Maybe I’d gotten lazy. Maybe I just hadn’t thought about it, since I hadn’t been riding as much. But recently, I was going to take Sveta out for a ride, when I just happened to look down and see the exhaust knuckles, between the exhaust pipes and the mufflers, completely unscrewed on both sides. It had probably been 400 or 500 km since I’d last given them a good solid tightening.
Oops.
Five minutes with a spanner wrench had the exhaust knuckles sorted out, but it was a good reminder — that’s something I need to check regularly, and from what I’ve heard, most Ural owners do. They don’t have to be checked every ride, but every, say, 200 km or so would be a good rule of thumb.
While I was at it, I checked the oil, topped up my tires and checked the tightness on my turn signals.
And I won’t forget to check the exhaust knuckles again.
Editor’s Note - Not Sveta, by the way. When adjusting the valves on your Ural, you need to roll your engine to its timing marks. But what happens if you can’t find them?
After reading the forum I figured I would try and adjust my valves on my 2007 gear up. After removing the rubber cap I can’t find the timing marks on the flywheel. I have rotated the engine until I could spin the lifters on each cylinder and then adjusted from there. Now I am a little worried I didn’t have it at TDC. Did I do the right thing or is there something else I need to look for?
Follow the whole discussion: Soviet Steeds - No Timing Marks
When it comes time to replace your Ural’s battery, what should you do? If you want to change to a different brand of battery, what should you choose? Here are some suggestions:
My 2003.5 GU has the Varta YB18LA that is about used up. I have seen references to the Interstate YTX20L-BS, but Interstate site only shows CYTX20L-BS that is an AGM battery that is 270 cca, 6 1/8 tall vs. my 6 1/2. They also show a YB18L-A cycletron that is 235 cca. Not alot of choices where I live, so Interstate is my best bet. What replacement battery are you guys finding the best in Interstate?
Follow the whole discussion: IMZ Ural Boards - Ural Battery Replacement»
The Ural manual is pretty comprehensive about the work you need to do on your Ural at its various service intervals. But as St0nkingByte points out at Soviet Steeds:
This morning I was looking at the manual to see what will need doing and I’m thinking the list from the service coupon page might be missing a few things”
Here are some of the things he notes:
- Torque the head bolts
- Adjust valves
- Check/torque sidecar mounts
- Check/adjust brakes
Other Ural owners had plenty to add. Check it out, and see if you want to add any of these to your service list.
Follow the whole discussion: Soviet Steeds - First Service To-Do List »
When it was time to replace your Ural’s air filter, you promptly went out and bought a K&N permanent air filter for your Ural, right? If not, do so now. Don’t worry, we’ll wait…
Okay, good on you. Now that you’ve got your K&N air filter and you’ve been running hell out of your Ural, it’s a few more thousand kilometers later, and it’s time to clean that dirty, cloggy permanent air filter.
Here’s how you do just that, step by step. (BTW, when I it’s time to replace my air filter and eventually need to clean it, I’ll add a post with pictures about that too.)
Soviet Steeds :: View topic - k&N filter cleaning
“Have the K&N reusable filter in my 07 Gear Up and thought with a little over 5,000 Km I would clean it today. This was the first time I have cleaned it so it will give the new fellows an idea of how to do it”
Where do you find your Ural’s VIN (Vehicle Identification Number)? As always, the good folks at Soviet Steeds have you sorted out:
“Should be on one of the front downtubes on the frame.”
Once you’ve located your Ural’s VIN, here’s an explanation of what your Ural’s VIN means.
When I get ready to ride, especially if it’s been a few days, I always give the Ural a quick lookover. Usually I’ll check the tire pressure, and sometimes the oil (but not every time). Given this post below, I’ll keep somewhat of an eye on the fuel lines. That said, this is the first time I’ve read about something like that happening, so I’m not going to lose any sleep over it.
“I finally traced the leak to the small fuel line running to the carb. Apparently the hose clamp had loosened and allowed the line to come partially detached letting fuel flow everywhere. So when doing your rig check-ups, everyone might want to add the hose clamps of the fuel system to their list as apparently these can become loose from vibrations also”
Follow the whole discussion: Soviet Steeds - Scary moment and something to add to your checklist….
On the IMZ Ural Message Boards, Jon wants to protect the paint on his Gear-up. He takes a bit of ribbing from the guys, who believe “Ural” and “clean” are mutually exclusive, but there are also some good points made about treatments that can protect your rough-riding Ural from getting rusted and pitted up:
The main recommendation is a treatment called ACF-50. Their product page has some great breakdown of the benefits of the treatment, though I’m still a bit unclear on how the layman can put on this stuff in the comfort of their home garage:
ACF-50 was developed 15 years ago and has amassed a record of performance unique in the aerospace industry. Here are some of its unique properties
Do you need it? As with all things motorcycling, your mileage may vary (YMMV). If you live and ride primarily in a region where corrosion is an issue, such as a maritime area or a cold-winter area where road salts are in heavy use, you’ll probably want ACF-50 or a similar protectant for your paint and metal. If not, well, it might not be a big deal.
As for me, Svetlana and I reside inland, and Eugene has very mild winters. At this point, I’m thinking Sveta won’t need a protectant like this, but I’m going to keep looking into it.
Note to self re the recent oil leak incident:
At 2,500km service (coming up in about 1,000km), when changing gearbox oil wrap about 4 turns of Teflon tape about the drain plug threads. This should help prevent future leaks, per the Mystery Oil Puddle discussion on Soviet Steeds:
If you check the cds you will see the fellow rapping the plugs gently before removal, but nothing about overly tightening them when he re-inserts them. He does use about 4 turns of teflon tape on the drain plugs before re-inserting them, I believe. That may be just the ticket for your stopping any leakage, if it is coming from the actual drain plug area
Don in California recently got a Ural, and has been wondering if the rig is pulling to the left too much. What should he do?
Hello! I am new to this site. I am also new to the Ural community. I recently got my Ural last month! Say! How do you balance the side car. Mine pulls to the left. The instruction man. says decrease the toe in. I get it, but from where do I measure this toe in or toe out?
Adjustment needed or just inertia?
Off-hand, I’m not so sure that there’s actually a problem. Sidecar rigs naturally pull, due to simple inertia. Or, to put it another way, that’s what happens when you throw a bathtub on the side of a motorcycle. But could there be something wrong?
Here are some links from Soviet Steeds that I pulled up for Don to check out:
Don, I hope you let us know how things turn out.
