When we drove home from VIR (Virginia International Raceway) a few days ago the right front brake was growling, so as soon as we got home I jacked up the Exploder, took off the wheel and rotor, and of course found the brake pads worn down to almost nothing. I rode the trike to the parts store, back to the house, and with a bit of a struggle, replaced the pads.
Feeling somewhat satisfied with myself, only later did it niggle my mind that the pads had only been worn down on ONE pad, that the other pad and brake pads on the other side had thousands of miles left on them. The offending rotor had been a bit worn but in my laziness I'd thought I'd just live with the short impending life of the new pad(s). The more I thought about it the more I thought I'd better take it back apart and replace the ragged rotor before it started eating away my new brake pads too much. Thus yesterday I did the process over again, and again rode the trike the couple miles to pick up a new rotor. In process of putting this option into place, I noticed the rubber seal on the upper ball joint was shredded and leaking, realizing I should replace THAT as well, while I had the vehicle up on jacks already ready.
So, I saddled up the trike again and went to purchase upper ball joints. Arriving back home, I dug around my various tool boxes and found my "Pickle Fork", a heavy duty hammer-driven steel fork used to pry ball joints apart. When I tried to use it, it turned out to be not large enough to fit THIS ball joint. So I rode the trike again to the parts store (Potter Parts and AG Supply - They have noticeably cheaper prices than the Big Chain O'Reilly's here) and picked out a larger "Pickle Fork".
Even with this new wonderful tool it took a lot of banging and prying to get the joint out of its receptacle. The YouTube video showing one man's progress on such operations looked ridiculously long time-wise, but I wound up taking at least as much time prying the mess apart.
Then, after a half hour or more of carefully cleaning away crud and grease to expose the snap ring holding it all together, I found there was NO snap ring: The ball joint was physically part of the upper control arm and could not be removed for repair. A call again to the parts store revealed the parts man saying "Yeah, most Exploders have one-piece upper arm/ball joints.." To which I was tempted to say "And why is this the first time you mentioned this detail?" - But I didn't; I happily rode the trike again to the store where they refunded the money for the wrong parts and provided me with the proper part, which after all this trouble, went in pretty uneventfully and correctly.
THREE TRIKE TRIPS in one day. Thankfully the distance was not far... and thankfully I enjoy any excuse for riding the trike.
Savings: A Couple Hundred Bucks
Losses: Time and a Couple Fingernails
Ride(s) Started: 11:27 AM Ride(s) Ended: 4:36 PM
Beginning Battery Voltage: 13.9 Ending Battery Voltage: 13.0 Lowest Voltage: 13.0
Beginning Blood Glucose: 125 Ending BG: 112
Lowest Temp: 57 F Highest Temp: 71 F
Stats from the GPS: Total Miles: 7.69
Distance Walked: 1 mile
Overall Average Speed Moving Avg Max Speed
4.1 MPH 6.5 MPH 23.8 MPH
Distance Walked: 1 mile
Overall Average Speed Moving Avg Max Speed
4.1 MPH 6.5 MPH 23.8 MPH
Total Trip Time Moving Time Stopped Time
1 hour 46 mins 1 hour 7 mins 37 minutes
1 hour 46 mins 1 hour 7 mins 37 minutes
Isn't that the way most do-it-yourself repairs go? A guy once told me he went to a parts store to get parts for a minor repair he was doing on his vehicle. The parts man assembled the requested parts, thanked him for his business, and said, "I'll see you in a little while." The customer asked him what he meant by that. The parts man responded that every do-it-yourself repair requires at least 3 trips to the parts store. The customer laughed and assured him he had all the parts required. But, sure enough, about half hour later he was back in the store getting another part that, like you, he discovered was defective. The parts man thanked him again, wished him well, and again said he would see him again in a few minutes. The guy working on his car was so miffed by the smugness of the parts guy that he went to another store to get the additional part and another tool he found he needed.
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