buddy system

[Bogdan Swider]

Garageless list lurker Rex H. came by to take advantage of my new edifice yesterday. Rex is the only guy I ride with who would give Verle a run for his money; like many such types, especially when like him they posses much mechanical ability and experience, he has a minimalist approach to maintenance. We lubed his Uni-Trac and installed a new chain/sprockets. Some observations. The swingarm axle was, of course, stuck. It took me swinging a log splitter (heavy, blunt axe) and Rex, trusting soul, holding a socket extension to move the thing. Yeah, it had plenty of rust on it. The triangular connecting piece also wouldn't move out from the bottom rear of the engine, the area we took the axle from. We reckoned the sleeve inside the hole had shifted maybe when we muscled out the axle. Mallet pounding wouldn't do it; finally we got it out with a pry bar. You can see what delicate work this was, kinda like watchmaking. When removing the old chain at least ten broken o-rings hit the floor. Rex doesn't believe in discarding a chain before its time. The fact that the sprockets still looked pretty good told the story. Rex uses chain wax. The main lesson I relearned from all of this was the advantage of using the buddy system. This stuff would have been nigh impossible and for sure dangerous for one guy. Even simply removing and then re-torqueing bolts/nuts in the Uni-Trac was much easier for two. Hasta, Bogdan