Traveller had a leaking left fork and a front tire that was down to the wear bars. So, today I was going to go over and spend the day with Hard6 and treat Traveller to her Christmas gifts. Didn't leave out until 9:00 since I wanted to see if it would warm up after the sun came out but it seemed like it wanted to stay at 35 degrees this morning, so I threw on some gloves and a leather jacket and headed west - go west young man.
It was a bit cool (would have actually been comfortable if I would have thrown on my chaps to cut the wind on my legs) but it sure felt good to be in the wind. Well, maybe a bit too good. There was a LAW on the other side of an overpass that I saw and throttled down when I saw that I was doing over 90 and then sped up again and lo and behold, there was another LAW at the next overpass. I had throttled down but was still doing over 80 and when I passed him, I thought, "Well, he has me if he wants me". When I looked in the rear view and saw the dirt thrown up behind his car, I figured, "Well, he wants me". Yep, spent the next 30 minutes on the side of I-10 getting a speeding ticket - a Christmas gift to the great state of Louisiana I reckon. I called Hard6 and let him know I was going to be a bit late...he laughed, because I am the one who usually slows him down. I guess I will find out tomorrow when I call the number on the ticket how big the Christmas present to the Great State of Louisiana is going to be.
Well, got to JP's and spent the next hour or so having coffee and visiting with my old friend and his lovely child bride, Ms Mary. After we finished with our coffee we went out to the garage and in about 30 minutes, we had Traveller's front end torn down - well, JP did with superior supervision by myself.
Traveller was getting her Christmas presents.
When we had her up on the jack, we noticed that the steering bearings would stick slightly right in the center and then free up when you turned the forks away from center. We decided to tackle that one at a latter date since that is a major undertaking. Got the wheel off and the left fork removed.
Now, it was time to rebuild the left fork and change the seals. Folks, be sure to clean WELL behind the fork cover whenever you clean. I had some fine rust that you couldn't see behind the cover that probably caused the seal to blow. We had to knock that off and polish it back up and then rebuild the fork with the new seal. JP had the fork seal tool thing-a-ma-jig...Dang, I sure hope he remembers where everything goes.
You know a master mechanic - of course with superior supervision - can get it back together.
So, we got the fork back together and then had lunch with Ms Mary - THANK YOU SO MUCH. After a late lunch, it was time to take the tire back to the back shed and break some beads. We threw on a Bridgestone Battleaxe. After getting it sealed and ready to go, threw in some Dynabeads - from some that TP sent down with me from Minnesota - ya, sure, you betcha.
We found a bad bearing that was just about to go out in the front rim, so we changed bearings and the brake pads were SHOT. So, JP started changing out brake pads and he gave me the duty to put the discs back on the rims - hmmmmm, maybe he shouldn't have. I had not even torqued the bolts yet and one sheared right off inside the rim with nothing sticking up to grab hold of. JP had to chisel and drill the piece of bolt in the rim to get it out - well, there went about an hour. Finally got it out and he had a spare out in his shed, so I got the bolts put back in and torqued. Changed the pads and reinstalled the tire....
Well, it was almost 7:00 pm and the temps were dropping from the 50's during the day, so I put my jacket back on after talking to JP for awhile and headed back east in 42 degree temps for the 80 mile trek back home (trying to stay 5 mph above the speed limit).
Anyway, got in about 160 miles of good wind. Gave Traveller her Christmas present (tire, brake pads, fork seal and bearing) and even contributed something to the State Trooper Christmas Fund.
The main thing was I got to spend the day with two great friends - JP and Ms Mary. That was a Christmas present to ME!!!!!
Oh yeah, and Traveller PRANCED all the way home!
