As long as the caliper piston is ok,not corroded,you can get the seals for 5 bucks,plus both caliper slide bushings for a buck more if needed plus shipping cost. Dirt Cheap Yamaha & Polaris OEM Parts & Accessories – Cycle Parts Warehouse

 

Caliper piston looks ok on this one. It's scuffed a bit where I had the vice grips on it but I was careful to grab it on the outside 1/4 inch or so that doesn't travel into the caliper body.

Also kind of strange that the PO stuck in brand new brake pads but didn't figure out that he caliper piston was seized.

 

Got the other side caliper piston out as well. The seals were really toast on this one but the piston is much different in appearance. I wonder if it's OEM and the other side was swapped in at some time. The base of the piston (think of it as the bottom of the glass) is a lot thicker therefore making it beefier and heavier.

 

Either way the piston's only 13 bucks.Just my opinion if you rebuild one caliper with new piston and seals, I'd do the other one so you can eliminate any future problems plus both calipers would work better together. Just like doing brakes on anything else. Do both so both will stop equally.

 

Pistons at my local dealer were just over 20 bucks each so couldn't justify replacing them. The old ones were fine. No corrosion. Just mis matched in appearance. New seals installed in the calipers, old fluid flushed out and new put in and bled (thank you dear wife for your help pushing the pedal). No mity vac. A tool I may add to my collection sometime but not needed just yet.

 

Sounds like you had a good helper.. Can't even get my wife to climb on an atv or another motorcycle. Guess I ruined her when I took her on a 100 mile ride on my vibrating 72 Honda CL350 when we were way younger.. $895 brand new out the door. Looked just like this one..

 

I love the exhaust on those old scramblers!

 

Wish I had it back along with my 68 R/S SS Camaro and my 70 Plymouth GTX,plus I'd even like to have the old 71 Super Beetle I bought for the wife back.. $2500 for it out the door.. Oh well,back then they were just cars..

 

Back to my fixer up project. No riding time yet at there is still a tonne of snow here and my shed doors are froze shut. But noticed some weird starter noises. The PO put in a brand new starter. Likely an ebay special as they seem quite cheap and apparently, he said the old one was toast. I see on ebay that they both sell just the starter motor and what appears to be a bendix? with the starters.

I have some weird noises when starting. Its not a smooth turn over. Kinda sounds strained or grindy and the starter sometimes continues to spin a short while. I wonder if only the starter was replaced and not this other component?

It wouldn't surprise me if he only did the starter job half way. He did after all replace rear brake pads while leaving calipers seized and install a used a-arm with no bushings.

Or, do these bikes just have noisy starters?

Oh....I should ad. He did also swap in a used pull cord assembly so perhaps a washer or something was missed here that could be resulting in a mis-alignment.

 

Sounds like the bendix is sticking. Common problem on these.Just pull the recoil cover and you can wiggle the bendix out.Make sure it has the washer at the rear of the bendix. May just need to be greased or simply replaced.What most people do is just crank the 500 like a car. They hit the start button,the engine cranks,but sometimes the bendix hangs up making a lot of racket and people freak out. Best way to crank one is to hit the start button,soon as it starts,blip the throttle. The quick rpm jump and torque makes the bendix kick back quickly. Didn't have this problem on the 700/800 as the bendix was tougher and the stronger torque from the engine would kick them back quickly.Plus don't over look the small bushings in the recoil cover and engine case the bendix rides in. If galled or worn they can cause a bendix to hang up also. After you clean/grease the existing one or replace the bendix try this starting method. Extends the bendix life also..