I fit up the pieces to hold the spring perches in place and then cut the perches loose from the wishbone. After getting that done I started taking the wishbone off the axle - and that's when the fun began. The nuts were rusted solid - no surprise there. I tried some PB Blaster and a breaker bar but no luck. Having never worked on one of these before, I didn't realize the bottom of the nut was tapered. Because of that I couldn't split the nut all the way to the bottom. However, between splitting the top and the heat applied it came loose after just a couple of solid licks with the hammer and chisel. I didn't even try a wrench on the other side and went straight to the torch.
After getting the nuts off I tried taking the bolts out. One of them came out with a minimum of penetrant and hammering. The other side's still in the axle. I sprayed it and hammered on it and when that didn't do it, I heated the boss in the axle to get it to expand a little and break the rust bond. Still nothing. I went back out after dinner and gave it another couple of rounds of spraying and hammering but it still hasn't budged. I'll keep after it until I get it out, then I can split the wishbone and keep moving forward.
Surprisingly enough, my chest didn't hurt yesterday after bending the pieces for the spring perches. It rained in the morning but I was able to get out on the bike in the evening for a quick six miles - chest was fine bending over the bars. I've got about a month until the race. I underestimated how long it would take to get back into shape but regardless of the outcome of the race, I'm feeling better and stronger. And that's really all I'm looking for.
No comments:
Post a Comment