[Dyna Bill]

Bought new tires for my scoot. Spent last night getting front and rear wheels off and packing wheel bearings. This morning, using my handy dandy tire tools I managed to get the old tires off and the new ones on the rims. Took them to a local indy to get them balanced. $27.50 labor (crooks) and a few bucks for the weights (spoke wheels). Get home, put the wheels back on the bike, front caliper back on, adjust drive belt, and find out the wheel weights were loose enough to rattle around and slide down the spokes. No problem, says I. I'll just squeeze them little with my vise grips. These things were softer than fishing sinkers and they broke right in half! Now I'm pissed, but the shop's closed. Good thing cause I was fixin' to go shove those weights right up their a$$. WTF, I'll run up to the local 7-11 and get a six pack. Now I discover that the drive belt is too tight and it's whining like a banshee. On top of that, my front caliper is now rattling. It's 11:00 pm and I'm calling it a night.

 

[James]

That does sound like a bad day. Hope the cold beers and a good night sleep helps.

 

[2DEUCE]

oh.... i hate days like that. I feel for ya bud.

 

[cox9000]

The best thing to do (my experience) when things are goin' to Hell is to stop, have some cold ones, relax and hit it another day. Like the others have said -- I hate days like that HA!

 

[DJW]

Cox 9000 is right, as usual, just walk away, have a cold one, or warm one, or smoke or whatever keeps the boat afloat, and look at it again tomorrow, I'll never know why but something about sleeping on it REALLY does make a big difference. good luck tomorrow.

 

[targetman]

It's never fun to get some new gadget or modification done only to discover that you can't finish it and enjoy you efforts (and hard earned dollars). Drink a cold one, smoke a stogie, and then kiss their A$$ tomorrow!

 

[Thealien]

Good luck, I hope you marked the spokes that the weights go on. Loosening the belt isn't too big a deal, I hope today is a much better day for you. Wear gloves when shoving the weights up their ass, you wouldn't want to catch anything!

 

[otterbob]

caliper rattling is probably the pad against the metal tab in there. mine did that too. had to take back apart and bend tab over to hold the pad tight.

 

[Dyna Bill]

Good morning all. Let's see if today goes any better.

Thealien, yeah I marked the spokes with a nylon zip tie and I kept the cheap lead weights, The old weights are (i think) plated steel cause they're really hard. They were the ones that came on it from the factory. Would an H-D shop have these?

Otterbob, I checked the spring clip that holds the pad. It seems to hold it with sufficient tension. The problem is that the whole caliper is moving a little. I think the problem is the lower shoulder bolt that holds the caliper on. The hole in the caliper where this bolt goes has 2 o-rings in it. I assume that these are supposed to provide some insulation between the bolt sides and the sides of the bolt hole to avoid any side to side metal contact. Maybe the o-rings need to be replaced?

 

[twincamzz]

O-rings my 99 FXDL did not have any o-rings in the location you mentioned, if my memory serves me correct. Could be wrong here... hell, I can't even remember where I got my avatar from LOL.(private joke). Good luck w/ the brakes. Check the service repair manual for pix.

 

[Dyna Bill]

twincamzz,

Mine's a '99 FXD and it's got rubber o-rings in the lower bolt hole on the caliper. Hmmm...wonder what's up with that?

 

[Dyna Bill]

I'm gonna go back down in the garage and look again. Maybe I was just really tired last night.

 

[Dyna Bill]

Yup, 2 o-rings. Don't know why, but I had an assortment of them around here that I must have stolen from work at one time or another. Found 2 that mic'ed exactly the right size, put them in and wonder of wonders...no more rattle. Brake works good too. Got the belt adjusted and I'm good to go. Sometimes I really amaze myself!
'Scuse me while I go grease up some wheel weights for a rectal insertion.