Just one of those days.

[Tiffanator]

Thought you guys may get a giggle from my adventures the other night. As some of you may know I borrowed a flywheel puller from a friend to remove the flywheel and replace it/check the starter clutch bolts. Well... it was too small to fit around the flywheel. So I hop in the truck and head off to the auto parts store to just buy a bigger one. I find a harmonic balancer puller that bolts into the flywheel to pull it, so I buy that. Meander home thinking its going to be a quick task. Um... bolts for the harmonic balancer puller were too short to reach the holes. I didn't feel like driving in to Lowe's to get longer bolts so I put that aside and in my boredom I dissassembled the bike, labeling and organizing everything and leaving components as complete as possible. So I have a "Bike in the Box". I was amazed at the unbelievable amount of grime on the frame. I flipped it over to remove the center stand as the last thing and I kid you not it was at least 1/8" thick in road grime/oil/grease/misc goo. So I took the frame outside, soaked it in WD and hit it with the pressure washer. Nice and clean so I started sanding.

Ok... that leads us to Wednesday night. I stopped by Lowe's on the way home to pick up longer bolts, got them, headed home only to find they were too narrow, strike one. Dirty words spoken.
So I decided I would change out the front wheel bearings. I remove the brake caliper and and forks from the wheel. First I very carefully pried out the dust seals which came out flawlessly so I can reuse them. I decided to first try Yamaha's bearing removal method of banging on the back side of the bearing... negative... not going to happen.. don't know why they thought of that. Oh yeah, I should mention in anticipation of this I had put the new wheel bearings in the freezer, so they were getting good and cold while I worked. Anywhoo... after a few failed attempts I decided to break out the propane. I had... uhm.. "borrowed" two bottles of propane from dad so I tried to light up the first one... no dice. Its empty. I hook up the second bottle... light it up and it has the smallest flame known to man... I can hold my hand 2 inches from the end of the torch and its not even hot. That won't cut it. So now I have no way of heating the hub to get the bearing out. Strike two. A few more wordy dirties spoken.
Not one to be shut down easily I move to the front forks. I lay out my paper to set the parts on in order and get everything ready. I drain the fork oil and remove the top hex cap and out pops the metal shim and spring. I lay all of it on my paper in order, gently remove the dust seal, retaining clip, washer and fork seal. Then comes the part where I need the "special tool". I look through all my drawers and find that I have a 17mm hex head and a 9/16" bolt. Both of which are too small. Again.. the determination sets in and I find a spark plug socket that just happens to have a 3/4" hex end on it. Now all I have to do is shim the bolt to stay in the end of the socket and I'm good to go. I get some small pieces of metal to act as shims and it works well... but... I only have 1 nut for the bolt, so I can't lock it tight. Since I don't know what the bolt goes to and will never use it... I destroy the bolt by flattening all the threads to lock the nut in place. Apparently under enough pressure the bolt can straighten the threads back out, much to my dismay. Strike three. I'm going inside.

Ok, if you made it through all that I'm impressed. I have since been BACK to lowe's and gotten the correct bolts for the "special tool" but couldn't find bolts long enough for the harmonic balancer puller, so I'm going to Home Depot today. I also decided against carrying a bottle of propane in my backpack on the bike as I'm apparently cursed and would probably have a minor off and blow up.

So this weekend I plan to finish overhauling the front end, get the frame sanded and maybe a coat of paint on it.. I'm doing it black myself since very little frame shows. I'm going to polish the front wheel rim and probably laquer it so I'm not polishing the rest of my life.
Hope you all got a giggle from my adventures.
If it isn't worth doing the hard way... it isn't worth doing.
Tiff

[Aelwulf]

Yep, sounds like how I do things.  My front wheel is still off and the new heat gun sitting on the table waiting for the next chance at misadventures of the Vision type. :-\ Thankfully my forks are good until I decide to upgrade the springs.  Kudos for taking it apart. :) I'm not willing to go that far until I have a better gas alternative than the truck while it's apart.  The bits to do now are taking too long as it is.

[Kevin]

Your experiences are not that different from most most of us with our first vision. I now have a 25" pipe with  a metric bolt welded in the end to fit in the fork tubes. The long bolts needed to pull the flywheel off required a trip to napa, I bought grade 8. When the flywheel pops off have a soft landing pad to catch it.Yep sounds familiar.   

[inanecathode]

I always do one project at a time, or try to :o I always end up getting overwhelmed with the bike in a box effect.

[Brian Moffet]

I always end up getting overwhelmed with the bike in a box effect.

My advice is to just remember that a bike is made of parts.  Each of those parts is made of parts.  Most of those parts are made of parts.  Start with the smallest parts and build the medium ones.  Then build the larger ones with the part you just made.  Then build the largest ones with those parts.  Eventually (in my case 10 months later) you have a bike again.

Brian (broke my bike out for a 20 minute ride this morning along the coast.  Once it was primed, it started (though smoked a lot) just fine.)

[inanecathode]

I agree, it's doable, just overwhelming. And thats with pretty extensive mechanical experience :o

[Kenny]

  Hey Tif,
      I like how you go about your different projects,just think of how boring life would be without all the  unknow's.I wish I was only as adventurous as yourself(vision wise) tackling the V's problems. Besides we would not have all the fine stories,is it cold in your area-just wondering about the propane problem?
   Can someone give me the symbol for delete on a keyboard from Germany?
                  Thanks Ken S.  :D       (  #r ) ? 

[YellowJacket!]

Nein.

Sorry....

;D

David (Who used to live in Holland)

[Lucky]

This might help Ken:
http://carbon.cudenver.edu/~tphillip/GermanKeyboardLayout.html
I believe you also need to install the Microsoft character set for German...

--Lucky

[Kenny]

  Lucky thanks for the info. (it was the Entif key) who would of guessed?! Anyways another day a different Continent. 8)
        Cheers Ken S.

[Tiffanator]

Thanks all. I still have yet to get the flywheel off.. ugh... the main shaft of the puller has a swivel bit on the end that sits on the flywheel shaft... but the swivel foot is too big, so now I have to grind it down and my little dremel isn't cutting it... so I have to get over to dad's to use his big grinder. Once that is done I should be able to get it off.. fingers crossed. I did however get one fork rebuilt and both stantions stripped of laquer and sanded to be primed and painted black. I'm going with as little polishable (is that a word?) stuff as possible on the bike.
Inane... Looking at the bike as a whole it was very intimidating to think about taking it down to the frame. But once I started taking stuff off, labeling it, and boxing it things weren't as bad as I thought. I took everything off in the biggest component that I could.
For instance... front forks, wheel and caliper all came off and are stored together. Now I have taken the forks and caliper off that largest component and laid them out and I'm rebuilding one fork at a time, when they are done I'm going to change the wheel bearings and clean the rim, after that paint the caliper and put the whole component back together and it will all go back on the bike as one unit. Then I'll move to another large component. Once I have the frame painted I can put each large component back on the bike once I'm done restoring it. Doing it that way feels more in control and organized than just pulling out every bolt and having pieces scattered all over the shop.
Kenny... not very cold here... if its below 50 I usually don't go outside and work.. I'm a wimp when it comes to the cold. It felt like there was a tiny bit of propane in both cylinders and I thought it would be enough, guess not. I'm now armed with a full cylinder and ready get rocking once the forks are done. 
Oh.. that German keyboard looks way to complicated for me. I'd have to take a class on how to use it.
Lata...
Tiff.

[Tiffanator]

Finally actually getting something accomplished. Managed to beat the snot out of the flywheel and got it off the other day. Starter clutch bolts were a bit loose, but not terribly. Starter clutch itself looks ok and Rick G has found a replacement flywheel for me so I'm all set.
Forks are all nice and clean and waiting for some fresh fork oil that I bought today. The stantions are sanded and ready for a coat or two of primer then black.
Tonight I shall attack the wheel bearings, wish me luck.

Of course... I have to have another "hard way" story for you. This one is not my fault, but still somewhat humorous.  I ordered a left side engine cover gasket and shifter shaft seal from DGY.com about 2 weeks ago. This package was a grand total of 15 bucks and weighed maybe 3 ounces. I come home from work last wednesday to find a cute little note from UPS on my front door. Apparently I have to sign in person for my $15 package. On the note they state they will attempt another delivery sometime after 4pm on Thursday. No problem I think, I'll just knock off work a little early and wait for them. As it turned out I was out at a job site with no way of getting back home in time, so I call my mother and beg her to go sign for my $15 package. Her response.... "This is for some stupid motorcycle part isn't it?" Hehe.. yes mom. So she and my two aunts that live down the street from her pile up in the car and go to my house, arriving before 4pm they find one of those cute little notes on the front door. UPS has already made the delivery attempt and left me another note. Thanks guys, you are awesome. Now with 2 failed attempts they will try once more then hold the package at the UPS store for 5 business days then return it to the sender.
Looking at the slip of paper I see that they have a place you can sign giving the driver permission to leave the package... except the driver has to check that box saying that is an option... mine isn't checked. Their scheduled delivery? Between 2 and 5pm Friday. I can knock off work an hour early, I cannot, however, sit my butt at home for 3 hours waiting for a package when they didn't even deliver during the estimated time before. In desperation I sign the slip of paper, leave a little note saying its ok for them to leave the package and just to slide it under the door. I tape the two notes to the front door and hope for the best.
I arrive home Friday night to find my note still on the front door... no notice from UPS, and no $15 package.  I log on to their tracking website to find out what I need to do. As it turns out, Thursday when they were supposed to deliver the ($15, signature required in person) package sometime after 4 they actually made the delivery at 2:29pm. Thanks again. Friday, when they were supposed to deliver the (15 freaking dollar) package (from hell) between 2 and 5 they actually made the delivery at 11:45. I'm sensing a pattern here. Almost like my cable company that calls me as they are leaving my house to tell me they are there and I need to come out there, only to find they have already left... but I digress.
Now it says I have to go to the UPS store to get my (ugh) package... except its now 7pm on Friday and I will be busy all weekend. Monday arrives and among other errands I stop after work to retrieve my (do I need to say it) package from the UPS store... only to find that I have to go to the main UPS terminal that is across town and that I happen to have driven by FOUR times that day to take my punctured Z1000 tire to the shop to get repaired... a whole other story that one. I drive home with smoke coming from my ears.
Tuesday arrives and I find some spare time to go to the UPS terminal across town to get my (you already know this part) package.  I arrive around 9:45 to be welcomed by a sign on the door: HOURS - MONDAY-FRIDAY: 11:00-1:00, 4:00-6:00. What time is it? I'm beginning to think they are holding my stuff hostage and I have a ransom email waiting when I get home. Dejected I go BACK to work and wait until after lunch when I happen to be closer to that side of town. In the end it only took me 7 days to track down a package that was in the same town I was. What a nightmare.
After all of that I was seriously expecting it to be the wrong stuff. Alas... it is correct and I'm happy now.
Tiff aka *^%&^*# package chaser

[inanecathode]

Ups sucks. They managed to ruin a pair of nos window seals for my car, of which you simply cannot buy anywhere, they're all gone.

[Night Vision]

sometimes life can be a four letter word  >:(
but that's what makes it interesting  ;)

[vadasz1]

You know what UPS stands for don't ya?

Utterly
Pathetic
Service

[YellowJacket!]

I ran into the same problem with DGY in th epast.  They REQUIRE all their packages to be signed for regardless of the price.  Sucks because I was in the same situation as you many times.  I hada couple days off to work on the bike and expected the part to be there but lo and behold, the dreaded brown gold and white sticker on the door.

Ohter than that, I needed a good laugh and reading your post fulfilled that requirement. ;D

David