It's Alive! ...Sort of.

[GavD]

That was my experience, your shock might still be OK. I don't remember thinking the bike had lowered. Surely a direct replacement would be the same length?

I think ride height would be determined by how far the preload rings are screwed down the threaded part of the shock at the top.

[98TIGA]

Triumph seems to warn against adjusting preload yourself, strongly suggesting it be done by the dealer instead. Should I be concerned? I really wouldn't mind lowering ride height a bit.

[98TIGA]

And the saga continues! I had this sneaking suspicion I was experiencing DAR, so I figured I'd better investigate further before taking the Tiger too far from home. I ended up stripping one of the upper alternator bolts in the process of removing the thing and had to drill it out-- not an easy task with those hardened bolts! Fortunately, the engine-side bolt doesn't have any play, so it's the (relatively) easy fix for me.  I think I'll take the alternator to the local machine shop and see if they can extract the broken bolt in the alternator shaft. I'll probably also replace the Torx bolts with some flange hex bolts to avoid stripping issues in the future. I don't know about these torque specs sometimes... seems like things are unnecessarily tight!

You can see the damage below. Sorry for the kink in your neck-- somehow the image got flipped 90 degrees counter-clockwise.

[bowyer2002]

Bummer! (please elaborate on "DAR")
I hope you're back to riding ASAP!

[98TIGA]

DAR: Dreaded Alternator Rattle

The issue has been written about ad nauseam in the forum, so I won't go into great detail here, but essentially the bolt holding the cush drive vane on the end of the alternator shaft sheers, leaving the bolt head and washer(s) to rattle around.  It appears to be extremely common, and only truly rectified when the slop between the splined shaft and drive vane has been eliminated (through the use of JB Weld, for example).

Now, to determine the length and pitch of the shaft bolt... I can't imagine there's going to be much left of it once it's extracted.

[Mustang]

I drilled and tapped an alternator shaft to the next size up
Because it had destroyed threads
You dont want jb weld
You want the green threadlocker
I forget the # but is used as a bearing retainer
Found it ....loc tite 609
And fills voids when it hardens you need torch to remove

[98TIGA]

Thanks, Mustang! Yeah, I saw that shaft/bearing locker mentioned in one of the other posts on the forum; will see if I can pick some up on my way home from work.

I know I need an M6 x 16mm bolt. You wouldn't happen to know the pitch off-hand, would you, O Great One?

[Mustang]

M6x1.0mm
And next size up is m8x1.25mm

[98TIGA]

Thanks a bunch, Mustang! I wasn't able to find any of the LocTite brand green threadlocker, but I was able to find some made by Permatex. I wonder how the two differ, aside from the 1,500 PSI difference in shear strength...

[bemusedinsojo]

I just replaced my rear rotor. The one listed from Bikemaster as the proper one was not the right one. The vendor said they got bad info from the manufacturer. Then I got another one from Amazon that said it would fit my 98. Nope! So I looked here for the proper size and bought that one. Aftermarket for the Steamer has a lot of bad information. Also got the wrong pads that supposedly were the correct ones but they very different. So be aware of bad fitment info.

[98TIGA]

That's good to know! I'll probably be purchasing a new rear rotor here before too long; just need to pace myself... the wife's a little upset that I've spent our life savings on Steamer parts over these past couple weeks. 

Fortunately, the part number for these Brembo brakes is listed on their website as being compatible with a '93-'98 Tiger, so I think I'm in the clear!

[98TIGA]

Here's what I hope to work on next spring: a repaint from the original British racing green to a wine red/maroon. It's a (very expensive) single stage paint I bought for a Jaguar XJ6 project that I ended up selling. From what I understand, you can use urethane clear coat over urethane single stage paint without any compatibility issues, so I might try my hand at doing some gold leaf on the Triumph lettering. Too rich for a Tiger? Maybe. Perhaps I should do some burl wood veneer on the dash too...

[98TIGA]

Oh, I've got the "stripped out bolt" blues...

I went to remove the bolts from the brake disk-- they came out effortlessly on one side, but four of the six stripped out on the other, despite spraying them liberally with penetrant and using an impact wrench. It looks like they had blue LocTite on 'em, and I don't doubt that had something to do with how difficult they were to remove. I really question whether the stuff was actually necessary. Anyway... stripped out nuts and bolts are the bane my existence, and it's been a particularly big issue with this bike.

It looks like the condition of the rotors was worse than I initially thought too; stress fractures were pretty extensive.

[bowyer2002]

@98TIGA - wow - did you apply heat to potentially loosen the loc-tite?
When you get the rotors, etc. please post up the proper item numbers for us.
Thanks!

[98TIGA]

I didn't realize there was thread-locker on there to begin with (doesn't appear to be mentioned in my manual), and by the time I discovered it, the damage was already done. I did try to heat a couple of the bolts with a hand torch whilst using an impact wrench, to no avail. I won't be using thread-locker on the rotor bolts when I go to install them. When it comes to external fasteners that are relatively easy to access, I prefer to check their tightness periodically instead of relying on a retaining compound.

Regarding the Brembo item number, I can do you one better. Here's a link: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Brake-Disc-Fixed-Brembo-Serie-Oro-Front-for-Triumph-Tiger-900-1993-62-1998-/362487814488?txnId=1037020718023

It took them nearly a week to ship, but once they did, I swear they arrived from Italy to Idaho in a matter of just a couple days. At $77/piece and $35 combined shipping, I think they were an absolute steal.

Unfortunately, I didn't realize the left and right brake pads were different part numbers, so I accidentally ordered two rights. On the bright side, it looks like I'll be able to use the additional pad on the rear. A cursory inspection seems to indicate the right front and rear pads to be the same.