I was finishing up mowing the backyard Thursday evening when the blades quit turning and smoke from burning rubber started coming out from the mower deck. I took a peek and could see a couple of pieces of a branch that had lodged in the pulleys. I pulled them out and engaged the deck again but no go, so yesterday I pulled it into the garage and took a good look. The belt had come off one of the pulleys, of which there are many, so I took the covers off the two outside ones to improve access and rounded up a couple of tools.
Remembering the quote from Archimedes, I got a pry bar and a pair of vise grips for my lever and fulcrum, used those to compress the spring on the idler pulley, used to my ass to keep pressure on the bar and reached in and put the belt back on the pulley.
After putting the tools away and sweeping up, I took the Himalayan out for a short spin. It hadn't been started since October, but it's been on the battery tender and the gas had been treated with Sta-Bil. It fired right up and down the road I went. It was on the center stand for storage, but I just put it on the side stand when I got home. I aggravated the chest last week and I didn't want to make things any worse by trying to rock the bike back on the center stand. I worked on a part for the trials bike on the mill later on and the chest was a little sore after cranking on the handle to move the table.
The quick-change I need for the Jitney project, remember the Jitney?, is still backordered at Speedway, but I ordered a brake kit and a muffler just the same. The brake kit will fit on a 9" Ford rear if I get tired of waiting for the quick-change, which time is fast approaching. The muffler I ordered looks like a grain auger that fits inside the 3" exhaust pipe - should quiet it down enough to be a good neighbor. I also ordered some oil for the Sportster. Might have to postpone any work on that one for a while longer to give the chest a chance to heal --- again.
No comments:
Post a Comment