues or anything and all kinks ironed out.
Once again, I’m looking forward to posting some more with updates. I hope you're all well and happy. Ride safe
-
I have to agree, it’s looking fuxin toight!
You must be walking on air!…
-
@Calum I highly recommend them, they’re always great quality and being aluminium you might even save a little weight.
My only gripe with them is you have to cut 4 of them down for the two holes on the tank shrouds closest to the tank as the threads too long
Also yes @SpookDog feeling pretty proud to be honest with you, can’t wait for it to be finished, get her out and get a good side shot. I’ve not had a play in the mud for a long time now so I’m also looking forward to getting her caked in mud and seeing what she’s got
-
-
@Calum agreed, if ever run out of things to do and have a spare bit of cash I’d definitely look into it. A quick search on eBay shows loads of Titanium options especially because there’s so many shared components.
I’m looking at this at the moment
link text
Pretty good weight difference for a fraction of the price -
She Lives!**
Back in her rightful place as always intended. Such a good feeling.
You might notice a missing headlight, that’s because after torquing up all the front end etc to spec I couldn’t help but get her out, get her fired up and before you know it off into the fields we went.
She’s a big old girl with the USD’s and 19” rear. It always catches me off guard if it’s been a while. Thank god I’m not vertically challenged otherwise I’d have problems.
Nonetheless the 19” rear still isn’t very practical.
See the whole in my brush guard? That could’ve been my finger when I crashed. Much to my surprise the brush guard took most of the battering when my bike got thrown up the road. I’m tempted to buy some Chinese replica’s but having seen just how well the OEM guards did at keeping all my digits safe I feel like I could stomach the extra £££’s for genuine ones.
I couldn’t help myself, with nothing but a helmet I came back covered in mud. Totally worth it though.
Speaking of mud…To my surprise she runs really well. I had no trouble lighting the tires up and getting the front wheel off the ground.
Issues I’ve found:
There is a slight leak of blue oil at the bottom right of the engine, the fact it’s blue indicates it’s two stroke so nothing serious. No doubt every engine after being rebuilt encounters an odd leak or something along those lines.
The other was she wasn’t too happy about revving past 8/8.5k, plenty of power before then but whack the throttle wide open and she’d chatter and not Rev all the way out.
In the bikes defence it had no battery in it so I suspect the powervalve not opening fully or something simple as because it’s sat for over a year only getting started occasionally so it could just be that it needs its neck wringing to clear it out or worse case scenario I’ve got to whip the carb out and clean the main jet and check for debris in the fuel filters.
Worst case scenario is that the rings aren’t holding out and that’s why she’s struggling to rev all the way through, if this is the case it’s my fault as I didn’t bother honing the barrel or chucking in a new set of rings whilst the engine was out.
A job I should’ve done ages ago is repositioning the brake hose cable. Unfortunately I suck ass at bleeding brakes so despite their being no air bubbles in the line my front brake now feels no where near as sharp as it used to be.On a side note one of the beautiful things about now running a twin pot nissin calliper is that if I wanted to run a sumo setup all I’ve got to do a lace a 17” rim to the standard WR hub and make a bracket for the standard calliper and have comparable braking force to all other systems.
My other half loves riding on the back but being two man up with knobbly’s is an “interesting” experience to say the least so a sumo setup is definitely on the cards sometime soon.
Prior to changing how the brake hose sit it’d dip down into my keys, often catching them and pulling them out of the ignition barrel. This has not been good for the ignition barrel, Yamaha’s from this time period are known for having fiddling ignitions and having a brake hose that’s constantly getting caught on your keys or trying to pull them out whilst you’re on a trail or out on a ride hasn’t done it any good. Thankfully I wont be having this problem anymore.
Battery fully charged, old headlight out of the loft once again. I’ve took out insurance on her again, a huge milestone and personal achievement since losing everything. I feel so guilty about the fact I haven’t been able to give her the love she deserves. I’ve promised myself I’d get to where I am now for what feels like an eternity. All that’s left now is to attach the headlight and put the battery in and book a mot then she’ll live once more.
Good news too! I found my wiring harness clips. Good job too as they’re no longer available anywhere! Unfortunately the state of my expansion chamber isn’t looking good.I might actually have to stomach the fact it’s time to buy another dep. I never rejetted when I ran the dep but could never get it to rev past 9k. The fact I never rejetted is probably why, I found someone online with the same bike as me with the same level of tune who put in a #260 main jet as opposed to the stock #240 which supposedly fixed this. I’ll miss the torque of the stock pipe however the sound and weight savings are undeniable.
I’m in talks with some alloy welders/workers to find someone to fabricate mounting points on the triple trees so I can run the original headlight etc so with any luck that’ll happen soon.
For now though the old 3ET headlight will do as a gap filler in order for me to pass the MOT.
As always boys I hope you’re all doing well, smiling, having fun and riding safe
-
One last thing though,
I’ve noticed my rear brake being very soft. Is this just because the pads are brand new and need some time to bed in or because I’m shit st bleeding brakes. I’m used to being able to lock the rear up and slide when needed but since installing the new rear calliper and pads I’ve noticed there isn’t anywhere near that level of bite, same for the front too.
Does this sound like a me problem and if so can you recommend any tips / tricks to get them dialled.
-
I bought a cheap vacuum pump-bleeder to do the front, it was the only way to do it without removing everything and laying it flat on the floor! It works really well, I still pump the brake lever while drawing clean fluid through…
Do you mean bottom right as you sit on the bike? Do you have your pump connected or pre-mix?…
Power valve servo is battery operated. When my battery was flat it never used to open for the first couple miles, till the battery took a charge. Yours might be fluttering on/off a bit?…
PS Looking good!
… -
Thank you! I bought one of them handheld vacuum bleeders but didn’t get along with it but that’s probable because I wasn’t using it correctly.
Both my brakes are probably soft because there’s more then likely a load of air still in them, I only bled them to a point they actually worked and forgot about any residual air that could’ve got trapped.
https://youtu.be/sw4kQmL_EeU?si=T80qRUIGkbNLxk4C
This video is very useful and has a few tips for getting the front dialled.
it’s all good practice. I’ve been needing to get good at bleeding brakes for a while.
Also yes right side as your sat on the bike.
And my thoughts exactly, I didn’t have my battery connected at the time so I thought there’s every chance that’s the problem.
-
@Stevie-Wonder @SpookDog Those vacuum bleeders look pretty cool, also that guy Jennie's Garage on YouTube used the top off a hand soap dispenser with some success on the rear:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1ddFwEkn3E&t=495s
Last time I did a DTR front brake I used a syringe and back-bled it from the caliper upwards, this worked pretty well as I just ended up with a small air bubble behind the caliper piston which is above the point where fluid comes into here from the hose (put something directly below the handlebar to catch any overflow from the master cylinder). This last bubble behind the piston was then bled out using the normal method. Tried it on the rear as well, didn't seem to work quite as well but got some fluid down there at least before switching to pumping the pedal.
How clean are your master cylinders? The front DTR one should have a small plastic baffle to catch dirt above where the fluid enters the piston area and this can get full of crud and cause trouble. On the rear, the area behind the plastic reservoir hose connector can become scabby and the fluid entry hole to the piston is tiny. So well worth a couple of master cylinder repair kits (I always had good results with genuine front and Yambits rear) and a good blast out with brake cleaner. Also it helps to take off the plastic rear reservoir hose connector and give this a good clean out, and wire bush the part of the m/cyl where it fits into. These can be difficult to remove as brake fluid has no corrosion inhibitor so plenty of patience required here (it's still available but costs £20) and replace the circlip and O-ring with genuine (90p each).
The reservoir hose is well worth replacing but no longer available genuine and you have to be careful what you replace this with, don't use any old hose the right diameter as DOT brake fluid is a solvent and can pass through some types of rubber at a molecular level which looks like heavy condensation even when the rest of the bike is bone dry (don't ask me how I know lol). The best stuff I found was Tygon 2375 off eBay:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/121518690884
All moving in the right direction, take a look at the Tecno front pipe as it's well made, fits the DEP tailpipe well and pulls strongly from about 5krpm so a good choice for offroading and two-up work. And keep an eye on when Lidl are doing heatproof black spray paint again as this is the best I've ever used on the stock pipe (in fact if I bought another Tecno pipe now I'd painstripper the clearcoat off and paint it Lidl HP black from new)
-
Yep! I used clear pink fuel hose and it was constantly covered in ‘condescending’
I thought it was the fluid attracting water cause it’s very ‘hydrophobic’ (don’t know the proper word!) because I couldn’t taste anything when I licked it 🤪——————-
Even with the vacuum kit I had to remove the front master cylinder and the calliper (plugged the pads with an old disc) and make them as horizontal as possible before bleeding. Was a proper ‘Faff!’
I really need to do it again, because I can’t figure out why the front isn’t biting at the moment. It bites enough to dip the forks then is total bollox. Even with Brembo carbon ceramic pads. I even cross~cross sanded the disc with no results. I’m at a bit of a loss…
-
@SpookDog that could just be the fact the DTR’s are very under braked. The stopping power is more then adequate for being out on a trail and riding off road but on the road they bite hard then forks dive and all the weight goes over the front wheel where they don’t cope very well.
With that being said I found my problem. Bubbles bubbles and more bubbles.
I thought fuck it I’ll pull all the bubbles through the calliper bleed nipple with my vacuum pump thingy
As you can see there’s a lot of bubbles. I had to start from scratch too as I remember last time I changed the position of the hose I forgot to feed the brake hose back through the guides to remove the old DTR hose guide that I was no longer using.
Rather than be lazy and cut it up to remove I figured I may as well do it properly. It’ll only bite me in the ass in the long run.
As I don’t have another pair of hands to hold the lever in a cable tie will do. I did forget when I was done to do this again to allow any other air bubbles that might be trapped to work there way up. I learned from the video I posted that giving the hose a good shake and putting pressure on the piston/calliper using the disc helped work out any bubbles pretty well.
Old battery out
New battery in
DTR’s are so well designed, I love the way everything is so organised and fit together perfectly. Even the battery cover just slides right out to make life easier for the person replacing it. I just love how everything on these has a place, purpose and reason if that makes sense?To be fair to the new battery, I think I bought it 8-9 months ago and it’s never died. I’ve only just put it on the back and only occasionally put it on my smart charger, have to give vertex credit where it’s due their pistons aren’t the best but at least their batteries are. £20 well spent.
The metal for my battery strap rotted out a while ago, I can’t remember if I posted on here but there’s a company that makes OEM replacements.
Ooooh shiny… my first tap and die set. I wouldn’t know a good one from a bad one but I have to say as always I’m very impressed with the quality / value for money with US Pro tools. The case is metal as opposed to cheap plastic and most of their stuff is blue. Ideal if you’re but of a Yamaha fanboy.
I’ve been saying for a while now I need to clean up the threads but having never used a tap and die set and not really knowing what to do with it I’ve been shoving it to the bottom of the pile of jobs I need to do.Also notice the way the brake hose routes? I’m correct in saying air likes to rise right? not ideal for me when the brake hose routes in such a way where logically there’s plenty of places for it to get stuck. I spent a lot of time wiggling, jangling and lifting the hose to try and free up any air from what I imagine to be bottleneck spots.
Whilst in this region and with the fork guard off I noticed my worst enemy, pitting. Nothing crazy or worthy of replacing the forks but bad enough where I know I’m going to have to accept at some point they’re going to need to be rechromed/replaced.
Given the cost to rechrome amongst other reasons I’m definitely going to need to replace them or find out what other year WR’s used the same diameter uppers.The good news is I think ‘05 onwards switched to gold uppers and are quite a bit better then ‘03 year forks. Not that it matters that much to me, my riding skill is not at a level where it makes much of a difference. I’m just going on what’s been said by others and YZ/WR forums.
However it is worth noting that if I was to switch to later year forks I’d probably have to swap callipers and go through all the effort of sourcing all the little bits I’ve just done for the ones I currently have.
Not the best photo but as you can see their are little blemishes and marks off pitting running down the bottom of the stanchion.
I’ve seen worse and I’m pretty sure of that is just mud from where I’ve not cleaned the bike but just something to be mindful of in the future.Sidenote, it’s probably bad but pitting is one of the reasons I don’t mind leaky seals. At least I know theirs always a little bit of oil coating the chrome to stop it from happening.
Anyway back on topic, M8x1.25 tap down the threads of the axle. I found it was oddly satisfying cleaning up the threads. Feeling them start them start to free up and seeing little bits of metal come out along with all the rust and other shit that’s built up and finally being able to screw a nut into it without any trouble felt great. Nothing like making something work as originally intended.
For the first time ever I can now bolt the hose cover in properly, pretty chuffed to be honest. A lot of MX/Enduro bikes around this time period chose to route their hoses under the fork like this for some unknown (and not very logical) reason but to the best of my knowledge Yamaha where the only ones to hollow the axle and create a guide/cover like this.
I’m also slightly lucky, much to my surprise despite a small fragment of the fork being missing the threads are still in tact enough for this bolt to be screwed in. Only downside is that there’s still half of the last hold still in there meaning it could be tightened but not enough where I trust it won’t come lose and fall out… oh and it’s a completely blind thread so removing it could be a big pain in the ass. I’ve been told to drill it out but being a blind thread I don’t want to find out what happens if you drill to far. That wouldn’t be fun.
I had wondered why my bike was sitting funny on the stand or why when I put the stand down it didn’t feel settled or like it was going to fall… by the looks of it my side stand took an absolute battering when I crashed and will need replacing. Very odd how it took a beating but I’ll take that over the million and one other things that could’ve got fucked instead.I do have a pretty rare WR200/DT200WR side stand handy (the type that kicks up in the air towards the seat as opposed to being straight) but I need a custom spring made for it. I’ve tried a couple but had no success as I need a specific tension, length and wire thickness. I’ve tried stretching the DTR spring but even with a lot of swearing it wasn’t having none of it.
I’ve even found people that make them but I’ve never been able to give them to correct details for the one I need. Maybe you guys could help me with that one?With all that being said my old 3ET headlight is back on, I bled the rear up so that the rear locks up with no problems whatsoever (yes I was just being shit and it was a me problem) and solved most of the niggling issues. Dare i say it but the bike is now MOT ready.
I look forward to getting some photos!
As I mentioned before I’ve promised myself to get to this stage for what feels like an eternity so it’s a great feeling to get where I am today. Not only in the sense of getting a bike back on the road but for the DT to be working as good as the day I bought it with no little problems or faults thanks to my inability to leave things alone.
However better yet is the fact this time around I’ve got there entirely by myself, learning and enjoying everything in the process. @Calum you said you where never one for drugs, drinking or going out etc and now I get why. Nothings brought me a level of fulfilment or happiness quite like overcoming the hurdles, solving problems and making progress like this in a long time.
I’d never thought I’d say this but those moments I’ve got something to work for the first time / fixed something has been the best high I’ve had in years. Nothing really compares to it. It’s a great feeling being able to take a step back, look at what you’ve done and be able to say I did that.I’m actually a little guilty in saying that whilst I look forward to having the bike on the road, being able to ride it and make up for lost time I’m also looking forward to carry one working on it. I used to look forward to day I’d be able to ride and just have no problems. Now I look forward to what’s next. I hate to say it but you guys were right, once you start you never really stop.
I better start planning what I want to do next… 18” excel rear to replace the 19”? DT200WR swinger? Sumo wheels? Rear shock upgrade? Decisions eh haha
Anyways on that bombshell… love my guys, looking forward to getting some more pics. the suns starting to come out so hopefully you all get out on your bikes more. Watch out for idiots and ride safe. Peace
-
@Stevie-Wonder The vacuum bleeder could be sucking air down the bleed nipple threads and into the hole at the bottom of the bleed nipple. I'd forgotten this but I once tried sucking the fluid out with a syringe and it did this, took me a long time to figure out. You can improve this and prevent corroded/snapped bleed nipples by liberally applying copper grease to the threads when you install them. Put a fat O-ring between the caliper body and 8mm hex head with a bit more copper grease when you've finished bleeding as well and they'll crack off with no drama in two years' time.
Couldn't help noticing your stock pipe/DEP silencer joint above the battery; is it sealing? If not you can make a sleeve to take up the extra space quite easily out of 2mm aluminium. Remember that circumference = pi x diameter so just measure the OD of the tailpipe, multiply this by 3.142 and cut out a piece this size by about 50mm. Beat it around a socket about the same size in the vice to make it tubular and secure it with a jubilee clip and car exhaust jointing paste. You can fine-tune the fit if needed by taking the garter spring off the stock joint rubber, unscrew the ends and cut a few mm off the female end before screwing it back together. A lot of MX people used to do this in the days of crap fork seals to get a bit more life out of them, it's worth spending the time on because the stock exhaust jointing rubber is better than any aftermarket one and you can do the same thing to an aftermarket front pipe as well.
I have the same tap and die set as that except mine is badged "Presto", it's very good except (unless yours is different) it doesn't include M10 x 1.25 (pretty universal on Japanese bikes) so I had to get it separately. Be careful of this as I nearly wrecked my sidestand cleaning up the threads after powder coating.
Re-chroming fork stanchions could be an option if you can't get hold of any lower legs exactly the same model/year as yours. I'm not certain but I think those stanchions unscrew from the wheel/brake bosses (they'll need to for chroming). I once changed one on a GSX-R400SP GK76A (I had bent forks but wanted to retain the SP rebound adjuster and could only find standard forks at the breakers) and it required a lot of heat to get it to move, I think it was held in with some kind of industrial strength Loctite. Once undone there was a O-ring to seal the joint and a thin shim underneath the stanchion. I reassembled it with a new O-ring and loads of JB Weld but someone somewhere will know the torque setting for this, maybe fire off a few emails to some of the tuning shops in the States like Pro Circuit etc.?
Understand your point about slight oiling protecting the fork stanchions but it can also "protect" your front brake and for this reason an alert MOT tester will fail you for pitted forks. A bit of GT85 on a rag after every rain/mud ride and after washing should stop the corrosion and give your seals an easier life.
If you want an alloy swingarm IMO your best bet would be a 3ET DT200R item as in many ways it's dimensionally the same as the steel DTR one (i.e it bolts straight in between the engine and frame) and much lighter. Here's a mock-up I did on the bench with some spare DTRe crankcases (the crankcases dictate the position of the swingarm almost as much as the frame). This is a 3ET swingarm, drive side spacer and rear caliper hanger (they're both narrower than DT125R to accommodate the fatter arm), DT125R hub, 428 sprockets and a 2mm M20 washer between the caliper hanger and swingarm. You can see from the straight edge the sprockets line up which should in turn mean the wheels on an otherwise stock DT125R are still in alignment as well. If the sprockets are still slightly misaligned you might be able to get around this by messing around with swingarm side clearance adjustment.
The 3ET rear hub is different, I don't have one to try unfortunately but I think it has two bearings on the drive side so not sure how that would affect things. That guy Peter MacDonald on the DT200R Australia Facebook page is always selling 3ET swingarms, only thing you need to watch for is the mud flap behind the shock wears away the back of the linkage pivot over time (doesn't affect the steel ones) so take a good look at what you're buying from the other side of the world. Quite easy to prevent though, on my KTM EXC I cut up the plastic tube inside a roll of sticky labels and zip tied it onto that part of the arm which stopped it. And sometimes bozos who live on Ramsay Street ride them two-up off-road which makes the rear pegs bend inwards, and this can make a proper structurally compromised mess of an alloy swingarm.
Definitely agree messing about with stuff like this gives a greater high than going out and getting wasted with the "In Crowd". Sat here writing this on a Friday night after spending all day on a wheel build and life feels pretty agreeable
-
I had a lot of problems with air getting in at the nipple. In the end I used softer, tight silicon tube for air tightness and put some sealant on the nipple threads…
-
@HOTSHOT-III said in Stevie’s French '98, Mid-90's WR/YZ/DT (An idiotproof guide to building your own DTR):
@Stevie-Wonder “The vacuum bleeder could be sucking air down the bleed nipple threads and into the hole at the bottom of the bleed nipple. I'd forgotten this but I once tried sucking the fluid out with a syringe and it did this, took me a long time to figure out.”
Ahh! I was starting to assume that something wasn’t quite right to be honest, having managed to bleed my brakes myself with no problems I thought it’s only fair to assume it must be getting air in somewhere else. I’d just thought that the seal from the hose to nipple wasn’t enough for the Vacuum against it.
“You can improve this and prevent corroded/snapped bleed nipples by liberally applying copper grease to the threads when you install them. Put a fat O-ring between the caliper body and 8mm hex head with a bit more copper grease when you've finished bleeding as well and they'll crack off with no drama in two years' time.”
That’s a pretty simple fix. Braided lines are pretty cheap for the DT/WR and now I’m confident that I’ve got the hang of bleeding brakes I was thinking of getting some so I’ll take advantage of being able to do that whilst the hoses are off. Only trouble is what colour do I pick? I was thinking blue or orange to match the decal.
“Couldn't help noticing your stock pipe/DEP silencer joint above the battery; is it sealing?”
If I remember correctly, the outer diameter of it is smaller than that of the dep back box and I’ve just left it there for the sake of it however I did get lucky with my dep as it’s a very tight fit (i understand Dep’s are not always the best like that) so I’ve never really had any trouble. Even when I was running the Dep expansion chamber it was such a tight fit the worst I got was a little bit of black soot on the battery tray.
great bit of kit to be honest, for the money I’m very impressed. Cheers for the heads up I’ll be buying one. I’ve been doing a bit of an inventory check with my tool box and noticed a lot of bits and bobs missing.
Despite having a family of mechanics I never got taught about the different tools, drives etc etc so I’ve ended up with a lot of mismatch bits and incomplete sets. Sometimes it feels like I spend more time trying to find the right tool then I ever do working
Having ADHD and Asperger’s is a killer in that respect though, you put something down you was just using to do something and instantly forget what you’ve done with it and if it’s anywhere but it’s usual place I end up having to do a 15 minute search everywhere as apparently I like hiding things from myself
. Hopefully I’m not the only one who does this though.I have found some magnetic socket organisers which go on the side of my toolbox, since having them I’ve spent a lot less time searching for stuff and the fact I can just press the ratchet into the socket and quick change them as they’re stuck on the outside is really convenient
Jake who I bought the guides etc from asked me how I’m doing for suspension/ forks, unfortunately though I just don’t have the spare cash to buy them. Plus they’re one of those things where as much as I’d love to buy them and store them in the loft I know the same will only happen again. Sourcing another pair would definitely be easier than re-chroming them.
I'm not certain but I think those stanchions unscrew from the wheel/brake bosses (they'll need to for chroming). I once changed one on a GSX-R400SP GK76A (I had bent forks but wanted to retain the SP rebound adjuster and could only find standard forks at the breakers) and it required a lot of heat to get it to move, I think it was held in with some kind of industrial strength Loctite. Once undone there was a O-ring to seal the joint and a thin shim underneath the stanchion. I reassembled it with a new O-ring and loads of JB Weld but someone somewhere will know the torque setting for this, maybe fire off a few emails to some of the tuning shops in the States like Pro Circuit etc.?
Understand your point about slight oiling protecting the fork stanchions but it can also "protect" your front brake and for this reason an alert MOT tester will fail you for pitted forks. A bit of GT85 on a rag after every rain/mud ride and after washing should stop the corrosion and give your seals an easier life.
With the alloy swingarm, I’ve already got a DT200WR swingarm and went through a total ball ache trying to find out what it was (info for the DT200WR is nearly always in Japanese and the only real English speaking community for them is in Costa Rica). The person that sold it listed it as DT/Yamaha swingarm and said he was going to use it for his DT. Only issue is before selling it he took it upon himself to raw it all so it needs sandblasting and powder coating. Sounds daft but I love the look of it, by comparison to the WR200 which uses the snail chain adjusters the DT200WR uses a more modern axle block style.
Whilst the snail adjusters are very practical and simple to use. I wanna give the ‘ole DT a slightly updated feel. Like a 90’s/00’s OEM+/Factory works type
of vibe.“Definitely agree messing about with stuff like this gives a greater high than going out and getting wasted with the "In Crowd". Sat here writing this on a Friday night after spending all day on a wheel build and life feels pretty agreeable”
Agreed. I’ve spent so much money over the years doing just that and now all that money I would’ve been spending goes on bikes.
Speaking of wheels, I think a set of sumo’s and replacing the excel 19” with an excel 18” is what I’ll do next.
A set of DTX wheels I think is my best option as then I can still have a working speedo, if I laced 17” wheels to the standard WR hub the reading would be wayyy out and as far as I know no one makes a converter for when this happens.
