Redneck Wreck of a 125m

[auto5man]

Okay, so the 125 that I have the engine apart on has held me up again waiting on parts....found some more stuff missing inside...couple thrust washers for the starter idler gear and also what the manual calls a "driven gear set plate". So last night I decided to ride my other 125m (one of my projects that actually runs) and the chain falls off. It really is a redneck wreck, so today I set about to fix the chain.

Hmph....turned out to be not so simple. After I got to looking saw some bolts that were just loose and also, THERE IS NO CHAIN ADJUSTMENT/TENSIONER BOLT.....just gone. No wonder the chain fell off. Now while i'm working on this thing with the seat off I'm starting to realize what a pitiful wreck it really is....no battery, no battery box, no chain guard, no chain tensioner, no starter solenoid, battery wires trashed, etc. And even though I didn't pay alot for it, I'm starting to feel some pangs of jealousy when I see other member's trike scores that are in ALOT better shape :)

So here's the rear end sans chain tensioner:

177765

177766

So I decide that this problem isn't a quick 'fix and be riding again in an hour' sorta thing, and decided to work on some other things that need attention....like the air filter box, wheels, brakes, clutch adjustment, recoil rope, battery, electric start....and the list goes on. I had noticed some garden hoses clamped to the left handle bar (look carefully in the second photo) and investigated that a little further. Now look at the hoses inside the air box.....whew, things were a mess under the seat!

lotta mud and gravel way up high on the frame, in/around the box, and no wonder, this little 125's been used as a semi-submersible:

177770
177767
177768

if you guessed at a redneck snorkle set up you'd be right. Here's what the airfilter box looked like after taking all the garden hose snorkels off...butchered:

177769

So here's my effort to save the air filter box....did ALOT of cleaning and then some patching of the box with silicone, aluminum, and rivets. Also had to to chase threads in the box and vinegar bath/clean the access cover bolts. I'll finish the rivets tomorrow after the silicone sets up. Looks alot better:

177771

[auto5man]

I did quite a bit of work today. The airbox repair turned out really nice. I was a little worried that the rivets wouldn't hold well in the plastic and aluminum, but the silicone really helped to firm things up, and I also put aluminum on both sides with the plastic sandwiched in between wherever I had enough room to maneuver the aluminum backing in. Here's a couple pix of the airbox and new filter installed. The airtube now looks really dirty I know, but I'll have to tackle that another day. Previous owner used silicone in lieu of a clamp to join it to the carburetor so I'll make that right again when I rebuild the carb.

177827

177828

Getting the chain back on turned out to be a real @#$%. There are 4 bolts that attach the axle to the frame, and remember I said that one of mine was just missing and the other was loose? Also the chain tensioner was missing, but I figured out that you don't actually HAVE to have that to tension the chain, it's just a convenience. The four bolts however, are essential, so I worked on that. My hardware didn't have the correct length M12 x 1.25 bolt so I bought one too long and cut it to length. Bought a M12 x 1.25 die and fixed all the rusty bolt threads , and started to re-install the axle. That's when I figured out why one of the four bolts had been left off in the first place.....the threads in the frame were all buggered b/c someone had attempted to force SAE bolts in. I'm thinking no problem....I'll go back to the hardware and get a tap and fix that. After trips to Lowe's, Home Depot, Northern Tool, Harbor Freight, and Sears and still no tap....I was pretty frustrated. Would you believe that the Sears "100 piece" metric tap and die set didn't include this tap? It had M12 x 1.50 and M12 x 1.75, but no 1.25 thread! Long story short and several hours later, I finally found the tap at Carquest. Fixed the threads, got the four bolts working, installed new chain and tensioned the chain, replaced some missing bolts joining the seat pan to the fender plastic and then put everything back together again. The rubber bushings that fit on the posts where the grab bar bolts into (notches in the fender/seat assembly pivot on these bushings) were gone too. I made new bushings by finding some rubber hose that was close to the right size (about 9/16" ID) and cutting one inch sections off...it worked great. Replaced the recoil handle as well. Started right up and went for a ride. Here's a couple pix of the wreck all back together and running:

177829

177831

Forgot to mention,,,gonna need a new seat pan. Mine is rusted something fierce. All of the bolts that attach the seat pan to the fender are rusted off (and through the pan!) except for ONE near the rear, and the 4 on the crotch end are intact. That will be my next part to hunt down, a seat pan. I've seen lots of seat covers on ebay but not any seat pans that I can remember. If anyone has a line on those, let me know.

[muthey]

go to this link and he might still have some available http://www.atcheaven.com/Seats_pans.php It says he has one left so if you want it you might want to jump on it, it is made of fiberglass so it will never rust

[Ghostv2]

After all that backyard engineering and work you did to that I must say it turned out well. I'm amazed you got all that done in one day. Hell it took me one whole day to replace a recoil cord because I get distracted and frustrated a lot.