Rob dropped in during the afternoon to do some jobs on his shovel which had ended up with no rear brakes and a dragging clutch during our Muster ride the previous Saturday. It has been an ongoing project, getting it on the road after many years sitting in his shed. Previously, we'd set up a front wheel and disc brake and new spacers, put in a new kicker ratchet, clutch rod and release bearing, plus some other little jobs to get in on the road for the muster.
Before the Muster he had adjusted the chain and gotten the wheel slightly crooked. Because the previous builder had made up a brake caliper arm with no flexibility, the aluminium caliper bracket twisted. The caliper body jammed against the rotor and in a very short time cooked the rotor...
Prof's quick solution was to lever apart the pads so we could get to the meeting place at Castle Plaza. Once there it was out with my toolkit...
... and remove the rotor, so he could keep on the road...
He finished the ride on the front brakes only, but came back to Prof's Lodge with a barely working clutch. For the Sunday ride, he got to use my CB750, so now it was time to fix the problems.
The heat from the twisted brake caliper had created a badly concave rotor, so Rob brought a replacement down this day...
The spare rotor was installed and we ditched the caliper arm and replaced it with a pair of heim joints joined with some threaded rod. Now the rotor will stay alighned with the rotor even if the wheel alighnment changes. Keep that in mind with your own builds. Sorry forgot to take some pics of the damaged caliper and the new brake arm, but did get a pic of the rotor. Ruler shows the effects of the heat!...
Caliper seals were literally cooked, so Rob just cleaned up the caliper and I agreed to order new seals and hopefully have them before the Midnight ride the following Wednesday. They would have to come from Dragway interstate, but I reckoned overnight should do it. (and they did come Wednesday morning just in time to assemble them and get them on the bike for the ride.
Next job was the clutch. Usually a grabby shovel clutch is due to oil on the plates. When my shovel still ran the original primary oiling system, I damaged the starter seal so the vacuum oil return failed. Ended up with a primary case literally half full of oil just out of Nairne one day. We had to lie the chopper on its side and pour oil out into a cut up drink bottle.
Shifting into first gear on a shovel can also be clunky if a 'tamer' isn't fitted to retain the clutch basket as the clutch is pulled in. Rob had one of those in, so it was most likely a case of oil on the plates again. He'd overfilled the gear box and I suspected oil had come through the clutch rod seal. Turned out to be the case. In fact the original seals were well and truly cactus. I hoped two new seals would sort this out and with freshly washed plates everything was assembled...
It was now around 8pm and with a big day behind us I reckoned we ought g
o for a cruise and test the shovel out. Be nice to get the cobwebs out of our hair anyway. A call to Jason who lives about 20 minutes away revealed he'd be happy to see us. He was just sitting down to tea, so Rob and I decided to grab something on the way and eat it as Jason's place.
As we were about to leave, Rilda thrust a pack of frozen pies left over from the muster, suggesting we heat them at Jason's; good thinking 99! It was supposed to rain at some point, but what the heck and off we cruised.
No rain, but roadworks at beginning of the Expressway detoured us. I led Rob along a couple of back roads and streets, but we got turned around again by a rather officious female worker. I ended up coming into Jason's from a different direction... and got completely lost. Finally made it though and enjoyed out pies...
General biker chat ensured for the next hour. Jason is having trouble with his rear belt alignment and options were discussed including my injunction to get rid of the stupid belt and go back to a chain. Better axle adjusters, however were finally considered as a worthwhile and much cheaper option for the time being...
Finally time to go. Rain had come down just before that decision was made, but had cleared up by the time we got outside. A couple of happy chopper jocks ready to hit the road...
Slept in Sunday morning, but my plans to do a pile of computer work (putting up story of the Muster) didn't eventuate. Paul and Rob had been discussing a towbar for Rob's recently purchased bus (to tow a bike of course) and they decided to give it a go. After considering the half dozen towbars Paul has, one was picked and they got to work with a bit of advice from the old Prof...
In the meantime, who should rock up but Jason and mate Pete. Pete was keen to check out this weird and wonderful Chopper Shed he'd heard about, so they cruised up on Jason's two machines. Jason was quite chuffed that his rear belt was staying fairly right, but he'd worked out a simple axle adjustment mod which we will get to shortly...
In between Jason and the towbar, I spent my time cleaning up things in the workshop, something desperately needed.
Once the towbar had been set up and tacked in place some extra gussetting was added and then I final welded it... not easy upside down and barely able to move while welding. Got quite a few burns, but that is par for the course. Gusty breezes which regularly come in at out place in late afternoon, added to the challenge of doing a good weld, but she'll tow a tank now!...
Paul wired up the trailer wiring and lengthened the chains on the trailer and just before dark, Rob was able to load his shovel on his trailer and head home. This allowed him to ride back down here to go into the Midnight Ride with us. So not what I'd planned, but a good result and a happy customer and friend...
