An afternoon in the shed.

[Dragonstaff]

Awesome job mate
It looks like an awesome strap

The advantages of having both a little Mig welder AND an industrial sewing machine in the shed.

[Dragonstaff]

I have had an intermittent issue lately where the right hand indicators would light up for no apparent reason, and not affect the operation of the left. The right would just come on and stay on, steady, not flashing.

Hmmm, sounds like a short, but where?

My first thought when looking for a culprit was also my last- the tow bar wiring. I have been moving things around in the tail lately hunting for stop codes on my cruise control computer.

Pull the seat and bags off and have a look, sure enough, the 7-core cable from the plug has come adrift from whatever was holding it to the mudguard and rubbed through on the tyre, hidden from view by the bags. The two worn wires? Right hand blinker and tail-light.

Problem solved.

Now to fix. Pull the rack and tail-light off, and what do I find? Twitched up and then cut off bits of wire (and a ring connector) taped up and abandoned in one spot, and Scotch locks at the lights. I hate those things with a passion, because eventually they will cut the wires and fail.

So I spent the afternoon sitting at the back of the bike with a soldering iron and heat shrink etc., removing them. I have also disconnected and removed the tow bar wiring and plug, and taped the others off such that they won't short on anything. Tomorrow I will get a metre of new 7-core, and a couple of connecting plugs, one 4-pin for the lights and one 2-pin for the power, brake wire, and earth. That way, I will be able to simply un-plug the wiring if I need to. I will cut a big enough hole in the mudguard to let the 4-pin through, and put a grommet in to seal it.

For those who aren't sure, this is a Scotch Lock. Tool of the devil.

[West Aussie Glen]

Totally agree with you about scotch locks. They were used to connect the sidecar wiring on my GL1500 outfit and had almost broken the cable in two.

[Dragonstaff]

Here are the pics,starting with the carnage, and moving on to what I have now. I have no idea where the cable was supposed to be supported, but it managed to rub itself through. I have re-routed it along the tow-bar itself, so it should not happen again. And I will check it whenever I have the right-hand bag off.

I have no pics of my nice soldered and heat-shrink-wrapped connections at the light end, because I forgot to take any before I put it back together.

[Dragonstaff]

Back in the shed yesterday, but only a service this time. All the tupperware off though, so that I could blow all the dust out and clean up a couple of what look like dribbles from old oil spills. I will check them again in a few months to make sure.

All back together and ready to go this afternoon, and a week in the low twenties to start August off with riding weather.

And yes, the towbar cable is still nice and safe and cable tied to the towbar, away from the wheel.

[Dragonstaff]

My contribution to the luggage key mod trend.

A bit of broom stick with a slot in it, and a bit of Araldite, then a quick squirt with the matt black. Times two.

Quick and dirty, and might be upgraded if I find the idea is as practical as it seems.

[Biggles]

By the look of the pannier handle you need to get some Auto Glym Bumper and Trim (or similar) onto it to restore it a bit.

[Dragonstaff]

By the look of the pannier handle you need to get some Auto Glym Bumper and Trim (or similar) onto it to restore it a bit.

On more than just the handles, Bill. Most of the black has gone grey.

[ruSTynutz]

I can recommend Turtle Wax's Hybrid Solutions Graphene Acrylic Trim Restorer...it's not cheap but I reckon a bottle will last for years.
It's a bit expensive from Supercheap but, if you don't mind waiting, you can get it quite a bit cheaper on Amazon with it being shipped from the good ol' US of A.

https://www.supercheapauto.com.au/p/turtle-wax-turtle-wax-hybrid-solutions-graphene-acrylic-trim-restorer-296ml/664170.html

https://www.amazon.com.au/gp/product/B0BL44PMWK/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[Dragonstaff]

I decided the other day to move my Quadlock phone mount from the headstem mount, which is awkward to use because it is down in the middle of the bars and the tank, to a mount I copied from one here or one of the FB pages (I can't remember which, so I can't acknowledge the original, but I can post a picture of it. If the designer would claim it, I would be grateful. I don't like outright stealing ideas.) This uses a Ram mount ball and arm with a Quadlock adapter.

For some reason, the photo of my version without the Ram stuff on it will not load. It seems it 'fails a security check' or something. Odd, as it was taken with the same camera, and saved for the web at the same time, on the same computer. I would expect all to fail, or none, not one out of the bunch.

[Dragonstaff]

 After removing the headstem mount, I had a rather ugly, empty hole. I put a plea for a cover into the 'Wanted to buy' section of the forum, and West Aussie Glen came through. I met up with him today as he passed by on his way home from Mudgee, and collected the most travelled secondhand part in the country, that hasn't met Australia post at least. It went from Perth, to Victor Harbour, to Mudgee, and back to Loxton, in the pie-warmer of a Goldwing.

It has seen more of the place than I have!

It does make the old girl look better, though. He also noticed that one of the plastic inserts in the handlebar bolts was missing in my 'before' pic, and brought one with him for me, as well.

Thank you, Glen. It was a pleasure to meet you.

[Bodø]

I guess this answers my question in that thread.

[ruSTynutz]

Looking much better, Dave! 

Glen also came to my rescue a few years back when I was chasing a pair of the rubber headlight back covers... 

[Dragonstaff]

After a bit of thought, I have bought a Car Play/ Android Auto touchscreen the same as the one Rusty got. I spent a bit of time fitting it up over the last couple of days.

I removed the aluminium bracket that I had made for the Ram Mount my phone was on, and made a new bracket from a bit of angle and an off-cut of 6mm plate. I did use the spacers and bolts from the old bracket. I wanted to be able to have it off when doing a milk run, and on without the bike running at times, so I put a switch (the same as my driving light switch) in the same spot as the one for the lights, but on the left hand side, and ran direct from my fused battery source that runs the USB port and the light relay. Wiring is, of course, in behind the top of the fairing.

All in all, it came out well.

[West Aussie Glen]

Some interesting reading for you Dragonstaff http://ozstoc.com/index.php?topic=7488.msg1296861#msg1296861

[Dragonstaff]

Some interesting reading for you Dragonstaff http://ozstoc.com/index.php?topic=7488.msg1296861#msg1296861

Made one back then Glen, and have since made a hook and strap for in the shed, to get the rod out of the way.

[ruSTynutz]

After a bit of thought, I have bought a Car Play/ Android Auto touchscreen the same as the one Rusty got. I spent a bit of time fitting it up over the last couple of days.

I removed the aluminium bracket that I had made for the Ram Mount my phone was on, and made a new bracket from a bit of angle and an off-cut of 6mm plate. I did use the spacers and bolts from the old bracket. I wanted to be able to have it off when doing a milk run, and on without the bike running at times, so I put a switch (the same as my driving light switch) in the same spot as the one for the lights, but on the left hand side, and ran direct from my fused battery source that runs the USB port and the light relay. Wiring is, of course, in behind the top of the fairing.

All in all, it came out well.

Good job! 
Any issues pairing it to your phone, Dave? 

[Dragonstaff]

Good job! 
Any issues pairing it to your phone, Dave? 

No problems with the phone or the cheap ($79) Aldi headset. All seems to work like it should, but it is early days yet.

[Dragonstaff]

In amongst the contents of the trailer, I have had a camp table of the roll-it-up-and-put-it-in-a-bag variety, consisting of one of those light-weight aluminium frames resembling a mini gazebo, and a top made of aluminium RHS slats on shock cord. It was as rickety as all get out, and the top would move around because the slats were only clipped at each end- the middle was loose.

Over the years the shock cord has lost it's shock and turned into cord, over-length cord to boot.

What to do?

I have made a solid(ish) top out of eight of the twelve slats, two hinges, too many pop rivets, and a piece of three ply. It looks good, and is a lot more stable a table. It folds up into a bag made by the boss, and becomes a back wall to the trailer, keeping the bag with it's frame, and one with a folding chair in it, in place.

[Dragonstaff]

After around 18,000 kms, I am due for a new back tyre. I ordered one last week, so tonight I went out and removed the back wheel. I am changing from a 195/45 Bridgstone to a 205/50 Hankook, which is closer to the correct diameter, but staying Darkside.

I have cleaned up the wheel spline, which looks to be in good condition, checked the brake pads, and changed the diff oil, because I have no idea when it was last done, but I have put 25,000 km on the bike so figured that while it was easily accessible that it was overdue.

Tomorrow I will be connecting up my new Android auto screen.

[ruSTynutz]

Tomorrow I will be connecting up my new Android auto screen.

A new screen...woohoo! I'm looking forward to hearing how this one goes...

[Dragonstaff]

Keep everything crossed Rusty. I decided to work tomorrow, it will be cooler in the shed, so I will keep you posted.

[Dragonstaff]

While getting the back wheel cleaned up for it's new tyre, I removed the spline hub. While cleaning it, I had a bit of bearing cage fall out on the bench.

Uh oh... This isn't good.

Knock the bearings out, and the inner one has a badly damaged seal, and not much cage left. Fortunately, my local engineering supplier (rural area, lots of farm machinery) had half a dozen on the shelf, and only $16.50 each. He tells me that he has sold 18 of these bearings over the last 14 years, and almost all of them end up in the back wheel of a motorbike.

Back home, and half an hour later, everything is as good as new.

[ruSTynutz]

Hmm, it does look a little second hand... 

[Biggles]

Makes you wonder how many of our STs are getting around with rear bearings in similar condition, only not bad enough for a bit to fall out and warn us.

And BTW for those who count things, this is my 14,000th post.