24 Hours ago...

24 Hours ago I discovered that fork seals last about 10 years, and will finally fail when riding on Cincinnati "paved roadways."

I swear, Kansas dirt roads are smoother.

 

Not exactly 24 hrs ago but last week. I de-rusted my sons Honda tank. What a pain, there is not much room for an anode for electrolysis. I don't have a 'before' picture but the inside was pretty solid rust.
Here is during electrolysis.


Some rust inside after rinse out.



After a quick treatment with phosphoric acid.

 

That's a pretty nice result, @Huntchuks !! Any idea why one type of acid would be better than any other? I've used muriatic acid in the past, haven't tried sulfuric.

 

Muriatic acid - works well BUT you Should seal the metal ASAP because the bare metal is now unprotected and can flash-rust upon exposure to even humidity

sulfuric acid - highly aggressive acid and can creat bad fumes as well as damage the metal

Phosphoric acid - dissolved the rust AND converts the metal surface to an iron phosphate costing which protects the metal.

 

Muriatic is weaker hydrochloric acid, I think. It is more apt to eat metal and needs to be neutralized well. Phosphoric acid is mild in comparison and converts rust and can leave a phosphate coating. It will allow flash rusting if not careful. I drain the acid and flush with lots of hose water, then fill with water/baking soda mix to fully neutralize. Drain and blow it out a bit. Add alcohol to help absorb water. After removing the alcohol I went an extra step and used a couple of gallons of evapo-rust in case there might be some leftover rust spots. The evapo-rust drained clean and ready for other projects. Blew it out again and added motor oil to coat all surfaces. Next step is to drain the oil and swish some gas/drain again prior to mounting on bike. Then, some dry gas additive with the first tank fill up. This tank was a nightmare to work with and there was no way to remove all liquid without flash rusting. Hopefully the dry gas will allow the leftover moisture/water to be removed/burned during normal operations.

 

How long do you leave the phosphoric in there, @Huntchuks ?

 

When I did my X tank was the first time I used it. I left it in approx 24 hrs, 1/2 the time the tank was upside down. This time I rotated the tank to different positions like upside down and on each side and left in each position for 10-15 min. Because most rust, or heavy rust was already removed, it was adequate time. I noticed when pouring in how the rust I could see just practically disappeared immediately.
BTW, I used two gallons of acid in my X tank, poured back out into the original containers and left outside for the winter. This time I observed about an inch of semi solid sludge in the containers but the acid above was fairly clean looking. I poured all liquid acid in to the tank and then shook out the solids into a pail and just hosed it out.

 

Operation fork seal replacement was a success. Just in time for 36-48 hours of thunderstorms

 

Well…that fork seal didn’t last long. Ether I messed the new seal up (likely) or my prior repair to the gouges in that fork failed (less likely. Given my current transportation issues (the XJ is it for now) I opted to buy a replacement fork leg, and what a leg I found. She looks brand new and only cost the same as two fork seal kits. I should have bought both legs.


As an aside, when at the gas station and asked about your cool 80’s motorcycle, don’t mention that she’s been a solid ride for the ten years you’ve had her. That’s a sure way to cause the starter to fail right then and there

 

Yep, a friend's DR650 heard him bragging up it's long life and promptly had a catastrophic transmission failure. In Nowhere, Va on the MABDR. And folks says the bikes are not listening....

 

Thankfully it’s just worn starter motor brushes. She’ll be back on the road this afternoon.

Any sort of transmission failure sucks, but to have one that far away from a highway…eek!

 

Sometimes I wish my XJ had a kickstart as a backup.

 

Same. I’ve had to bump start her three times. Not hard to do, but not as convenient as a kicker.

 

I have a hill just hope it doesn't need bump started at the bottom of it .

 

I got the high back rest. -- nope ain't happening.
I'll figure it out.

 

That makes it easier, just grab a handy stranger to give you a push.

I bump started my Seca the first time on a long road-trip. The passenger seat was full of Drybag, and I had the trunk on as well.

 

24 hours ago I was only 1/2 way through replacing the ball joints on my Jeep. The first two took most of a week, due in part to a lower ball joint breaking (not popping out of the socket as usual, but the shaft twisting in two ). Three more hours and she'll be all refreshed and back on the road. Just in time for the Seca to get her oil changed.

 

ok, I'll bite. is it a xj ?

 

I kind of wish. It’s a KJ. Closest I can afford to being a Willys. In size and ability (plus it goes faster).
I think the one thing I’d do-over from my teenage years is save my money to buy the ‘43 that my dad’s friend was storing at our place. One of my friends grabbed it and did a great restoration. Oh well…

 

Clock update.
I finally found time (lol) to get back into this project. No pics yet, but I do have the microcontroller code set up for testing, and will start tomorrow on machining parts for driving the motorcycle chain and sprockets. I hope to have a rough setup done by the weekend.
Odds are that I’ll need to use a different stepper motor, but I have a few on hand that I can steal from my long-languishing telescope upgrade project.