Date: Friday, August 31, 2018
When discussing the trip Don asked me how much time I had alloted for bike prep. I replied that two full days had been set aside. He then expressed concern with the Eldo’s stock brakes given the load that we’d have and told me he had a four leading shoe front brake set up and asked me if I wanted to install it. Don is always full of surprises! Of course my response was “of course!” Don told me that he had the brake shoes relined and it was good to go. He added he had the whole lever set up as well. “What about the right fork leg lower with the brake backer plate boss?”, I questioned. Negatory was the response. I told him not to worry, that I’d find one or modify a standard one. That night I looked in the Front End Parts file drawer to see what I had that a boss could be added to, only to find that I had the required fork leg lower!
THE NEEDED RIGHT FORK LEG READY FOR SHIPMENT TO DON
I think I got to bed at 10:00 last night. Of course at 2:00 am I was wide awake. After all it’s 5:00 am on the East Coast! So I’ve been laying here thinking about the day ahead. Thinking about the best contingency plan for installing the trailer cover snaps since the screws I brought are too short. Trying to plan modifications and additions on a machine 3000 miles away was bound to create some issues. Like finding out there’s a steering damper where I intended to mount the horn. It’s now 6:00 am. We’re meeting Don at 7:30 for breakfast.
After breakfast I plan to hit AutoZone, Tractor Supply and possibly a Wal-Mart for various necessities. After that it’s to the carwash with Bubba to get the road grime off so we don’t get filthy doing today’s tasks.
Breakfast was great, a big feast. So much so that I didn’t eat lunch.
The stop at AutoZone was productive negating the need to stop at Tractor Supply.
At the shop Don informed me that there was a wash station on the premises if I didn’t need high pressure water. I decided to give it a go. $4.00 for 5 minutes of water wasn’t great and when I closed the tap to conserve water the machine shut off! In spite of that I got a good deal of the grime off.
THE GRUNGE
I neglected to take after wash pictures, but the bike was significantly cleaner when I was done.
Back at the shop the installation of the 4 leading shoe front brake began.
THE FINISHED PRODUCT
The job went exceptionally well. The biggest time drain was the installation of the cables. It took a number of attempts to get the routing right and adjusters set up correctly.
The bike was then spun 180 degrees and the rear wheel removed to check the drive splines. They looked really good so I cleaned them and applied a fresh coat of spline grease.
FRESHLY LUBED DRIVE SPLINES
With the rear wheel reinstalled my attention was directed to installing a charging socket. Since I needed an inline fuse Don suggested I take Bubba to the store and check out the brakes. They worked well!
When I returned I decided to wire in the horn. Trying to find the horn wire proved futile so I disassembled the light switch to determine the wire color. Eventually I discovered that three of the wires exiting the switch had been cut off and taped over. The horn wire was one of them! It wasn’t the correct switch so I pulled its wires out of the headlight bucket and tossed the mess on the floor.
I was prepared to rewire the headlight and brought a stock switch and headlight switch isolation relay assembly from home. Yesterday I had decided against getting into the wiring and instead focus on other issues. Given the mess that I found, the plunge was taken. For some reason people love to make a mess of the wiring on these old bikes. 😞
CLEANING UP THE RATS NEST – OUR LOANER TRUCK IN THE BACKGROUND
By the end of the day the stock switch was installed and working. It wasn’t without trials. Like the horn power coming off the turn signal flasher that made the horn beep in short blasts! That one was a real head scratcher. By 7 pm I was getting pretty punchy, but I got the head light, tail light, brake light and horn functioning properly.
Tomorrow the turn signal mess needs to be sorted out then the trailer.
In spite of some duplicated efforts today it was very productive. The four leading shoe brake installation was a major win.
Hopefully I’ll get more than four hours of sleep tonight.
Adventures With Bubba 