The first skiing day of the season today. Very quiet. Bareges was shut due to a problem with the Tournaboup lift, so they shut the entire area. Thanks for that.
then
9/12/13
12/12
10/1 looking bare
17/1 not bad 5-10cm 2 days ago
28/1? ok chains
4/2 quite a lot of fresh lienz drag open. plus black chair
Tuesday, 3 December 2013
Friday, 8 November 2013
Post box bell
Now the letter box has been moved, we can no longer see if the postie leaves us any bills.
Whilst I encourage SHMBO to regularly visit the box, there has been a little bit of resistance; a return trip is nearly 160m.
So a bell was installed which triggers when post is delivered; luckily there were a few spare cores in a cable used to monitor the electricity consumption, which were in a box just adjacent.
Whilst I encourage SHMBO to regularly visit the box, there has been a little bit of resistance; a return trip is nearly 160m.
So a bell was installed which triggers when post is delivered; luckily there were a few spare cores in a cable used to monitor the electricity consumption, which were in a box just adjacent.
Sunday, 3 November 2013
Doinnnggggg - Yamaha Fazer Rear Shock removal
Finally got around to fitting the Hyperpro 1101X lowering spring to the bike.
Problem was the old shock had other ideas. The sleeve that holds the bottom mount point in is a loose, greased fit. However, after 8 years of being fitted, the grease allows small amounts of water in; this water causes stiction. About 10mm protrudes, but no enough to get mole grips on. After reading several posts there are 2 options
1. Heat the assembly to around 200C which frees it up. It also wrecks the oil seals and needle bearing, so these need buying and replacing
2. file flats onto the sleeve. This sounds easy, but access is rubbish, and the steel is hardened.
I opted for the 2nd choice. The night before I started I sprayed everything in WD40. The following day it wouldnt budge, so I carefully heated the sleeve with a pencil blow torch. Mole grips moved it a tad, but that was it. I filed 1 flat on the top with a Abrafile (normal files are no good) and then enlarged it with a small grinding disc. Access is really bad and you can see areas where I've taken paint off. This was repeated on the front face and the bottom. The bottom was poor, but enough to get the grips on and turn. More WD40. When the sleeve was turned to the front, where access is excellent, a good flat was ground on, then the sleeve turned 90 degrees and repeat. Once 4 good flats are on, it's easy to get the grips on and keep turning and sliding to the right. Eventually it slides right out.
The secret is the flats. You can't push the sleeve out as the sleeve doesn't go all the way through. Once you have flats you can get the grips on and turn. Polished and greased it just slipped back into the shock.
There are a few bike forums that gave me the ideas to try, so a big thank you to those that posted.
Once out I carefully improved the flats in a vice, they now fit a 15mm open spanner.
Oil seals - you can read the part numbers
Reference measurements
Using a Draper car spring puller and some 8mm rebar to compress the spring. Cardboard on the arms to stop scratching the particularly attractive purple.
Problem was the old shock had other ideas. The sleeve that holds the bottom mount point in is a loose, greased fit. However, after 8 years of being fitted, the grease allows small amounts of water in; this water causes stiction. About 10mm protrudes, but no enough to get mole grips on. After reading several posts there are 2 options
1. Heat the assembly to around 200C which frees it up. It also wrecks the oil seals and needle bearing, so these need buying and replacing
2. file flats onto the sleeve. This sounds easy, but access is rubbish, and the steel is hardened.
I opted for the 2nd choice. The night before I started I sprayed everything in WD40. The following day it wouldnt budge, so I carefully heated the sleeve with a pencil blow torch. Mole grips moved it a tad, but that was it. I filed 1 flat on the top with a Abrafile (normal files are no good) and then enlarged it with a small grinding disc. Access is really bad and you can see areas where I've taken paint off. This was repeated on the front face and the bottom. The bottom was poor, but enough to get the grips on and turn. More WD40. When the sleeve was turned to the front, where access is excellent, a good flat was ground on, then the sleeve turned 90 degrees and repeat. Once 4 good flats are on, it's easy to get the grips on and keep turning and sliding to the right. Eventually it slides right out.
The secret is the flats. You can't push the sleeve out as the sleeve doesn't go all the way through. Once you have flats you can get the grips on and turn. Polished and greased it just slipped back into the shock.
There are a few bike forums that gave me the ideas to try, so a big thank you to those that posted.
Friday, 1 November 2013
Fire!
Despite sunny days, the house cools down overnight and only gets up to around 18 during the day. Time to light the fire.
Monday, 28 October 2013
Chimney sweep
Swept the main part of the chimney today. Needed 4 rods an allen key and a bit of silicon
Saturday, 19 October 2013
web cam
Installed the web cam today. Viewing inside the router firewall is easy. It's taken several attempts to get the viewing on the net and was only possible with a friends help.
Got a nice view of the garden, drive, mountains and a drain pipe.
This is not live. Email me for the camera address.
Got a nice view of the garden, drive, mountains and a drain pipe.
This is not live. Email me for the camera address.
Monday, 7 October 2013
DIY Wheel alignment
There are many ways to align your wheel and the normal method involves 30 minutes and a few quid. Not in France. €40 for a check and another €30 to adjust. And that's just a basic 2 wheel check. A 4 wheel check is well over the ton.
There are a few DIY tools in the market; Gunsons have done a simple gauge for years, and there is a new one using mirrors and a laser. Both are around £60/70.
For simplicity, if your cars wheelbase is the same front to back, you can set a line the same distance out from the wheel centres front/back and measuring the distance string to tyre and adjusting it until you get the desired difference.
I've used another method as the Xsara wheelbase is different front/back. You measure the distance from the same point on the front tyres left to right, from the rear and front of the front tyres. This method assumes the rims aren't bent and the tyres are pretty identical and that your wheels are equally at fault. I was pretty sure the tracking was out on the car as the outer edges were wearing and there was a bit of steering wheel wobble. This is toe-in or positive toe (http://www.etyres.co.uk/glossary-tyre-terms?term=toe-inout) I measured the 2 distances and found 151.5mm towards the rear and 149.5 towards the front, confirming the toe-in. I'd squirted wd40 on the adjustment nuts a few weeks back and they came straight off. 20mm AF on the nut, 18mm (odd size) on the rack arms. I finally found out the toe figures which are 0mm. I started with 1/4 turn each side and this swapped the measurements over! 1/8 turn back got the numbers to 151mm.
I've been studying the original / classic Dunlop system and will probably try to make a modern version with a web cam and/or a laser.
There are a few DIY tools in the market; Gunsons have done a simple gauge for years, and there is a new one using mirrors and a laser. Both are around £60/70.
For simplicity, if your cars wheelbase is the same front to back, you can set a line the same distance out from the wheel centres front/back and measuring the distance string to tyre and adjusting it until you get the desired difference.
I've used another method as the Xsara wheelbase is different front/back. You measure the distance from the same point on the front tyres left to right, from the rear and front of the front tyres. This method assumes the rims aren't bent and the tyres are pretty identical and that your wheels are equally at fault. I was pretty sure the tracking was out on the car as the outer edges were wearing and there was a bit of steering wheel wobble. This is toe-in or positive toe (http://www.etyres.co.uk/glossary-tyre-terms?term=toe-inout) I measured the 2 distances and found 151.5mm towards the rear and 149.5 towards the front, confirming the toe-in. I'd squirted wd40 on the adjustment nuts a few weeks back and they came straight off. 20mm AF on the nut, 18mm (odd size) on the rack arms. I finally found out the toe figures which are 0mm. I started with 1/4 turn each side and this swapped the measurements over! 1/8 turn back got the numbers to 151mm.
I've been studying the original / classic Dunlop system and will probably try to make a modern version with a web cam and/or a laser.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)