Wednesday, 11 Nov 2009
The local shop didn’t have the needed bolt, so I ordered one on-line. Of course since I ordered two I had to wait as they only had one on hand. It worked out for the best, though.
Clean stand
Before getting started with installation I washed the grunge off of the stand. Well, most of the grunge, anyway. It is a GS and it is just going to get dirty the next time it rains (tomorrow?).
New screws (torx)
greased up pivots
The original bolts needed a 6 mm hex wrench to remove. The replacement bolts require a T-50 torx. This makes me glad I ordered two even though I only needed to replace the one that broke. It would have annoyed me knowing I needed a different tool for different sides of the bike.
After greasing the pivots I noticed I didn’t get all of the old thread locker off of the threads. I took care of that then re-applied the grease that rubbed off during cleaning. For those who care, the blue grease is generic boat trailer grease. I find it works well on things that might get wet.
Pivot bushings OK
I cleaned the bushings in the frame. They did not feel bad once clean and the greased pivots rotate smoothly in the bushing. The book calls for 40 Nm torque on the pivot bolts. I couldn’t fit a torque wrench on the inside and didn’t have a 22 mm crows foot for the outside. I instead used a grunt and a half of torque on a short T-50 L wrench.
spring attach, part easy
spring attach, part hard
Attaching the spring is always the hard part for me. The pennies that helped in removing the spring weren’t quite enough to help install, probably because the spring wasn’t fully stretched given that the pivot bolt was missing. I used a spring puller to attach the small spring, then levered the large spring on with a pair of screwdrivers, one to stretch the spring and another to force it over the peg on the frame.
This wasn’t as hard or dangerous as it could have been since the large spring was being held in place by the small. I didn’t have to worry (much) about it hitting me in the face if something slipped.
center stand works
Next project?
The center stand works. Now I can move on to the next bike project. Perhaps I’ll mount the new front tire that arrived yesterday. Or maybe I’ll get around to installing the brake rotor that’s been sitting on the bench since September.