Elusive Screws

[Freebird]

I know that most of you have worked on your bike and lost a screw, bolt, or nut. On our last ride last fall, the intercom on the '05 was not working. Yesterday I decided to trace down the problem and get it ready to go for the summer. I have a Mic-Mute on it and figured that it had something to do with that. I removed the seat and started checking wiring and voltage. I have the power tied into the auxiliary connector under the seat/side panel so that the Mic-Mute is only powered when the key is on. I also have a DC outlet installed in the know out there below the left side of the seat. Sure enough, I discovered that I had no power. Power for that circuit is in the small fuse box inside the right lower. So I pulled the lower off and checked it and sure enough, the fuse was blown. Now that is only a 5 amp fuse. I'm sure that I plugged something into that 12v receptacle at some point and blew the fuse. Maybe even the lighter inserted into it blew the fuse, 5 amp is really not even enough for that. So as I had done on a couple of these bikes in the past, I increased it to a 10 amp fuse and all seems well.

 

I started putting is all back together and couldn't find the allen head screw that secures the lower from the inside. I looked everywhere for that thing and now luck. There were some leaves in the garage that had blown in over the winter so I backed the bike out and started sweeping. I thought that maybe I had kicked the screw when I was getting up and down so I had no idea where it might have gone. So I ended up sweeping the entire garage out. Moved everything, swept and then used the leaf blower and carefully blew everything out. No luck. So maybe I sat it on one of the work benches which again, over the winter, had become a mess. So I started cleaning work benches, throwing away junk that had accumulated, just a general cleaning of the entire garage.

 

So now I have a pretty clean garage but still no screw. I finally gave up and found a screw that would work but didn't have the right head on it. It would have to do though. I couldn't get that stupid screw off my mind though so later yesterday afternoon, I decided to search one more time. I was now convinced that it had to be laying somewhere on the bike. I reached up under the floorboard to the black channel bracket and guess what, there is was.

 

So now the screw is replaced and the garage is moderately clean. Not something I had planned to do yesterday but that's one thing that I always do before Maintenance Day so can mark it off my list. IF I can just keep it clean until then.

[Yammer Dan]

Keep a garage clean?? If you figure out how to do that you could sell that plan and add a few bikes!!!

[cecdoo]

Keep a garage clean?? If you figure out how to do that you could sell that plan and add a few bikes!!!

 

C'mon Dan it aint that hard, just put everything back where you found it after you are done using it!! The next time you need it, it will be rite where you left it. You can send your 10bucks to my home address.

 

Thanks, Craig:big-grin-emoticon:

[bongobobny]

Keep the garage clean??? Good luck with that...

[snyper316]

Keep the garage clean??? Good luck with that...

 

Lol You know I cleaned mine twice last week, probably straighten it back up in another week, Everytime I go out to the Garage I swear them dust devils been playing out there and moving stuff around on me. Leave there darned Leaves in there half ate...

[Dragonslayer]

Funny enough I had to do the same thing this morning. Got a new rear tire mounted yesterday and put everything back together and had to clean the work bench off to find all of the screws I needed. At least the garage is cleaned for Easter company.

[Yammer Dan]

I watched a rabbit hopping around outside the garage yesterday. He didn't appear to want to visit.

[baylensman]

I lost the wing nut that hold the seat on. i check under the bike, shook the bike in case it stuck. It must have fallen through a dimensional rift somewhere its gone. Got out the magnet check the corners the pile of soft dust everywhere. So off to "Home depot" gab another wing nut, put a little lacquer on the threads reattached the seat on, then on about my way. Two weeks later, I'm washing the bike with the garden hose, and i hear metal hit the concrete. THERE'S THE DANG SCREW!

[videoarizona]

 

Working on the 89...changed out the rear caliper for an R unit. Bled brakes and was putting on the bolt that is on the MC reservoir. Plop...it jumped out of my hands and disappeared. Again. This is the second time the darn thing has run away. I never found the 1st one and got a spare from a member here. I was determined not to let this 2nd one go...so I swept the garage clean (not on my list of things to do that day either, @Freebird), checked under anything and everything around and no dice. My buddy helping had a flashlight and was looking as well. Took out the little usb camera ($10 from china-shipping included) and looked in every nook and cranny on the scoot. Finally gave up..thinking the bolt had managed to find a safe haven under the motor block sitting on the exhaust collector (where there must be a treasure trove of stuff from all these years). Went to store and found a bolt close enough to work with washers added and was reaching in to thread the bolt when I heard a "clink" as a bolt hit the floor. My buddy turned around and just looked at me. What could I do? I shrugged, picked up that rascal and "CAREFULLY" threaded him on.

 

No idea where it was hiding....but it obviously was right out in plain sight and we both missed it.

 

Fun stuff....

[cowpuc]

My life is split into two distinct eras = WOS and WIG. During the Wrenching Out Side period I suffered many maladies including frozen fingers that could easily of shattered if bumped and taking my life in my own hands due to the instability of the any form of jack/jackstand with more than 20 pounds on it = dirt dont make for stable jacking.. Once I entered into the Wrenching Inside Garage period of my life I immediately realised what I had been missing - the true meaning of the word "bliss" was now part of my budding knowledge bank. However, soon after entering the WIG era I did begin to notice something rather strange - small attachment items like nuts, bolts, screws, snap rings and even fairly large items like brake pads and lug nuts began to grow minds of their own and disappear from duty for no apparent reason.. What was strange - and still is - is that during my WOS years, this was NEVER a problem..

Because my WIG period began at almost exactly the same time as the time in my life I became a married man I began to wonder.. My wife, Tippy, never spent much time in the garage under the family car with me so I finally drew the assumption that she was not borrowing these tiny items so, quite frankly - the idea that the disappearing items had something to do with married life never even crossed my mind again after that.. Later during the WIG period though I did finally put 2 and 2 together when I realised that, like you Mr. Nelson - my garage cleaniness was tied directly to those little parts going on holiday and, that Tip has NEVER, in all of our married life, had to tell me to clean the garage.. I have long since wondered if somewhere in the Womens Code Book (you guys never really thought WE were the only ones with a written code did ya?) there isnt a training program for small garage items - sort of one of those things that answer the question of "the mystery of marriage" that deeper thinkers talk about and probably answer one of the greatest questions out there for married men = why do they clean their garages?

[Guest]

trying top keep the garage clean is like trying the stop the wind from blowing.

[snyper316]

Well my only problem with my garage there are cracks in the floor, Only when I move everything outside do I sometimes find that elusive hardware, and sometimes my luck while I am moving stuff I hear a slight chink.. bolt or nut falling down in the cracks of the abyss.