I've Done It All

I might not have done it all but I did get the front end finally taken apart. I just happened to hear this one yesterday morning on Birdhill radio. It's been a long time since I'd heard it. Still can't get over the fact that some of the best classic country tunes come from a station in Ireland. 

I was hoping that by soaking it over night the bolt was going to loosen up but no such luck. I put a pipe jack under the end I needed to get apart to give it more support than the plastic saw horse. I then heated up the axle boss where the bolt goes through until it was good and hot and then wacked it a couple of good hard licks with the sledge hammer. The top four or five threads on the bolt were already shot due to rust, so I wasn't too concerned about mushrooming the end of the bolt. Once I got it to move a bit, I filed the end of it down and ran a die over it to make sure it would go through the hole. Obviously there isn't much clearance if it wouldn't come out, so I wanted to make sure it didn't hang up when trying to get it to go the rest of the way. 

After finally getting things apart, I chased the threads on the other bolt and then I tried removing what was left of the cotter keys that were still stuck in the bolts. That didn't go well either. I couldn't get them to budge with a hammer and punch, so I'm going to put them on the mill and take them out with an end mill. 

I looked at the Speedway website and they've got the replacement nuts with the taper on the bottom for the bolts - $5.99/pair. I think I'll get myself a little plastic organizer box and stock up on regular fine thread nuts. I don't need them that often but shopping for them locally can be a pain in the ass - with no guarantee that I'll be able to find what I need. Probably should have done that long ago. I had a hard time sourcing fine thread stuff when I was putting that Sportster together a few years back.

I was going to start cutting the wishbone apart but the radio came on with a weather alert - a tornado had been spotted not too far from me. It was tracking to the north but I wanted to get in the house and make sure the Missus was ready to get to the basement if need be. About the time I was ready to head back out we got hit with some monsoon type rains, so I called it. Glad I did because another wave came through with big winds and rain. It knocked the power out that time. Indiana weather can sure be fun.