goldwingdocs.com

Allow me to introduce myself, Tom Fulton. New owner of an early ( July 1975 ) '76 GoldWing. I learned on a Yamaha RD350 and a 1972 Suzuki GT550 was my first purchase. Motorcycles & riding stopped when I got married in 1984. Divorced in 2007 & remarried in 2011. I wound up with both a 1969 Triumph Bonneville and a 1973 850 Norton Commando. I'll be 63 in January and had a feeling that I only had a limited number of kickstarts in the right knee. I was right, sprained my right knee back in August. So the Norton was sold, kept the Bonneville because it's much easier to kick over. So my wife, knowing that I was looking for a 1970's e-start wound up getting me the GoldWing! It's in very good condition - 21k miles on it, really clean condition and came with period Windjammer III fairing & hard bags. PO said that carbs were overhauled and belts changed. The bike runs really nicely, plug color is perfect, it starts, idles and pulls very smoothly. So far I have adjusted the clutch ( dirty job and you need small hands!! ) and done a fuel sender overhaul as per the DIY, it leaked like a sieve. Clutch is still not perfect as I have some trouble downshifting into 2nd & 1st. I plan on replacing the tires as the front is March 2008 and the rear is July 2007, pulled the rear luggage setup to make that job easier. Over the winter I plan on checking timing ( Dyna e-ignition ) and valve clearance. I will also be inspecting the belts to see if they were replaced. Other than that I plan to ride, ride, ride as there's great roads & weather here in western NC. Thanks for hosting such a great site! Tom

Welcome to the forum. Great looking 1000. Sounds like you have a plan. One piece of advice though. If you don't know for certain that the belts have been replaced and when, replace them. You can't "inspect" them to determine if they have been replaced. Even original belts will "look" new. They don't visibly deteriorate. Good luck and come back often.

I've seen plenty of DIY on the belt replacement so I'll do that over the winter. At the same time I'll inspect radiator hoses for replacement. Any suggestions for the best belts to put in? Is it best practice to replace tensioners at the same time?

Gates belts #274 are what are generally used. As for the tensioners... Some do some don't your call. Do inspect them though. Smooth quiet rotation with no side play and I would re-use. That's just me!

http://www.amazon.com/Gates-T274-Timing ... ingdocs-20

NAPA also carries them.

dingdong wrote:Gates belts #274 are what are generally used. As for the tensioners... Some do some don't your call. Do inspect them though. Smooth quiet rotation with no side play and I would re-use. That's just me!

http://www.amazon.com/Gates-T274-Timing ... B000CRBRZI

NAPA also carries them.

I'll replace my tensioners when I get past 100,000 miles. They've shown no wear thus far, and that's probably just an arbitrary number I came up with, but it will make me feel better.