Kazaam! The rotor is off!

It was probably a good thing that I was not in town this weekend to work on the bike. We left for Socorro moments after UPS delivered the 16mm bolts. Shortly after arriving at the ECONOLODGE, I got sick. I never get sick, but I got some sort of mean, nasty, vengeful sick that really makes you appreciate the ability to stand upright for short periods of time. So even though I was out of town, I had no desire to work on the bike.

As a side note, don't ever stay at the Econolodge in Socorro, I don't usually submit complaints, but the service and accommodations at this place stink.

Anyhow. On Sunday evening, we arrived home and I was feeling good enough to take a poke at the rotor. I sprayed the bolt with WD40 liberally and threaded it in. A little pressure and the bolt slid off. No pop, no cheater bar, no excessive strength needed, nothing! The rotor just slid off!

The elusive bolt and the removed rotor!

This may not seem amazing to you, but for me, after herniating disks during multiple unsuccessful attempts to pull the bolt off with a three legged puller and three foot cheater bar, this was amazing.

I pried the old seals out with a little coaxing, but by then it was dark outside and I was feeling a little worse for wear again, so I pushed the bike back into the garage and went inside to watch an episode of Scarecrow and Mrs. King with my lovely wife.

I will clean out the openings and install the new seals this afternoon/evening as long as I don't relapse into sickness. Thank God for our body's wonderful healing ability.

In case you are an XS owner, here are the National Seal part numbers for the left and right crank shaft seals.

The timing advance side of the bike with the seal removed.

And last but not least, the Alternator side of the bike without the rotor.

Notice the cheater bar on the ground... I didn't need it. Ha! How cool is that?

Murphy's Law

Well as luck would have it, the long anticipated 16mm 1.5pitch bolt arrived! Four of them actually. I will be shipping the additional three off to XS11.com folks. As luck would have it, the bolts arrived only moments before one of the busiest weekends of the semester. I doubt I will have a chance to tinker with the bike until next weekend. Arggg.

Oh well, at least it is here. Apparently this bolt will allow me to pull the alternator rotor, something which I was unable to do with the three legged pulled.

For want of a bolt the kingdom was lost

I had never really thought much about the difference between Standard versus Metric. Apparently though, there is quite a controversy out there and mechanics have strong opinions, at least on the Standard side of the fence. I need to replace the oil seals on the crank shaft. I should have done this when I split the cases, but I had the same problem then as now, no bolt.

I need a 16mm, 1.5 pitch, 50mm long bolt. After searching every autoshop and bolt/fastener outfit in Calrsbad, and listening to the evils of the Metric system from almost every clerk and mechanic on duty, I final gave up and ordered the bolt from an outfit in Maine.

UPS should deliver it on Thursday, and then I can pull the Alternator Rotor, replace the seals, reinstall the rotor and voila! I should have a rideable bike.