March 28, 2012

Spring sprint

After having relaxed through the winter, possibly overconfident in the progress I had made with the electricals, I'm now back at putting it all together. The first thaw is the most exciting part of riding up here in the colder climates.

After acquiring yet another couple special tools I completed the front disassembly. While on the subject, my favorite tool thus far is a custom fabricated front axle driver: a chunk of hexagonal brass stock which; after some TLC with and angle grinder the bit fit like a glove.

Next was the final trial for the headlight. It seems that the mounting points will be aright fit as the Triple's bottom clamp is quite beefier than the donor monster's. Not too worry, my trusted machinist had a couple good ideas, and in the end we chose to actually redo the top mounting bracket for the cleanest install.

One oddity I found during the whole of front deconstruction is the strange gunk / corrosion on the top thread of the steering stem. This is the reason why takin off that top nut was so difficult. I don't think it's any sort of thread lock as the shop manual doesn't call for any here, nor should it look this strange. Certainly looks bad if it is corrosion... In any case I will be sure to apply tad of grease here on reassembly.