My Top Tip today is...

[weekendrider]

Good tip Paul.
This application is the only use I've found for Mike's p.j. They screw right into the tubing.

 

[Jim]

Need a bottoming or cleanup tap in a pinch? Take a bolt (10.9's last longer) and cut 3 flutes in it with a 1/16" cutoff wheel. Doesn't last near as long as a hardened tap. But when it's midnight and all the stores are closed.....

 

[Jim]

"Helpers.... we don' need no stiiinnnkin helpers." Blazing Saddles reference there... younguns
Here's another quick and easy one......
If you're using a Mikes/TCBros engine buildup stand and need help holding the engine to torque your head. clamp a piece of wood across your workbench and clamp the stand to it on the left rear....

Grab your wrench... and torque away. Engine stays firmly in place.

 

[fredintoon]

"Helpers.... we don' need no stiiinnnkin helpers." Blazing Saddles reference there... younguns
- - -

Hi Jim,
they borrowed that line. I first heard it in Humphrey Bogart's 1940s classic movie "Treasure of the Sierra Madre" except it was
"Badges? We don't need no steenkin badges"
And most likely it didn't originate there, either.

 

[Signal]

I want to refit a starter to my tracker motor. I left the cross over shaft and gear out when I rebuilt the motor so need to split the cases. He is my way of doing it.
Put the motor in the bench stand, remove the bolts and hook up the lower case through the centre bottom bolt to a chain block.
put some tension on the case using the chain block and heat the join with a heat gun. Takes about 20min to get them to split.

 

[Paul Sutton]

I was told in the UK that things in NZ are naturally upside down anyway. Same with Australia. What if they got it all wrong??

 

[Jim]

Sometimes the big tab washer for the front sprocket want's to be a bit fiddley and stubborn. Hold it in place with some masking tape....

 

[lakeview]

Before you assume that your drawer slides are stuck cause it will not close and unload the contents to try to fix it, check the stuff in the drawer underneath!

 

[Jim]

An automotive oil filter wrench just happens to fit the alternator rotor perfectly when you need to torque it....

 

[azman857]

THAT is a slick tip there Jim. Could even help in removing the nut or the tool to take the rotor off. Nice.

 

[ThatXS650Guy]

Like many of you I have multiple MC and car projects going all the time. I used to have parts scattered all over the garage in boxes or in a drawer somewhere. Now I keep all the small parts in these cheap shoe containers (3 for $5). I have one box for each bike/car and I also have these for filters, fuses, bulbs, zip ties, etc. About 21 in total.

 

[TwoManyXS1Bs]

You've just dropped a tiny, valuable, irreplaceable, critical piece of unobtainium. Searched everywhere and it's nowhere to be found.

Watch your step, could be stepped on. Maybe stuck to your shoe.

Find something of the same size, shape, and weight. Drop it, same way, same place, just like the lost part. Watch carefully as it drops, how it bounces and wanders, where it goes. Look closely in the area where it ends up. Try it again, repeat.

I've had about 95% success within 3 drops.

Edit: Doesn't work with flying circlips...

 

[gggGary]

You've just dropped a tiny, valuable, irreplaceable, critical piece of unobtainium. Searched everywhere and it's nowhere to be found.

Watch your step, could be stepped on. Maybe stuck to your shoe.

Find something of the same size, shape, and weight. Drop it, same way, same place, just like the lost part. Watch carefully as it drops, how it bounces and wanders, where it goes. Look closely in the area where it ends up. Try it again, repeat.

I've had about 95% success within 3 drops...

If there was a way to do that with where I SET something, I could shave an hour off my typical project........