what did you wrench on today??

[scratch]

When you work at a shop, you learn fast to make sure's going the right direction. I've done it a couple of times when I first started doing this for a living. I even had one all the way on the bike before I caught it. I was tightening the brake caliper bolts and had that, DOH! moment when I noticed the arrow pointing the wrong direction. Funny thing is it wasn't a week later I had a customer come back pizzed off saying I put his front tire on backwards. My boss said the guy was coming back in and I told him I guarantee it was on right. The guy came in and I looked at it and pointed to the arrow pointing forwards and he points to the tire tread saying it isn't right. How can you argue that. I didn't make the tire. I didn't design the tread pattern.

This is an interesting window into the life of a professional tech... From a distance, it's compelling because you seem so engauged in the work that it sort of pulls me in when I read about it.

[cowboyup3371]

Just curious Cowboy, what tires did you go with? Iron Pony pretty reasonable on mounting and balancing? I like the fact that they Spin Balance the wheels.

I stayed with the Bridgestone Battlax BT023s that the previous owner used walking out of there $350 lighter in the wallet for the tires themselves. I also purchased the road hazard warranty since I'll be going on that trip to Omaha next weekend.

I have been going to Iron Pony for all of my changes since I had issues with a shop here in Dayton. They are fairly reasonable if you take your wheels in to them (~$25 per wheel plus the normal disposal and EPA fees) but obviously charge a ton more if you take the bike in (I heard roughly $180).

[bwringer]

No wrenching, but some preparation. I'm trying to get the window motors to work on a '96 Astro. The new motor didn't work in the van, so I want to test externally. I need to stick wires in connectors, attach to a battery, and use a fuse. So I went to find a fuse holder. Radio Shack used to be the easy source for such thing. In Lafayette, IN, there was a nice small store for radio/electronics/alarms/computer parts. In Albuquerque, there seemed to be no stores for such things. In Cedar Rapids, Iowa, I went to Iowa Radio Supply, which used to be big and carried almost everything. Now it is tiny, and carries very little. I was able to find what I need for this task.

So it now appears that internet purchases are about all that is available for such items. Sad.

There's a huge electronics, wiring, and components place here in Indy not far from my house called MAI Prime Parts. Very, very cool place that does a lot of business with motorsports and car and motorcycle customizers. Always great advice, too -- once I went in and simply said "I want to be able to make motorcycle battery cables", and walked out shortly afterwards with the wire, terminals, crimpers, and heat shrink needed, all at quite reasonable prices. I don't think I've managed to stump them yet.

One of MAI's specialties, and their big money-maker, is parts and supplies for "vintage" industrial electronics dating back to the vacuum tube era. There are a LOT of factories and plants out there running with 25+ year old PLCs and even much older stuff where the manufacturer vanished long ago. It's a neat trip down memory lane for me, too -- my Dad specialized in troubleshooting obscure, ancient industrial control systems like this, so it's cool to see some of the stuff he was always talking about. Quite often, the engineers who designed and built these systems were long gone, and Dad was the only graybeard who could figure them out and get them running again.

We also have some other very cool suppliers around Indy -- Earl's Performance Plumbing down in Speedway has all sorts of useful motorsports supplies and tools (like stuff to make brake lines, high-quality Ty-Raps, tools, etc.), and of course many of us have ordered motorcyle goodies from Cycle Recycle II downtown; they're even cooler when you can go visit and marvel at all the used bits and pieces, and maybe find something you needed.

...Funny thing is it wasn't a week later I had a customer come back pizzed off saying I put his front tire on backwards. My boss said the guy was coming back in and I told him I guarantee it was on right. The guy came in and I looked at it and pointed to the arrow pointing forwards and he points to the tire tread saying it isn't right. How can you argue that. I didn't make the tire. I didn't design the tread pattern.

This sort of willful stubbornness drives me batty. Newbies on various moto forums often get all upset because the front tire doesn't "look right" to them; they insist that the tread pattern chevrons or arrows on top of the tire need to point forward or something. Listen, dingbat, you don't ride on your eyeballs, you ride on the road. The bit that contacts the road is what's important, not the bit at the top of the tire that emerges from the fender...

[gsrick]

This is an interesting window into the life of a professional tech... From a distance, it's compelling because you seem so engauged in the work that it sort of pulls me in when I read about it.

I never consider myself a tech. I prefer mechanic. I like fixing things. It give me pleasure to have a customer happy that their bike is working again. I got into this line of work a few years ago as a second career, because I enjoyed bringing the bikes I'd buy, back to life. I'll leave the tech term to the performance guys that use computers and dynos to squeeze the most they can get out of what is presented to them. Me, I'm just a monkey with a bunch of different wrenches.

The shop just bought a program BUDS for working on Can AM's specifically the Spyders, because most of the modern bikes have gone to CAN BUS systems and require interaction with the brain along with wrenching. Everything is tied to it via sensors and I'm not really a computer guy(tech), so I'm not excited about having to use it. If possible I'll leave that to the kids. I'd prefer diaging the issue and let them tap the keyboard.

[Buffalo Bill]

When you work at a shop, you learn fast to make sure's going the right direction. I've done it a couple of times when I first started doing this for a living. I even had one all the way on the bike before I caught it. I was tightening the brake caliper bolts and had that, DOH! moment when I noticed the arrow pointing the wrong direction. Funny thing is it wasn't a week later I had a customer come back pizzed off saying I put his front tire on backwards. My boss said the guy was coming back in and I told him I guarantee it was on right. The guy came in and I looked at it and pointed to the arrow pointing forwards and he points to the tire tread saying it isn't right. How can you argue that. I didn't make the tire. I didn't design the tread pattern.

My very thought after seeing my mistake, I only do this once a year or 2 years, so I have to learn it all over again. Took 1 1/2 hours to do it the 1st time, only half an hour the 2nd time.

[Burque73]

My very thought after seeing my mistake, I only do this once a year or 2 years, so I have to learn it all over again. Took 1 1/2 hours to do it the 1st time, only half an hour the 2nd time.

Wow, four years of experience in two hours! That's a productive day I'd say.

I can't recall how many tiles I cut in my latest shower project and installed the cut edge toward the field instead of against the corner. I thought about it as I marked it, as made the cut and dried off the water. Even as I walked into the house and spread the mortar but for some reason at the crucial moment my mind drifted to the next task instead of following it to the end. Like an outfielder not watching the ball into the glove, but looking toward where he's going to throw after the catch. Maybe a weird analogy but kinda the same principal.

[themess]

It makes sense that Indy should still have such suppliers. Albuquerque has very little manufacturing for a city its size. Cedar Rapids is quite industrialized, but it is far smaller than Indy. I returned to Iowa from Brown County through Indy, with a stretch on I-170. It felt odd to be in a BIG manufacturing area.

[storm 64]

"Experience is a wonderful thing. It enables you to recognize a mistake when you make it again."
I read that on a sugar pack. So true ☺

[dorkburger]

There's a huge electronics, wiring, and components place here in Indy not far from my house called MAI Prime Parts. Very, very cool place that does a lot of business with motorsports and car and motorcycle customizers. Always great advice, too --

One of MAI's specialties, and their big money-maker, is parts and supplies for "vintage" industrial electronics dating back to the vacuum tube era. There are a LOT of factories and plants out there running with 25+ year old PLCs and even much older stuff where the manufacturer vanished long ago. It's a neat trip down memory lane for me, too -- my Dad specialized in troubleshooting obscure, ancient industrial control systems like this, so it's cool to see some of the stuff he was always talking about. Quite often, the engineers who designed and built these systems were long gone, and Dad was the only graybeard who could figure them out and get them running again.
.

Interesting about old equipment.
I've come across a few old Barber Colman control systems with vacuum tube controls. My best educated guess would be the tubes are for analog and / or DC voltage inputs / outputs. The ones I've come across are mostly upgraded or just abandoned in place. I've never had to actually troubleshoot one. Very interesting to me though, and I'm always impressed with the precision the " dead men " laid out the wiring and control piping. "Dead men" is a term I read from a noted plumbing HVAC tech turned writer named Dan Holohan who has great admiration for the trade and those men who installed these systems long before we were born. A good writer who can spin a heck of a yarn in his stories. Very entertaining.

[gsrick]

Well it is the ignition switch. The replacement switch I was given to try, is a very good Chinese copy that looks identical, but it doesn't have the antenna to receive and send the signal back to the ECM. . I was told it was OEM, but it isn't. I tried it again and noticed some of the blue plastic protector over the keyhole they use to keep the cheap metal from tarnishing before it is bought. I took the one from the known good donor bike and it started every time I tried it. I have one from a part out bike at home, but they want to play the cheap game on me. I ought to tell them just to take there chances with eBay. I've been with them almost 4 years come Nov. and they still want to play games.

Don't trust the parts I'm given to be authentic OEM replacements. I could have figured this out in a couple of hours or less, if I didn't have a cheap boss.

So as an update, I ask if they will be buying my ignition switch for $120, which is a deal compared to eBay prices and I'm told they are going to buy another aftermarket ignition switch. Stunned I ask, "why?" I have a proven OEM switch that I have started the bike five straight times in a row and I'm told "it's cheaper and the seller has sold hundreds of them." OMG, I'm about to pull my hair out. I'm dealing with total idiots here. I spent nearly 8 hours researching, testing and swapping components, doing everything I could think of to figure it out and to find out it was a bad switch they bought off of eBay and now they are buying another one. I'm not sure who is making the decisions of what to buy, the salesman/service writer or the actual boss that sits in his office seemingly doing nothing. Now maybe you can see why I was interested in that job at Piper in Vero Beach or opening my own shop. All the wasted time I've spent trying to get this bike right and I'm then to get screwed on my paycheck, because I'm getting inferior cheap parts to use. I'm hoping that this one that comes in is crap also, then I can offer my switch at the price I have it on my Clist ad for $150, the going average.

[cowboyup3371]

So as an update, I ask if they will be buying my ignition switch for $120, which is a deal compared to eBay prices and I'm told they are going to buy another aftermarket ignition switch. Stunned I ask, "why?" I have a proven OEM switch that I have started the bike five straight times in a row and I'm told "it's cheaper and the seller has sold hundreds of them." OMG, I'm about to pull my hair out. I'm dealing with total idiots here. I spent nearly 8 hours researching, testing and swapping components, doing everything I could think of to figure it out and to find out it was a bad switch they bought off of eBay and now they are buying another one. I'm not sure who is making the decisions of what to buy, the salesman/service writer or the actual boss that sits in his office seemingly doing nothing. Now maybe you can see why I was interested in that job at Piper in Vero Beach or opening my own shop. All the wasted time I've spent trying to get this bike right and I'm then to get screwed on my paycheck, because I'm getting inferior cheap parts to use. I'm hoping that this one that comes in is crap also, then I can offer my switch at the price I have it on my Clist ad for $150, the going average.

This may be bad business and could possibly get you in trouble but is there any way you can talk to the bike's owner on the side and explain the situation? I know I personally would not want to have the same bad parts put back onto my bike again if I knew there was a better one out there. Maybe he will understand enough to tell the shop to leave it alone and he'll fix it himself aka getting with you on the side for the correct part

[cowboyup3371]

Okay now I need to cuss out the PO on my Bandit after thinking so highly of him during the first three months. While removing the front wheel on Thursday, I found that my regular 1/2-inch drive ratchet would not loosen the axle bolt no matter which angle I used on the wrench (torque value is only 79 ft lb). After much concern and thinking, I finally got smart and removed it quickly using the torque wrench instead. I didn't think anything more of it until last night when I went to mount the front wheel (had other plans on Thursday) and couldn't get the bolt to screw back into the axle past the first thread. It looks like three of the threads at the tip of the bolt are busted so I'm going to call two of the local dealers in two hours and hope they have a replacement on hand. If not, I need to hope they can get it in early enough this week so I can leave Saturday for my trip to Omaha for work. Fortunately, the bolt was used as recently as the 2016 Hayabusa so I would think one of them should have it on hand.

[gsrick]

This may be bad business and could possibly get you in trouble but is there any way you can talk to the bike's owner on the side and explain the situation? I know I personally would not want to have the same bad parts put back onto my bike again if I knew there was a better one out there. Maybe he will understand enough to tell the shop to leave it alone and he'll fix it himself aka getting with you on the side for the correct part

Talking to the customers for the most part is a no no. This isn't a customer bike any way. It's actually a bike from a guy that called me for parts. He decided he wanted to sell it instead. I didn't have the money at the time so I passed it on to the shop. They got it dirt cheap and never gave me a finders fee, which sucks because if I refer someone to buy a bike I can get $100 per referal. I work at a resale shop that does customer work, but 90% of the bikes I work on are our own bikes they bought from auction or private sales.

[Redman]

... ... ... ... I work at a resale shop ............... 90% of the bikes I work on are our own bikes they bought from auction or private sales.

I can just see some manager asking you "why do we have 16+ hours charged to fixing this one problem with an ignition switch?"
And then you get to explain.....

[Redman]

............... It looks like three of the threads at the tip of the bolt are busted ............

Good that you found that. Seems like something that needs to be attented to.
But I am not understanding something about why it mattered which wrench you used.