Hey all,
I just picked up an 85 700 today, wondering what all I should look out for/ do before I ride too much. I'm retiring my other bike (81 Suzuki GS550L) so the Vulcan will be a daily driver once she's completely roadworthy.

I plan on draining the coolant, engine oil, brake fluid, and final drive lube in the next couple days. I'll also be replacing all 4 spark plugs (still find it weird that a 2 cyl bike has 4 plugs...) Depending on how she's acting after the basic tuneup - I might pull the carbs and shoot some carb cleaner thru them - not a "real" cleanup - but usually does the trick (though looking at the bike it looks like it might have me cussing for a couple hours if I do that).

From browsing here it would appear that lubing the splines is something I need to put on the list too (another thing that appears that it'll be a PITA)

She's sat a lot of her life, which on the plus side means there's less miles - but we all know the negatives that come along with sitting for too long.

When I picked the bike up it was, frankly, running like crap (back cyl wasn't firing much) - but showed general promise (and the price was right). She'd been sitting since summer - by the time I got it home (30 miles away) she was just starting to show her true character. A good tuneup and she should run like a top (rather than a dying dog). Going from a 550 to a 700, damn what a power boost.

Anyways, that was a long winded first post - lemme know if there's anything in my "game plan" that I should approach differently/ that I missed. Vulcans seem to have even more of a following than the GS's - and from my first ride (on a sick vulcan) I think I can see why (many things are where I'd wanted to move them to on the GS).

welcome be sure to read thru the vulcan verses, add some seafoam it will help, that stuff is great. After you have her all up and running smooth you will see why theres 4 plugs lol for a cruiser these bikes have some great get up and go! You said it sat alot, how does the inside of the tank look? rusty? for the spline lube procedure check out Fergys link for that.

Welcome to the group curtis, and congrats on the new ride. Sounds like you have a good plan to check it out. Ditto to what Trashlord said about Seafoam, great stuff to put in the tank monthly to keep things cleaned out.

Oh ok - so the seafoam is a gas additive, not a pull the carbs and spray the crap outta them type deal? I'll have to take a look at the parts store for the stuff.

Saw fergys link for the spline lube procedure - have glanced over it, and that's why I say it looks like it'll be a pain in the arse. I guess it WAS me that had shaft drive on "the list" of "must haves". I'm sure it actually won't be that bad - it might say in the article, but where can I get the new gasket I'll need?

Inside of the tank looks good - long story short this bike was owned by owner #1 who had some type of problem with it, parked it, and it sat in a garage covered by a tarp for years. Owner #2 bought it, had it for a couple years, got the carbs cleaned out, lots of crap done - and never passed his motorcycle endorsement test. Owner #3 (guy I bought it from) had it for a summer - dumbass didn't even know where the oil filler or coolant filler were (which is why changing the fluids is a high priority).

Allright, my toddler is screaming for breakfast - and I have to go to physics soon (thanks for helping me avoid the physics of the bike dying ;-))

Curtis

Hey Curtis, welcome to the forum and congrats on being a Vulcan owner! Yep, it's a great bike and you'll have lots of fun on it. You'll hear lots of good things about Seafoam here as we use it religiously. I'd probably drain the tank and then use straight seafoam into the carbs and let it soak overnight. Drain them and then fill the tank with fresh gas and add about 3-4 oz of seafoam to the gas and run the bike and see if it doesn't straighten out. MIght take a couple tanks to get it smoothed out. Hopefully you won't need to pull the carbs. Most don't after using seafoam, even on a bike that's been sitting for a while.

Yeah, that spline lube procedure looks a bit daunting, but believe me, you'd rather do that job than pull the carbs! It's really not a hard job at all. Hardest part is lifting the wheel back into place. There aren't any gaskets, but you'll need to replace the o-ring 92055 that is on the spline that goes into the drive shaft collar. It's the one that's behind the spring on the final drive side. You can pick them up at bikebandit.com for about $3. I'm sure yours will be old and brittle by now.

Don't overfill the rear differential when you add gear oil. Just fill until it's nearly gona run out of the hole and stop. Some have said to rotate the wheel backwards to make room while you add gear oil, but I'd caution against that because it's easy to overfill doing it that way.

Good luck and keep asking questions!

Changing the plugs and the ride to my parents house on saturday seems to have done the trick.

I added some seafoam before last nights ride (to my house - 25 miles away) and I think things have smoothed out a bit (though the seafoam is still in there - which I'd assume is causing the little bit of roughness that's left.

I figure I'll change the oil again in another 500 miles or so, current oil didn't look too great.

Didn't get the chance to change the final drive oil - that and the spline lube will be a friday afternoon or weekend project.

Definitely hoping pulling carbs won't be nescessary (pretty sure it wont - but we'll see) it was a %$& to do on the GS550, looks like it would be worse to do it on the VN.

Definitely need to figure out some form of luggage rack - ideally a hard trunk/ bags - if only they weren't so damned expensive. Need to search the forums and see what's worked for other people.

Off to figure out (late) dinner.

Hey curtiss, Inreguards the the spark plugs. Each head has a primary and a secondary plug. The primary has the most spark and handles the cumbustion. The secondary plugs have less spark and fires a split second later and burns off any unspent fuel. Leaving you with a cleaner burn and better response. MY 02 750 runs great. I use a shot of Marvel mystery oil in every other tank full. I havent checked the grease on the shaft drive yet. Bought mine in July of 06 and put 1,000 miles on it so far. Did some miner adjustments on the idle needle and the clutch to smooth out the shifting with the rpm's. Good luck with your bike and if I can help anymore fill free to ask.

Curtis...

Congratulations on your "new" ride!!!....:pepper:

Your bike is probably the last of its kind--few cruisers can compete in terms of both features and performance--especially versus cost.

In the Vulcan Verses is a thread on what to look (out) for in a used VN--you might also use that in looking over your 700 for things to check.

And "ditto" on Fergy's spline lube link.

SeaFoam does work great. But it works even better if you let it sit in the tank/fuel lines/carbs for a few days or so....depending on how things are, more than one app may also be necessary....:smiley_th

Second with Fergy... the splines are worst to think about than to do!!! If you can take off the rear tire..... the rest is cake!!

Sea Foam for the fuel.... again... if you think that the carbs are full of crap... let them sit with the Sea Foam and then drain them. Also, if I remember seeing it on the can right, you can put it in your oil too!! so you might think about that if you need to clean out the oiling system!

Happy Riding!! :pepper:

is sea foam legal in california? I can't seem to find it easily---

does Marvel Mystery Oil also help? thats what I swore by for my alfa romeo->

is sea foam legal in california? I can't seem to find it easily---
does Marvel Mystery Oil also help? thats what I swore by for my alfa romeo->

I would think it's legal in CA.
Most here will suggest sticking with SeaFoam. It has a super track record for cleaning the carbs/fuel system.
There was someone here recently that was using Marvel, but I don't remember who.
Have you check at marine supply stores? It was originally made for Evinrude boat motors, but works just as good for everything else as well, including lawnmowers, snow blowers, etc.....
Around here (PA) I can get it at Advanced Auto parts store.