Noise from front wheel.. Replace brake pads? - Oh & Dash Bulbs Question

First topic message reminder :

Recently my bike has started making a kind of whirring/ chuffing noise.. i think its the front brakes have worn and they're rubbing.. if anybody could confirm this that would be loverly

Does anybody know if ther brake pads will fit in my bike? (Thundercat 97)

My bro has a spare pair of brakes lying around for a bandit.. would these fit a Cat?

It doesn't seem likely but could spare me the wait!

THANKS GUYS

On the sidestand thing, the last thing you want is to ride off with your sidestand down - have a look on YouTube why not!

There are 3 switches that prevent starting. Sidestand, clutch and gearbox. You can start in neutral whenever you like, but if your sidestand is down when you put it in gear, it'll stop. You can start in gear if the clutch is in. If you can't start with the sidestand down then it is wired up wrong.

Back to topic, I noticed all my speedo lights are out so will be doing this myself soon, good advice and info in here!

The bloke who tried to bypass the faulty Meta Alarm kept blowing the fuse that is on the same circuit as the sidestand, lights, tacho and all manner of other stuff, hence the need for me to strip out the loom and replace it.
Problem was, the new loom kept blowing the same fuse and I had to go through a process of elimination to find the cause. Eventually it turned out that disabling the tacho solved the problem.

I thought he'd maybe fried it when he shorted out the connections on the main alarm plug.
Now I'm thinking it might be a different issue.

It could be that he's melted something in the Start/Cutoff relay, or even worse, the ICU*.

Replacing the loom wasn't rocket science since there's only one place where you get two connectors that are similar, and even then they are colour coded.



*That was one of my early suspicions..

OT.. It only takes an hour to swap out the display bulbs, but there's something that might be worth doing while you're in there.
The headlamp is easy enough to get into, but the sidelight is a nightmare since it involves removing the whole headlight unit.
I'm wondering if there's enough room there to unbolt it and pull it back so that I have access from below to change the sidelight bulb.
If I can it might save me some trouble down the line.

So I've read to use 194 leds and been told on here to use 501.. whats the difference and do they fit without any wolsdering/ wiring mods?

Luckily I think my headlight bulbs were already swapped out when I bought the bike so I wont worry about that

I'll check the packet and get back to you.

Yep, definitely R501 on the LED packet.

It might be the other ones have the same wedge fitting, but longer or something.

Thanks for checking. I'll have to get some soon. And to clarify.. as there's an orange filter on the dash, I should buy white leds and it'll just be a bright orange colour?

Right. Changed the BULBS! For anyone who needs the info:

The stock bulbs are TYPE 501 - 12V - 1.7W - HD. I used 5W as that's all I could get. You should be able to use LEDs as long as they are the same rating and model.

Unbolt the black covers by the clocks (airpipe covers and covers on the underside of the mirrors). Then unscrew and remove the screen. Next you want to unscrew the two alan head screws holding the black cover over the clocks and lift the clock cover away (you DO NOT need to remove it, just wigle it away).

Now you will see sets of two wires going into grey circles, give these a wee tug and the bulb will pop out in a rubber seat. Take the bulb out and do what you like with it. Insert the new bulbs into the seats by simply lining it up and pushing. IF YOU USE HALOGEN USE A CLOTH OR TISSUE - if you touch the bulb with your hand you can apparently increase the likelyhood of the glass cracking. Annnnnd now you may undo all the above steps to put the bike back together.

Takes about 20 minutes if you have the bulbs handy. And the bulb on the lower side of the speedo is tucked away in the bottom. Easy to po about but a td fiddly to put back in.

HOPES THE HELPS!

OH and I don't believe there's a filter in the dash so feel free to try a different colour.. Can't guarantee but it seems not

Stewbacca wrote:
The stock bulbs are TYPE 501 - 12V - 1.7W - HD. I used 5W as that's all I could get. Y

Lets hope they don't get a bit hot and melt the colour filter.

Yeh one of my worries is the temperature. I've only used 5W in the guage lights. I'll change them over whe I can get my hands on some lower W bulbs

LED's don't emit much heat to speak of.

Wooster wrote:LED's don't emit much heat to speak of.

Lest they be called HED's

Smartarse.

Lol no they are not HED's. However I'm not using LEDs im using bulbs and that is where the worry comes from

I can understand where the worry is coming from then, but the short answer is I don't know.

I should be receiving some red LED's shortly, so I'll post up if they're any better than the blue (anything might be better than the blue though).

Wooster wrote:I can understand where the worry is coming from then, but the short answer is I don't know.

I should be receiving some red LED's shortly, so I'll post up if they're any better than the blue (anything might be better than the blue though).

I think leaving the bulbs out might be better than the blue!!!

0-20mph is illuminated a bit and so is 180+, so as long as I stick somewhere in between, I should be ok.

Wooster, could you tell me what leds you bought? I'm gonna get some white ones instead of bulbs

Bought four blues from Halfords for £14, but found these and ordered a selection since they're only around a quid each.
http://www.ultimatemods.co.uk/501-led-bulbs-w5w.html

They haven't arrived yet so no idea what they're like.

Great, I think I'll get some LEDs too. Please let us know how they go and which colour is best!

That's the red LED's in and they're a bit better than the blues from Halfords, but still not as good as the standard bulbs.
(The filter isn't a filter as such, but the dials have a yellowy orange tinge to them)

Halfords Blue and the others I bought.


The display with the blues in.


The display with the reds in.


Anyhoo, waste not want not, so I decided to use some of the blues elsewhere.
So one went into the High Beam indicator, another into the Neutral light and the plan was to bung one into the indicators as well.
It didn't work as expected and might account for this thread.
https://www.yamaha-thundercats.org/t2872-led-side-repeaters-problem

It works fine in one direction, but not the other, so I think the polarity reverses.
Even weirder though was the fact that the white LED I'd planned to use in the Fuel Warning light works perfectly in the indicators...no idea why.

The reason I used the white was because I found out that an LED doesn't work in the Fuel Warning light at all, it just stays on.
(Which makes sense since the sender unit is probably a resistor and there's always just enough juice going through to illuminate the LED)

I also bunged a red LED in the Oil Warning light.
(This doesn't appear to use a resistor, and you can tell it's working because the Oil and Fuel lamps illuminate when you hit the starter)

Hope this helps.


p.s. I also picked up the dreaded Speedo Wobble last night.
Cable is ok and so is the unit on the wheel.
I didn't think to investigate fully until I'd refitted the dash, and lifting the front wheel off the deck then spinning it, there's a definite grinding noise coming from the speedo itself, so it looks like I should have lubed that while I had the thing in bits.

Thanks for the pics dude.
Dont think Im going to bother changing mine now, the stock ones seem the best from the pics.

Aye, they ain't great are they? :/

Thanks for the pics, know not to get those.
Reminds me of the LED lights I bought for the kitchen, the light is OK straight ahead of the 'bulb' but doesn't spread sideways at all (effectively useless).

UltraLEDS have some which have LEDs stuck on the sides and top of the light stalk, guess to try and overcome the problem.

I've had 1 go in 4 odd years, so will take my chances with the original incandescents

Think I know what we need. You can buy t10 w5w leds which instead of a bulb. They have a stick of five leds.. this means they shine in all directions. Ill buy a bunch and report back

Hope you haven't bought them yet, they're possibly no good, as you'll soon see..

Investigating the Mysterious Case of the Wobbly Speedo, found the cause and it's related to the lights.
The blue LEDS were a bit of a tight fit, especially the top speedo one.
When I stripped out the speedo I found a bit of black plastic lying in there and it's a shield for the incandescent lights, when they're in the tip of the bulb is pretty close to the back of the dial, so there's a plastic shield that hangs over the bulb and down the front to stop the heat blistering it.
The tight fitting LED must have snapped it off at the base. :rite:

If you try and fit long LED's then you're probably going to hit those shields and snap them. :/


p.s. Any change you could edit the title of this post to include the LED discussion Stew?
(It makes it easier for people to find if they do a quick search). ~~~~ Ed . . . Your wish