Sunday, February 7, 2016

Morphous On The Lift

Finally getting to the black Yamaha, the long and low scooter is warm and in the shop.  Yesterday I took the old 400 Automatic outside and gave it 15 minutes of exercise to the best of my ability with snow and ice everywhere....which wasn't very much.  Knowing that far too much of our parking area in front of the garage is just about a skating ring, I gingerly waddled the Honda over to the deeper snow, foolishly thinking that with that much side to side 'resistance', I'd at least be able to idle through the 5" of fresh snow that we received the other weekend (no knee high boots required in our neighborhood).

It didn't work.

Still fumbling with the idle speed and idle mix screws, engaging Speed 1 left the rear wheel spinning and it spun so freely in the snowy yard that I wondered if I'd missed something and failed to engage the transmission.  One, almost fall down look at the rear tire told me that the wheel was going around but we weren't going anywhere.  A bit of paddling, just enough traction to put the bike down and on its side.  Oh well, it's running well enough for a road test when road tests are again reasonable.  For now, back into the garage in one of the snug corners.

I purchased tires for the Yamaha Morphous almost a year ago, looked in my PDF manual at the instructions for removal of the rear wheel and decided, "not now but soon."  Anxious to use it more last summer, especially since both it and the Helix were ready for tires, the Honda's tire much more in need of a change, it wasn't a big season of scooter riding though I did take the Morphous on a few short rides, willing to use up that last of those wear bars.  So, in a word, I was intimidated by the look and scope of the project.

Taking this black bull by the horns, I finally went at the project this morning, printing out the 8 or 10 pages of the manual relevant to the tire change.  Last night I spent time looking through the convoluted instructions...."See Engine Removal - Section 1-4"....."See Swingarm Removal - Section 3-17" ....."Remove Muffler"....."Remove Tool Tray"  and on and on.  I thought rear wheel removal on the Helix was bad.

I decided to trade some scuffed up fingers for leaving one of the body panels in place and I'd do it again, gladly.

Here, the wheel off but only after various body panels, the muffler, swingarm and too many other odd bits had to come off first.  Brake caliper hung from Zip ties.  I should be thankful that I didn't have to drain the coolant and interrupt the brake line I suppose.


Speaking of muffler, it almost broke my arm when that last bolt came loose.


Take a look at the bolts, fitments and hookups on the swingarm....hopefully I'll be able to get everything back together without any extra parts left over.


It might be best to not wear this tire out, instead push the scoot aside, polish it up and take THIS one to next year's Bike Show for parking.  Only another 11 years until it's ready for the Vintage classification.

12 comments:

  1. I hate it when fasteners refuse to come off....impatience usually leads to damage....only have had to break out the broken bolt removers once though....

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    1. Dom, I normally don't have trouble but as you mention, impatience is a bad thing around "mechanicals". I've got a huge 1/2" breaker bar that wasn't getting the axle nut loose. Put the impact wrench on when my very large compressor wasn't quite up to 130psi; no go. Put the last 30psi in the tank and finally had the nut off. I don't think 200 ft. lbs were necessary.

      As a machinist, even with good tools, removing broken studs is no fun and I do it as infrequently as absolutely necessary.

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  2. ..the Stella I had... rear tire swap.. five minutes, five nuts.. done.. it even carried it's own spare. Not look'n forward to replacement on the Helix...

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    1. Mike, I can't imagine Baggers with way too many doo dahs could possibly be worse than these scooters are. Your Helix won't be so bad so when you're ready for your next challenge, come on down.

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  3. Tis is the season... to tinker in the garage. Good luck fixing your steed, Coop.

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    1. Sonja, it really is. Enough weekends, gee whiz, enough months to get everything completed without feeling rushed....I go out there when I'm in the mood.

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  4. Changing those tires does not sound like a fun job. But at least you got to play in the snow a bit on the 400.

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    1. Brandy, I've changed a lot of tires, a few scooter tires. Last weekend I broke the bead from the rim, stared at the tire less than a minute and decided to take the unit and new tire to Marty the Professional. Suddenly I decided life is too short.

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    2. An epiphany! Life is too short to deprive someone else who makes a living at it of their income. Take it to the mechanic! That's my story and I'm sticking to it (with clean fingernails.)

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    3. Even with my tire changer, it's a nasty business, my fingers suffer each and every time. I can't quite justify a real tire changing machine, finding it easy to justify getting help from others.

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  5. Coop you are braver than I. I leave all the moto fixing to my hub. At this Point I'm not a wrencher.

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    1. Dar, at this "point in time" maybe. Lots of time left for you to master this as you've mastered so many others.

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