18. Shocked

As mentioned in the last post work has not ceased, it did slow down, and I find myself quite a bit behind in updates versus work that has actually been done.

I should have been shocked, but I wasn't. The state in which I found the shock, linkage and swing arm was appalling. When I pulled the pivot bolt rust and a few needle bearings fell to the floor.

One side benefit from working on such equipment is that your hands do not become oil and grease soaked. A quick and simple rinse with hot water and soap cleans the hands right up, no need for brushes and repeated scrubbing. One disadvantage is trying to remove all the frozen bearing parts and related bits. A few grunts and some grumbling later the swing arm was off.

Off.













See what I mean, rust.
This is just the way it came out of the bike.













One thing that astonishes me is the lack of lube where it is needed, and the overuse where it is not. Take the following for example, sure some did make it to the bearings, a paste thickened with sand. But why an all encompassing mass is needed around the stem bolt is beyond me.

This was fun to clean.


















The same story holds true for the swing arm, I was unable to find any lube internally, it seems lubrication was for the external bits only.

DIRT bike.-------->


















My hands looked like prunes after all the cleaning.













Just think of all the new bearings I will have when finished.













I do this for fun, and it is.













I may have spoke too soon earlier, my hands got plenty dirty fiddlin' with this stuff. I did need more than soap and water.

Ah, nothing shocks me on this project anymore.

See how things look when cleaned, refurbished and painted in the next installment.

17. Were was I? How's the Project?

Well, well, well.....it has been so long since I have written any tidbits of info in the bloggisphere. I must provide an update and say thanks as some donations have rolled in. Let's get to it.

I want to keep this blog about the bike, not about my personal life, all I will go into here is that I am working on an Associates degree. Funny how the posts ceased at about the same time I entered the program. That is not to say I also ceased working on the KXProject, the pace did slow to a crawl, yet some things did get done. Sandblasting took place, dirty hands, and an accursed set of swing arm bearings had to be dealt with. Cleaning, priming and painting of a few items took place as well. All of these edge of your seat stories will be posted here in short order. I do NOT get the summer off, but I do have fewer hours of classes, so hoping to ramp up the project proportionately.

I was also reintroduced to my long lost love. Wow, is she hot, even after all those long years apart, ten years since our last meeting. I even got dressed up for the occasion, and I must say I felt a bit awkward the first 30 minutes or so, stumbling and fumbling so as not to look the fool. After an hour or so though, I was wearing a huge dumb grin across my face, remembering how beautiful it all used to be, and was sure to be again.

After that first weekend together again, in April, we met two more times, but alas, I think we will be apart for a few months, at least until autumn at the earliest. Oh, well, a few months is not to long after nothing for a decade. I just wanna say "thanks for showing up again". Snowboarding, I'm back. Just don't break any of my bones.

Yes, snowboarding and the siren song of the mountains have pulled me back into their clutches, but I think I can put up with that.

That is plenty of information about non KX stuff, you don't need any more.

Onto donations, I have been finding out that the little button in the upper right hand side corner works. I must say thank you for the donations, and yes a little goes a long way on this project. Thanks again.

I will start to post project reports again, so after a bit of a hiatus, I'm back.