Stuff you learn(t) the hard way by being your own mechanic

[117]

They should be stamped with an L and R for orientation... And tighten towards the front,  loosen towards the rear for best results 😉

[tubed]

36 minutes ago, 117 said:

They should be stamped with an L and R for orientation... And tighten towards the front,  loosen towards the rear for best results 😉

I always chuckle to myself when I see my boets permanent marker arrows on the inside of his cranks - clearly he learnt the hard way.....

 

[tubed]

On 7/12/2022 at 12:24 PM, Frosty said:

this is me working on my old LR Discovery trying to get the starter motor bolt off - eventually (week later) it did the shameful thing of putting it on a flatbed and having it taken to the mechanic. They just smiled at me and said - dont worry we made a special extension tool to get to that nut - it takes two people to operate, one to guide the tool and the other to crank it. I felt a little better.

 

[stephenplumb]

My son decided to service his forks, which I like. I highly encourage him to service his bike, and many moons back I worked as a bike meccie in a cycle shop in Wembley so I am all about him learning to do things himself. 

The problem is that he broke some nut so I ended up having to send the fork to Robbies Cycle works in PE to complete the service and scavenge their parts bin to find the broken part. 

When I was a road cyclist, I used to strip and clean my bike at least once a month down to frame and regrease and re lube everything. FYI paraffin is the best thing for cleaning the chain and other shiny bits and does not leave it dry and prone to rust like using petrol or other strong solvent. If you have access to a compressor and one of those paraffin spray bottles even better. 

[Steven Knoetze (sk27)]

1 hour ago, 117 said:

They should be stamped with an L and R for orientation... And tighten towards the front,  loosen towards the rear for best results 😉

Is the L and R from a seated position or standing in front of the bike. Another thing that has always puzzled me........

 

[TheoG]

8 minutes ago, Steven Knoetze (sk27) said:

Is the L and R from a seated position or standing in front of the bike. Another thing that has always puzzled me........

 

It should be from the "operators perspective", iaw rider on the bike.

Edit:  On mining equipment and even you car, this is normally the case.  There is one exception (if you should care), on a dragline bucket, this convention for some reason does not apply.

Edited August 23, 2022 by TheoG

[117]

7 minutes ago, Steven Knoetze (sk27) said:

Is the L and R from a seated position or standing in front of the bike. Another thing that has always puzzled me........

 

L for the bikes left,  R for the bikes right -  which makes no diffs if your hovering around the front end looking back

Left side tighten to the front end (anti clockwise thread) ,  right side tighten to the front end (normal clockwise thread).  It doesn't matter if you use a pedal spanner (on the outside of crank arm) or Allen key (inside of crank arm),  the rotation to loosen or tighten is always the same orientation - tighten towards the front,  loosen toward the rear. 

Pedals of course... 

[TheoG]

Just now, 117 said:

L for the bikes left,  R for the bikes right -  which makes no diffs if your hovering around the front end looking back

Left side tighten to the front end (anti clockwise thread) ,  right side tighten to the front end (normal clockwise thread).  It doesn't matter if you use a pedal spanner (on the outside of crank arm) or Allen key (inside of crank arm),  the rotation to loosen or tighten is always the same orientation - tighten towards the front,  loosen toward the rear. 

Pedals of course... 

So left is wrong and right is right ...  🤪

[thebob]

A positive story from my side. My GX Eagle derailleur clutch went pap. Looked all over the web and confirmed the clutch cannot be serviced or repaired, which is pretty piss poor IMO. So I took the plunge and ordered up an SLX rear derailleur. Fitted everything up on Friday afternoon, got the limit screws set, b-tension and cable tension without much fuss. GX Eagle shifter, GX Eagle cassette (10-52) and an X01 chain which should not work, if the people from the brands are to believed. Turns out everything works smoothAF. First ride on the Saturday and I am back to riding a stealthy bike with no chainslap and lovely smooth shifts!

Edited August 23, 2022 by thebob
Pic added

[TheoG]

26 minutes ago, thebob said:

A positive story from my side. My GX Eagle derailleur clutch went pap. Looked all over the web and confirmed the clutch cannot be serviced or repaired, which is pretty piss poor IMO. So I took the plunge and ordered up an SLX rear derailleur. Fitted everything up on Friday afternoon, got the limit screws set, b-tension and cable tension without much fuss. GX Eagle shifter, GX Eagle cassette (10-52) and an X01 chain which should not work, if the people from the brands are to believed, and everything works smoothAF. First ride on the Saturday and I am back to riding a stealthy bike with no chainslap.

And a SLX DR does not cost an arm & leg ....  

[droo]

16 hours ago, ChrisF said:

 

Uhm .... I actually do have the lock ring tool. 

 

With the bike on the stand, and the wheels already taken off I could not hold the bike steady to use it though .....  in hindsight .... should have re-fitted the wheels and placed the bike on the ground.

 

 

@droo I note a "torque arrow" in the anti-clockwise direction.  Does this ring un-do to the clockwise direction ?

Sometimes (most times really) the long way is actually the quick way...

And yes, Bosch lockrings are left hand thread.

[Stoffel76]

3 hours ago, tubed said:

this is me working on my old LR Discovery trying to get the starter motor bolt off - eventually (week later) it did the shameful thing of putting it on a flatbed and having it taken to the mechanic. They just smiled at me and said - dont worry we made a special extension tool to get to that nut - it takes two people to operate, one to guide the tool and the other to crank it. I felt a little better.

 

Lol, we could have a Land Rover dedicated thread on this topic!! 😆

 

Replacing the clutch master cylinder on my Discovery which was going smoothly until I tried to bleed the system... Got the wife to depress the clutch pedal and I was working the bleed screw... Nothing... couldn't get it to firm up. Call a mate over to help (because the wife has had enough)... Hours later, now dark, I turn to the workshop manual... Which tells me because of the angles of the pipes etc, the front of the vehicle needs to be jacked up so the air moves out the system! 🙄 5 min later the clutch was bled and working 100%! 🤣  You need a sense of humour to be a Land Rover owner... 

[tubed]

19 minutes ago, Stoffel76 said:

Lol, we could have a Land Rover dedicated thread on this topic!! 😆

 

Replacing the clutch master cylinder on my Discovery which was going smoothly until I tried to bleed the system... Got the wife to depress the clutch pedal and I was working the bleed screw... Nothing... couldn't get it to firm up. Call a mate over to help (because the wife has had enough)... Hours later, now dark, I turn to the workshop manual... Which tells me because of the angles of the pipes etc, the front of the vehicle needs to be jacked up so the air moves out the system! 🙄 5 min later the clutch was bled and working 100%! 🤣  You need a sense of humour to be a Land Rover owner... 

😆sense of humour, understanding wife, deep pockets, sympathetic mates.......but I do love my LR

[The Ouzo]

Seems appropriate

 

[DJR]

49 minutes ago, Stoffel76 said:

 

.............🤣  You need a sense of humour to be a Land Rover owner... 

You called?

My Defender now has a couple of mods to make those impossible things easier. 1. A hole cut in the load bin to allow access to the diesel pump without removing the whole tank. It makes a day job into an hour job.  2. A trap door in the gearbox tunnel to make removing and replacing easier. It keeps mechanics from needing psychiatric help. 3.  A special extention bolt on transfer box to allow easier access and save grazed knuckles. 

[tubed]

13 minutes ago, DJR said:

You called?

My Defender now has a couple of mods to make those impossible things easier. 1. A hole cut in the load bin to allow access to the diesel pump without removing the whole tank. It makes a day job into an hour job.  2. A trap door in the gearbox tunnel to make removing and replacing easier. It keeps mechanics from needing psychiatric help. 3.  A special extention bolt on transfer box to allow easier access and save grazed knuckles. 

Ah yes, the body modifications to get to those places only LR engineer thought possible to locate a nut. Yours are extensive and well planned. I have things to learn.