2006-09-03
A Successful Endeavor
It's amazing what a succesful mechanical endeavor can do for your interests! I haven't worked on anything since the fiasco with Ryan's Jetta other than the "have to" things like brakes. A few weeks ago the clutch cable on my bike snapped. I got it home and just parked it. It sat for weeks. I would have liked to have ridden it but I hadn't replaced the cable. It seemed like a lot of work and a big hassle. Friday, I decided to at least look at what was involved. I pulled out my service manual and the whole ordeal was looked pretty simple.
Murphy seems to love me. I never smoothly get through things of this nature. I'll break something, I'll find a much deeper problem, I won't have the tools. Just complete infuriation. I can't count the number of times that I've had some crappy bolt strip or just break. The cam gear bolts on my Focus were the worst. I ended up having to take one cam to a shop and have a nut welded on to the end of the bolt to hit it with an impact wrench. Just not lucky.
Surprisingly I only broke one thing! The hoses on my 28 year old motorcyle are also mostly 28 years old. They are not supple rubber hoses. They are rock hard immovable objects! While I was pulling the tank I broke the vacuum line going to the petcock. Hose isn't a big deal. I also got a little overzealous with the snap ring pliers on the shift lever and sprung that.
Minor annoying setbacks but since I didn't have a replacement clutch cable I knew I'd still need parts. I found a nice way to route the clutch cable that let me use a stock cable with my drag bars so finding a replacement was looking a lot easier.
Donnell's Honda had the cable in stock and for only $11. The didn't have the snap ring though. The O'reilly by my house had the right sized snap ring and the hose and I was set! I started pulling on the remainder of the hose and the fitting in on the carb came out with it. I don't know what this is called but it looks like it's just jammed in there. It was unfortunately in a really bad spot to get to! It took about a side of an F.Y.P. album, some long needlenose pliers, a screwdriver, a rubber mallet and a bunch of luck but I got it back in there! I cut the new hose, hooked everything back up and rode it!
My clutch no longer kills your hand. I wouldn't have thought that the cable was making the clutch action so horrible. It's like butta!
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