Remember your first time doing something that was remotely maintenance, on your own? That feeling of accomplishment?
I had an '86 Rebel 450 last summer, that I installed forward controls on, to give me more room. That was like adding a farkle.
Today, though, I did my first bit of preventative maintenance. I oiled my chain. Put the bike on the center stand for the first time. Made sure to oil nowhere near the brake disc.
I know, it's minor. EXCEEDINGLY minor. But it's still a feeling of accomplishment - especially considering I'm not mechanically inclined, really.
Don't remember the first maintenance experience, but I distinctly remember rebuilding my first engine - without any help or prep other than the service manual. I put the engine cases in the oven to remove all the bottom end bearings.
Sometimes those OVEN adventures end up in a divorce if the wife catches you!
I got a bearing in my fork rebuild out of sequence and had to get it back out. I just used the propane torch to heat the fork and the bearing kinda fell out.
Besides, when I bake chocolate chip cookies I don't care for the flavor of old oil in them.
Yep, I can remember the first major work I did....I changed the head gaskets in my 1973 Oldsmobile Cutlass in an unheated garage with no doors in the middle of a Pennsylvania winter, sometime around 1981. I wasn't that cold again until I spent a month living in a tent in Germany during Reforger '84.
I had a late '60's VW Beetle, too much end play in the crankshaft, the only time it became a real problem was frigid cold days, it would occasionally tear the rear main seal, and dump nearly 3 quarts of oil in just a few seconds.
I carried the tools and spare seals, so I wasn't completely stranded, repair, meant dropping the engine, pulling the clutch & flywheel, replacing the seal, then reassembling, including lining up the pilot shaft splines. A project I once completed in the dark without any lighting except the moon, in a snowbank in sub zero weather, in about 45 minutes time
after replacing the seal more that a dozen times over the winter, I finally save the $$ to tear the engine down and rebuilt and line bored for oversize bearings
Steamboat Springs, Colorado. The icicle from the gutter was a good 1-1.5 FEET around where it contacted the ground. Probably a 700-800lbs of ice hanging off the roof.
Oydnar,
Don'cha hate it when you get really good at making do instead of a proper fix?
Probably many of us here guilty of similar antics.
My youngest son got adept at running into things and creasing the front of his VW. We'd put a tow rope around a tree and the bumper mounts and back the car up and straighten out the body and throw a another set of fenders and a hood.
He kept one of the local yards in business.
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Related Threads
?
?
?
?
?
StromTrooper
1.7M posts
66.6K members
Since 2003
A forum community dedicated to all Suzuki Strom owners and enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about performance, modifications, troubleshooting, purchasing, reviews, accessories, maintenance, and more!