The
Squamidian Report – June 29 / 13
Issue #579
Including:
The Ontarion
Hi All,
Well this is a major bummer… the long weekend is upon us and I am bike-less, as in, without my motorcycle. And to make it worse, there is even a slight chance that the endless rains could come to an end and the sun actually shine for a few days. The weather forecasters have been promising and end to the rain and the beginning of some sunshine for a couple of months now but it keeps getting pushed back, day after day, with the promised sunshine always just a few more days away. And now, with the promise of temperatures that are no longer below normal, and skies that could actually clear out sometime in the near future, my bike is sitting at a Harley dealer waiting on some rather expensive parts. Here’s what happened…
My Harley is a 2009 Electra Glide. The 2008’s and 9’s all came with a poorly designed compensator as well as several other components in the drive and starter systems that proved to be poorly engineered and under-engineered, as in ‘out-sourced and cheaply made’. There was a lot of pressure on Harley to do a recall but none of the problem components were considered to be a ‘safety issue’, so Harley refused to do anything about it and left it up to the customers to get their bikes fixed at their own expense when the components failed. For any that don’t know what a compensator is, it is a do-hicky that is mounted to the end of the crank shaft and has some back and forth give so it can soak up and dampen the shock pulses that the pistons firing create. The purpose is to act like a metal cushion between the engine and the clutch / drive train. The stock compensators were wearing out and not fulfilling their cushioning duties. They would clank and crash and bang and rattle. They were also responsible for damage to the starter system due to the failure to properly cushion as needed. I’ve known for some time that the one in my bike needed to be replaced but while it is expensive, I’d planned on having it replaced this spring but the weather has been so bad I haven’t been able to actually get to anywhere that I’d let do the repair. Anyway, I made an appointment to have the compensator replaced by the Harley dealer way out in Chilliwack. I’ve learned the hard way not to trust or use the services of the closer dealers, the one in Burnaby or the one in Langley. Chilliwack HD still has an expectable reputation, the closer ones do not. Just to be safe, when setting up the appointment, they agreed to bring in a clutch kit on the off chance that the ring gear was damaged from the failure of two starter clutches. The bike is on it’s third starter clutch, the last one having been replaced by one of the closer dealers who has screwed up so many things on my bike that I won’t let them near it anymore.
So, I rode out to Chilliwack on Thursday morning in a drenching downpour. I needed to be there before 9 which is not a problem except for the fact that I had to ride through GVA traffic for a good portion of the way. By the time I got there, my rain-suit had soaked right through and my leathers under the rain-suit were starting to soak through. It had been a very wet ride. But that’s part of biking. When the service guy went to start my bike to run it into the service area, it wouldn’t start. It crashed and banged. He listened and said that as well as the compensator, my starter clutch was toast. This was the new starter clutch installed at the end of last season by that other dealer. I had always thought that the dealer who had installed it has simply cleaned up the old one and charged me for a new one but could never prove it. Still can’t prove it but like I said, they have screwed me and my bike for the last time. The bike will start perfectly 3 out of 4 times, but that 4th time can be a bitch. They ran the bike into the service area and I settled down on a bench expecting a wait of a couple of hours. An hour later the mechanic came out looking for me and said there are some things I need to see. Oh oh, that didn’t sound good.
He had the primary case off and the old compensator off and the chain tensioner removed. That is the component that is supposed to automatically keep the primary chain at the proper tension. It was warn completely out and ready to fall apart. It should last the life of the bike. Then he showed me the two bolts that hold it in place. They were bent, and that can’t happen. Turns out, the mounting surface on the inner primary casing where the tensioner mounts to was not true. It must have come from the factory that way. It meant that the tensioner had been sitting off-square and therefore the chain was not running true and that tore the tensioner surface to pieces. The only good news was that the ring gear teeth were all in good shape so the clutch kit would not be needed. However, they would still need to pull the starter clutch and see if it looks old, or new, and probably replace it. The really bad news was that the inner primary case would either have to be machined properly if they could find someone who can do it, (and this is right before a long weekend on the west coast) or be replaced. Primary cases are expensive! They would be replacing the compensator with the up-graded version, and the tensioner would be replaced with the up-graded version but they didn’t have a new tensioner or primary case in stock, again, right before a long weekend so getting anything quickly is probably out of the question. Bottom line, bike ain’t going anywhere for a while. I found myself needing a ride back to Squamish.
I really didn’t want to phone ‘the wife’ and ask her to drive all the way out to Chilliwack to pick me up. She doesn’t even know where Chilliwack is. So, I called one of my retired riding buddies who lives on the North Shore and it turned out that he had been thinking of driving out to Abbottsford to return some custom T-shirts he had purchased. Its only another 15 minutes or so further out the highway to Chilliwack so he was happy to pick me up. He and another friend got there an hour later and we headed to the T-shirt place, then on back to the North Shore and into Horseshoe Bay where we probably would have ended up anyway. ‘The Wife’ and Willow picked me up there. Don’t know when the bike will be fixed, and sure have no idea how much this repair is going to cost but if you see me begging on some street corner its because I’m trying to raise the necessary cash. If I’m not able to write about getting the bike fixed and back in next week’s issue, don’t bother reading it because whatever I write will be the results of being in a very bad mood.
doug
****
THE ONTARION REPORT
Hello everyone!
Hope you’re all
doing well and saying a prayer for the residents of Alberta during their trying
times! I sincerely hope the flooding has come to an end! They’ve really had a
rough go of it and their situation has been a wake up call for everyone in
Canada to do a review of their home insurance policies I’m sure. I wonder if
one can even buy flood insurance if they are willing to pay for it? I’ll have
to check that one out with my insurance agent for sure!
*
I managed to cut the
lawn in all that heat earlier this week and also to complete the trimming of
the edges of the lawn as well as in between the flag stones we built our
walkway with a couple of weeks ago. It’s incredible how quickly the grass grows
in the cracks! As I walked in a pattern while mowing the lawn I couldn’t help
but notice the branches and leaves of our large White Birch tree in the middle
of the lawn hitting me in the face. After I recovered from near “heat stroke”
once the lawn was completed, I decided to get out the stepladder and pole
cutter and do some trimming of the Birch tree. I figured that I’d have it
looking a respectable length within a couple of minutes. Man was I mistaken! I
was at it for the next two hours at least! Up and down, up and down, move the
ladder, up and down over and over again! The more I trimmed, the more branches
needed to be trimmed! One of the best tools I’ve invested in is a 5’ long pole
with a saw at the end and a branch cutter with a long rope on it to snap off
the smaller diameter branches. The cutter will take care of branches up to
about an inch and a half in diameter and the saw does a good job of anything
larger! The one thing I could have used was an extension ladder rather than a
stepladder. My stepladders are both only about 5 ½ ‘ when opened. I do have a
6.5’ heftier stepladder but it was over at Adam’s house at the time.
When I got to what I
thought was the finished point, I called Carole out to take a look at the tree.
She has a good eye for design and landscape so I trust her to ok the final
product for me! She was able to point out a few more branches that needed
shortening and the job was finished, I thought! Now all I had to do was cut all
the branches off of the branches so they could be bundled up for the “Yard
Waste” pick up the next day! With another half hour under my belt, they were
ready to be tied up and placed at the curb. Before I did that with Carole’s
help, I realized I was about to pass out from heat exhaustion so I took a break
and went inside for a drink and a muffin! Well, I think I drank about two
litres of water before I cooled off enough to be able to stand up once again!
LOL! Man does that heat kick the heck out of you! Carole accompanied me out
front and did the taping up of the bundles while I held them off the ground.
When we finished we had six 3’ diameter bundles about 5’ long each placed at
the curb. I also had three of the large brown paper yard waste bags from
trimming the shrubs out back to put out as well! I added to that, two recycle
bins full of glass and paper as well as two large green plastic garbage bins
full of household waste for the guys to pick up the next morning! These guys
must think we live to gather junk and garbage just to make sure they have their
work cut out for them every time they stop at our house! LOL! The one thing I
do for sure is make an effort to place everything in a neat order and well
packaged so it’s easy for them to pick up! I’m sure that they don’t appreciate
some of the loose piles of garbage that many people leave in a heap for them on
pick up day! It makes their job a lot more difficult I’m sure when things are
not well contained on garbage day. Many times I’ve noticed loose piles of
garbage at the curb around our neighbourhood and wouldn’t blame the sanitation
workers one bit if they just left the mess there for the home owner to clean up
and take to the land fill themselves!
After all that work
was finished, there are two things I can be proud of, 1: How neat and well
maintained our landscaping looks and 2: We have the neatest garbage on the
block! LOL!
That’s about it for
this week!
Thanks for tuning in
and I’ll look forward to talking to you all again next week in The Ontarion
Report!
Bye for now … Greg
PS: Something To
Think About>
Carole always says:
“You can tell how clean and tidy a person’s home is by how clean and tidy they
keep their vehicle!”
How True!
****
Have a good one..
the doug
The Fine Print!
The articles in these issues are the sole property of the persons writing them and should be respected as such.