Visible Progress

The grandsons made their weekly pilgrimage down to my house. I had some errands to run so we spent most of the morning on the road, had a bite of lunch and then out to the shop to continue work on the Rapido and other things.

The top photo shows the air cleaner parts grandson the younger sand blasted. Also in the photo are some new parts for the job and a new 4-1/2" angle grinder. My Milwaukee grinder had a switch failure - stuck on - creating a bit of a problem. I looked for a replacement switch at the local hardware store but no luck. They had a bunch of them but not the one I needed. I did an internet search and found that that switch is no longer available. I found a switch kit with the paddle lever on eBay for something like $46.00 plus shipping. As old as the grinder is, can't see putting that kind of money into it. A new DeWalt at the hardware store was selling for $56.00.

The one in the photo is from Menards. It was $20.00, tax included. I ordered it online for store pickup. It was listed as a display model meaning that some of the original packaging might not be with it. However, when I went to pick it up there was a note attached to it saying there was  something missing, so they gave me a new in the box unit. It's listed as 6.5 amps and the Milwaukee was 5.5 amps. Even if it doesn't last like the Milwaukee did, for the price I probably didn't get hurt any. I've had good luck with Milwaukee tools. They work well and have a good service life but when they break whatever part I need is never available.

The bottom photo shows the fork legs on the Rapido and all the tools required to remove the fender. It seems the fork legs have a caged nut spot welded to them that the fender bolts to. In our case the nut was spinning inside the cage. I initially thought the threads were stripped on the bolt or the fork leg, not realizing it was a caged nut. I cut the head off the bolts and when I got a good look at things I figured out what the story was. I used the hammers to tighten up the cage around the nuts - one hammer to put pressure on one side of the cage and another to hit the other side to close it up. I squirted the bolts with PB Blaster and tapped on them a bit to set up a vibration that helps work the Blaster down into the threads. I did that several times and then put a vise grip on the bolts and wiggled them back and forth until they broke loose and came out. Chased the threads and done.

I need to weld the brackets back on the air cleaner and then I can paint and reassemble it. Now that the fender is off the front I'll get it sand blasted and painted or I'll have the grandson do it next time he comes down. The boy's a trooper. Hottest day of the year so far and he kept right after the sand blasting 'til he got it finished.