Today was a good day...

[Dammit!]

With all the stress of the last couple years dealing with financial problems, living arrangements and dead end jobs I've come to appreciate a simple day in the garage working on the trikes even more than I used to. Sure, some days working on these 25 year old machines can be enough to make you go postal but days like today I swear it's almost like therapy.

This started two dune trips ago. At the Imperial Invasion in Januray, my 250R started acting up. You would swear to god it was running really rich by the symptoms but I knew for 100% certain it couldn't be rich. Turns out it was the old and rusty flywheel/stator simply causing a really weak spark. We cleaned off the rust on the raised portion of the flywheel and all was good for the rest of the weekend.

I thought I could get one last weekend out of it before changing it out so I hit the dunes again last weekend but this time I wasn't so lucky. The symptoms came back and I couldn't fix it out there this time. I had a very nice condition flywheel/stator sitting in my garage for the past couple of years and just didn't bother to put it on before the trip. Stupid on my part.

So anyway, yesterday I started the process of trying to remove the original flywheel that's never been off before. It wasn't cooperating so I left it for the night.

Today I try again and everything was just going my way for the most part. The flywheel was still stubborn as hell after being on there for so long but it eventually gave up. You wouldn't believe how much dirt came out of that thing. It's amazing how much crap can build up in there. It's possible it's not even bad but just too dirty to work correctly. I'm not taking any more chances though. The flywheel is garbage bound (it's all pitted up from the rust) and the stator will go on the shelf until I get my hands on a meter so I can test it.

After getting the old parts off, cleaning up in there as much as I could, scraping the gasket for I don't know how long and getting the new parts on, it cranked right up. No test ride yet but it's revving out fine. I think I'll still replace the CDI and coil with brand new parts as soon as funds allow even though I don't think either is part of the problem. I just don't feel like driving 3.5 hours to the dunes and having this same crap happen again.

I took a pic with a long exposure time with the engine running just to see what it would look like.

[dcreel]

I've been out in the garage all day working on the Tecate. Glass of iced tea, radio blaring.. yeah, you're right. It was a good day. It's great when a plan comes together.

[TeXaS SoB]

I got a new trike today a ATC 70 it was a good day!

[Frankencelery]

Thanks for sharing the pics and the story. I learn a lot when people take the time to post pics. I didn't do any work ON any of my trikes today, but I used my 200s FOR work. I cut and moved a bunch of wood, and was grateful for my nice reliable machine to make my work easier.

Oh, and contrats SoB on the new 70!

My basket case 70 is calling to me, but I have to finish this 125m before I can get started on it. Bad idea to try to do 2 major overhauls at once.

[TeXaS SoB]

i know what u mean i have a 185s that my sister wants fixed my mom has called dibs on one of my big reds and now i gotta get this 70 going cause im so stoked about it lol plus i wanna build a autox so basically im screwed all around lmao

[Dammit!]

Thanks for sharing the pics and the story. I learn a lot when people take the time to post pics.

Believe it or not, this was the first time I've ever had to do this. Hard to believe considering how long I've owned that trike (over 20 years now).

[aldochina]

wow!! your right , alot of crap in there huh? wonder how all that crap gets in there. cool pic of the flywheel spinnin. I spent 8 solid hrs working on the sx today, all thats left is to rinse out the tank, fill it with oil, and put the plastics on!!

[Mosh]

Believe it or not, this was the first time I've ever had to do this. Hard to believe considering how long I've owned that trike (over 20 years now).

And I cant believe that OEM crank bearing is still solid on that side. I was shocked to see that when we had it apart at the dunes.
Tammy's R is very low hour, and her's even has a slight little play in it. I almost want to switch to KLOTZ after seeing yours still be in good condition.
You ought to see some of the Banshee's I have taken apart near the stator.They get water in there like mad, and it looks like the engine was left laying in a rusty mudhole for 5 years.LOL

[harryredtrike]

wow dammit,i cant believe that stator worked that long.i wonder what my 250r looks like insisde there.

[Dammit!]

And I cant believe that OEM crank bearing is still solid on that side. I was shocked to see that when we had it apart at the dunes.
Tammy's R is very low hour, and her's even has a slight little play in it. I almost want to switch to KLOTZ after seeing yours still be in good condition.

I was nervous as hell even messing with it to be honest. Knowing how old it is and that it has zero play in it, I didn't want to knock anything loose.

And yeah, Klotz is good stuff. Been running nothing but Klotz all these years. Only thing I changed was I used to run Klotz R-50 in Ohio but when I moved out here nobody ever had it in stock for some reason so I switched to Klotz Super Techniplate.

Does anybody know if the TRX and 1986 ATC flywheels are the same weight? I was going to weigh them but my scale apparently got busted in the last move.

[4cylinders]

hey, all that rust would short it out. ohio, that explains the rust!