odd and old time fixes and tricks. Lets hear 'em

[tri again]

Gas tanks rust so keep them full.
-empty and dry them for storage and drop in a little piece of dry ice (frozen carbon dioxide) to drive out the oxygen.

or since propane is heavier than air, top off the tank with propane to displace the oxygen?
sounds dangerous but then again so are gasoline fumes.

- freeze press in carb jets with that freezing wart remover to shrink them for easy removal.
True poetic justice for those problem gremlins.

[Yamaha_Rules69]

This thread could get interesting. One I can think of off the top of my head is seating a tire bead on the rim. If you are having problems, and the air and compressor cant get it to go, all you need is a can of starting fluid and a match. Spray a little inside the tire, then around the bead/outer rim lip. Make a trail going off the tire onto the ground, stand back, and drop a match on it. BOOM! Bead is set on the rim. It is really neat to watch, and also freak people out. Be careful!!

[MTS]

have heard of a Soup can used on old Tundra's (sleds) For a piston with blown skirts to get ya home....Works...Just destroys everything else...Better than being stuck in the middle of nowhere in -35...

[factoryX]

on my first 200x my kick start return spring broke so I had a rope tied to the frame to loop it over the kick start to hold it up. Another time I got tired of my cobra exhaust being so loud I shoved a bmx seat post in it, it worked.

[Escanabajosh]

have heard of a Soup can used on old Tundra's (sleds) For a piston with blown skirts to get ya home....Works...Just destroys everything else...Better than being stuck in the middle of nowhere in -35...


only in canada,lol.

[jeffatc250r]

When I was young I had a bunch of POS wheelers. Always seemed to find the ones with leaky fuel ttanks. If the leaks are small like pinhole sized, I used to keep a crayon in my pocket. Smear it over the pinholes and it would stop the leaks for a lil while.

[atc350xer]

only in canada,lol.

Red Green is from Canada:lol:
Duct tape fixes anything!

[MudBug]

I don't get this whole Canada stereotype. Its not like canadians can only fix things like a redneck

[SWIGIN]

If your down to your last spark plug and your bike wont start, just take it out and try to clean it some. Then dip the end in gas and light it on fire or hold a little torch on it till it's hot. Then put it back in before it cools too much and it should fire.

[SWIGIN]

I don't get this whole Canada stereotype. Its not like canadians can only fix things like a redneck

I dont get the anti USA vibe I get from some of you guys on here.....but I deal with it.

I sugest we all man up and get thicker skin, this ''my feelings just got hurt'' stuff is WAY out of hand.

[jays375]

Take your dirty foulded plugs and soak them in vinegar overnight.You will get some more use out of them.

[Thorpe]

Lemon scented Pledge when you are detailing... Works awesome as a tire shine, not greasy, satin finish and smells great! (not really a trike trick, but I now want to go wash the BR and shine the ITP's...)

[Daltons200x]

Lemon scented Pledge when you are detailing... Works awesome as a tire shine, not greasy, satin finish and smells great! (not really a trike trick, but I now want to go wash the BR and shine the ITP's...)

lol my dad tought me about pledge too! he uses it on his trucks. lemon pledge brings back faded paint like you wouldnt beleive. as long as your consistent with it, his trucks look waxed all summer long

[greenhuman]

Picture this. On holidays in 1976 with my ATC90. The carbie kept flooding so I pulled it apart and there is all sorts of stuff in the float bowl. Cleaned it out and half an hour later same thing. I went to the local bike shop nd this mechanic said they didn't have ay inline filters but he sold me some clear fuel hose and he said to make two small loops with the hose before it gets to the carbie. Any crap in the fuel will sit in the bottom of the loops. It worked a treat for months.

[tri again]

Picture this. On holidays in 1976 with my ATC90. The carbie kept flooding so I pulled it apart and there is all sorts of stuff in the float bowl. Cleaned it out and half an hour later same thing. I went to the local bike shop nd this mechanic said they didn't have ay inline filters but he sold me some clear fuel hose and he said to make two small loops with the hose before it gets to the carbie. Any crap in the fuel will sit in the bottom of the loops. It worked a treat for months.

Thats one my favorite tricks and I use it on everything especially with that new see thru blue or yellow and now that pastel blue stuff.

Doesn't need clamps so I loop it down, sediment lays in the bottom of the loop , pull it off the carb and let it drain itself and slip it back on. It can be a foot too long because the fuel will find its way back up.

A 5 second procedure and filters last forever/
Catches water too

[muddog]

have heard of a Soup can used on old Tundra's (sleds) For a piston with blown skirts to get ya home....Works...Just destroys everything else...Better than being stuck in the middle of nowhere in -35...

i have heard the same thing for a model t ford with a hole in the piston

[p26575r16]

Lemon scented Pledge when you are detailing... Works awesome as a tire shine, not greasy, satin finish and smells great! (not really a trike trick, but I now want to go wash the BR and shine the ITP's...)

The dealership I work for uses pledge to detail all of our new cars prior to delivery. The first time I saw them pledge a $100,000 range rover I about crapped myself! Works great!

[Ryah]

Original Shoe Goo is great for fixing holes in tires. Takes overnight to set up, but it stay flexible enough to seal large holes and tears. I have even used it to glue paddles back down on low power atv's.

[Walkerallen]

for those stubborn flywheels that you cant get off for nothing, rather than going out and buying a flywheel puller, grab an air hammer and it the center bolt, after taking the nut off of course, stick a screw driver behind the fly wheel and apply some pressure and the air hammer should vibrate the fly wheel off. thats all i got for tricks and it came from my dad

[CRAZY70MAN]

when your Kawasaki, Yamaha, or Suzuki will not start..........go out and buy a Honda!:lol::lol: Kidding everyone.....just kiddin, easy now:lol::lol::lol::lol:

[Merge_88]

When you have a stripped screw or your tip won't stay in the head of the screw, dip your screwdriver in valve grinding compound, usually the grit in the compound is enough to break the screw loose. Works great on those stubborn case screws on ATC engines.

[jeswinehart]

Another inexpensive and very effective way of bleeding the brakes out is to take a short piece of clear tubing sized to fit over the bleeder screw tightly and open the bleeder ( that is the first step).
2nd. step, place the other end into a clean container on the floor and pour that container with enough brake fluid to cover the end of the hose about 1/2 inch.
#3 - start pumping the brake lever.
You will need to keep a eye on 2 things.
First is that the reservoir don't run dry and second is the the clean container on the floor don't get to full as to make a mess on the floor. If it gets to full, simply pour the excess back into the supply bottle.
Once you are not pushing air out anymore,,, close the bleeder and pump brake lever once or maybe twice and you should have good brakes as long as all components are in good working order.
This method saves on the tighten/loosen ~ squeeze + hold crap and normally you will not have brake fluid all over everything

[Walkerallen]

o i thought of another, stripped Phillips case screw get a cutting wheel to make a notch in the screw to make it a flat head. when you get it out get a new screw. also a impact driver is a must for case screws

[muddog]

stripped nut use a chisel to hit them on the edge

[Mr_RPM]

when your Kawasaki, Yamaha, or Suzuki will not start..........go out and buy a Honda!:lol::lol: Kidding everyone.....just kiddin, easy now:lol::lol::lol::lol:

agreed. i dislike Yamaha badly, their newer stuff anyway. raptor 350s/warrior 350s are some of the worse stuff made. electrical problems galore, and thats on 3 different models i have had spent time with, oh wait 4

[TheRealFatShady]

I had a gas tank leaking from several pin holes. Candle wax and crayons weren't working. Used solder and a blowtorch and its still holding up perfect.

[Mr_RPM]

my airbox boot is long gone lost, so i cut a plastic toy baseball bat that was hallow to length and it works great, water tight!
(the tube that goes from airbox to carb)

[jeffatc250r]

This thread could get interesting. One I can think of off the top of my head is seating a tire bead on the rim. If you are having problems, and the air and compressor cant get it to go, all you need is a can of starting fluid and a match. Spray a little inside the tire, then around the bead/outer rim lip. Make a trail going off the tire onto the ground, stand back, and drop a match on it. BOOM! Bead is set on the rim. It is really neat to watch, and also freak people out. Be careful!!

Just dont do what this skid does...............http://www.break.com/index/inflating-car-tire-with-fire-fail.html

[ailll1]

to replace crap o-rings, use silicone white tape used for pool
as long as it doesnt melt, it will work like a charm

[blue27]

the easiest way to remove stripped case screws is to take a drill and a 1/4 inch bit and drill the head off, (just like a pop rivit) then when the cover is off there will be plenty of screw to remove with pliers. but before I get to this point i try to remove them with a phillips bit in my impact gun , but you have to use very little power, (turn the air down, or light trigger) if you just hit it full blast they will strip, but let the impact pound on it lightly they come out.

[keister]

I like to give my screwdrivers a good tap with another screwdriver before trying to back out a screw. This sets it in place and guards against sripping Philips heads.

Clean chrome plated pieces like throttle housing, grab bar, and handlebars with SOS pads. Removes rust and pitting shines them up like new.

[chrisand4]

My friends dad told use to do this. We both had 2 stokes and had accumulated a box full of fowled plugs. So he told use to take em to his machine shop and use the small bead-blaster on all of them. It worked great and we had about 12-13 more plugs to use. As I side note though, I would only do it once, after you get that 1 extra use it's time to chunk em and buy a new plug! Also, when you're on the trail, some carb-cleaner, a wire brush, and a thin piece of sand paper, and some type of rag or cleaning cloth will usually clean a plug right up!

[Daniel 250es]

One of the things I learned for a clean bike is to use wd-40. I buy it by the gallon alot cheaper that way. After a powerwash I spray everything real well with wd-40 (especially metal parts) then I do a quik wipe down. This really helps with rust and looks.

[tricolour]

in a lot of cases, tightening a fastener a bit before trying to loosen it when it's stuck usually does the trick.
use an oil filter wrench on the flywheel to hold it still when removing the nut. or you could use rope in cylinder. all you need to do is just feed in enough so it compresses and stops as the piston goes to TDC.
how about using a matchbook to set points?
PB Blaster is better than wd40.
I've also heard if you're out in the scrub and get a flat tire, pop the bead and stuff things like grass,weeds, vines and leaves into the tire and then reseat the bead.
if you're trying to get an old motor started that's been setting a while, trying priming it with 1 part gas to 10 parts oil in an oilcan and squirt through spark plug hole.
using anti-seize on fasteners makes them MUCH easier to turn.

[200XMichigan]

I spray down a lot of the bolts that often get stripped/broken with PB Blaster right when I get something. Then do it every once in a while after than. Once I needed to replace my exhaust gasket on my 200X the bolts had been heat cycled with PB Blaster for over a month. They came out easy as pie.

I'll have to try pledge 200X plastics.

[atc350xer]

It's not cheap these days, so when I drain my tank, I use a coffee filter inside a funnel for the particles that you KNOW are in there... works great.

[200XMichigan]

Saving Gas Part 2:

When I get a new toy with questionable gas I drain it and if its not too bad I run it mixed with good gas in the lawn mower. Never had a problem with it, the mower was free and I hate having old gas sitting around. Lawn mowers will run on gas I wouldn't think of keeping in my trike or bike.

[muddog]

Saving Gas Part 2:

When I get a new toy with questionable gas I drain it and if its not too bad I run it mixed with good gas in the lawn mower. Never had a problem with it, the mower was free and I hate having old gas sitting around. Lawn mowers will run on gas I wouldn't think of keeping in my trike or bike.

lawnmowers will run on almost anything and take more abuse than you can dish out

[Grizzlypeg]

Except mine is a son of a B to start when it has stale gas in it. I'd rather filter it and pour it diluted into my truck's gas tank, where it mixes with gallons of fresh gas.

My tip for removing a stuck bolt is to heat it up, then quench it with spray penetrating oil. If the head broke off, put a nut on it and weld it in place, then spray the threads with penetrating oil.

I also like to use anti seize on all bolts going into aluminum. I'd like to think it will save problems the next time I take it apart.

[NINJA]

You know how carb dip swells carburetor o-rings? If you have stubborn dry hardened airbox or carb boots, you know what a struggle it is to get them back on your carb. Soak them in a can of carb dip overnight, it will not only soften them but expand them also. I discovered this by accident. Works like a charm! This also works on the 250R airbox boots when fitting a larger 38-39 mm carb.

Ever break off a tap or extracter? Good luck drilling it out. Instead use freezing wart remover on it and rap on it with a punch or chisel. Most of the time it will shatter like glass and you can pick the pieces out with a pick and a magnet. If that doesn't work, heat it up redhot with an acetylene torch then freeze and hit it.

In a pinch and can't get a new metal head gasket in time? Clean up the old gasket with carb cleaner and coat both sides with Permatex Copper Spray-a-gasket. Allow to dry till tacky, reinstall and torque head to spec. I've had this save my ass quite a few times. I'm not endorsing this as a permanent fix.

[daniel_250r]

i use a propane torch and heat my fowled plugs up till red hot, the carbon just burns off and you are left with a clean plug. probalby common knowledge to a few. also when i am working on lets say a clutch cover or stator cover i do not even drain the oil i just stand the trike up on its side and work with the cover pointing straight up

[Grizzlypeg]

Stick a clear hose in the carb drain, extend the line upwards. When you crack open the drain screw, the gas in the line will rise to show you the level of the gas in the float bowl. This can help in diagnosing some problems with float level.

On old points machines, stick a thin strip of cigarette paper inbetween the points. Rotate the crank until the paper just pulls free, and check your timing marks. That is when the spark would fire. Gets you real close when putting in new points.

[boosted96cobra]

Some I have done:
In car that has the pilot bearing in the crank, take a bar of soap and a knife and cut it in little peices and stuff the soap in the hole in the bearing. Fill it up then take a socket that barelt fits in the hole and hammer it in. If it doesn't pop out the first time fill it with more soap, the bearing will pop right out.
To bleed brakes I always use a vacum pump. My tecate wouldn't bleen any other way. At the dunes my wife broke my pump so in a pinch I used a sprayer out of a spray bottle and a small piece of 200x fuel line. Just put the hose on the sprayer and the bleeder, open the bleeder and pump till you don't see any air bubbles.
Had smaller pin hole leaks in a radiator once in the mountains, emptied the tabacco out of a couple cigs and it filled the hole and got us home.

Heard about:
Old dented pipes, cap off one end, fill with water and cap the other end and throw it in the deep freeze.
Severe rod knock out in bfe, they pulled the oil pan and undid the rod bolts, then pulled the head and pulled the piston and rod out, then capped off the cylinder with a peice of pop can they cut out. Ran enough on the other cylinders to get it home and kept the oil pressure up.

I have also used copper spray on metal gaskets, worked great. I usually end up drilling alot of bolt heads, but I have never got an easy out to work.
I have a welder so I usually find a way to weld something on I can turn, like a bolt head or a bolt or something. With the better way of turning it and the heat they usually come right out.

I have had a couple top ends that were kinda hard to get the jug on while holding the rings closed, so I put one "c" clip in the put the piston in the bore and put the wrist pin and last "c" clip in last.

[NINJA]

All of those are excellent tips Sage. You can also use grease instead of soap, since it doesn't compress.

[boosted96cobra]

Ya man done the grease before. It was messy and didn't smell as good as the soap. I have greased out the piston in a brake caliper, think I seen DC on here do it, before that I had used air compressor, but that worked like 60% of the time.