Visit to Kelowna

[SteveH]

Hi Gordon ....It was great seeing you and Tess ...  anxious to know about your ride home from Kelowna . Did the trailer deck seal better? Was the exhaust note to your liking?  Any issues?  

[gordonv]

Very nice to get rid of that annoying ticking sound from the exhaust. Along with being quitter.

No rain, so unknown about the sealing of the trailer, but it seems a lot snugger. After you fixed that front section that was not level, I'm sure it will be great (almost makes me want to go out for a ride in the rain).

I meant to get a couple of pictures of you welding the nut on the stud, but forgot all about it.

As a follow up for others. After the nut was welded onto the broken stud, and Steve used a socket to remove it, he said it came out easily. We couldn't get a good enough grip on it with a vise grip to get it out before.

[RGM]

the heat from welding probably loosened the stud. Did you try heating it before it snapped?

[gordonv]

No, but I did before trying the vise grips. Had a high temp torch. Just no grip.

I was going to buy those grooved sockets, that act like easy outs. K&M have them for $45. Going to Steve was a nice weekend trip and the longest ride I did on the bike since our Valhalla ride in June.

[SteveH]

Glad to hear we got the ticking stopped . Exhaust leaks if left unattended can lead to erosion of the sealing surfaces, making it that much harder to get a good seal .
Yup, welding the nut onto the stud causes the stud to expand and crush any corrosion/ oxidization in the threads . Once cooled the stud came out quite easily using a socket and ratchet. Welding a nut is preferable to heating with a torch . Welding is a rapid application of heat directly to the stud and not the head ( although , of course the head will receive heat transferred from the stud). Heating with a torch is slower and more general and will heat the stud and head at the same time, so there is less crush. Nevertheless , either method can yield good results if done properly.