Fiona Modifications

Improving the front braking performance.

Fiona, my '99 URAL Patrol Sidecar with the '84 R80 Beemer engine has drum brakes on all three wheels.

Stopping power, as you can imagine, isn't as good as Scarlett's, my 2014 URAL Patrol with disc brakes on all three wheels!

Richard Winter, aka BURAL on Sovietsteeds, had mentioned to me he'd found a Triumph Motorcycle Clutch Cable (Mfr #T2047048) that fit the bill as a replacement for the stock front brake cable on the older Ural motorcycles with drum brakes.

I had him modify an old style brake perch he had, to accept the cable which I ordered and had shipped to his home, he coupled them together and sent them out to me.

First attempt to install, I ran into a problem with the brake actuating arm that came with Fiona, it was not wide enough in the groove area to accept the Triumph cable and also the hole one uses to anchor the cable end wasn't wide enough.  Richard said it's a sad fact but consistent manufacturing specs on the older URALs were somewhat "lacking".

He then sent me the brake actuating lever he'd used to test the cable assembly he'd sent before, and I got it before MOAB, only just today getting around to installing it.

It took me a while as you have to unmount the actuating arms and move them from the existing six o'clock position on the hub to the 430-5PM position to allow for the extra length on the Triumph cable.

This was the first time I'd done this so it took me a while to figure out how each piece interacted with the rest of the brake cable assembly!

This is the sequence that worked for me after much trial and error.

1.  Remove cable end from anchor point on actuating arm.  Remove barrel screw, as the cable came with one.

2.  Remove grip, controls, brake perch and pull the attached stock brake cable off the tug.

3.  Unmount and reposition both brake actuator levers, leave the link between them unhooked on one end.  Yes, it'll be a slight PITA to align the splines on the arms.  However it is INFINITELY easier to mount the arm onto the splined end before attaching the new cable to it!!!    Ensure you have enough slack by moving the barrel screw forward.

4.  Put the new perch in place, secure it, tie it off in the forward position to push all the slack to the hub end of the cable.  Route the cable to the brake hub and insert the barrel into the repositioned forward brake actuator lever.  You'll have to use a large screwdriver as lever to push the assembly back so the cable can be inserted, it should be a tight fit.

5.  If you got the new angle of the brake actuator arms correct, it should be a tight cable end to end, with little to no slack at the perch end of things.

6.  Reconnect the linking rod between the two brake actuator arms last.  You may need to twist the loose end to account for the new angles.  It helps to use a large screw driver to lever the rear actuator arm closer to the front arm so you can insert the locking pin.

7.  Use the barrel screws to adjust tightness and test effectiveness of brakes by lifting the front wheel into the air with a hydraulic jack, rotating the wheel while pressing the brake lever.

End result.  Note the arms now point to about 5 o'clock, they

used to point straight down or at six o'clock before with the stock

URAL brake cable.

Took Fiona out for a test drive around the block, getting up to about 35 mph.  She stopped much better while using only the front brake!  Much better stopping performance is my initial impression.  You could not stop Fiona fully just using the front brake before.

Repositioning the Reverse Lever.

Since my 2011 Ural Patrol Sidecar Rig, Valencia, I've gotten in the habit of shifting the transmission into neutral when stopped at lights, to hopefully minimize the pressures of the clutch on the clutch throwout bearings assembly.

Usually, not a big deal, I would use the left side of the right boot heel, and kick/nudge the lever rearwards, effectively putting the transmission into neutral, or into reverse if I kicked it too hard.  I would then push the lever forward with the heel and wait for the light to change while freeing up my clutch hand.

However, in Fiona's case, due to the Ceet tubing and the positioning I had to use for the 2014 type airbox, the right side carburetor air tube was in the way and there remained only a very narrow gap in which to insert the side of the heel of my riding boot to engage the reverse lever!

Saw on sovietsteeds a thread on what others had done to modify their reverse lever to enable easier access.  One stood out to me, it'd been posted by silberman and was an idea taught to him by Mr Cob.  You basically unmount the splined reverse lever, reposition it a bit lower or towards the rear, to gain a larger gap in which to insert one's boot heel!

Taking off the lever is a bit of a trick though.  I emailed Dave H.  aka COB, and he sent me this:

With the nut and washer removed, reinstall the nut to where it just sits even with the end of the stud, place a large screw driver behind the shifter and apply pressure to force the shifter away from the bike, tap the end of the shaft with a hammer the shifter will pop loose.

Reinstalling the nut will protect the threads of the stud from damage when you tap the shaft with the hammer.

At first the above didn't work for me, the splined rod on which the reverse lever is mounted was pulling out a little bit but that turned out to be expected behavior after I checked again with Dave.

Using a bigger hammer, got the lever off, repositioned it, put it back on the splined rod and secured it.  Once again I can use my boot heel's left side to push/kick the reverse lever backwards to put the rig in neutral or reverse!  :)

 Above is Scarlett's reverse lever which is in the factory position.

You can see where the paint's worn off where my heel has hit it.

Above is Fiona's reverse lever, now in the new, further back position.

Tried finding/engaging/pushing the lever with booted foot, no problems!

One last trick if you have difficulty pushing the reverse lever into neutral or reverse.  If it's being stubborn, AND you've confirmed your transmission is in first gear (you did, right?), then place your left heel on the heel portion of the heel/toe shifter on the left side, pushing down gently.  This will release the pressure that's preventing your reverse lever from moving backwards.

Seat Back Pad.

Fiona came to me with two rubber tractor-type seats on the tug.  The rider's seat was in good shape but the pillion seat was all torn up so I removed it for now.  However, this left the pillion's grab handle in place for my lower back to hit on occasion while moving about on the rider seat!  Painful.

My lower back hit the steel mount not covered by the foam tubing.

The weirdly shaped rubber object behind the grab ring is the "cushioning"

for the missing pillion tractor seat.

Ordered a cheap seat back pad from Amazon, universal fit, for $20 I believe.  Added a narrow piece of plastic to the wood backing so I could use zip ties and voila, I've got a back seat pad.

 The bottom of the pad zippers open, I screwed on the plastic strip

and used it to anchor the zip ties.  We'll see how long that lasts!

I think I lost a smidge of leg room however, but time will tell.  I suppose I could move the whole thing back an inch but that means drilling more holes.  I think there's a bench seat in Fiona's future, just not right now.

Update 5MAY15

Added a voltmeter (used to be on Yoshie, the V-Strom sidecar rig) but this time it uses the battery tender SAE connection to read power.  This way, I can transfer it between Scarlett and Fiona as I can only ride one rig at a time!

The 2" Split Loom tubing arrived today, I removed the unsightly duct tape from both Ceet carb tubes and will try the loom material instead to protect the apparently easy to wear out Ceet material:

Fiona gets new oil filter

02May2016

One of the minuses of converting a Ural rig to use a Beemer engine is that the oil filter cover on the engine is blocked by the frame of the Ural rig.  One has to drop the engine enough to clear the frame and access the oil filter cover.

Yep, you have to drop the front end of the engine to get at the cover.  Though it turns out in the case of Fiona, drop is not the right word.

Today was the first time I did it, seemed a pretty straightforward proposition and I'd talked it over with Richard Winter aka Bural on the phone before.

First, you remove the exhaust pipes from the cylinder heads and the mufflers.  This was easy, the finned nuts came off easy and I was able to tap lightly on the header pipes to remove them.  Oh, I also had to remove the horn to get it out of the way.

 The weird looking tool is called a pin wrench I believe, 

used in this case to loosen the clamps on the exhaust muffler pipes.

Spent some time positioning a stack of wood blocks and the hydraulic jack because I thought that once I removed the front support rod for the engine, the engine would plummet downwards.  That turned out to be not the case.

I removed the 19 mm nut from the right side of the front support rod and used it to double-nut the left side of the support rod so I could use a wrench to remove it from the engine case.

 This is as far as it would come out using the socket wrench, I then used

vise grips to pull the rod out from the engine case.  No big deal.

The next hour or so was spent trying to figure out why the engine would not lower on its own.  Much head scratching but no cussing ensued, tried loosening the lower bolts on the rear shocks thinking there was something binding things there, nope.  Finally, I noticed that the right cylinder fins were resting on the front lower attachment arm linking the sidecar to the tug!  Arrggh.

Glad I noticed that before I removed the swing arm pins, that would have been another PITA*.

So, I loosened the ball clamp holding the lower support arm to the tug, removed the lower mounting screw on the clevis joint for the front upper support arm and lifted/pushed the sidecar's nose away from the tug.  Now the cylinder had room.  Still no movement of the engine.  Hmmmm.

I left the wood blocks in place and removed the jack.  Due to what is a tight, tight, tight fit, I had to use a crowbar as a lever and carefully nudge the engine downwards. I inserted the crowbar from the front of the tug's frame, using the crossbar on which the horn is mounted as the fulcrum.   Finally got movement, I was then stopped by the raised rim on the right side push rod tube.  Still, it proved enough.

Now I was able to see the engine serial number on the left front side of the engine:

You can see below, the max amount I was able to lower the engine.  Looks like a tight fit for that top bolt eh?

Yes, very dirty, you'd think this rig had been riding in Moab or something.

Some judicious use of a large flat tip screwdriver enable enough space between the frame and that upper front bolt on the engine oil filter cover to be turned and removed.  

 Success!

Note: I found the gasket and rubber o-ring but not the metal washer.

The washer that was missing is #6 below.

source: realoem

The replacement oil filter I'd bought came with the complete set of gasket, o-ring and washer so no problem.

When I went to reinstall the oil filter cover, I realized you have to be a bit crafty when putting the engine oil filter cover back on, the top edge has to go in first then you gently nudge the cover in to place on the new oil filter and align the paper gasket properly.

Yep, had to use the large screwdriver again to ease the top nut into place and screw it in, the other two were easy.

I used the hydraulic jack to raise the engine back up and spent perhaps a good thirty minutes getting the holes aligned correctly.  This aligning was a medium sized PITA* by the way.  Finally got things lined up and I used a weighted mallet to hammer the rod in once I got it about 3/4's of the way into the engine case. Secured both sides with their respective 19 mm nuts.

Next I remounted the ball clamp mount onto the frame, tightened it and reinstalled the bolt holding the lower clevis mounting point for the front upper support arm.  This required some wrestling with the sidecar but no muscles were pulled that I can feel anyways.

Reinstalled the header pipes onto the cylinders and mufflers.  I applied anti-seize on the cylinder threads and muffler seal on the exhaust pipes to hopefully stop the backfiring I'd heard from the pipes.  No major drama with this part of the job, though I did have to loosen the rear bracket on the left muffler to get it to mate up correctly.

Now cleaned up, you can see what a tight fit it is between the frame

and the engine oil filter cover!

It's a very tight fit overall for the engine within this particular Ural frame.  Now I know there's no need to fear it dropping too far when removing the front support rod!  Next time I do the oil filter change, it should go much smoother, I hope.

Filter change done at 16,374 Km.  OAK, of the Airheads forums said its OK to change out the oil filter every 10K miles instead of every 5K miles, so next time I need to swap the filter is at 32k Km!  :)

Note to self, wash the rig first before working on it.

Took Fiona for a test ride in the evening, she ran great though there's still a bit of backfiring going on when slowing down to a stop.

24.8 MPG this last tank.

PITA* - Pain In The Arse

Fiona, thoughts after riding in Utah

Some thoughts and notes post-Utah riding:

Cathedral Valley: Temple of the Moon

Gobs of torque in all gears.  Addictive.  Smooth power delivery from the R80 Beemer engine.

Her stock engine belly pan is about an inch+ lower than a stock Ural's belly pan, this dictated taking less "technical" paths at times during the riding.  Hit the belly pan once, no issues except for a slight scar on one of the fins.

Experienced a dead battery due to the alternator not charging it while riding.  Turned out to be a loose ground wire in the connector going to the voltage regulator.  Confirmed it is a good thing to carry a small jump starter capable battery, and that she kick starts really easy when the engine is warmed up.

The battery issue led me to find a new issue.  Seems that the end of the adjusting screw on the clutch actuator lever had been impacting the battery case, and had slowly been gouging a hole.  Yikes!  In camp, I'd added some cardboard layers to elevate the new battery.  That kludge didn't last long so now I've added a couple of foam pads under the new battery, and now the adjusting screw hits the foam, not the battery.  It's something monitor though.

Foam pads to elevate and cushion the new battery

the rubber strap is used to secure the battery.

The Odyssey PC680 battery that came with Fiona was manufactured in 2016 so it "should" be OK, we'll see.

Not great MPG results when off-roading: 18-20.  No idea what paved road MPG is as I trailered Fiona to Moab.

The spare gas can mounted on the sidecar rattles!  I have to find a way to reduce the noise.

Her worn street tires, at first a source of concern when off-road, did great!  The easy power of 2WD on loose, deep sand enabled her street tires to cruise mostly effortlessly.  The one time she got really stuck, it was because the 2WD lever disengaged, must figure out a way to keep it in place when using 2WD.

The stock "tractor" seat is "OK", I think a bench style seat is in Fiona's future however.  I've ordered a generic set back pad for the pillion's grab handle assembly, as I keep hitting it with my lower back on rough terrain.

The 2014 Ural airbox I got for Fiona worked great, though I found the Ceet tubing to wear think in spots where my legs are, rather easily.  I've duct-taped the tubes for now.  No significant dust accumulation in spite of a couple of rather dusty rides.

Fiona got her left muffler knocked loose on a rock, a two-into-one exhaust system is definitely a plus when riding the rougher trails in the Moab area.

The occasion never came up to do an informal race against another URAL on the two long hills when riding from the town of Moab back to the campground.  I did see she could hold 60 MPH easily in fourth gear on said hills though; and she had more throttle to go.

The post on the spare tire holder, broke off while riding in the Mineral Bottom Road area.  Looks like it had been previously welded, but not done well.  I used some straps to hold things together for the ride back to camp.

Fiona seems a bit bouncier than Scarlett, I'll have to check out the shocks on her soon.  Perhaps get her the more updated shocks.

That's it though, she did great in the Moab area riding!  Moab tested and approved I believe.

Snowy Ride for Scarlett

I returned home on Thursday this week, leaving behind rainy weather in the Moab, UT area and that rainy weather arrived here last night in the form of snow for us here in the Metro Denver area.

Not much snow has fallen, and it's not sticking to the roads, so not a big deal.

Scarlett and I motored out after breakfast hoping to catch some views of snow-laden branches on local trees.  It snowed lightly the whole time we were out.

 Hey, what's that under the trees?

Next was running to the hardware store for some supplies to try and fix the broken post on the spare tire holder on Fiona.  It broke off during the last ride to Mineral Bottom Road.

 Looks like the previous owner had repaired it by welding?

The parts I got will not work, now trying some JB Weld, though most likely I'll end up cutting off the remnant and putting in a 6.25 bolt to replace the post that broke.