My trials and tribulations without riding for three weeks now have me down in the dumps for sure. And, with having a spare bike, I should not have this worry. But that one too is hard down for the moment (2006 Stratoliner, 121K miles).
Brahma needed new shoes, that's easy enough so I ordered a set. They came in but the shop could not get to swapping them for over a month. I thought to myself, "Self, you have R&R these wheels and have a different shop swap the rubber". I need to save some money anyway.
Well, the dealer let me know 13K miles ago that when the time came to change the back tire, that the left TORS would not be able to go back on due to the significant amount of cancer on the 90* curve coming out of the crossover. So I ordered a full Viking exhaust system and have it standing by to go on. Sure enough, when I attempted to remove the left TORS, it literally feel apart.
Next, I found I needed a 17mm hex head and a 24mm wrench to remove the wheel. Off to the parts store to get them. While out, at 6 different stores to include Harbor Freight, I could not find the 19mm hex to remove the front wheel. Not one single place had it. Amazon did so I waited a few days and it showed up.
But back to the rear wheel; when it came off, I saw how horrible it looked with 83K miles of grime and oxidization, that should comes off. Here you can see the darkness that does not belong.
I set up my saw horses and a couple of fence planks as a make shift work bench. I began cleaning with a heavy duty degreaser, holy cow this is a lot of work.
I decided I needed to remove this gear piece and the brake disk for ease of cleaning. However, I got the gear piece off but not the disk.
A day later, I decided that I had to remove that dang disk to clean this rim. I had already done to sand paper as the cleaner got the surface gunk off only to reveal a lot of corrosion.
The disk is held in place by T40 Torx head screws that have been loctited same as the out gear bevel was. My screwdriver could not break them loose so off tot he part store to buy a 1/4 drive socket to use with bits. This off course is a small wrench and I needed a cheater to help apply my own torque to break the Torx loose.
Finally, I have won a battle and showed I am stronger than an inanimate object. Unfortunately, it was the Torx bit...
I had another bit and ended up getting all screws out without further drama.
Then the disk refused to come off. I looked to see if something else was fastening it down and saw there was not. A rubber mallet loosen the aged grip enough for the disk to come free.
Two days later, and I am still sanding the rim by hand. I know I must protect it somehow once I get it shined up. I decided that I will have the rim powder coated. I looked it up on line to see if there is a DYI method I could use when I discover that most shops bead blast the aluminum rims before coating. It takes a few minutes to prep this way. I have been sanding for days no and have a long way to go if I keep doing this by hand.
Just working on the rear rim, I have yet to remove the front wheel. I will get to that today I hope and drop them off tomorrow for professional cleaning and coating.
Brahma needed new shoes, that's easy enough so I ordered a set. They came in but the shop could not get to swapping them for over a month. I thought to myself, "Self, you have R&R these wheels and have a different shop swap the rubber". I need to save some money anyway.
Well, the dealer let me know 13K miles ago that when the time came to change the back tire, that the left TORS would not be able to go back on due to the significant amount of cancer on the 90* curve coming out of the crossover. So I ordered a full Viking exhaust system and have it standing by to go on. Sure enough, when I attempted to remove the left TORS, it literally feel apart.
Next, I found I needed a 17mm hex head and a 24mm wrench to remove the wheel. Off to the parts store to get them. While out, at 6 different stores to include Harbor Freight, I could not find the 19mm hex to remove the front wheel. Not one single place had it. Amazon did so I waited a few days and it showed up.
But back to the rear wheel; when it came off, I saw how horrible it looked with 83K miles of grime and oxidization, that should comes off. Here you can see the darkness that does not belong.
I set up my saw horses and a couple of fence planks as a make shift work bench. I began cleaning with a heavy duty degreaser, holy cow this is a lot of work.
I decided I needed to remove this gear piece and the brake disk for ease of cleaning. However, I got the gear piece off but not the disk.
A day later, I decided that I had to remove that dang disk to clean this rim. I had already done to sand paper as the cleaner got the surface gunk off only to reveal a lot of corrosion.
The disk is held in place by T40 Torx head screws that have been loctited same as the out gear bevel was. My screwdriver could not break them loose so off tot he part store to buy a 1/4 drive socket to use with bits. This off course is a small wrench and I needed a cheater to help apply my own torque to break the Torx loose.
Finally, I have won a battle and showed I am stronger than an inanimate object. Unfortunately, it was the Torx bit...
I had another bit and ended up getting all screws out without further drama.
Then the disk refused to come off. I looked to see if something else was fastening it down and saw there was not. A rubber mallet loosen the aged grip enough for the disk to come free.
Two days later, and I am still sanding the rim by hand. I know I must protect it somehow once I get it shined up. I decided that I will have the rim powder coated. I looked it up on line to see if there is a DYI method I could use when I discover that most shops bead blast the aluminum rims before coating. It takes a few minutes to prep this way. I have been sanding for days no and have a long way to go if I keep doing this by hand.
Just working on the rear rim, I have yet to remove the front wheel. I will get to that today I hope and drop them off tomorrow for professional cleaning and coating.
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