Fri 15 Aug 2008
Gene shows me where to put the doohickey
I have a LOT to learn about motorcycle maintenance. Before I leave I need to know as much as possible about preventative maintenance, known weaknesses of my bike and what kind of spare parts I should have – and I’m starting from zero. Up until now I’ve been consulting friends, the internet and books, and usually my projects take two or three tries to get right. Thankfuly that wasn’t the case this past weekend.
On Saturday a group of people from a website called KLRworld got together in Hendersonville for a tech day. David, the host, had access to a commercial garage and about ten of us with the same bike rolled out the tool kits for a group wrenching session. With their help I was able to get more done in a day than I could have in a three-day weekend on my own. With Gene as adviser and Mike as go-fer I was able to replace a little part called the Doohickey (it’s really called that) located in the guts of the motor and check and nearly adjust the shims.
For you non-mechanical types shims look like big nickels and help adjust the air coming and going from the pistons. I wasn’t able to change them out because we were racing the the clock and I got tripped. Once we got the top of the motor opened and checked the clearance between the cams and the shims, we decided they needed replacing. Dal Kawa Motorcycles was across the street from the garage and they had what I needed – but they close at 1 on Saturdays. (because really, what guy wants to work on or shop for a motorcycle on a Saturday afternoon?) It was 5 till 1 and I ran over to the shop barley making it under the wire. I picked up 4 of these little metal discs at nearly $10 each and strolled back to the garage. Gene showed me where to drop them in, but I just couldn’t get ‘em to seat down in their place. As it turns out the shop sold me the wrong size. We had no choice but to close the motor back up and save the project for another day. A least now I’ve done it once and will be more comfortable doing it on my own.
Between having a personal mechanical consultant and all the folks stopping by my work area with comments and suggestions, I soaked up a ton of information. And no way I could have done the doo and shims in a day without all the help from the KLRworld crew.
Thanks everyone!!