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.