Chores, Learning Correct Ways with Connectors and Small Repairs

Amidst rather nice weather, I've been catching up on household chores.  

I also realized finally and youtube'd some lessons on the correct way to use butt and crimp connectors for low voltage wires.  I'd been doing it with the wrong tools and methodology you see; now I have new wire crimpers which should lead to better repairs in the future.

Changed the oil on both the Onan 4KW generator on the VRRV and also the Predator 2K Generator.  I've lost track of the hours on the Predator so I just change its oil when I do the Onan generator, which is at least every 50 hours of operation.

Changed the engine oil and filter on the VRRV, she's now over 119K miles.  I bought her with 22,240 miles on the odometer back in 2016.  That works out to an average of about 12,095 per year.

Received a replacement for the Chicology Blinds that broke in the VRRV.  Gotta like a company that stands behind their product!  It's installed and hopefully will last a while.

Paused briefly to shoot a pic of my neighbor's tree as it steadily begins to lose its leaves:

The trees in the neighborhood are also in the final stages of Fall Colors but not finding the motivation to go get those pics.  It's not the same with houses in the background.

Fixed the Aluma trailer's wire connection to the VRRV, again.  Though I'd done a good enough job last time but a bare wire on the right rear light had grounded and caused lots of current to flow and generated enough heat to burn things up!

Scarlett, my 2014 Ural Patrol Sidecar Rig's front brakes had felt "mushy" when I last rode her.  Today I checked the pads (close but still good) and then discovered a failed speed-bleeder valve.  The rubber cap had come off a while ago it seems, dirt got into the opening and air got in.

Luckily I had a spare in stock, installed it, bled the brakes and all good now.

Normally, you'd see a small ball bearing sealing

the opening above

I keep rotating through the motorcycles as I run chores and such, no riding for pleasure since I got back from camping.  Mostly though, working on regaining trust in Yagi, my recently repaired TW200.

A neighborhood friend, Chip C., who's a pretty good handyman/mechanic has agreed to swap the wiring harness on the stators so that I have a good "spare" for Yagi.  My soldering skills remain crappy but I bought a "helping hands" tool based on Chip's suggestion for the next time I try soldering wires:

It's been a series of nice and warm afternoons with cool mornings in the 40s-50s.  Snow is rumored for the latter half of this coming week, we shall see.

Tool Review: Inductive Reading Tachometer

Recent work on Thing Two's pickup truck led me to wonder if the idle was set too high on the engine.  The truck didn't come with a tachometer however.

My mind then thought to get a tachometer that wasn't tied to a specific vehicle so I can use it to determine RPMs on any gasoline/two stroke or four stroke vehicle.

A little googling and I figured I'd try this one:

Link to product on Amazon

It's made in China by an outfit called Bohisen and cost me $15.43.

I thought it would work like a similar tachometer I'd used on my motorcycles previously.  You coil the far end of the wire onto one of the spark plug wires and when the engine is on, it tells you the RPMs.  Simple.

Well, this one is "mo better".

It takes inductive reading a step further and comes set from the factory to read four stroke engines and I imagine car engines.

The first step I used Yagi, my TW200 as test subject as Thing Two has retried the pickup truck for use.  I clamped it onto the spark plug wire and it worked.  Easy Peasy.

The instructions also say you can just hold the meter close to the spark plug wire and get a reading!  Yep.  No need for the clamp or wire if you don't want to use it. 

Not a bad tool for when working with a gas engine vehicle with no tachometer.

Update: Thing Two came home this morning so I was able to use the tachometer tool on the truck with the engine still warm.  The idle must have been in the 2000 range before the accident!  It was reading 1680 rpm when I first checked it.  

I lowered it to 1420 rpm and it sounded a bit better.  Sadly, at "full seat" on the idle screw, its still in the 1200 rpm range.  Oh well, something to research for another day.  

Update:  turns out I had the tachometer in the motorcycle mode versus the car mode, hence the high RPM reading. Once I put it into the right mode it's now idling nicely at 1000 RPM. I believe the manual says between 950 and 1000 so I think we're good for now.

Changing my preconceptions of Preload Settings

Preload:  Preemptively adding a load, in this case compressing the spring  on a Ural's shock absorber to "stiffen" or "harden" the ride.

Background:  When I first got Scarlett, my 2014 Patrol, she wallowed like a old Cadillac and didn't feel safe to ride her home from the dealer.  I stopped shortly after leaving Fort Collins and using the pin wrench in the assigned tool kit, turned the preload to the full position.

The "new to me" Scarlett rode much better with stiffer settings!  And so, I would forget about it and always set the preloads on all my Ural rigs to the max setting, not wanting to "wallow".

Present:

I'd been messing about with the shock absorbers on both my rigs, the 2014 with the German Sachs Shock Absorbers and the 1999 rig with the old style shocks made by Ural (I think).

Most if not all had displayed signs of seal failure and oil leakage, and the Sachs shocks showed the springs compressed more than normal while just parked.

 Scarlett's rear shock absorbers, from a rig that was parted out,

showing what I think is "good" spring separation distance.

Scarlett's front Sachs shock absorbers, showing the

narrower spring separation gap of what I believe are

failed or worn shock absorbers.

In the last few weeks, I've replaced all the seals on the "rebuildable" shock absorbers for Fiona, the '99 Patrol.  Of course, you know, the two front shock absorber pistons on her broke during the last camping trip.  So now, Fiona is sporting the "used" and believed failed Sachs shock absorbers from Scarlet's pusher wheel position.

 Scarlett's rear shock absorbers, now used on Fiona's

front wheel's suspension.

Old style shock absorbers with new seals on

Fiona's pusher wheel's suspension.

Note the spring separation gap is wider.

I've got two supposedly new shocks, old style, coming from Belarus....they'll get put on Scarlett's front wheel and I'll see how they work out:

image source: ebay

Today:

I set the preload on all the shocks but the sidecar shock on Fiona to lowest setting.  A test ride revealed NO wallowing behavior and a more comfortable ride.  Hmmmm.

Then, I thought I'd do the same for Scarlett's shocks and a test ride revealed only a slight wallowing behavior.  Upon returning home, I adjusted the preload to the first position and will test that for the next few rides.

Amidst all these changes, I realized that one the combo pin wrench in the tool kit isn't suitable for the sidecar shock absorber.  No room to turn the wrench you see.  Previously, it had led to frustration and even removal of the shock absorber in order to change the dang preload settings!

In the picture above, the rightmost pin wrench or spanner is the combo wrench I thought was meant for all the shock absorbers.  I was, as usual, wrong.

The left most wrench is the one that came with the 2014 rig's toolkit.

The center wrench is the one that came with the 1999 rig's toolkit.

Why the difference?  The center one is also used to loosen/tighten the center piston's cap within the shock absorber's body.  The Sachs shocks not being rebuildable, no provision is made for their being taken apart.

Turns out, the center or leftmost wrench is the only one suitable to adjust the sidecar's shock absorber's preload within the tight confines involved!  I was trying to do it all with the rightmost combination wrench and failing miserably when it came to the sidecar's shock absorber!  Doh!

Going forward:

The day's of my Ural rigs being used to attack rough mountain trails and passes are over.  It's forest roads only when not on pavement I think.  Yagi, my 2006 TW200 Dualsport will get me to the top of mountain passes and down the rough stuff.

Depending on how the "new" shock absorbers do on Scarlett, I might get a similar pair for Fiona.

Also exploring finding shock absorbers of similar specifications on Aliexpress, perhaps finding a cheaper alternative for future use.

I might even explore the use of "heavier" or "stiffer" springs, but some research needed on that.

Self-Recovery Box

A recent question from CCjon reminded me of a previous posting about training to recover one's rig from a position it cannot remove itself from, by itself.  Link to post: LINK

In other words, it's stuck, can't power out, and you're by yourself.

The Maasdam Rope Puller mentioned in the post is a bit awkward to store/carry.  So I'd resorted, shortly after buying it, to disassembling it slightly so it'd fit onto the storage box under my sidecar.

After a while, I decided to carry it instead in a box I'd found at Home Depot, along with other associated gear needed to pull a vehicle out of a predicament.

I got it out, both to show you the contents and to do a practice re-assembly of the rope puller.

 Disassembled Maasdam Rope Puller along with contents of

self-recovery box.

 I keep the "manual" that came with the rope puller as a reference

on how to put the puller tool back together.

 The bolt used to secure the two parts together.

Remove for reassembly.

 Make sure the tube that centers the retainer wheel is positioned

so that it's flush with the bracket on both ends.

Using the picture as guide, place items together, add the bracket, slide the bolt through all components and voila, you have a rope puller ready to use:

You reference the manual on how to thread the rope through the puller mechanism and with a bit of luck, pull your rig out of its "predicament" with minimal effort.

New Floor Jack

My old but trusty Maasdam Pow'rLift 3 Ton floor jack gave up the ghost yesterday, right after I had finished using it to raise Scarlett, my 2014 Ural Patrol, onto the car ramps.  I've had this jack for so long, I can't remember when I bought it!

I figured the jack was low on fluid as it had been taking a lot more up/down strokes than usual to raise vehicles lately.  Also figured there was a blown o-ring or seal somewhere in the system as there was little to no resistance when pumping the handle anymore.  Sigh.

I put some motor oil into the system (since I figured the jack was toast) and got enough pressure to lower the rig back onto the ground safely after doing the work I needed to do on Scarlett.

The Maasdam jack did fine, still took a lot of pumps to get things done though.  Time for another jack it seemed.

Today I went by Harbor Freight during lunch and picked up another 3 Ton Jack, a beefier one for $6 more than the replacement cost of a Maasdam floor jack.  Why?  Because it was local and it was low profile so I can use in on #2 son's car, an Acura Integra which sits pretty low to the ground.

I rode Fiona to Harbor Freight, to rack up a few more "break in" miles for the gearbox.  I did draw some stares from the other customers there, pushing along a cart with the new jack in its shipping box, in riding gear and a helmet in the shopping cart.  :)

The new floor jack is a Pittsburgh Automotive 3 Ton Hydraulic Floor Jack: LINK

For $99 and the low profile gain, it seemed the best choice for me.  The box weighed over 76 lbs so it was a slight struggle for me to load it into Fiona's sidecar but I managed.  I'm experiencing a rather painful episode of plantar faciitis on my left heel, which causes me to limp when walking.

 The new floor jack, after I used it to easily put Fiona onto the 

car ramps, just as a test of the jack.

The Maasdam Pow'rLift that's retired now.  I think it's usable but 

since I've got the new one....I'll keep it as a last resort item.

Some notes:

The new floor jack is HEAVY.  Max lifting height is 19.75", 1.25" less than the Maasdam Jack but enough for what I need it to do.  I supposed I can get some lifting blocks to add a couple of inches, or use suitable blocks of wood in a pinch.

There's  a metal spring, under tension, holding down the portion of the jack that the pump handle inserts into.  Be very careful removing the spring, the handle portion will snap up to a vertical position once you remove the spring, and it hurts if it hits your wrist.  DAMHIK.

Otherwise, assembly is pretty straightforward, assemble the pump handle, remove shipping spring, insert assembled handle into socket after loosening set screw and re-tightened set screw.  Done!

The whole thing maneuvers around the garage pretty easily and the handle moves to the vertical position for storage.  You turn the handle to loosen'/tighten the mechanism which locks/unlocks the pump for lifting operations, easy and rather a nice feature.  Before, I had to remove the handle from the Maasdam, tighten/loosen a set screw with the handle and then replace the handle for pumping action.