Worst wrenching experience

[skids]

I had to replace a stud once. No big deal. NEVER walk away from a stripped fastener! Bad things can happen. You just got lucky!

[BA80]

This is the exact reason I cringe when someone here suggests loosening cams to do shims.

The torque is very light on those caps and a lot of the noobs that come on here don't even know what a torque wrench is. But truthfully the shim tool IS pretty difficult to use unless you understand exactly what your doing.

6 of one and half a dozen of the other I guess. Pulled threads on an aluminum head can be a project killer for some though.

[natemoen]

THEN, putting the cams back in and torquing one of the cam cap nuts...it got a little easier, so I figured that I had stripped it, but it was already tightened down, so I left it alone. It's been fine for 16k miles but I'm sure if I ever have to take the cams out, I'll be either replacing a stud, or drilling and tapping the head for a slightly larger stud!?

T.C.

TC, those cam cap nuts are super soft, I am willing to bet it is just the nut that is stripping and not the stud. I think it was designed that way anyways.

[BA80]

True, but the side mounts of the tank were also spread too wide for the frame.

I have a tank like that on the wall in my garage that came with the SF project I have.

I might make a run tank out of it for carb adjustmens and such. It's easy to move around when on the bike.

[skids]

A 7.2 gal tank would be great for touring!

True, but the side mounts of the tank were also spread too wide for the frame.

[GLoweVA]

I have a couple:

!. I fell off a ladder getting christmas ornaments from the rafters in the garage and fell right onto my 81H gas tank. Big dent!

2. Tried to use compressed air to push the dent out so there would be less bondoing. Boom! Tank about jumped off of the frame and went from 6.2 gallons to 7.2 gallons capacity! Deformed and ugly... AND I about crapped my pants!

A 7.2 gal tank would be great for touring!

[edgo]

alternator change, Ford Escape.

[skids]

I have a couple:

!. I fell off a ladder getting christmas ornaments from the rafters in the garage and fell right onto my 81H gas tank. Big dent!

2. Tried to use compressed air to push the dent out so there would be less bondoing. Boom! Tank about jumped off of the frame and went from 6.2 gallons to 7.2 gallons capacity! Deformed and ugly... AND I about crapped my pants!

[BA80]

John, have I told you to piss off today?

[jwhughes3]

I dispise electrical problems. Guess which one I voted for.

That is because of the full teardown required to change a fuse

John

[brcree]

Big Oh S***.......

I would have to say my Big Oh S*** moment wasn't a mechanical one but: when I had finished my restoration and went to put tags on it. Standing there with paid tax papers and being asked....do you have the title. No.......well sorry sir, no can do! Here in good ol S.C., if no title, no ride. I even went to our state Rep. for help on this....no go. Well........plan F. I bought a frame with a title from Calif. and had to swap everything over to new frame, after i stripped and repainted it. Gov....don't you just luv it!

[Crusty Snippets]

My post above has quotes from Conquest.
I clicked a few wrong buttons so my part is missing.

Thanks for sharing that Conquest.
I think most of us have been frustrated with a mechanical problem at some time, hence we feel your pain.

Unkle Crusty

[Crusty Snippets]

I did learn a few things. Number one, walk away. You don't have to finish things right now. And two, never start a project three days before you are going to move. Especially one that if not completed renders the bike imobile.

Thanks for putting up with my embarrassing story. After 8 months I feel better talking about it. Maybe in 8 years it will be funny.[/QUOTE]

[Prothec]

The sound of an easy-out bit breaking...

I have been luck so far to not be the cause of a stripped bolt on my bikes (yet!), just a snapped bolt head.
I think so far for me, dropping a bolt or nut, hearing it hit once, then not hear it skitter across the floor would be a winner.

[Crusty Snippets]

Big screw up

I spent many hours replacing the seals in the front disc brakes on my 68 Dunstall Norton. Worked like a charm.
Took it 200 miles to the track, rolled it down the ramp, squeezed the front brake and all the fluid exited to the ground.
Borrowed another bike to race, never went to the track again with only one bike.
Got home and removed Dunstall's better idea in brakes, and threw them in the garbage.
Unkle Crusty