Ride Three

For Ural Sidecar Motorcycle Enthusiasts

4/10/08 500km Service - 2007 Ural Patrol

Performed free of charge (except for $26.50 for fluids and filters) by Tony and Kurt of Raceway Services.

What was checked, changed and worked on

• Engine Oil Change
• Exhaust Knuckle
• Final Drive Oil
• Torque Headbolts & Adjust Valves
• Brake Reservoir
• Spokes
• Brake Adjustment
• In-Line Fuel Filters
• Bonus Tip: Clean Burned &%$@ Off Your Exhaust Pipe
• Shopping List

Note: I’ve always had great things to say about Jim and his operation at Raceway, but I’ve got to add something else. Something else that sets Jim and his crew apart, is that bike owners can be in the service area, watching the mechanics work on their bikes or, in the case of this novice, ask heaps of questions, take lots of notes and snap loads of pictures. A lot of shops won’t allow the layman back here, for reasons ranging from insurance to shadiness. That Jim and his mechanics welcome the motorcycle owner is another plus for their operation in my book.

Bonus Tip: For all service notes (instructions and what to do are in the back of your Ural manual), at all service intervals, if it says “check” a fluid or filter, change it instead. “It’s cheap insurance,” says Tony at Raceway.

Engine Oil Change

• Change oils when engine is hot
• When changing oil filter, always change out bushing and O-ring that go on the filter (Tony gave me back my old bushing and O-ring so I can match them up at a store – they’re in my Ural’s kit bag, in the trunk)
• When putting in new filter, make sure nose of plate is in filter
• Add 2 quarts fresh oil and 8 oz. Hyperlube (or any generic “motor honey”)
• What Raceway used was Carquest SAE 20W-50
• Note to self about funnels: purchase 2 funnels, one larger for main engine oil change, and one with a long skinny tube on end (or fashion one) for the smaller hole for transmission oil. It’s fine to use one funnel for all the oil changes, including engine oil, transmission oil, and final drive oil

Exhaust Knuckle

The “exhaust knuckle,” as the mechanics called it, is a spanner wrench-tightened bracket on the muffler/exhaust pipes. The left exhaust knuckle (but only the left; the right stayed tight) came loose on both my bike and Andy’s rigs. Luckily, he caught it during a roadside GPS check, so we spent a couple of minutes re-tightening. The guys at Raceway said it was just one of those areas to check when checking any other bolts or such for tightness. Fair enough.

Final Drive Oil

• Add 3 oz. 80/90 gear oil and 1 oz. Hyperlubee (or any generic “motor honey”)
• Forget the old adage “a little bit more is a little bit better”. Add 3 oz. oil. Not 3.5 oz. Not 4 oz. Three. If you think a little bit more is a little bit better, go to the IMZ boards and look for any threads about people finding oil seeping onto their rear wheel. That’s because they overfilled the blooming final drive. Add 3 oz. oil. Next…

Torque Headbolts & Adjust Valves

• Do this when engine has cooled/only when engine is cold
• Torque head bolts, pop timing valves, work kickstart (below) and adjust valves
• When removing engine valve covers, place oil pan underneath each head when cover is removed to catch draining oil
• Use .004 feeler gauge to check and adjust gap (Tony at Raceway gave me one – it’s in my Ural’s kit bag in the trunk now)
• Set torque wrench to 43 ft/lbs
• Torque headbolts in this order: (pick your metaphor)
  • Northwest, Southeast, Northeast, Southwest
  • 10 o’clock, 4 o’clock, 2 o’clock, 8 o’clock
  • Or try it more literal: Top-Left, Bottom-Right, Top-Right, Bottom-Left
• Stand on left side of bike, lean over seat and pull timing plug. This can get a bit tricky: with a flashlight, use your foot to slowly push down kick start until painted mark shows (timing marks should be distinct - usually a white blob of paint that Ivan dobbed on at the factory)
• Check tightness on right; then left; whichever has movement, adjust that one first
• A 10mm/13mm wrench – use coppery bolt to adjust re .004 feeler gauge. Adjust until there’s a snug fit on gauge – you can still pull out the gauge, but with some resistance (shouldn’t feel like it’s scraping the valve). Tape/gauge should slide out easily
• Can set gap a tidge loose, then tighten a hair more when you remove gauge
• When ready to work on next side, run kickstart again until timing mark shows. Repeat above procedure on other side
• Put cover back on and tighten clockwise. Cover bolt just needs to be snug, not over-tight
• When putting cover back on, Beveled side of cover (there’s a straight side and a beveled side) goes on Bottom. B = Beveled = Bottom

Brake Reservoir

• Unscrew and pop cover on right handlebar
• Check brake fluid level
• If fill needed, fill with DOT 3 brake fluid to fill line
• Re-attach cover

Spokes

• Tap a wrench all the way around each spoke on each side of your wheel
• Should hear a consistent ringing, almost musical sound
• If a spoke sounds “dead”, give it just, say, up to 5 turns with an adjustable wrench. Not too many turns though – could overtighten and cause a wobble in tires. Do a turn and ring it again.

Brake Adjustment

• If adjusting the rear brake nut, adjust the sidecar brake nut the same number of turns.
• If adjusting to tighten the rear brake nut, when you’re done then drive the rig 1 mile. Pull off, lick finger and touch rear hub/drum. If hot, your brakes are rubbing, or touching the wheel even when not engaged. Loosen the nut a little (remember to loosen the sidecar nut the same number of turns.)

In-Line Fuel Filters

• Check only when you must, as a fuel drip may develop on the outside of the line if you don’t do a good job re-securing the lines to the filter
• Note: arrow on fuel filter should point towards carb (in direction of fuel travel)

Bonus Tip: Clean Burned &%$@ Off Your Exhaust Pipe

Not that I would know anything about this personally. Oh yeah, except for my rain overpants brushing the damn pipe when I dismounted at the dealership. Lovely. Luckily, it’s actually not too too difficult to remove melted-on crap from your exhaust pipe.

• Fine steel wool and lacquer thinner will clean off burned-on crap
• Can use an SOS pad instead of fine steel wool
• Oven-Off or other over cleaners work too
• Elbow grease

Shopping List

• Torque wrench
• Raid thrift shop for kitchen pots with handles and a big enough size for an oil change (I like the idea of pots, because they have easy-to-use handles, and are easier to maneuver that the unwieldy stainless steel casserole dish-style pans usually used in garages)
• Wee bowls (maybe metallic?) to hold bolts, screws etc.