richard t wrote:I believe Ken in OK had one quit him one time.
Indeed I did, only it was two times. I am now a card carrying Dyna III bad mouther.
My first problem with the Dyna was with the timing. Though I know it's possible to adjust the sensors independently, I never was able to get the timing marks on top of each other. Well, OK, I could have done it, but I ran out of patience. The sensors are mounted in a very fiddely manner, as I recall two screws holding them in place. But everything is sloppy. If you try to move one a little you will (rather I will) move it a lot, then I've lost the point from which I moved it.
But OK, I got the marks close enough to suit me.
The next problem I had was mounting the rotating assembly onto the advance mechanism ('77 R100/7). When I tightened the little screw too much the advance the hollow points cam distorted and bound up the advance. But OK, I finally got it tight enough without binding up the advance mechanism.
Then I ran the bike and looked forward to years of trouble free ignition. No more fiddling with the points. Yay! Was I treating my Beemer right or what!
Then a few months later, on the hottest day of the year (OK not the hottest) the damn bike quite me and didn't even tease me by trying to start. No spark. Luckily I was close enough to home for my riding friend to take her bike home, grab my Aerostar, put in the ramp and bike stand, and come back to my rescue.
A teardown revealed that the rotating assembly had loosened and come off the points cam. OK, I didn’t put it on right. There was no clue in the instructions what “right” was, so I rotated the rotating assembly relative to the advance mechanism and tightened things down harder. No binding. OK, NOW I could enjoy my modern ignition.
Luckily the last failure happened in my shop. The bike just wouldn’t start. Couldn’t be the Dyna, but it was. The electronics had expired (or went T.U. in the parlance).
That was it. I wasn’t going to give the Dyna another chance of stranding me.
Now I hum the “Points are Good” melody in my head as I ride.
Disclaimer: I’m well aware that the first two or three problems with the Dyna could be regarded as mechanical ineptitude, or a M.F.U. in the parlance. But dammit, I’m not that bad. There wasn’t a clue in the instructions as the “best” way to marry the rotating assembly to the advance mechanism. And the final problem was clearly not my fault.
P.S. I wasn’t going to post to this topic, but Richard T brought it up. And that was all the excuse I needed.
Ken