Friday, October 24, 2014

Broken Helix Diagnosed

More than one of my friends has asked about what really happened to the Helix this summer when Lauren and I had to have the scooter hauled home.  At the time, I pushed the yellow one back into the corner and since then I've just put any repair efforts into things I thought could be dealt with quickly.  This afternoon when we really wanted to be out riding (never got as warm as they'd said or stay as dry) we instead came back home and I began the arduous task of Winter Parking.

That meant that the Helix would finally come out of the back corner and roll into the shop and up on the lift.  this evening while the rest of the Coops were watching TV, I decided to head outside and open up the scooter.

It wasn't until the next day after we'd had our Helix ride interrupted that I remembered going over a very rough railroad crossing, jolting the rear end of the scooter severely enough that it actually hurt.  I've been wondering to myself if just possibly a casting had cracked, causing the oil leak and rear end failure.

Tonight I found the culprit; a ruined bearing.  Thoughts of a parts bike as a reasonable fix have seen me online checking out used Honda parts and complete bikes.  Discovering some very nice looking used scooters for decent prices have made me wonder all summer if my best repair solution might just be replacement rather than repair.

Online parts prices for my initial discovery cost less than $50 w/shipping.  Now that I'm not working every day in a machine shop, I'll need to find some help getting parts disassembled and pressed together again.  Hopefully I'll have the scooter back together soon, possibly in time for another ride yet in '14.


 Bad bearing on the left, good bearing on the right.



Ben and I had a shortened ride today, tomorrow we'll do some compensating.  Warm and pleasant the prediction going in.

4 comments:

  1. Wow, that bearing looks crushed. Hope you get it fixed in time for another ride before winter kicks in.

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  2. Thanks Sonja. I'll need a better mechanic than myself to know why it failed in the first place. Hope to do some more sleuthing this week to make sure nothing else needs replacing.

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  3. Coop it seems you've been able to make a diagnosis now to weigh the cost of treatment ... parts and labor verses replacement. Factor in entertainment value and satisfaction of fixing it yourself ... Awesome, you'll be able to use up at least a few hours of winter deciding what to do ... and a few more bringing the plan to fruition. Good Luck. (Did you get the rest of the winter parking done?)

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  4. Karen, you are now at the top of an extremely short list of my Schedule Planner candidates. It's obvious that you have experience with 'available winter time', a big plus for the position.

    Thanks, right now I'm in no hurry to proceed with the fix and even though I mentioned getting it back on the road before the cold and nasty arrives, those weather conditions make for good motorcycle repair.

    Most of the parking is done, a new system implemented this year. Almost every arrangement has been tried but this time I'm leaving the fronts away from the wall to make Tender access easier. There's a nice big space out in front for a couple of the machines that haven't gone to sleep yet. They were warmed up yesterday and will see service again today.

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