maintenance on The Log Truck

[hubcapsc]

I ran down the gas in The Log Truck recently in preparation for taking
the tank off and putting in a new air filter. It is so freaking hot/humid
(it's only a little over 90 everyday, maybe I'm getting old) I've haven't
done much other than putting it under the pole barn where I work
on my bikes.



Besides the air filter, I have some bling (billet but probably not Cobra) I got from
Trout Dude at InZane, and dampers and brushes for the alternator. My bike has
97K or so on it. My Lithium battery has a "test" button on it, it says it is totally
happy. Seems like if I just keep riding without doing some kind of alternator
maintenance I'll end up regretting it one day... should I just change the
brushes and call it good? Send it off for rebuild? Do nothing? Install the
one I got off a low mileage bike on eBay?



I just put the multimeter on my battery, bike hasn't been cranked in a week or so: 13.15 ...
That seems wrong, does a Lithium battery rest at a higher voltage than a normal battery?

SELF THREAD HIJACK:

The billet bling is all saw-dusty from me fabricating (butchering) the funny looking
wood things you see to the right in the picture. They'll be brackets on the soffit of
my house...



I built my own house and moved in years ago before it was finished. Lots of things have
happened since then and it is still not finished. I put up the five layers of scaffolding (never
google "scaffolding erection") for the last set of tongue-and-groove soffit boards a while
back and "only" have to do it eight or ten more times. Phooey on that! A Mennonite family
(father/son/grandson) from down the street has agreed to do it  . They'll come over
with tall ladders with a long walkboard and slam the rest of it up in a few days. I'm lucky
to have found highly skilled people who will come over here and work on my whacky
house-in-the-woods.

FURTHER HIJACK...

End of summer pictures...

Muscadines are finicky. I was afraid I was hardly going to find any this year, I've been
looking all around. I finally saw where a bunch were falling in the field where
Carolyn's horse barn is, near the water trough. They were too high to just pick,
but I can stick the pole saw up there and yank on the vine and a whole bunch
will fall for me to pick up. Yummy!



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitis_rotundifolia

I noticed a tree down on the margin this spring full of blooms... cool! Today I looked up
there and saw what kind of tree it is... Yummy maybe...



Hearts a burstin' with love... poison



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euonymus_americanus

Partridge Berry... bland but won't hurt you to eat them...



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitchella_repens

Now, about that alternator preponderment...

-Mike

[The emperor has no clothes]

Wow, you have a lot of unique berries and fruits and plants that I’ve never even seen before. About that alternator. If it were me I’d just replace the brushes, clean it up, and put in the dampeners. But, this is advice coming from a guy who has been stranded twice because of alternators.  (you’d be best to do the opposite)

[Jess from VA]

Great Post  (stream of consciousness)  

This heat has been killing me too.  I guess a big part of it is age and tolerance.

If it's not 95 (feels like 137), it's raining floods in my backyard.  

Thank goodness for AC and sump pumps.

The only wild growth I get in my yard is mushrooms and I'm not eating any of them (especially the super bright red and yellow ones).

[hubcapsc]

I've got a lot of mushroom clusters down in the woods... pretty, but I
wouldn't touch them with a ten foot pole...



-Mike "not a mycologist"

[msb]

At just over 100K, I pulled my alternator for the first time a few months back...just because it had never been out of the bike. Gave it a good cleaning and replaced the brushes and put it back in. I thought about just replacing with a new one...again, just because...but didn't. Although I now have a good spare on hand and the knowledge on how to get the darn thing back in if I ever have to replace it while it on the road.

Nice post, like MH said, I've never heard of Muscadines and Partridge berries ...or perhaps they're just called something else in other places...

If you're going to have a thread of yours hijacked, might as well do it yourself

[gordonv]

Buy a set of brushes, pull the alternator and take it apart and clean/inspect it. If the brushes are close to 25% or less, replace. Otherwise, re-install and enjoy.

I recommend adding a volt gauge (meter) to the bike. If you know your battery isn't charging, then you can  do things to insure you can make it home, before you have a dead battery.

[Gavin_Sons]

Who has time for maintenance with all them berries to be picked? 

[old2soon]

              With all the damp-read rain-lately I've had mushrooms show up in the front yard-faces east-the side yard/driveway-south side-but none in the rear tree line-faces west. ANY and ALL mushrooms I personally eat come from the store. Those muscadines lookin cursed good!  Good luck on yer maintenance quest!  RIDE SAFE.

[Oss]

I have a few used spare alternators and have been dreading getting stuck again (happened under warranty back in 2003)  I ride around with one of them in the left saddlebag Its inside bubble wrap so it dont rattle around in there

Assuming I actually was able to get the alternator out without breaking bolts I have no experience with changing brushes

Hey Gig, after the ride how about show me how it is done on the one on my bike I would at the same time try to do the replacement on one of my spare alternators  I had bought one of them for you but you never showed up a few years ago remember?

What is the part # I will order 2 sets now so have them on hand

[hubcapsc]

13534-MN5-020 dampers X 4 for each alternator

31101-MN5-005 brush X 2 for each alternator

After helping Stanley Steamer change out his alternator, I think having
tight dampers would probably make the part where you have to stand
on one foot and hold your mouth right less tedious.

-Mike