Blaners Blaster awakes from slumber!

[Blaner]

Well its been a couple years since I really got stuck into my bike, in the meantime I have fitted an LED tail light and a FactoryFX seat cover.

With our bunch of riding partners all being at resource and time consuming times of their lives (including me) we have had to sit tight and get the priorities right before we carried on throwing sheets at the bikes! (I know I know, 3rd world problems...) In the meantime the exchange rate has risen drastically so that makes getting parts from you dudes in the states, much more expensive

Anyway, We have a challenge planned for the last weekend on March and includes a 100 Mile 2 day trip along the eastern coastline of South Africa. This is where we love to ride as its a rural area and you can do and go where you like!

I have therefore had to get stuck in and spend some bucks on things I have been putting off for years, including: New front tires, New balljoints, 450 Footpegs and Heel Guards and longer tie rods.

Doesnt sound like a lot, but its the unexpected things you find along the way that add to the job...

I have known my balljoints on my Full Flight A-Arms are stuffed, they have seized and makes turning an steering near impossible, I ordered off Ebay, some press in replacement ones, thinking I could just replace the inners, after 3 weeks, the package still hasnt arrived from the states but I realised my balljoints are not replaceable and I have to replace the entire Ball joint end! Enter: Ricky Stator! I ordered some of these balljoints and had them express 1 day delivered to my good friend who is in Cullman AL for a few weeks. This way I cut out shipping times and customs fees, he returns here on thursday! So crisis averted (at a handsome fee nonetheless!)

I am having longer tie rods made out of stainless steel and also need new a-arm bolt tubes. I am getting friend to turn me some new ones.

I will post some pics of whats going on soon, but I first I need to get through a day at the office!! I will also use this to give you guys updates on some of my fabbing jobs I did a while back and we will see how things are going. Updates should include: HDPE Skidguard; YFZ450 suspension job, Custom Swingarm, Blaster/YFZ hybrid steering stem etc etc...

 

[2-strokeManiac]

Blaner , dit klink na moerse leka fun.
Van waar af begin jul met die trip en waar eindig julle?

Sterkte met jou upgrade to do list, daai gaan n paar rande kos en n man se sak seer maak, maar dink so daar aan as dit klaar is het jy n super blaster wat crap goed gaan handle.

 

[Blaner]

Blaner , dit klink na moerse leka fun.
Van waar af begin jul met die trip en waar eindig julle?

Sterkte met jou upgrade to do list, daai gaan n paar rande kos en n man se sak seer maak, maar dink so daar aan as dit klaar is het jy n super blaster wat crap goed gaan handle.

Hey boet, didnt know we had another representative on here! We ride the wildcoast from Kei Mouth, stop off at Cebe for a refuel (we have a family cottage there) and push on through the dreaded Qora Gorge and on to Kob Inn, where we hit a pub lunch and then bliksem it back to Cebe, tan a chop talk a heap of nonsense and 'kis' out there for the night, next day we head home back across the ferry to Kei Mouth.

 

[Blaner]

Well, here is the current state, T-29 days to get ready!

Having identified a problem with my spring being VERY close to the left hand A-arm, as such:

I finally found that the cause was not my frame of any of my my 450 weld mods, but rather the a-arms themselves! I identifed that the bottom shock mounts of the a-arms were 10mm different between the 2 arms, meaning the right hand shock was positioned further forwards than the left!! NOT COOL!! Im going to have to cut off the mounts an make new ones in the correct position.

While I was at it, I ripped off the balljoint boots to see what the problem was, my new ones have just arrived so I can rest at ease. What I found was interesting, its obviously a bad quality balljoint and has limited angles of movement, so with suspension travel, the shaft has hammered into the aluminium housing and burred over the edges inside and out, this burring on the inside has tightened up the balljoint and restricted its movement.

In other news, my swinger is doing well, although it needs a polish, im not going to worry about that right now, otherwise, its holding out beautifully!

 

[Blaner]

On the front suspension front, all YFZ450 welds are doing well no cracks at all,

The one thing I did notice, is that the tubes that run through the bushes on the bottom arms were obviously too short and have worn as they have rotated with the travel of the arms, the idea is that the tubes are clamped by the bolt between the frame and the bushes move on the tubes, this hasnt been happening and made my suspension rather hard as I have been tightening up against the bushes instead of the tubes! I am having new ones made to correct this problem.

All seems good on the upper arm department!

In other news, my new 23x7x10's have arrived, they are going to climb like a boss!

Im still waiting for my parcel of 450 footpegs and heel guards, when they come il keep you posted as to how im going to work with the foot pegs. My ones are shot!

 

[jus_me]

What brand A arms? I am surprised you hadn't noticed the difference on the mounting tabs when you did all the work for the 450 mounts. Nice job by the way.

 

[Blaner]

What brand A arms? I am surprised you hadn't noticed the difference on the mounting tabs when you did all the work for the 450 mounts. Nice job by the way.

well I initially did the mod with a set of standard 450 a-arms, I then broke the one arm and replaced them with these ones, Im sure I would have picked it up if Id designed with these. I believe they are Full-Flight a-arms, im not entirely sure as I got them 2nd hand from a guy in Cape Town.

 

[Blaner]

New balljoints arrived from Ricky Stator US via Frankfurt Germany...

 

[Awk08]

good stuff Blaner !
those RS ball joints are supposed to be good

finally we get to see the effects long travel suspension has on limited travel ball joints, hence why some use heim joints.

 

[Blaner]

Hi Awk, been a while. Indeed long travel on B-Grade ball joints! I must just add that I have checked the standing angles of the ball joints and they are sitting nicely in the middle. In other words, they are not stressed when the bike unloaded and in a neutral position. So this is definatey a case of travel exceeding the capacity of the joint.

It was interesting to compare my worn ones with that of a standard yamaha 450 ball joint. Standards ones have FAR more angle of movement than these thing. Il post a pic soon!

 

[Blaner]

Well Yesterday my new YFZ footpegs and heelgaurds arrived, so while im waiting for tie rods and new a-arm bush tubes, I decided to get stuck in with fitting them. Now I often see guys fitting heel guards, and other custom foot pegs but I decided to cut off the old blaster pegs and and 450 pegs and weld the 450 pegs onto the blaster mounting brackets. Now I didnt get around to finishing the job, but I made some good progress!

Here is the new and the old:




Check out how smooth my old pegs were!


I then went and cut my old pegs off their brackets:






Then I cut the YFZ pegs and filed both to fit smoothly before welding:




I then tacked them together and did a test fit, this is where I left it, although I have cut and prepared the other side as well. I used my nerf bars as a guide to ensure the peg is welded in the right place, because the nerfs mount onto the pegs and are fixed at the front, so they have to meet the pegs or else they wont fit. this ensures both sides will be equally positioned (as well as measuring of course!!)



Should be finished soon and is actually one of the easiest mods Ive done! very straight forward. I still have to deal with the heel guards as I have Blaster Nerf Bars on, with interfere somewhat, but I have a plan to get it right, il keep ya posted.

 

[Blaner]

In other news, I mentioned I would be showing you the stock Yamaha replaceable balljoints off a 450 and that they have more travel, note the "bowl" design around the shaft that allows for maximum travel, then notice how these non-replaceable ones dont have that and how little space for movement they have!



Check out the extra angle of movement the Yamaha joints have. Yamaha For The Win!


The bad news is that the new Ricky Stator Ball joints dont seem to have as much movement as the Yamaha ones. In fact they seem to resemble the old ones...I will just have to see how long they last!!!

 

[2-strokeManiac]

Hey boet, didnt know we had another representative on here! We ride the wildcoast from Kei Mouth, stop off at Cebe for a refuel (we have a family cottage there) and push on through the dreaded Qora Gorge and on to Kob Inn, where we hit a pub lunch and then bliksem it back to Cebe, tan a chop talk a heap of nonsense and 'kis' out there for the night, next day we head home back across the ferry to Kei Mouth.

Haha jip, another SA citizen

Sounds like one hell of a fun adventure.

Keep them pics coming.. and nice progress so far

 

[Blaner]

Well, made some headway on the footpeg/heel guard story, my dad has been fiddling with brackets etc while im busy and unable to work on the bike so its been great to get some help and keep things ticking over!

I ended up deciding that it would best to use the blaster footpegs as well as the 450 ones, I bolted the cut off blaster pegs onto the 450 pegs using nuts I tacked onto the blaster pegs to act as spacers between the pegs. I Chose this route because of the nerf bars which got in the way of the heel guards, so it was either I make a spacer bracket or double up on foor pegs, I thought more stability is never a bad thing!

Right hand side is almost done, the left is still in infancy stage but will be easier than the right. Im still waiting for my new tie rods and a-arms spacer tubes, then im good to go!

 

[Blaner]

Hi guys well its been a few weeks since ive updated, but its been tricky with my wife being in hospital for a few days and a few other hang ups! Time is running out as we ride next weekend and I still havent got the front suspension sorted out.

The foot pegs are sorted, Il get some more pic later, but im still waiting for new a-arm tubes to be made for me before I can move the front shock mounts on the arms. After that, its assemble and wheel alignment!

Super keen to get it on the ground!

 

[bummer981]

Your cutting it close to ride time, hope the parts make it in time. Looking forward to some more SA pictures.

 

[Blaner]

Your cutting it close to ride time, hope the parts make it in time. Looking forward to some more SA pictures.

Haha, still plenty time my friend! I cut it as fine as travelling back from university, arriving home at 5pm, assemble front suspension, oil change, leak test and all then as i was about to load the bike so its ready in he morning, I realised the back shock had leaked all its oil out and was as bouncy as a pogo stick. I then had to swap a shock at 01:00 with the ride starting at 07:00 some 150km away!

So Im sure il get it ready in time... but i am a bit nervous. I have been delayed though, my wife was hospitilised with a kidney stone this week and that basically replaced all my mechanicing plans...

 

[Trimguy]

If Momma ain't happy, nobody is happy. Hope she's feeling better. Are you going to have some video of this trip?Sounds like a cool ride. Now get off BF and get it finished.

 

[Blaner]

Will indeed have a video! going to be epic. You can check out our last ride here:

Have many a plan to make it better than the last one...

 

[Trimguy]

Nice videos. Looking foward to the new one. Now go finish your ride!