Sunday, January 19, 2014

URAL Tech Day

I hosted a gathering of Uralisti to hold an informal tech day for anyone who wanted to show up.  Seven fellow Uralisti showed and we had a great time, changing tires, balancing carburetors, lubing and greasing splines and u-joints, learning about cool new tire tools, exchanging tech tips, ride stories, and generally having a great time!

My HarborFreight tire changer got quite the workout, with my Mojo Lever emerging as a good tool for the removal of tires from wheels, but it was very much eclipsed by the tool brought by Dan K.  It's quite the tool, makes the mounting of tires very easy and impressively fast.

I only managed one photo the whole day, and that was the group shot below, shot by my loving wife Martha.

 The Star of the Tech Day
All who saw it operate came away impressed.  I believe
I'll be part of the next group buy for this tool.
LINK to product site in Estonia
Photo courtesy of Spat

 From right to left:
Greg P., Dave S. Steve C., Spat, Liz S., Dan K., Tim L., and yours truly

 Showing Dave S. the operation of the Harmonizer Carb Balancer
I bought from Darrell S.
Photo courtesy of Spat

Here's me injecting some grease into the main driveshaft's u-joint.
I also made sure the drive splines were greased and I am happy to
report both the driveshaft and coupler splines were well lubricated.
Photo courtesy of Spat

 Spat and Dan K. work on Dan's tire
Photo courtesy of Tim L.

 A view of Valencia, sans pusher wheel, and final drive on the floor.
Photo courtesy of Tim L.

Dave S. ties down his rig in preparation for trailering it
back to Colorado Springs.
Photo courtesy of Tim L.

A great day of camaraderie, re-connecting with friends, meeting new ones with a little bit of wrenching on the side.  Martha had left us a pot of chili that was completely consumed for lunch.  Spat had brought burritos for breakfast.  Coffee flowed and there were no injuries caused by the wrenching, which is always a plus.

My thanks to my fellow Uralisti for your attendance, good cheer and helpfulness where needed.  

Note:  I discovered before everyone showed up, that I am missing the tool roll that contains my extra set of large wrenches and more to the point, my tire irons.  For the folks I stayed with  during my trip to Alaska, if you see the below, please let me know.


The image above is not the actual tool roll I am missing, but shows you how it looks like.  Thanks.

11 comments:

RichardM said...

I like that tire mounting tool. I've seen a couple of YouTube videos of it being used. Pretty slick. There was a group buy earlier on ADVrider but I missed the deadline.

I was just looking for more wire ties yesterday and had went through that entire side of the garage and didn't see anything unusual.

BMW HACKER said...

Great! Nice to see a gathering of "like minded" souls. Fun to share stories and get caught up.
We're looking forward to hooking up with a couple hundred other "Airheads" at Death Valley in a few weeks.

Erik R said...

I'd like to know more about the nifty tire tool. It looks like you'd lift the handle and that would help push the tire away from the rim so you can slip it over, rather than risk pinching something with an iron...? Or can you use it like a mojo lever and slide it around the rim as you force the tire away and over the lip of the rim? Very cool tool!

redlegsrides said...

BMW Hacker, yep, it was a lot of fun. That Airhead gathering you're going to should be a blast, methinks.

Erik, I've updated the posting to include a link to the site which sells the tool. 99 Euros plus shipping.

redlegsrides said...

whoops, it's 116 euros for 1, plus 17 euros shipping to the USA. Pricey.

Unknown said...

Dom:

looks like a great day with friends, talking and wrenching.

Hope you get your tool roll back

bob
Riding the Wet Coast

redlegsrides said...

Thanks Bobskoot....I doubt it'll turn up. Oh well, it's only tools.

Erik R said...

Thanks for the link. I watched the video of the tool in use. It's a slick little tool!

Spat said...

Thanks to C6 for hosting the event, It was a fun time and good turn out.
Dom had his pusher tire replaced by time that fancy tool showed up, so I think we used tire irons to mount his new rubber on the wheel. I replace 2 tires and the HF wheel stand was great for securing the wheel while doing the RR. Dom had to convience me the Mojo bar tool worked well and made shorter work of the removal process than tire irons and it certainly does. The tire mounting tool was way too cool and impressed everyone. The new shoes on the rig sure felt good riding home. Thanks again Dom and family for hosting a fun day and putting up with us.

redlegsrides said...

HI Spat and thanks for the comments. I enjoyed myself and wouldnt classify it as "putting up with you guys"....everyone learned something new I believe, cool tools were demo'ed (I can provide a harmonizer demo to ya btw since you missed it), and new folks met the regulars....

RichardM said...

If a group buy comes up let me know. It may be a better deal on shipping! I missed the ADVrider group buy.