43

43

This is commonly a non-year.  An innocuous year. A year of little regard.

It is so dull that the basic highlight of “43” is that it is the 14th smallest prime number.

43 is the age of my fathers death.  At the time he had a wife, a 4 year old daughter, a 13 year old son and an 18 year old son (give or take some months).

Today begins the year that I have thought about for roughly 30 years.  The year of equal.  For this is the year that produced a few major decisions in my life, most notably not having children. I was concerned about being very similar in physical shape as my father and the 50/50 split in the path toward cancer or no cancer...realizing this is not assured but having a difficult time considering the idea of putting another child through that process.

I do not regret that decision and my reflection is not based on regret, it is simply a moment to think about influence, result, future aspirations….cause and effect.  Simply put, 43 becomes a more momentous year from my perspective and this year, once passed, puts me farther than the expectation of what the younger me had.

I continue to be amazed at my perspective of 43, how I don’t relate to the memory of a child and their parents at that time.  The expectation of more direction in life and the realization that it is all made up, you can make significant changes in your life if you work at it, observing others make those momentous decisions and being amazed at the idea of being 43 years in….wondering how many are left...finding a way to enjoy what is left and looking back at what you have had to learn from and grow.

Thank you to those that have helped me get here and I am looking forward to the memories, photos and experiences that we will get to have.  Hang on, it’s going to be a vanilla ride ; )

Thank you Dad, what little time we spent together created a foundation. It allowed me to find good people to help shape, grow and continue this life. Let's see where we go from here.

Tentative Peace Found

Tentative Peace Found

The short story is, I think I found my gremlin, the GMC aka Big Red has now been driven 4 days without the random stall while under idle load, no load and moving.  It appears it may have been a faulty new part that had been changed out in early August due to the component failure leading to no spark.  Ironically I had purchased the new part I just installed in North Platte Nebraska as a totem as we drove on towards Moab Ut…I just never replaced it out of stubbornness and the false faith that brand new parts work and are not faulty.

Victor and I had decided to leave early this year because as a group we were not going to ride Moab…and I’m not ready to give up Moab from my mind.  I suckered him into leaving Sunday morning so that I could get some time on the trials bike, get my sea legs back and dangled Pritchett Canyon in front of him so he could ride gnar and I could walk the motorcycle through obstacles. https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/utah/pritchett-canyon-4x4-trail  It didn’t take much more and he was in.

About 2 weeks before leaving, I was pushing my luck on the fuel tank at empty and 2 blocks from home the truck dies…I wound up turning off of 42^nd onto Longfellow to park the truck as I had the garage guy coming to take a look at the project. I’d just walk back with a gas can later that night and get the truck home was the thought.  Lisa offered to help with grabbing the gas and I said I’d be along in a bit once she dropped me off at the truck.

Rung rung rung rung….nothing.  Rung rung rung rung…nothing.  No fire.  After investigating, I have fuel but no spark.  Huh….Walk back home to do some research.  

I’m in awe of Tim’s and many of your ability to electrically test components.  I don’t have that in my brain and am not comfortable around a multi-meter.  So I do some googling on my current situation, I have fuel, air but no spark.  I have a healthy starter and battery as far as I can tell.  I have 2x weeks before I need to be a reliable truck to take a trailer of large capacity to the west and I hate “being that guy” who brings dodgy equipment that may affect someone else’s experience. I’m under the gun of personal expectation and was hoping this time would be spent getting the bikes prepped rather than chasing truck issues. 

Big Red is not remembering that I have been faithful to her and treated her with respect and proactive attention.  She is wanting more of my time and becoming needy.

After reading a bit, the ignition controller and coil are often suspect in this situation.  You can test the units or replace them for a total of about $60.  The ignition component is under the cap and rotor….the truck has 150,000 miles on it and I start looking at pricing on components and realize that for under $200 I can pretty much replace the entire ignition system, cap, rotor, plugs, plug wires....  So, let’s get busy and avoid the BS of a new part causing a weaker part to fail down the line.

If you remember, I sent an email pissed that I moved the ignition advance when replacing the oil pressure sensor which GM conveniently buried at the back fire wall under the cap plate….but Victor had given me shit about the pressure sensor for 2 trips and to show him and his stupid judgy self, I was bound to replace the damn thing to make the truck better.

The truck was close to timed correctly but still off.  I thought I had eyeballed this correctly and though I had checked it correctly with Tim a week earlier…but I was still sensing the truck was underpowered and had a stall in Northfield that was odd.  I blamed the eye balled cap and fixated on timing.

So, I ran back over to Tim’s house about a day or so before we were to leave to grab the timing light. Victor brought over his ton of trailer that we’d be towing west for a dry fit / test tow.  We quick hooked up the light, turned the cap maybe an 1/8in to the correct 0deg setting after far too much time rifling through the house looking for the Haynes manual that Paul and kindly given to me about a year earlier.  After tearing the house apart, I remembered that I placed the manual in a bag behind the seat in the truck last year for 2016’s riding trip….there it was…oh…and GM also has the timing procedure on a sticker on the front grill brace about where Tim and I had recently placed the timing light while discussing what the setting needed to be…I blame the light for obscuring the truth…not my lack of preparation, research and inventory control (book location memory)

Victor simply, calmly pointed to the sticker…and simply, calmly pointed to the plastic cover where we needed to look for the bypass wire during the procedure….I’m getting pretty sick of his simply and calmly pointing shit out.

Great.  We are ready to roll and in 20 hours we’ll be in Moab ready to sweat to death and question why we were stupid enough to come back and challenge our skills on one of the hardest jeep trails in the region.

About 30 minutes before the only turn we have to get to Moab, the turn out of Des Moines, the engine stalls….not a sputter, not a wild ride of death, just simply coasting, no load, no gas pedal response, no motor and we are cruising at 65-70 miles per hour without the engine running…..Huh….turn the key, nothing. Pull to the side of the road. Sit for a minute.  Turn the key off, put it into park, turn the key, Vroom!...Hmmm…there is a rest stop just a mile up or so, let’s go there.

We are at a decision point, do we turn back or do we keep going.  This is an oddity that I have never experienced but riding is that way…we walk around the truck.  We fiddle here, tighten the ground on the battery, fondle that, discover that odd smell a few miles back was the trailer lights fuse…put in a slightly stronger fuse…hmmm…everything seems fine.  Let’s keep driving.  We will have parts stores ahead of us and time to search a bit on the intertubes….I am thanking we live in a time where that stupid little computer in my pocket can be useful in so many ways…

As we leave the rest stop I’m a bit nervous thinking this will become a god damn death march but I want to ride and I want to keep moving.  I wasn’t thinking about the mountains yet…but if we have issues, that will be precisely the shit show location I’m assuming friendships and pickups will die in.  I think about where I keep matches in case Plan B is necessary.  I think about the trucks I had found in Montrose and Grand Junction.  I double check my current savings account total and budget.

About a half hour later we have another stall.  This time we stay in the lane, pull the transmission into neutral and turn the key to off and back to start…Vroooom!....we throw it back into drive and keep rolling.

The conversation starts to go through what has been changed, what could this be, what needs a reset, why do we need to bring the transmission to neutral and bring the key to off to reset the system….after a couple more stalls we are passing through Lincoln Nebraska and we have a vague idea that this is during down hills, no load idle and we can restart on the fly.  I look for Napa’s in North Platte.

It is Sunday and close to closing time.  We walk into Napa and I start asking for some advice.  One thought is a crank sensor…this GM motor doesn’t have one but it does have a transmission position sensor that is accessible.  They have one.  I buy it and am warned…don’t pull it from the plastic back unless you are sure…yup...and as I lay under the truck we can hear Napa shutting down and the employees heading home.

The gentlemen that helped us let Victor know that if we need to keep the truck in the lot overnight it is ok as my legs are jutting out from under the truck and I can’t get the damn sensor out of the trans….god damn thing is wonky and kicking my ass…I struggle, ask for this, ask for that and pretty fill my armpit with trans fluid as it runs down my arm…dammit. “I need a container for fluid.”  Victor hands me a measuring / mixture cup. 

Perfect.  I pull the old sensor out, place the new in.  Drain just shy of a half a cup out of the trans not to mention what is currently lubricating my right arm and start to clean up.  As I’m getting out from under the truck a little gust of wind kicked up and pushed over the cup of ATF….it isn’t Roadkill unless you’ve bleed ATF in the parking lot of the business that was helping you.  We clean up the new Super Fund site in North Platte and close up the truck and trailer.

We take a test spin around the lot, should be good, let’s go.  As Victor pulls into traffic the truck stalls again.  Not the transmission position sensor.  I point to the still open O’Riely’s. 

I had been suspect of the Oil Pressure Sensor, Ignition Control and the Coil because for some reason the Oil Pressure Sensor can turn off the fuel pump as a safety.  I have less then faith in my mechanic, me…so I start questioning the work I have done but feel that all I have really done is replaced old components with new components…so what the hell is hard about that…why question myself, yet I do.

I asked how much the computer was for the truck, $100….they happen to have one….it was a return and on the box the word “wrong” is hand written on the label…in my head I laugh at foreshadowing.  I buy another Ignition Control and Coil because they have them and I’m out of ideas.  I walk out and replace the computer in the dash.  We have now used up about 2 hours of daylight chasing this gremlin and about 3 hours total in the day diagnosing this damn thing.  As we get on the freeway and start driving…we stall again…

Transmission to Neutral, key to off, key to start, Vrooom!, Transmission to drive.  We have a fix for now and for now, it’s working.  Westward ho!

As we travel through Nebraska and the flats of Colorado this happens from time to time.  I feel like 2500 +/-100 rpm mean something, that under 2000rpm and if I can keep it at 1600-1700 rpm we are fine but more likely to stall at 2500rpm.  Still not consistent but trying to think through and build data. The rolling fix is working and we are making steady time again.  I’m concerned about being stranded in the shit void that is eastern Colorado, ethanol plants, deserted dry flats, cattle yards, Trump supporters. We overnight in Silverthorne Colorado after arriving at 3am.  No troubles in the mountains.  With the engine under load and working, no issues.  It is really only after pulling your foot off the gas or in a shallow downhill run that the engine stops.  So the midnight run up the mountain was cool, relaxing and uneventful with few cars and trucks on the road and the mountains on the mind.  The truck works well tugging through the hills.

We’re up at the crack of 8:13am and get back on the road around 9am or so.  We hop back on the freeway and expect to be in Moab mid afternoon accounting for shenanigans as need be with the truck.  It isn’t until we get to the low lands out by Fruita Colorado that we have a stall and maybe another heading into Moab…all in all we have ignored it now, we postulate on additional parts it may be. I know there is a Napa 2 blocks from our hotel from previous years.  I find a couple additional culprits that may need a reset to function and could be worn…Moab Napa has them in stock. 

We spent a morning in Moab pulling off ground leads, cleaning them, reinstalling them and Victor shows me how to place a new ground from one that is particularly corroded and a bear to reach under the motor and firewall.  We still get stalls.

We spend the next 8 days or so simply living with it and using the rolling restart fix.  It works, why change it.  Let’s ride.

We get back home and part ways.  The next day I start to fill the back of the truck with garage stuff for the storage unit because in a week or so we will be tearing down our trust little single stall.  I can’t keep the damn truck running now and it is stalling all over the place because in town, the truck basically is running at idle with very little throttle input needed to run around at 30-35mph. 

So it isn’t the trailer. I had secretly wanted Victor’s trailer and the trailer wiring to be the weird odd wrench in the works…nope…it’s the truck. 

I cry uncle, write down that I have swapped out, the timeline and the symptoms and bring it to Flanery’s http://www.flanerybrosauto.com/ across from Bakers Wife.  I know they have worked on GM products and have a few of my era trucks around from time to time.  I was hoping they had a secret that only the cool 5.7L guys knew of and hand over the keys.  I get a call a day later saying the EGR valve is suspect and that the TBI fuel injection could use a rebuild.  I had asked them to check the fuel pressure as this was part of our questions during the trip and usually the first question on all of the forums before every last “my trucks broken, how do I fix it” disintegrates into “you suck” and “gm’s suck”…. but we never lost power under load and didn’t have sputtering or surging…but let’s check anyway.  Not the fuel pressure…they changed the filter since that is where they take the test…fine.

I asked him how much for the work…he said “Oh, I thought you were working on it…I’ll write up and estimate”.  Ok, thanks.

I walk in on Friday “Do you have an estimate for me?”

“Sorry, not yet…”

“Ok, tell you what, let me pay you for what you have into it, I’ll take the truck, replace the parts you suggest and will return if it is an issue”

“I already have the parts…um…why don’t you take the parts, change them out, if it works, I’ll charge you my cost on parts….if not we can try something else”

“Really?  Thanks, I appreciate it!”

I had the parts replaced in an hour once I got home.  Took it for a spin on Saturday…no issues.  Woohoo!  Take it for a spin on Sunday….3 stalls.  DAAAAAMMMMMIITTTTT!

At the beginning of last week I returned it to Flanery’s with the update that it wasn’t the EGR and EGR controller.  Still stalling…not sure where to do from here.  They had it for the week and could not find anything else.  They were stumped.  I pulled the truck from them last Friday after paying for their time and parts used…$260…far too little for the time they had into it…frankly, Flanery’s will be getting more business from me because of this interaction even though they were unable to fix it.   They treated me more than fairly and in fact lost money on this one with time spent alone. Oddly, the truck threw no codes for this.  So it is completely a knowledge of systems and trial and error process.

I mentioned I didn’t trust the oil pressure sensor…that it was part of the shut down safety for oil starvation and can shut off the fuel pump.  So I went out on Saturday morning ready to change the pressure sensor and to replace the Ignition Control because I had one from North Platte still in the truck.

When I pulled off the cap and rotor, the GD position of the oil pressure sensor pissed me off so much that I let my brain say “test and learn, only change the Ignition Control as it is accessible and if you still get stalling, then go after the oil pressure sensor”.

Good idea brain.

4 days into the new Ignition controller I have a tentative peace with Big Red.  I have not had any stalling.  I’m hopeful the peace stands and we can begin rebuilding from here….let’s hope the Taiwanese got this controller right.

I’m still fond of Big Red.

Action. Adventure. Penmenship!

Action. Adventure. Penmenship! 

Finding your bearings in a motor tear down is one of the most important things to do. Even the earliest explorers had a direction, a purpose, funding from the State that drove them to their current sextant setting.

Taking on someone elses puzzle brings the challenge of just understanding what you have bought. You were told it is all there. As we all know, it isn't.  I just isn't. It just depends on where it lies, typically somewhere between 1-100%.

With a rolling frame on the lift and a purchased motor hung within the frame I had 4x boxes of parts plus bodywork. The frame had electrical plugs hanging out of places they shouldn't be and parts dangling from various "crap, I have to move this to get it out of the way for that". Some of these projects you find parts dangling that maybe shouldn't even be on the bike in question. It's hell in the triage room.

I was now at the moment of inventory, catalog, clean and separate. I luckily bought a bike with factory manuals showing exploded views and KTM part numbers. Do yourself a favor: beg, borrow, steal or purchase these type of manuals. At least print them off the internet so you can keep track of what you need (BikeBandit is a good resource for Japanese, BMW and KTM have parts views on their sites), what you bought and once you receive the parts, what has arrived and what is back ordered versus missing. Hundreds of little parts tend to bring 1 or 2 that get missed. 

If it is a book / manual, make a copy of the drawings you need. This keeps your grubby mitts off of the original and allows you to write on, cross off, and later show the new owner the parts you purchased and installed in a little booklet you can give with the bike. It helps the new owner understand what you did and may even give them a bit of reassurance that you tried, in a thoughtful and complete manner, to fix the bike. 

Get Your Bearings. What do you need to start:

- Exploded views with factoring part numbers.
- Indelible ink markers
- Index cards
- Zip lock bags - variety of sizes is a must
- Zip ties
- Bulk Velcro (used to cut into strips or small pieces as needed)
- Hole punch
- Boxes
- Time

Essential tools for tearing down and rebuilding motorcycles.

  Once the motor was hung I had nothing but time on my side. I began with taking a full inventory of what I had purchased. Suddenly it became apparent I was missing a saddle and a couple of smaller items. In my haste to receive the rolling chassis, we had failed to see the saddle. Luckily, I could go back and find it. Make sure you double back when buying boxes to look for what else could be missing. 

I purchased a motor that had been completely torn down due to catastrophic bearing failure. The failure was caused by a clutch that had been incorrectly installed as the diagnosis. The clutch started to grind the inner wall of the housing releasing metallic shavings into the blood stream of the living motor and contaminating the nooks and crannies that need oil, but not metal flake. Friction creates heat. Heat creates stress. Stress on a turning motor ultimately wears and stops that motor. As I looked over the steel parts of the motor, hits of blue were in the steel, a lot of heat had been generated. 

Before organizing, take the time to degrease, wash and clean all of the parts in all of the bins. Don't worry about what is needed and what is not unless you are absolutely sure you won't use them. In this case, I pulled the rod, arms and pistons as they would never be used again. By cleaning everything now, this process will not be brought to a screeching halt every time you pick up a piece to install and find it needs cleaning. Do it now, even before inventory. This is the preparation for finding a successful build later on.

The boxes of parts had pieces that would not be used again in this build and some parts that could never be used again. I needed to separate into 3x boxes.  Scrap, spare parts, need for this build. Using my exploded views, index cards and pen, this is what I came up with:

 

Use the exploded view as your map and inventory control

The card was labeled as "Engine" or "Chassis" for the book that the part is found in. It was given a page number "15" within that book. "8" was the item number, the factory part number and the description.  The "+10, 11, 12..." are the items from this page found in this assembly.  Be anal retentive at this time.  Don't cut too many corners, it will only force yourself to research later.

While you are taking inventory, be on the look out for parts you now you need. This cataloging will help you find parts than may not have been found until installation was required...adding time and stopping progress. Start your list and do the same thing: Engine or Chassis, page, item number, part number, description and quantity. This will allow you to order from a complete list and it will give you an inventory to check off as parts come in.

Finally, as you are taking inventory, make sure you are not only looking at the boxes of part, but look over the bike as well. Start by labeling your wiring harness. I have been tearing the index card in half, putting a hole punch in and zip tying the labeled card to the connector. This will help during assembly but it makes you bike look like a poorly plucked chicken.

Suddenly you motorcycle beings to look a lot like a plucked chicken

While this looks like a cumbersome and pedantic process, the work of preparation is going to make assembly fly.  You will have your bin of new parts. You will have your bin of old but cleaned and labeled parts. If you are so willing, place your new parts and clean old parts into groups or build boxes so you have a box by box build. Tackle 1 or 2 boxes every time you start assembling. The energy you expel prepping will be rewarded by lightening speed assembly because you don't have to stop. 

Hint: Want to really make time during assembly? Take one additional step: place an index card with each part that has torque specs, Loctite needs or any extra information for that step already pulled from the manual. Pull, install, torque or adhere as needed.

Next: What does a rusty Subaru wagon sold for scrap 3 years ago have to do with motorcycle repair?

Maple Syrup and Tractor Dealerships...these are the things my KTM is made of.

Maple Syrup and Tractor Dealerships...these are the things my KTM is made of.

Taking over someones project is fraught with challenges. Taking over someones project that was then moved across town to become someone else's project is just plain stupid. 

"Hi, my name is Stupid and I'll be taking over this project today." I knew the KTM needed motor work and after considering the cost of a factory crate motor, rebuilding from parts or trying my luck on the open market for a used motor, I decided open market.  Ebay and ADVrider.com were the 2x places I started with as well as a quick call out on Facebook.

A plan was needed however. What is the purpose of this project. Learning? Profit? Just for fun so you have 2 bikes that are similar? ABS or non-ABS? What?  Why are you taking on this challenge?

I walked into this project with the thought that this was a way to buy all of the spare parts I'll ever need in a simple, inexpensive way. Inexpensive in the sense of "cost of entry" but expensive in the sense of "storage, what if we have a shop move, $XXXX sitting idle and depreciating with every passing year" I learned this paranoia owning a Cagiva Gran Canyon.  Or, an Italian motorcycle company 10+ years out of business, therefore unsupported OEM parts and learning how to cross reference and source similar part. This kind of learning makes you buy complete spare motorcycles if you let it.  I let it. What I actually has was a perfectly good motorcycle here with some motor issues and a company still in business with a dealership network and spare parts available. Suddenly the idea had been updated. I was in this for education, "FUN" and profit.

With my history of procrastination and indifference, the first thing needed is a date to set motivation.

1. Hit Magic Button - by Sunday, March 30st, 2013.

Why 3 months?  Your goal needs to be realistic and attainable with a little push.  I have a full time job that is not being a mechanic. I needed to source a motor. I needed time to understand where the project is. I need time to order parts... plus beer, movie and pie distractions add to the time line. Priorities must be set...Pie trumps motor work.  The reality is, this takes time as a novice, and I am definitely a novice. The end of March brings true thoughts of spring in Minnesota. Spring brings people to dealerships and Craigslist looking for their new motorcycle for the year. Spring brings promise.

We have a goal, now back to how to attain said goal. I need a motor to reach the goal and I have decided online is my best hope. I have 2x good resources, Ebay or ADVrider. ADV is a waiting game, hoping someone has a motor or a damaged bike I can buy. Ebay is immediate....or at least what the market has at this time. At the time, Ebay searches show 3-4 motors that I deem complete enough. Depending on your interpretations and how many items the Used dealer has removed to further profit a motor can come with some housing missing to hoses and wires still attached.  

I see some motors torn down to every little bit and piece.  100 separate auctions to buy a motor.  That is not the path to righteousness or good humor.  That is a path to hell. Looking over some of the assembled motors they have electrical bits removed to the point of I might as well keep looking. Typically, the scrapper will pull the rotor and other electrical bits out or off of the motor.  I am looking for complete motor.  With electrical bits. I'll forgive the starter motor, but the stator and stator cover, that needs to be in place.  I find 2-3 motors that meet my criteria for completeness.

The best looking, least miles, but highest shipping price was in Canada. Hmmm...I know nothing about importing motors from Canada. I email the seller, after some back and forth, verification that the motor turns, has compression and reasonable ease of shipping a motor across border I went with the Maple Syrup motor from a Tractor and Implement store. On the side, they break down crashed bikes. Makes sense, they have winter as well. Even with the most expensive shipping, it was still the least expensive motor out there by $500-$600 and was the most complete.

With the Ebay motor purchased, 1 week shipping and the rolling chassis on the lift, I had my 2 main components. I had the start of a project with 3x months to build.  The Saturday after Thanksgiving found me in the shop with a few of my shop mates and a motor in a crate. The motor was well crated and unlike KLR motors that get shipped upside down with oil in them, this motor was ready to push into place without a whole lot of fuss. I had 3 able bodies available including myself and an initial thought that I would wait to hang the motor...but with able bodies available I can only recommend to you if you are in the same position, change your plans, hang the motor, use the humans available because motors are heavy and unforgiving.  They also don't bounce. So in the off chance you want to play He-Man and lift the motor in like you see the idiots on OCC do, don't. You're not a young as you think you are, you're potentially as dumb as you look, but lifting a motor into position while trying to push motor mount bolts into place is a foolish risk. Motors hitting the floor crush toes and crack cases. 

"Fellas! Can I get 2 minutes of your time?"

Saturday...

2 shall become 1

Within 30 minutes of screwing around with the crate, figuring out the motor mounts and finding a few miscellaneous tools to aide in supporting the motor and the assistance of my shop mates, the motor was hung in the frame with care...and a bit of swearing.

Ply friends with beer, they will be more helpful and you'll be grateful

Suddenly there was a motorcycle on the lift. Not just a rolling chassis. Not just a pile of parts that looked almost like a motorcycle. There was a bike what will run in spring. 3 months.

The accelerator was down. Time to back off and find our bearings. The fastest path to success is to actually go backwards from here. I needed to get an understanding of what I have, what is missing, what I need and what can be tossed. It is time to create an inventory list. WooHooo!  Blogging about inventory!

Next - We label, clean and package for future use and down right organize the shop! Action. Adventure. Penmanship! 

Gumption Trap #4 – This isn't ending.

Gumption Trap #4 – This isn't ending.

I work in manufacturing. I am mechanical. At least I am mechanical mentally. My education was technical drafting and over the years I have either sketched, drawn, modeled and in some form thought about how things fit together.

As a young draftsman I was asked to ruin an exploded view of a lawnmower that was drawn by a brilliant artist named Pal Fulop. As I write this and after searching for him, I see that he has passed. Pal was a wonderful man with an absolute gift with a mechanical pencil. I wish I would have stolen some of his work from my employer. It was beautiful. As a Drafter, it was my job to update existing drawings and make new drawings. It was something that I enjoyed until the day I was asked to update one of Pal's drawings.

My work was hideous in relation to Pal's. I was a zit on the Mona Lisa. It was a Slash guitar solo within Beethoven's 5^th. It was my job, engineering drawings are not supposed to be artful but this was pretty much the most offensive thing I could do to this piece of artwork.

Pal's is on the Left. What I did on the right...and I was even paid to do this? That's engineering drafting for you.

What does this have to do with the intent of this blog? Well, my mechanical skills have been develop through drawings, email and by voice. If I am not drawing I am coaching, consulting, discussing mechanical things. My mechanics are theory. They are concepts yet to be rendered, cast, stamped or molded. My skills are nothing more than fleeting thoughts leading to the next. But hands on experience, I have very little. I can draw the assembly but put a wrench in my hand and I Baby Huey the head off of any and every bolt. Torque spec to me is tighten until you hear and feel the snap and back off a quarter turn.

So what are my mechanical credentials to be disassembling and reassembling motors. None, zilch, zero, zip. I have no business what so ever doing what I had done. So why am I mad at myself with all of my traps? Why am I so frustrated when I fail? Pride. Ego. Not sure, but I was.

It is funny how we allow ourselves to become so negative when we do a job that we have no business doing in the first place. I forget that these are learning experiences and that is the very reason I chose to try. Instead I allowed myself to be frustrated at not understanding all of the things that a trained mechanic has been taught or experienced over their career. This is the first motor I had fully torn apart and I was expecting that I would know everything and understand some of the subtle issues that can occur once assembled.

The head gasket was leaking, ever so slightly. The sickly sweet smell of antifreeze was bubbling out and slowly cooking dry on my newly assembled motor. “Must be that the gasket hasn't seated yet” I told myself thinking I needed to ride the bike a bit to heat up the motor, expand and set the gasket thus sealing up the subtle wound. Another funny thing, we'll talk ourselves into anything if given enough beer and time. If I were an Eskimo and I was also a refrigerator salesmen, I'd be selling myself a fridge/freezer combo in no time.

After heat and ignorance didn't work, I resorted to miracle in a bottle. I walked through the miracle bottle isle at the local auto parts store and read the bottles of all things stop leak to find the wording that would sucker me the best. I walked out with my miracle fix and raced home to do what should never be done, rely on a bottle of fix a “_________” to resolve yet another mechanical failure.

Let's get into the “Way Back Machine” and analyze this one more time.

Class, what have we learned so far? Mechanical issues are the result of mechanisms not functioning correctly. So we either have a problem in the fit of components or in the function of the components. But what did I do to find this problem? I chose to ignore what my previous traps had taught me and rationalized easy fixes rather than going through the steps to find the problem and fix the mechanism correctly. After my failed attempts at finding a solution, I finally came to the conclusion that someone who knew what they were doing should be rewarded with financial gain to fix my idiocy.

Yet again, www.crosstowncycle.com was asked for help and they came through for me. Simply, my head was warped...as was the head of the engine, and it needed to be machined flat to seat against the gasket correctly. This was a fix suggested by education and experience. Not assumption, false pride and ignorance.

2008 was the year I assumed responsibility of this motorcycle. 2013 was the year it would be completed and ultimately sold. Within that 5 year span I learned many things. “Never again” was the most important lesson. The KLR650 was now fixed. The motor was no longer leaking once professional intervention was sought. There was an interested buyer and they not only bought Barbie with new bearings but they received a few boxes full of spares, extras and all things KLR650 that I had accumulated over the years. I was getting out of the KLR business. I was getting rid of the motorcycle repair business. I even did something that I said I would never do. I sold the repair manual of the KLR650 to ensure I never do this to myself again. I learned that I did not need to become Minnesota's KLR expert.

Suddenly a great weight had been lifted from my shoulders. 410 pounds wet of weight in fact.

I was not a mechanic. I had no business becoming a mechanic and I needed to understand that going forward, I needed to earn enough money in my day job to pay someone else to be my mechanic. A resolute and final understanding of skills had been defined and I was accepting of this new found personal identification. My mechanical skills were defined by 4 specific motions:

1. Remove wallet from pocket.
2. Open wallet.
3. Pull out credit card of choice based on points or airline miles needing to be earned.
4. Swipe card and support mechanics upcoming boat payment.

For the spiritual reading this, you understand the feeling that comes over you when you have given your spirit to the holy being before you. I would now understand the feeling of warmth and peace as the internet instantly pulls my money from my digital wallet and places it in the wallet of my mechanic and I will find peace in this digital flushing sound.

Over the summer I rode a brand new motorcycle. My first. A 2013 KTM 990 Adventure. I was proud of my decision and happy to ride something reliable and modern. I had found peace in the idea that mechanical assemblies produced by trained people were things I should own. They work every day and they work every time I use them. I changed oil, I lubed a chain. I rode it. No real shop time. I was happy.

Earlier this summer I was visiting a friend and we were discussing problems of mechanical assemblies and he walked me past a poor chaps problem. It was my brand new bike but in 2008 skin rather than 2013. It was disassembled and coldly sitting there, sadly in the corner of the shop with no one committing to make it run again. It was sitting in the corner collecting dust as parties discussed cost, who was responsible for its' current state, its' future. It as naked, broken and vulnerable. Family members were discussing organ donation as it lay in a comatose state, no one knowing it could hear every word but could not act on its' fears.

It was also a pile of spare parts for the motorcycle I had just purchased this past summer. All of the parts fit. All of the parts were stock. All of the parts except for the clutch that happened to break and fill the inside of the motor with little bits of metal. Body work, wheels, electrics and frame were all good and if I ever crashed my bike, this could be an inexpensive insurance plan. Hmmm....

“How much to fix it?” I asked.

“Parts plus labor...$XXXX”

“Really? Who much for a crate motor, new from factory, plug and play?”

“$XXXX”

“Really?! Wow.”

Over the next few months I kept seeing it in the corner as we walked through the shop. I kept thinking of a dollar amount and what it meant to have a full bike of spares. I kept searching the internet sites like www.advrider.com for cost of used parts, parting out, a set of wheels, body work, fuel tanks...I kept thinking of a price.

Come the start of our current winter and the dust has become thicker. The bike had not moved. As we walked through the shop to see a new bike that had appeared I found myself saying “I'll give the guy $XXXX for the bike as is. Serious offer. I don't need it but it is worth that to me as spares”.

My friend smirked and gave me a look of “Idiot” or “...and his money are soon parted..” or “huh...didn't he just tell me never again?”. I left the shop and put it out of my mind. My offer was assholian. It was as rude as I allow myself to be and in all honesty, I would not have offered had it been direct. Because it was third party, I had the nerve. I wouldn't have to worry about winning so I put it out of my brain.

As I drove home the Wednesday before the Thanksgiving holiday I see my friend is calling on my cell phone.

“Howdy, how are you?”

“I'm good. You had to open your big mouth, didn't you Breiland?”

“What do you mean? You'll have to be more specific, I open my mouth so often I am not sure which lie or false promise is in question. What are you busting me on?”

“You're the proud owner of a 2008 KTM 990 Adventure.”

“Really? He took the offer? -------- Shit.”

“Yup, he accepted the offer. I realize you didn't really mean it, you don't have to if you don't want to. But he is willing to accept your price.”

“Nope, I offered, I'm surprised. I'll have to scrape the dough together. It is Thanksgiving...let's say Tuesday of next week as the soonest I can get everything together. Guess I have a project this winter?”

“Yup. Alright...see you Tuesday. I'll let the owner know”

I drove a few miles as I thought about what I had just done. I thought about “never again”. I thought about a promise I had made to my DA to discuss large purchases with her a few years ago. I thought about why I needed another bike just like what I had purchased this summer. Did I mentions, I thought about “Never Again.”

“Hi Lisa.”

“Hi, heading home?”

“Yup, do I need to pick anything up?

“Nope, see you soon”

“Ok, by the way, I just bought a 2008 KTM 990 Adventure.”

“What? Why?”

“You know, that one in the back of the shop? I offered $XXXX and the owner accepted it.”

“Why? Why did you do this? What happened to Never Again?”

“Yup, I know. I'll give you a game plan when I get home.”

I had 20-30 minutes of my evening commute to rationalize and to figure out a game plan. Parts...Rebuild...Ebay...Craigslist...ADV...”

Shit.

I was handing $XXXX over in cash on Friday. A few days sooner than Tuesday. I was excited. I had faith in what I have learned in the Dark Days. I was going to win this next round because I had learned it was a mechanical assembly that needs to be reassembled and if done properly, it would run. If done improperly, it would not and I would need to figure it out.

This is what $XXXX can get you. A rolling chassis, 4x red boxes, some miscellaneous bits and a dream. A petroleum jellied lens creating a hazy mental image of frolicking motorcycles in a field of daises.

Idiot with a wrench starts anew. The game plan was to find a donor motor. Individual parts were too expensive. The fragged clutch had grooved and worn the crank and basically totaled the entire interior of the motor. Cases were good, but everything else was bad.

Let me paint this statement with some pictures.

Glittery oil filters - this could be a sign.

Magnetized Oil Drain Plugs - Proof that they are only there to show you you're fooked.

“At $XXXX plus a donor motor I am sure I can make money on this honey.” Her eyes gave me that worn down look. An exasperated glaze of “I could have gotten out of this relationship years ago” was presented but we have beaten each other down to the point of tolerance, complacency and just plain indifference.

Next – Maple Syrup and Tractor Dealerships...these are the things my KTM is made of.

Gumption Traps – I did everything right, how did this end so wrong?

Gumption Traps – I did everything right, how did this end so wrong?

With the taste of success in transplanting the heart of one beast into the chest of my little donkey it was time to move on and challenge my new found skills of motorcycle repair.

I had tackled a few fears.

1. I had ordered an engine online and it arrived with little to no concern. Other than the leaking oil from being shipped upside down, the installation and lack of drama pretty much sealed the deal on how this could be done. I considered this a fall back plan when in doubt. A new motor is just an ebay away.

2. It ran…it ran right away. Heck, I was even able to sell the bike for what it would have cost with the original motor. Granted, that does not say much about the resale value of the bike as a whole but it was nice to have a win in a couple different columns.

With ears open, the rumor that a wounded “Barbie” donkey was sitting in a fellow miscreants garage came through the grape vine.

Photo Credit – www.crosstowncycle.com

A call was made. Plans were hatched. Money was exchanged and the broken Barbie came home with me. I had entered the land of “catastrophic bearing failure”. 

The KLR 650 has a notorious little part called the “doohickey” that the internet blogs have likened it to the sternum of an elderly woman undergoing CPR.  The “doohickey” is part of the idler balancing system and is a stamped piece of sheet metal.  It is just a part until it fails.  When it fails, it becomes tiny particles of metal released within an operating motor and operating motors don't like floating bits of metal falling into places they shouldn't be. It becomes literal wrenches in the works.

(Sketch of the doohickey within gears.)

The Previous Owner (PO) had torn down the motor to its’ doohickey and found that it wasn’t the prime suspect. Suspect, heck, the culprit was a bearing within the counter balance system that not only fragged, but had pushed one of its’ balls (ouch) between the inner and outer race of the bearing assembly and was slowly shaving itself like ham at the deli counter.  The ball cage had fragged and the addition of shaved particles within had over time doomed Barbie Donkey to the life it was currently living, dust collection and propping of things against it. It occupied space, but with little purpose. (Insert Federal Government joke here)

Proudly I wheeled the bike into the back of the pickup, collected the bits and boxes that had been piled along side the carcass and brought home a perfectly simple project.  All I had to do was…

I hit the ground running, sleeves up, head long into the motor. First thing I did was find the exploded views of the motor online at www.bikebandit.com and found all of the slides that pertain to the motor.

Screen grab from Bike Bandit

I printed them out and made a folder that I could refer back to. Basically I made my own reference manual. Knowing that the ball bearing had been shaved down to fines within the oil, all of the bearings and seals were suspect. So I highlighted all of the seals, gaskets and bearings on the exploded view and I brought them to my local motorcycle supply shop. I'll plug www.crosstowncycle.com here. They have helped me over the years in more ways than I care to admit.

The cases were good and all of the associated castings and components would be fine from what I could tell. I laid the motor and its' bits out as I disassembled them and I took a ton of photos. Long live the digital camera. After each removal of part, I snapped a photo. It was something I could fall back on if the exploded view didn't make sense. I printed those photos out as well and added them to my folder. I felt I was keeping good tabs on how to reassemble the motor. I made a mental note to buy a printer for the shop.

(Hint: Look at the shaft in the upper mid right of the photo, those splines should be complete..the smooth diameter near the counter weight was worn away by the counter balance chain)

So things were moving along. I had a fileted motor. I had a list of parts on order. I had driven out all of the bearings. There were manuals, scrap buckets, photos, pieces of paper with important scribbles and circles with arrows and underlining and notes. This was going to happen. This motorcycle will live again!

Enter the “Gumption Trap”. Let's get the definition first. A Gumption Trap is defined as: an event or mindset that can cause a person to lose enthusiasm and become discouraged from starting or continuing a project.

There were 3x stages of Gumption Trap in this project. One, just an all out lose of drive. I didn't make time for the project, I didn't set deadlines, I procrastinated in cleaning parts and pretty soon it was 2-3 years in my shop as boxes of part, piles of new bearings to push in and suddenly the space we were renting was being moved to a different location in the building. Crap, my slightly dust covered real exploded view was needing to be boxed up to move. I considered selling the Barbie as boxes of discombobulated parts to the lowest bidder just to have it out of my sights. After looking over the carnage, I'd most likely have to pay someone to take it.

Notice 2x things in that previous paragraph. I can't tell you exactly how long I had this project at this point. 2-3 years...that is a long time and I lost track of the exact duration. And after 2-3 years, the move wasn't sudden....but if you drag your feet long enough, it becomes “suddenly”.

The most important piece to this trap was that I didn't set deadlines. I had nothing pushing me to accomplish this project. Just some scrap metal and monthly rent bills for the space. Time travels fast. Faster than you think. Set some goals man. Slap a piece of paper on the wall with dates, some sort of attainable sequence that allows you to realize you have been having too much pie and not enough work.

The second Gumption Trap was not understanding the absolute need to clean the used parts you are going to reuse before you start reassembling. Finding this out as you try to assemble the bike becomes an absolute train wreck. You have a goal for this hour of shop night to assemble this much, but you find yourself stopping, cleaning, stopping, cleaning. It is a goal crushing mistake I made and learned from.

The only thing that trumps dirty parts and efficiency is coming to a place in the build where you forgot to order a part and have to wait the week to get it shipped to you, dirty parts that require a quick scrub before installation will crush your progress to the point of exhaustion. So now the loose goal you had set in your head keeps getting pushed out as you wipe down the pump housing, degrease and grime on each nut and bolt, scrape off the old gasket, etc.  You become mired in what was once efficiency and now molasses.

And finally, the last trap I experienced was the frustration of just not knowing. So we got over the first Gumption Trap by just getting fed up and realizing you need to get this project done so you can move on. “Never again!” was called out numerous times. Much to the annoyance and skepticism of my DA. Granted, she had every right and understanding I was full of it, but still...never again. I got over the second Gumption Trap by cleaning the damn parts. I adjusted my goals, I set to work over the course of a few shop nights to just clean. Even down to wire wheeling each screw to be sure all the grim had been removed from the threads. We were making hay by this point.

After these setbacks I had 2x halves of a motor and it was down to marrying them and getting this damn thing back into the frame. This 3^rd Gumption was a hodgepodge of not knowing. First, I didn't dry fit the 2 halves because that would have taken 5-10 minutes and I don't have that kind of time (sarcasm font). Besides, all the bits are in place, the bearings are all new, all of the shafts are spinning and the doohickey has been replaced with a better one. Simply slap some gasket material on the rim and stick right? Wrong.

The same counter balance shaft that was worn down, the same bearing that failed, the same area in the motor after 3 years of my responsibility of this project was about to cause me even more grief. When I was figuring out my list of required parts, the shaft that had wear from the chain was still good in my mind. The components still fit on it, it seemed straight...why replace it. 

The splines are supposed to run the full length of the shaft. The smooth spot is where the counter balance drive chain wore the splines away.  The dark black and blue areas are from heat generated by the friction of the chain.  The guy taking the photo is the idiot that was going to save $40 buy reusing an obviously worn part.  Lessons learned.

Idiot. It was obviously damaged but my brain wanted the finish line, not another online order and waiting for delivery. As I began the torquing of the case half bolts, I noticed the region in question was tight and the shaft was not turning.

“Dammit.” The shaft must be bent and I just didn't realize this. Ok, so I now have something to do as I order my last part (sure...last part). Clean off the rim so I can apply more gasket material once the shaft appears. I wait a week, my shaft arrives, I am ready to do this. I head to the shop, slap the new shaft in, gasket material and press the halves together. Anyone want to guess what I missed there? Did I dry fit? Did I do anything to verify that this would work? Nope. And what happens when you save 2 minutes by not wasting 2 minutes on some foolish dry fit? You get a shaft that won't spin once the bolts have been installed.

Crap. It isn't the shaft. It isn't the bearing. The bearing is brand new. I installed it myself. So I pushed the bearing out again and reset it. I made sure to wipe everything down, clean the seat in the cases...everything. Hell, it is even uniform on either side were some of the bearings have a rim or ridge to create an appropriate offset. I slap the cases back together. Just as tight. Just as nonspinny.

Severe Gumption. It isn't working but I haven't done anything wrong? New parts, everything is right, right?

Obviously not. I step back. I realize I have 3+ years between disassemble and reassemble. This is a mechanism and if a mechanism isn't working, there is a part that is wrong. There is a process that is wrong. There is something wrong and I have cause this. So I remove the bearing and I look back in my parts bin at the bearing I had as a left over thinking I ordered too many of that style bearing. It was the same diameter as my current bearing but slightly thinner. A quick check of my photos that I had so intently taken provided the proof that the bearing installed was in fact not the bearing required. The wrong bearing, once the cases were torqued, was just thick enough to create a bind. The installed bearing had to go.

Gumption Traps are self inflicted.  We as humans with ego tend to direct our failure onto others or things that we believe are causing these failures. This was all mine. I had failed to properly approach the project with the detail necessary. I had failed to provide deadlines to keep the project on track. I had failed to utilize the tools like photos and the pen and paper to keep myself from installing the incorrect bearing. I had failed to take proper inventory and label my parts once I had received them. I had failed to keep a timeline that didn't include a shop space move thus causing my physical exploded view to be boxed up, changed, adjusted, hastily shifted from one space to another. I had failed the simple task of taking 2 minutes in a dry fit and save 2 weeks of an hour here and an hour there, split only by movies, gossip, beer and more self loathing as I pondered why the parts didn't fit... I had just simply failed to take reasonable, rational approaches to disassembly and reassembly. This is a manufactured object that logically went together, and logically will go back together if one were to just simply approach the project with preparation and documentation. Simple..or it could have been.

In retrospect, the Barbie Donkey was teaching me, albeit slowly, about the process of “the project”. It was teaching order. The order in which you start, work and finish. It was teaching patience in moments of frustration.

The motor was now spinning, it was installed. Connections had been made, wires attached, cables adjusted and a fuel tank had been installed. I had torqued bolts to the spec in the manuals. I had places new orings and gaskets in the correct places. There was an assembled motorcycle on the lift and I had made all of the parts that were strewn about my shop occupy a much smaller footprint called an assembled motorcycle. The battery was charged, the fuel was flowing. It was time.

Power, petcock, magic button. Cough, sputter, choke, bang, growl. The Barbie Donkey had fired and it was idling. I let it run for a little bit. I was proud. I was excited to get this project done. Never again. My shop space would be for general maintenance and not for assembling motors. I was not gifted in respect to motors and motor building. This wasn't my talent and I needed to realize this. Move on Gus. You won this round. Move on. As I listened to the motor run and walked around the bike, I was pleased with myself. Happy to see this beast running again. Happy that I was close to having this over.

“What's this weeping seam between the cylinder and head?”...

Next – Gumption Trap #4 – This isn't ending.