As some may know, I bought the KLR to go down a personal road less traveled.
I made the decision to learn to wrench a little. I started with a pristine 2009 KLR650....
Then started taking parts off and the first part on was a highway bar and pegs. Easy Peasy... and I even used one of my torque wrenches for the motor mount bolts...
But as you could see in the picture, I need 6 hands to hold the heavy bash plate, "hangers", and thread the bolts all through (including holding a spacer in front)... I went to bed instead (it was late).
Five days later Saturday arrives and it is time to try the tip a buddy gave me: tie the sucker up in place. Well DUH!!! (lesson learned).
Bash plate installed!! Easy when you know a trick or two. And I busted a knuckle -- must be a real mechanic now. Uhhh, did I install the washers right?...
OMG! :dribble: :blink: :huh: They want me to take half the front end off and put what where???!!!
So I call in the cavalry... best damn mechanic in the house, my son Mikey...
He dug right in and we had one of the best afternoons together EVER. It helped he took his Ritalin. I had a beer. It's all good...
We figured, we huddled, we discussed, we gave up and had lunch... then Mikey and I dug back in and got it together. A little ingenuity on my part( using two little rubber washers to hold a nut, washer, aluminum spacer and other bits on the bolt) while we slid that mess through two flat iron bars threaded through wires and tubes and cables and another spacer on the back of the downtube. Mikey was not only another set of hands, he has a real mechanical aptitude. "Dad, I think you're putting it in upside down..." AND he has small hands. Yeah it was a son of a *****. Yeah we had a great time. I had another fat tire.
Ann Marie kept checking to see if I was OK. She knows how injured I can get when alone with tools...
Then I took Mikey to the skate board park to try out his new sprocket and wheel set on his bike. The kid is athletic too! The girls are calling all evening long...
while he was away...
I put locktite on everything I could and tightened all the bolts up. Then I installed the rear brake thingy. I didn't like it the way it came all shiny and aluminum...
So I spray painted it with high temp black paint earlier in the week and put that on too. "The black patch on the front lawn is hardly noticeable dear..."
I sat back with the spoils of victory!! Cold beer and hot pizza... and so my Saturday ends with almost as much fun as riding my FJR
:yahoo:
A couple final pics:
I made the decision to learn to wrench a little. I started with a pristine 2009 KLR650....
Then started taking parts off and the first part on was a highway bar and pegs. Easy Peasy... and I even used one of my torque wrenches for the motor mount bolts...
But as you could see in the picture, I need 6 hands to hold the heavy bash plate, "hangers", and thread the bolts all through (including holding a spacer in front)... I went to bed instead (it was late).
Five days later Saturday arrives and it is time to try the tip a buddy gave me: tie the sucker up in place. Well DUH!!! (lesson learned).
Bash plate installed!! Easy when you know a trick or two. And I busted a knuckle -- must be a real mechanic now. Uhhh, did I install the washers right?...
OMG! :dribble: :blink: :huh: They want me to take half the front end off and put what where???!!!
So I call in the cavalry... best damn mechanic in the house, my son Mikey...
He dug right in and we had one of the best afternoons together EVER. It helped he took his Ritalin. I had a beer. It's all good...
We figured, we huddled, we discussed, we gave up and had lunch... then Mikey and I dug back in and got it together. A little ingenuity on my part( using two little rubber washers to hold a nut, washer, aluminum spacer and other bits on the bolt) while we slid that mess through two flat iron bars threaded through wires and tubes and cables and another spacer on the back of the downtube. Mikey was not only another set of hands, he has a real mechanical aptitude. "Dad, I think you're putting it in upside down..." AND he has small hands. Yeah it was a son of a *****. Yeah we had a great time. I had another fat tire.
Ann Marie kept checking to see if I was OK. She knows how injured I can get when alone with tools...
Then I took Mikey to the skate board park to try out his new sprocket and wheel set on his bike. The kid is athletic too! The girls are calling all evening long...
while he was away...
I put locktite on everything I could and tightened all the bolts up. Then I installed the rear brake thingy. I didn't like it the way it came all shiny and aluminum...
So I spray painted it with high temp black paint earlier in the week and put that on too. "The black patch on the front lawn is hardly noticeable dear..."
I sat back with the spoils of victory!! Cold beer and hot pizza... and so my Saturday ends with almost as much fun as riding my FJR
:yahoo:
A couple final pics:
