MOTOBRICK.COM
TECHNICAL MOTOBRICK WRENCHING In Remembrance of Inge K. => The Motobrick Workshop => Topic started by: Vespa no more on January 03, 2017, 04:38:05 PM
-
Am starting a new post in the vein of a "what did you do to your brick today?" post for moments of stupidity.
Surely to God there is a litany of moments we are all guilty of ... that we'd rather not share ... but will no doubt bring both laughter, recognition of similar experience(s) and reassurance that you are just like everybody else.
My offering for this morning - pretty harmless
Recently had issues with weak battery and starter motor relay switches fused together... at the same time the LHS indicators stopped working while on a ride.
Pulled a wire and continued riding using hand signals. Pulled the relay and cleaned the contacts...
Had a win with the relay and decided to attack the indicators.
Dismantled and cleaned the RHS switches on handlbars. RHS indicators working. LHS nothing - 'cept a buzzing sound.
Pulled the big green relay and ... stopped. A lot of little electrical things in there. too many for this electrical novice. Identified the buzzing mini coil and couldn't see how to service / clean it. Sprayed it with contact cleaner and left it.
Got the good idea to take the indicator relay from the K1100 and try it. This buzzed too.
Aha! - then the relay is not the problem ... must be further up stream. Looked at the wiring diagram in Clymer and the wiring kept going onto the next page.
Decided, reluctantly, to ask on the forum... anticipated getting imogee'd into a coma by Laitch followed by a too curt reply... typing away "...don't know where to check...". Had nearly finished when...
Moment of clarity. Those bulbs are not connected - still.
Got into the shed first thing this morning, bulbs in, relay in... tick tock tick tock.
I'm counting that as a win.
Feel like a dickhead but at least I didn't tell anybody
Over to you
-
You're only a dickhead if you do it again. Just the once doesn't count.
-
between the two of us. we're human.
cant count the number of times of similar "doh" moments at work and at home...
i think we'll survive. cheers! :lets-eat:
-
Where to start... I've done a lot of stupid shit once. And a few more than once. Recent example: got interrupted while installing rear brake calipers. Failed to torque the bolts - but they were snug, so I didn't notice. Shortly thereafter while riding thought... hmmm the rear brake has a weird shake... maybe I should press it again to see what's going on... (stupid)... the rotor carried the caliper forward a bit. Bent the brake line and nicked the rear wheel.
Some of these shed-fessions serve to make us smarter. So how about sharing the lesson learned or new habit that resulted from the mistake?
For example:
I have adopted a new habit. Whenever I install something that needs to be torqued or connected later, I put some blue masking tape on it.
-
between the two of us. we're human.
cant count the number of times of similar "doh" moments at work and at home...
i think we'll survive. cheers! :lets-eat:
Doh moments when riding are notoriously self-limiting. You probably won't be able to count many of them. They are a human habit to break.
-
Pulled the heat shield of my RT to paint it. Next day was beautiful, but paint wasn't hard enough yet to put the shield back on so I went out without it.
A few days later I went to reinstall the heat shield and the nuts on the muffler had all fallen out.
Then there was the time I had been working on the rear tire and forgot to put the rear fender back on with the license plate. Took the bike out and rode 25 miles into the city to get parts for my car. Almost made it home before someone pointed out the missing license plate.
-
Have you ever removed your rear wheel, final drive, swing arm, transmission and clutch pack trying to find your wallet then discovered that it was in your back pocket the whole time?
Well, I haven't, but I'll bet there are plenty on here who've done that or will have done that if they haven't ruined their bikes before then by dropping them from ratchet hoists attached to devices being used to lift them from trailers backed into holes dug to facilitate removal, or by setting them on fire while vacuuming their fuel tanks.
-
Doh moments when riding are notoriously self-limiting. You probably won't be able to count many of them. They are a human habit to break.
Definitely. Thank You Laitch, while driving, doh moments usually occur when im distracted or preoccupied... no riding analogies yet...
long time ago. i forgot to tighten the wheels to our old vw van after a tire change coz i got distracted... then went to pickup my siblings...
7 or so kms later, i was feeling/hearing a wierd kachunk kachunk in the rear, stopped and found out that i have 3 out of 5 bolts left on the wheel...
lesson learned, dont stop til you are done on critical pieces.
that van had bald tires... it was fun remembering driving it during rains. dancing on the curves. luckily van never in a accident since top allowed speed was 40kph.
Scud, i like that blue tape idea. will steal. :euro
-
. . . luckily van never in a accident since top allowed speed was 40kph.
A new law of vehicular physics is born! Fatal accidents can't happen below 40kph.
You read it here first!
-
setting them on fire while vacuuming their fuel tanks.
https://youtu.be/rknEVCKjLvc (https://youtu.be/rknEVCKjLvc)
:dunno2:
-
A wise man said a man who makes no mistakes, does nothing. :nono
-
A friend and I were attempting to push start a 400four, me sitting on it and him pushing for all he's worth when..
I let the clutch out and...
Nothing.
No drive chain fitted.
-
I had a 350-four. I could push start it while seated and dog-paddling it along - like a push-bike.
But only when the chain was installed. :hehehe
-
A friend and I were attempting to push start a 400four, me sitting on it and him pushing for all he's worth when..
I let the clutch out and...
Nothing.
No drive chain fitted.
Had something similar happen to me once while out on a ride with friends. After a brief stop for coffee and refeul my trusty old GTR1000 Concours refused to fire up. Tried bumpstarting it myself but as it's a heavy beast no such luck. So after 2 go's being pushed by 2 of my friends while jumping in the saddle as i let the clutch go (no luck) we decided to have 1 more go before calling in the big guns. Of we went, push, push, jump up and as i did that the killswitch caught my eye.... Should i say more? :hehehe
-
Impressed my GF by changing oil in her Dodge Colt and not putting the drain plug back in. It ran fine but the oil light would go not off. Big giveaway was all the oil in the driveway when she backed out. Married me anyway.
-
Turned up to pick up my bike after it being in the customs warehouse for four months. Hooked up battery, turned over wouldn't start, tried jumper cables - same thing. Pulled plugs. checked fuel, checked spark. Wouldn't start.
Take it off side stand and put it on center stand - voila it fires right up!
Family impressed by my ability to get it started - I did not confess...
-
As a teenager I helped a friend change the oil on another friend's truck. My buddy got busy and told me to just drain and fill the oil (no filter change). So I did, or, err, uh... Drained the transmission fluid and added the requisite amount of engine oil. Driving down the street, my bud mentioned we were blowing smoke and that the truck was shifting like crap.
-
Film camera
I'm sure I speak for others when, having followed your posts for some time, I feel I was there.
I did the oil on my wife's car and as she drove off I could see the oil line on the road. Grabbed some more oil and chased her in my car... quite easy to follow strangely enough...
Pulled her over, re filled the oil and told her to head for home without delay.
The old oil filter o-ring had stayed on the engine and, coupled with the new filter, had failed to make a seal.
Took a few months for the tell tale stains to disappear.
-
... another oil fill mishap here. Had the brick hoisted up on the woodworking bench and tablesaur. Was about 2 litres into the fill when I realised ... oops.
A wise man said a man who makes no mistakes, does nothing. :nono
... too many mistakes, does nothinking
-
When I was young and foolish (now I'm just foolish), I had a Yamaha triple. I was trying to check the timing, and had borrowed a timing light to do so. It was designed with an adaptor which went between the spark plug and the cap, but it didn't fit very well, flopped all over the place. Therefore I held the metal adaptor in place, turned the key on and hit the starter button. Next thing I knew I was about ten feet away.
-
First draining of sump oil from a French diesel engined car.
'Used a proprietry 7 litre oil drain tray with a gradient down to a drain hole (diameter 1/2inch)into the container.With very Hot oil,deftly undid the engine sump drain plug....3/4 inch diameter....I felt helpless.
-
First draining of sump oil from a French diesel engined car.
With very Hot oil,deftly undid the engine sump drain plug....3/4 inch diameter....I felt helpless.
A sub-category of that is I Don't Need A Funnel For This. No, what I need is a roll of paper towels and 100lbs of cat litter.
-
When I started my apprenticeship Motor Vehicle Aust Army, I was watching one of my fellow apprentices with a I know everything attitude. He was told to drain an engine so he started to drain into one, oh I need two, arrr I need three, oh hell I need four, oh crap I'm out of hubcaps what do I do now. :hehehe
Regards Martin.
-
Great Thread.....................After a recent transmission oil change, I checked the level when I filled her up with gas. Left the filler cap off and drove away. I am not sure how, but it stayed with the bike where I set it. I found it off, but still on the bike at my next stop and put it where it belonged! :yes
-
years ago I was changing the idler arm on my TR3. There, on the frame, was a thermostat cover with years and years of road grime covering it. Some poor slob had changed the thermostat, probably looked all day for the cover (I heard it fall under the car!) written it off the the saint of lost parts and bought a new one. I do stuff like that but find the thing as soon as I buy a new one.
-
Late for a meeting spent 25 minutes frantically looking for my full-face helmet not noticing it was on my head the whole time.
Stripped, prepped and painted the tank, gassed up, put the bike on sidestand, paint job destroyed, repeat from step 1.
Put on new tire, neglected to tighten lugs. Life saved by unnerving wobbling seconds before wheel pops off.
Clutch pack not centered properly, stubborn refusal to acknowledge uncharacteristic vibration. 10k miles later clutch disk fails, transmission input shaft toast.
I'll stop at that so as to avoid another self-esteem crisis.
[/size]
-
+1 on the ruined paint job. Mine happened the same day i had put the bike together after getting the parts back from the paint shop.
Why the f*** can't one of the most expensive motorcycles on the market have a gas cap that doesn't leak?
-
Pulled up at a caff on a really hot day. Bungied my jacket to the rack and stuffed the gloves under the seat. A minute after setting off the engine died and didn't want to play.
After half an hour of checking the usual suspects, I noticed my gloves were covering the air intake.
After buying my lad a new bed, which is a few inches wider, I realised I had to move the radiator 6" to the right . After pulling the floorboards up to alter the pipework I found a Stanley Magnum slotted screwdriver under there. Hmm, I thought, that's a nice find, I wonder who that belonged to.
Upon further examination, I found my initials stamped in the handle. It was hiding there for 22 years.
-
Replaced a head gasket on my ZX600A (anybody who's owned one for any length of time knows why). Got it all buttoned up, and fired up. About five minutes into warming it up it seems more rattley than normal. That's when I remember I didn't remember to fill it with oil. Rode that bike another 40K (2 more head gaskets). The next time I took it down to the case, and no evidence of oil starvation. Still running great when i sold it with nearly 70K. Thank you Mobil 1.
-
I'm not ready yet to say what i did with my K75. But all is good: I did just complete a 2,000 km (1,200 mile) circuit of Lake Superior that I should post pictures of.
Anyway, what happened in the shed did not stay in the shed. It was my first motorized conveyance, a go-kart with a lawnmower engine and a centrifugal clutch. I started by disassembling the clutch to "roughen it up" hopefully to get less slippage on the acceleration. I was also doing other stuff, like cleaning the air filter and changing the oil and spark plug. I was about 11 years old at the time. Anyway, got distracted and after doing all the other maintenance but before reassembling the clutch, I started it up. I learned what "centrifugal" means!
Multiple clutch pieces flew all around the shed and I never did find them all. I'm lucky none of them hit me. :pirate
-
Did a spine lube all went swimmingly put it back together greased my wheel lugs (oops dont do that) rode it for a few days and noticed the rear wheel seemed to be wobbling so desided to retorque after work but before i could some little scumbag stole my brick. Luckly that mistake gave me great satisfaction when the rear wheel came off while the theif was ride my bike and broke his leg as my brick kissed the tarmac. He was subsequently arrested in hospital
-
Its good when a fail turns into a bonus. How many times has it been stolen?
My dumb thing doesn't involve a bike, but a car. Years ago I bought a ute at the auctions. As I was driving home on the Hume Freeway I saw a switch on the dashboard, thinking what does this do, I pressed it. Then I thought, why has the the rear view mirror gone black. I was driving down the freeway with the tilt tray up. The first thing was to slow down so the wind didn't take me away. The second thing was to look around and realizing there were no other cars within view, I thought, that's good I don't have to be embarrassed, nobody saw that. It wasn't advertised as a tilt tray, and was a dual ram one to boot. Bonus.
-
Its good when a fail turns into a bonus. How many times has it been stolen?
My dumb thing doesn't involve a bike, but a car. Years ago I bought a ute at the auctions. As I was driving home on the Hume Freeway I saw a switch on the dashboard, thinking what does this do, I pressed it. Then I thought, why has the the rear view mirror gone black. I was driving down the freeway with the tilt tray up. The first thing was to slow down so the wind didn't take me away. The second thing was to look around and realizing there were no other cars within view, I thought, that's good I don't have to be embarrassed, nobody saw that. It wasn't advertised as a tilt tray, and was a dual ram one to boot. Bonus.
tilt tray? translation please
-
I would suspect some form of tilt-n-load.
-
I would suspect some form of tilt-n-load.
In the States it's known as a platform dump body with shallow rails. Google clear identifies it as a tilting tray for a 100 gallon mobile tea service.
-
Yep, so the tray tips up, and the load slides out the back. A great back saver.
I've heard of lots of different words in the US, didn't realise that was one of them.
-
After a routine oil top-off, forgot to replace the oil fill cap on the K1100RS. Started the bike to idle and warm up, while I ran inside to grab my things and lock up the house. Went to stradle the girl and back out of the garage, and my foot slipped off the foot rest. Look down, and the side of the bike, my tool box, and the floor are covered in oil droplets at about 10-15 drops per inch.
-
Stupid stuff #2
One day I was removing a vanity cabinet (maybe it's called the sink and it's cabinet in the USA) the one you brush your teeth in front of, in the morning. I removed the s trap (water trap for the waste pipe) I couldn't put it down without the water spilling out, so I poured it into the sink.
I better leave it at that.
-
Changed oil on my GF's car way back when.
By the time I had backed it out of the garage the oil light was on. Shut it down past haste and saw a pool of oil on the floor. What the @#$%?!
Turns out that the oil filter gasket ring stuck on the block. Apparently two rubber rings is too much and it puked the oil out between them. Told me the old Pymouth 318 had lots of oil pressure.
It was a rental garage and I had minimal tools and equipment there. I had to walk several miles home to snag some sawdust and a vehicle to go back and clean up. By the time I got back it was an 8 foot diameter pool.