Cheap Rubber Parts

Grrrr.  Why after only 5 years or so must I replace the fork gaitor rubbers?  There's original rubber on the bike that's still holding up.  Cheap new stuff.  The new foot rest rubbers didn't even last 2 years.  I put the original foot rest rubbers back on.  Nothing against the vendor I got the stuff from, its just that this new rubber isn't the same as the original stuff.  The rubber foot rests on the S7 are like new after 50 years!!!  These gaitors didn't even last 5.  You can see where I tried to hold it together with glue until I could get them replaced.

I hope the new ones last a bit longer.

The operation of doing this work oneself is a bit tricky.  First position the ATV lift.  Then find out that the ATV lift doesn't really line up with the center of gravity of the bike.  The side stand is in the way.  Then use boards to lift AROUND the sidestand.  Strap it to the lift so it doesn't tip.  Put a trolley jack under the rear wheel, since when the front wheel comes off, the center of gravity will shift significantly rearward.  Then for extra insurance rope it to the ceiling rafters to prevent tipping when wrestling with the forks, and tightening the bolts.

Clutch cable fixed, oil changed, ready to go back on the road.  Wow, the old girl is photogenic.... doesn't look that good in real life.

I just might bend the snot out of the center stand arm, so it will clear my shorty exhaust mufflers.  Its a pain putting it back on all the time for service work.  Its much easier when its permanently attached.

Keyswitch overhaul

I wasn't happy with the broken light switch handle on my Sunbeam S7 Deluxe. I managed to score a pretty beat up electrical box from an S7 on ebay, which included a switch. The switch was worse shape than I thought when it arrived. Apparently the early models used steel setscrews, which rusted in place. This meant I had to drill them out and re-create some brass ones.

Disassembly was easy. First the back retaining stud for the tumblers had to be released from its fastening nut. This was easily done, by snapping the stud accidentally. *whoopsie* The front bezel turns and then comes off through some slots. This allows everything to come apart.

Making a key was easy.  I just inserted the blank into the tumblers and then marked each tumbler position.  Then I estimated the depth of each notch in the key, and began cutting with a dremel grinding disc.

The hard part was drilling out the setscrews.  I only buggered up one thread by accidentally drilling crooked, the others came out without a problem.

The contacts were cleaned up and new setscrews fashioned.  The original spring was shot, so a new one had to be made.  This allowed the lamp switch to operate smoothly, but with enough pressure to make contact with the position detents.  This picture was taken before the brass contacts were cleaned up and polished.

I had to drill out the fitting that the tumbler snaps into, and put a tap new stud in it.  I made it long enough to fit two jam nuts on the end.

The switch assembles as easy as it came apart.  The tumbler can actually snap in last.  This makes the assembly MUCH easier.