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Posted by mittico68
- January 06, 2018, 01:57:37 AMGreat looking bike!
You could even add a pillion seat over that rear rack, since that she's got foldable passenger footpegs too!
Posted by OR Seedman
- January 04, 2018, 18:39:36 PMupdated pics with new Saddleline Leather Seat Cover for the oem seat. Also added chromed heavy duty rear rack with my Indian style backrest. 3/4" memory foam layered on top of the stock seat foam makes for a very soft seat... 
The leather is really soft and supple, but not thin....good value for $95
Posted by OR Seedman
- November 22, 2017, 19:17:35 PMnew rack design for the 1500 (works really well with the classic style seat). Has gone in for chroming.....has adjustable tilt, pre-drilled for backrest mount...will post pics when I get it back from the chrome shop, too.
Posted by greenbarn
- November 19, 2017, 16:47:22 PMThanks for the info. Will undoubtedly help someone out.
Posted by OR Seedman
- November 18, 2017, 17:40:13 PMmust be....there was absolutely no way to clear the bottom of the frame to remove the 2 lowest sitting casing bolts on this one.....I was lifting the entire rear of the bike up with the rear head against the frame well before the bolts would clear...
Posted by Troll
- November 18, 2017, 12:25:54 PMQuote from: OR Seedman on November 17, 2017, 16:01:10 PMtotal time is difficult to calculate....I was working on it between doing things on the research farm....I would say that if I focused on just doing the bearing, total time would have been about 4 hrs....I did try the trick of removing the rear engine mounts and lifting up the back of the engine to clear the frame with the lower bolts on the casing (like you see on youtube), but that doesn't work with a Drifter...not enough clearance above the rear cylinder head to the frame....so I had to crack the frame and move the engine a little bit sideways....but I did not have to completely take it out....just drained and disconnect the radiator, drained the oil, disconnected the drive shaft (checked it for tightness...all good there), pulled off the rectifier, rear fender and wheel, rear diff for the shaft drive (so I could slide the shaft off of the front gear as it is spring loaded at the rear differential which forces it forward) and the seat and tank...really not that complicated...
I bought the new bearing through Global Industries (have an account with them) it is a 62mm outer diameter with 25mm inner shaft diameter x 17mm thick...open bearings (no seal), running in an oil-bath (not greased). I bought a BL HD bearing with higher specs (increased max rpm of 13,000 vs 10,000 and tighter tolerances). cost was $4.84 plus shipping, but since I had other bearings for machinery in the order as well, the shipping is negligible (shipping total was $5.95..order was over $80). The casing gasket was bought off of ebay for $4.00 with free shipping....
I probably spent an additional 6-8 hours cleaning it up, fixing small nit-noid things and painting....not really a whole lot of time....always in between my research work....the biggest pain in the butt was that I forgot to put the tow plastic panels back on in front of the tank....Had everything put back together and then realized I had to lift the tank up to get to the push tab holes to re-mount them...DOH! Live and learn, I guess....
That's funny, I did mine without removing the frame rail...but mine is an R model, the frame is a bit different
Posted by OR Seedman
- November 17, 2017, 16:14:27 PMPosted by OR Seedman
- November 17, 2017, 16:01:10 PMtotal time is difficult to calculate....I was working on it between doing things on the research farm....I would say that if I focused on just doing the bearing, total time would have been about 4 hrs....I did try the trick of removing the rear engine mounts and lifting up the back of the engine to clear the frame with the lower bolts on the casing (like you see on youtube), but that doesn't work with a Drifter...not enough clearance above the rear cylinder head to the frame....so I had to crack the frame and move the engine a little bit sideways....but I did not have to completely take it out....just drained and disconnect the radiator, drained the oil, disconnected the drive shaft (checked it for tightness...all good there), pulled off the rectifier, rear fender and wheel, rear diff for the shaft drive (so I could slide the shaft off of the front gear as it is spring loaded at the rear differential which forces it forward) and the seat and tank...really not that complicated...
I bought the new bearing through Global Industries (have an account with them) it is a 62mm outer diameter with 25mm inner shaft diameter x 17mm thick...open bearings (no seal), running in an oil-bath (not greased). I bought a BL HD bearing with higher specs (increased max rpm of 13,000 vs 10,000 and tighter tolerances). cost was $4.84 plus shipping, but since I had other bearings for machinery in the order as well, the shipping is negligible (shipping total was $5.95..order was over $80). The casing gasket was bought off of ebay for $4.00 with free shipping....
I probably spent an additional 6-8 hours cleaning it up, fixing small nit-noid things and painting....not really a whole lot of time....always in between my research work....the biggest pain in the butt was that I forgot to put the tow plastic panels back on in front of the tank....Had everything put back together and then realized I had to lift the tank up to get to the push tab holes to re-mount them...DOH! Live and learn, I guess.... 
Posted by greenbarn
- November 16, 2017, 21:58:43 PMOR :
Great looking bike, and what a deal!! Of course you had some sweat equity in the equation too -- time is money. How many hours was the bevel gear bearing for you?? Would you be so kind as to share the bearing information for us??
Posted by OR Seedman
- November 16, 2017, 19:43:50 PMnot sure....the bearings on both the engine bevel gear and the shaft bevel gear are splashed with oil....but what the failure on the engine shaft one is caused by I have no idea.....
Posted by Bucko
- November 16, 2017, 19:35:46 PMI've never heard that the bearing failure was widespread. Is there an oil starvation problem in that area?
Posted by OR Seedman
- November 16, 2017, 14:52:45 PMlots of Vulcan 1500 owners (not just drifters) have reported front bevel gear bearing failure at anywhere from 25k to 35k miles....seems to be quite common across the board on the 1500 engines....could be that the failure is due to harder riding than most Drifter owners subject their bikes to. The oem bearings are a medium load rated bearing with so-so tolerances, so I looked around for something stronger. I buy aftermarket farm equipment bearings all the time, so I got the specs and found a heavy duty bearing with tighter tolerance and 3,000 rpm higher rating at about 1/8 the cost.....not everything has to be OEM with a Kawasaki brand name price tag.... 
I dipped the grips yesterday and put them back on the bike today....much better...now I can actually hold onto the handlebars when accelerating..
Posted by Troll
- November 16, 2017, 08:34:43 AMMy bevel bearing failed at about 75,000...I replaced it and now I have 115,000 with no further problems. I have the original clutch, too
Posted by drifter-paul
- November 16, 2017, 03:07:21 AMHadn't heard of this 30K problem, I got 162K now without replacement. That's worse than the diaphragm spring plate weakness (80k) before the Mean Streak mod !!!
Posted by OR Seedman
- November 15, 2017, 20:50:10 PMthanks. I think the previous owner (original owner who bought it in June '02 brand new), had someone he knew doing a lot of the customizing....but he also had some mechanical work done a the shop I bought it through...clutch spring, plates, etc...but the cost of doing the bevel gear bearing (they quoted him $2500+) pushed him into dumping it on ebay through the shop...I put a BL Heavy Duty bearing in (industrial bearing) that has a higher RPM rating and tighter tolerances...at a cost of $4.95 vs $38 for the oem that seems to go out at 30k miles or so.... I am pretty happy with the whole deal so far....bike seems to run strong...