Friday is my favourite day of the week. On Friday you make all your plans for the weekend, and of course, Saturday is about when they start to fall apart. Saturday was my wife's birthday (and, incidentally, my Triumph Rocket III's 10th birthday, happy birthday baby......) and even though I was dying of the 'flu, I valiantly drove her to the zoo for a birthday treat.
To be fair, she told me that I didn't have to, but I figured that if I didn't, I'd feel pretty guilty today (Sunday) sitting out in my freezing (55 deg F, at it's peak) patio/workshop working on my bitsa bike. Apart from being cold with the occasional shower, the zoo was still packed with people, but we still had a pretty good day checking out the animals.
Zoo visit 8 Jul 2017 by
Terry Prendergast, on Flickr
Zoo visit 8 Jul 2017 1 by
Terry Prendergast, on Flickr
Zoo visit 8 Jul 2017 5 by
Terry Prendergast, on Flickr
Zoo visit 8 Jul 2017 6 by
Terry Prendergast, on Flickr
Zoo visit 8 Jul 2017 7 by
Terry Prendergast, on Flickr
Anyhoo, the wife was happy, so I could get back to the madness. My first task today was the swingarm. I hoped against hope that the old bushes would be servicable, but of course they were as sloppy as a 10 dollar whore, so I scratched my head as to how I was gonna remove them without fcuking the fresh powdercoat. I've got some really good wheel bearing removers, but of course none were the right size for a swingarm bush, so being the redneck that I am, I found some round steel bar and turned one up on my lathe.
Redneck swinger 1 by
Terry Prendergast, on Flickr
The old steel bushes were probably the OEM items, and they were stuck good, so I still has to slit them with my hacksaw before they'd break free.
Redneck swinger 2 by
Terry Prendergast, on Flickr
Redneck swinger 3 by
Terry Prendergast, on Flickr
Then of course I needed some new bushes, and, as I still can't find those ones from the dude in Germany, I made my own.
Redneck swinger 6 by
Terry Prendergast, on Flickr
Turning swingarm bushes is a PITA. You have to ensure that they are a snug fit on the pivot tube, and a tight fit in the swingarm itself. The trouble is, you need to machine it so the outside diameter is slightly oversize so you can press it into the swinger, but once pressed in, it decreases the inside diameter. I thought I had enough clearance, but once pressed in, the bushes had effectively "shrunk" slightly, taking up all the clearance between the pivot tube and bushes. Bugger.
One thing I don't have is a good set of adjustable reamers to ream the bushes out, but in this case it was best that I didn't, as it turned out that the pivot tube's bearing surfaces were slightly oval-ed, so after I skimmed them in the lathe and slopped some Nyco grease into them, they were a really nice fit.
I finally got the swingarm installed and it was time to pack up and come inside. On Friday I'd had this wonderful dream that I'd have both the front and rear ends attached, (I've got to install new tapered roller bearings, so God only knows how long that will take, based on todays efforts.....) but anyway, I'm happy that I'm not gonna have to worry about a sloppy rear end, no one wants a sloppy rear end...........
Redneck swinger 7 by
Terry Prendergast, on Flickr