My XS (Rusty) will soon be put up for sale. Here is why: I am not a mechanic.
My other two bikes are down right now and I have not ridden for three weeks; it is killing me too. The Stratoliner has a fuel delivery issue. I replaced the bad fuel pump which work wonderfully now, yet the bike will not start without starting fluid. Then it dies right afterwards. I believe the injectors are clogged now and that is a fair bit of work to do; (on hold for the time being though).
The Rocket III is on the stand while I do a tire R&R and Exhaust upgrade. I have had a lot of trials with the big bike. Stripped screw heads, broken tools and then it hit me, I need to clean the rims with their 83K miles worth of grime and oxidation. This is the part that made me realize that Rusty is a bridge too far me.
After several days of sanding the back rim, I concluded that both should be powder coated. I looked into that and find that the shops will blast the rims during the prep, something that takes about an hour for both. I have spent close to 50 hours on just the back rim and still not finished.
My work space is ok, but not a shop like what I want. My work bench is 2 saw horses with old fence planks between them.
I did get to use the tools I have purchased so far for the XS and have learned a lot in the DIY time so far. I won't give up learning more, but Rusty is indeed a bridge too far for me at present and I need the space to work on the other two.
My make shift work space. Rusty is under the blue cover.
The left side slip-on fell to pieces upon disassembly. Cancer will do that over 83K miles of all weather riding.
The 1,500# lift is nice and works well for the big beast. Notice how ugly those aluminum rims are.
I won't bore you with the time it took me to get this far, but I will say I feel satisfied.
I believe this is a part of the ABS sensor group and I will remove it to gain better access tot he rim beneath. The Loctite gave me trouble as I only had a screwdriver to use.
I could not get the T40 Torx screws out with the screwdriver, dang Loctite does its job well. I bought a 1/4" drive ratchet and torx bit adaptor for the job of removing the screws. I had to use a cheater as the little wrench was not up to the work alone.
However, the bit itself was not up to the torque I applied. (I too looks at this as a positive being that I am stronger than a piece of metal...)
I used an older Torx T40 and managed to get the screws out without any more drama. Then a couple of whacks with the rubber mallet and the disk was free.
Many hours later and I have a better looking but nowhere near finished side of the rim.