DRY RUN to EUREKA SPRINGS with the TOMKATs

After I made a comment in RMH (I forget what it was about), I got a reply from oktr6r(Les) to ping him. I did, and Les told me that until he had visited my website, he hadn't realized how close I lived. He asked if I would be interested in joining the TOMKAT (Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Kansas, Arkansas and Tennessee) mailing list. OF COURSE! Shortly after I was included, plans were being made for a meet in Eureka Springs AR at The Ironhorse Stables.

I bought a box of goodies from JP Cycles to do some finishing touches to the bike in anticipation. New front fender emblems to replace the ones that fell off when the new wheels were put on, a new kickstart pedal since the old one was starting to curl back and the rubber had a tear in it, a new primary chain and drive chain, and a new clutch hub, long bearing kit and Ram Jet Retainer.

The new emblems went on pretty much the same as the old ones did, with a mounting stud snapping off of each one and me having to glue them on.

The new kicker pedal wouldn't line up with the bolt holes on the arm.

The new primary chain didn't fit, it was too small for the 24T front sprocket.

The drive chain did fit. I don't think I had to remove any links. Or add any. But I should have started seeing a pattern develop here.

But it was on to removing the outer primary and pulling the old clutch hub off. It wasn't really in that bad of shape, just slightly grooved from the plates rubbing on the studs. Perfectly usable but just not perfect. So off it came. The new key wouldn't slip easily into the keyway of the new hub and I had to use one of my needle files to clean some of the flash left over from a bad broaching job. Putting the new one on the mainshaft was kind of fun, trying to keep the key in the keyway while I pushed it on. After several attempts to do so and hearing the key clink into the inner primary, I resulted to looking for instructions in the manual. Hmmm...

"Place key in slot on mainshaft. Slip clutch hub onto shaft."

Gee, that's what I had been doing the last 20 or 30 times. With furrowed brow I sat back down, put the key in the slot and slipped the hub over it. I laughed and shook my head. Just got to read the manual I guess. I put a new lockwasher on and tightened the clutch hub nut, then put the old chain back around the clutch shell and motor sprocket and slid them on. The new bearing kit came with a tiny tube of grease the catalog stated was "guaranteed no to fly off". I mean damn tiny, but if that was the amount of this "Super Grease" they provided, Shirley it must be the proper amount needed. After the precious grease was applied to the bearings and they were tucked around the shell and hub, it was time to put the Ram Jet Retainer on. Once that was slipped on the studs, I found that the grooves on the threaded studs did not show up in any of the holes on the retainer. Hmmm. Try as I might I couldn't get those grooves to be exposed. Oh well, I could use the metal cap, plastic retainer and springs supplied with the new hub. I didn't like the idea, but this was all new stuff and I guess that's just the way stuff works now...

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