****rley, a round for the house. I'm in a good mood, 'cuz the wheels are
turning again.
So, I got over my case of the pussies, ordered a 3/8-16 helicoil thread
repair kit and ratcheting tap handle. As it happened, I had an old, rather
large thumbwheel nut that I drilled out with the helicoil bit so I could
use
it as a drill guide for the stud hole.
To drill the hole, I used a vice grip to turn the bit, and went real
slow-like. I dipped the bit in axle grease, slid it through the drill
guide,
set the bit against the hole, pressed the guide down hard with my left
hand,
grabbed the vice grip where it was holding the bit, and twisted my wrist.
When I ran out of twist room because the handle bumped into the oil line
coming out of the oil tank, I'd release the vice grip, reposition for more
twist, and continue in roughly 1/8th inch depth intervals. I'd then clear
the drill bit flutes of grease and aluminum shavings with a Q-tip,
regrease,
and repeat for another 1/8th inch. When I got to a little more than 3/4
inch
total depth, I broke out the tap and threaded he hole.
I then swabbed out the threads with a Q-tip dipped in carb cleaner to
remove
any remaining grease, and drove in the loctited 3/4" helicoil, breaking
off
the tang, and fi****ng it out of the hole with a grease ladened Q-tip. That
little sucker stuck right to the grease and came right out of the hole.
One
more treatment of Q-tip with carb cleaner, and in went the loctited stud.
Easy as pie.
Turned out that drilling, tapping, and re-installing the stud was the
least
time consuming part of the whole job, once I got over my fear and went for
it.
Did I mention that I had contracted Lyme disease earlier in the week last
week? Caught it early enough to not have to worry about the nasties that
accompany that disease, and which some folks are sorely unfortunate to
have
to live with for the rest of their lives (heart problems, fatigue,
arthritis, encephalitis induced scizophrenia and/or psychosis... fuh-uck
me,
that's scary. ) For me, it was fortunately just a PITA involving
Doxycycline, a few days missed work, and mild flu-like symptoms, but it
also
served as the catalyst to get me out into the garage to work on the bike
(I
hate being stuck at home with nothing to do, no matter how ill). But
anyway...
Nice to hear that 15 years young FXR fire up once again. It hasn't run
this
good in a long time. You know how it is, sometimes you don't recognize an
impending failure if it happens gradually.
-Spanky
Still some odds and ends to take care of before I'm street legal again.
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