petcock problems?

[akmbs96]

hello,

I have a 79 gs1000L and the pet cock doesn't turn. where do i get a rebuild or does it just need a cleanin'. the bike always starts and the petcock doesn't leak. but, i can't use the reserve or turn flow off. what to do? Help.

[Dave8338]

Bike Bandit... $68.00 buys you the whole unit new. I went this route after getting frustrated with the repair kit that I bought.

[twistedwankel]

I agree

I agree with buying a new unit.
The repair kit only does the front rubber side and that's not the side that fails totally.

[bwringer]

Buy a new one so you can forget about it for another 20 years or so. It's the only way. The rebuild kits often don't work or are incorrect. And the morons selling petcocks on eBay usually don't have the correct info for what fits what.

Bikebandit is very fast and very nice to deal with, but they can be a bit spendy.

Probably a lot cheaper here:

http://flatoutmotorcycles.com/fiche_select.asp

Also look here:

http://www.crc2onlinecatalog.com/

[wiredgeorge]

I prefer gravity feed petcocks to vacuum actuated. The vacuum type petcocks always seem to have issues and the complication isn't worth the benefit of a petcock that remembers to shut itself off when not running. That would be the only downside to a gravity feed petcock... the bike operator needs to remember to shut off the gas... anyway...

If you need a gravity feed, single outlet petcock, Custom Chrome makes a dandy one for under $20. These petcocks are also fully rebuildable; look in a JPCycles.com catalog or on their web site. The only hook is that you need to buy an adapter plate for your fuel tank. The adapter plate allows you to screw the Custom Chrome petcock in with the use of some teflon tape and have a petcock that works right. The adapter plates are about $10 and are made by Pingel. The plate comes with the stuff needed to mount it... like a gasket and some sealer. You mount the plate using the two original bolts or the ones provided; don't recall. The trick to buying an adapter plate is that you need to measure the offset between the mounting bolts on the tank. MOST of the bikes I am familiar with (KZ900/KZ1000), use 44mm offset but a GS tank is likely a bit different offset. With the plate mounted, you just screw the new petcock into place. As with all screw in petcocks, the thread is NPT so it is tapered a bit so you only screw the petcock in till its snug... you don't muscle it with a big wrench.

You can get both the Custom Chrome petock and adapter plate from www.z1enterprises.com - I just ordered a set for my project bike that I am working on and have already installed two others on my carb test bikes. The only other tidbit is that the Custom Chrome screen where it goes into the tank is a tad larger than a stocker so you sometimes need to open up the hole on the tank just a tad so the new petcock will fit but a few seconds with a Dremmel does the trick.