Gyro - general thread

[Cubey]

Sorry - it’s your throw of course.

Jim

I think I will take the tank with me when I go downtown to the post office in a few days. There is an indie motorcycle/dirt bike shop down there that might be able to check the threads on the tank for me. I need to fill the tank and let it soak to try to break up the varnish before I can use it, so I can't be in any hurry. I should have done it a month ago, but I didn't. Before I do that, I want to find out the threads. So then, by the time the petcock gets here, the inside of the tank should be done soaking.

The old petcock is aluminum so t can't be soaked in acetone for very long. It's leaky too, varnish has slowly seeped out, so it's pretty much a goner.

[vintagegarage]

Beware of this carb, claiming to fit a TG50. The fuel inlet comes in from the rear instead of from the side, and the fuel inlet pipe will foul in the works when you try to mount the carb..

https://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-Carburetor ... SwE-JfAjRc

[Cubey]

Foul in the works? That is the style carb I got.

[Cubey]

It looks like it'll work fine to me. I held the carb up to the intake manifold and held the plastic cover over it. The hose barb is under the plastic cover and the cover has plenty of room to make a U turn with hose. All the hose on the scooter is rotten and needs replacing anyway, so I can run a longer hose from the frame connection to the carb. The hose might rub against the inside of plastic cover is all.

The carb's build quality is horrendous, but it if works for a while I'll be happy. Maybe I can get the old one cleaned up well enough to use later.

20200707_185645sm.jpg (135.14 KiB) Viewed 14136 times

[wentwest]

I bought a china carb at one point for the Gyro, don't know which one anymore, but it was a piece of junk. I found that E85 "gas" is 85% ethanol and is a pretty good solvent that melts varnish. It will destroy rubber bits pretty fast I imagine, but it works well inside gas tanks. You have to remove the petcock, of course, and plug the opening with a rubber plug or a cork, but then if you put a gallon of E85 in and wait a day or two or three, then dump it out, the tank should be clean. There are websites you can find through Google to locate an E85 station. you could try using it on a carb but you're on your own there. I stripped the carb down and put it in a bath of sudsy ammonia, in an ultrasound cleaner. It dulled the pot metal but cleared the carb.

[Cubey]

I bought a china carb at one point for the Gyro, don't know which one anymore, but it was a piece of junk. I found that E85 "gas" is 85% ethanol and is a pretty good solvent that melts varnish. It will destroy rubber bits pretty fast I imagine, but it works well inside gas tanks. You have to remove the petcock, of course, and plug the opening with a rubber plug or a cork, but then if you put a gallon of E85 in and wait a day or two or three, then dump it out, the tank should be clean. There are websites you can find through Google to locate an E85 station. you could try using it on a carb but you're on your own there. I stripped the carb down and put it in a bath of sudsy ammonia, in an ultrasound cleaner. It dulled the pot metal but cleared the carb.

I read that about E85. It's about 160 miles round trip to the nearest E85 despite me being right on a major interstate. This city (two cities actually) is seriously crap.

Yeah the ebay one I got is crap, I can tell already. But maybe it'll be "good enough" to get the Gyro going, until I can figure out a good way to deep clean the original carb.

[wentwest]

Ultrasound in a bath of your favorite solvent works well.

[Cubey]

Ultrasound in a bath of your favorite solvent works well.

I'm not sure that will be good enough. The metal bits of the bystarter are glued down in it too with varnish. Not sure how to get them out without destroying the carb or the needle.

[wentwest]

Try putting the whole thing in the smallest container that will hold it and then spraying carb cleaner in with it until the part with the bystarter is drowned in cleaner. You can buy a tub of carb soaking chemicals but a whole can of spray cleaner is a lot cheaper and should be enough.

[gyromaniac]

Extra long timer lurker here. Hard to think my last post was in 2014. I quit making honda gyro decals quite some time ago. I've gotten a few emails about them over the years. I've been thinking about doing another batch of them if I can get enough interest in them.

Also, I will soon have 6 gyro's for sale. It's time to part ways with them. I figured I would give everyone here a shot at them first so if you are interest. Send me a private message. I've got everything from fully restored, to custom, to beaten. I've got plenty of parts as well.

[vintagegarage]

I rode my TG50 this week, and after finding the gas tank empty when I tried to start it, I realized that perhaps I had a gasoline leak. Sure enough, after the ride, I had had strong smell of gasoline in the shop the next day, and decided to fix it today. The carb float valve wasn't seating, and the petcock wasn't fully shutting off. I swapped out the carb float valve after cleaning the valve seat, and installed an NN50 fuel petcock temporarily that I had rebuilt last year and ordered another Gyro petcock rebuild kit from eBay. I also installed a new #75 main jet in the carb while I was at it. The test ride went well, and I think the gasoline leak is fixed. I'll rebuild the TG50 petcock when the kit arrives and install it in the TG50. For now, I have no reserve fuel selection in the TG50 and need to remember that.

However, since the TG50 seems to be running well, it is once again time to address the bald rear tire problem, so I decided to revive this old subject. My original post at:

http://hondaspree.net/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=33275

received no replies when I posted it four years ago in general discussion. Most of the links in the original post are dead, but the question still remains. What is the best option for rear tires for the TG50 today, assuming that I want to keep the rear fenders in place with no modifications? The links I was able to find today are:

Good price for a pair, but i really don't want knobbies:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Set-Of-2-Tires ... Sw3QldNwfH

These are cheap and I can pick them up at my local Tractor Supply with no shipping charge. Will they fit as they are 5.30/4.50 without hitting the rear fenders?
https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/produ ... 06-1293070

These look interesting. Does anyone have any experience with them. Will they fit with no fender modification?
https://www.monsterscooterparts.com/130 ... escription

Bottom line, what is the current best tire for the TG50 rear at August 9, 2020?

[mousewheels]

I think the size 5.30/4.50-6 used to fit under the fenders. But have no experience with current tires.

Edit - ignore the following old tire pics with same tire size. Geez - 10 years ago photos

[wentwest]

I used tires like the ones you found at tractor supply. They fit fine. Of course, they are turf tires, not DOT approved road tires, and they probably won't last long or grip very well. At the speeds I ride the Gyro I'm willing to take a chance on them. It seems unlikely that they will blow out at 20 to 25 mph, and if they do I'm prepared to deal with it. They may be Carlisle brand.

Here's a Carlisle catalog for your reading pleasure: https://carlisletire.s3.amazonaws.com/C ... atalog.pdf

[vintagegarage]

I picked up the sawtooth tires from Tractor Supply just now, and while they don't say Carlisle, they are probably the same. The specs in the Carlisle catalog on page 14 say 6 ply and a max load of 885 pounds at 95 PSI. If you double that for two wheels in the back, I think that means a max load of 1,770 pounds.. The tires I got from Tractor Supply are labeled wheelbarrow tires on the paper label. Large letters on the sidewalls say Hi-Run, so I guess that would be the brand. The sidewalls also say "Not for highway use" and weight limit is 695 pounds at 54 PSI. I know I am a bit overweight, but whichever the spec, they should be beefy enough. I also ordered the 2 ply Cheng Shin knobby tires and they are due here tomorrow. I'll have a look at them and then decide Friday which set to try. Here is the paper sticker on the tires from Tractor Supply:

[vintagegarage]

The 2 ply Cheng Shin Bristers Thunder Kart knobby tires arrived today, and I think I will try them first. They are closest in spec to the Made in Japan Dunlop originals.

Originals: 2PR tube type, 330 pounds max weight at 24 PSI, DOT

Cheng Shin Bristers Thunder Kart: 2PR tube type, max weight unspecified, 18 PSI max, not approved for highway use.

Hi-Run Wheelbarrow: 6 ply, tubeless, max weight 885 and 95 PSI, not approved for highway use.

The decal on the Gyro center cover says 11 PSI in the rear tires, and I think the soft Cheng Shin knobbies will give a good ride at 11 PSI. I'll make a few test runs around my neighborhood to see if I can still take all the turns flat out like I can now with the original Dunlops with the cords showing. I think the Cheng Shins will wear out pretty quickly, and then I'll test out the Hi-Runs