Been going through my nearly new (390 mi.), almost fully disassembled '07 E-Ton Beamer R4 in dribs n' drabs since I got it home New Year's Eve day.
Though riding 2 wheels since the late '60's this is my 1st experience with scooters, besides a couple short hops on others' a few times.
Like everything else I get involved with want to know enough to be almost an expert by yesterday, if not sooner!
So, besides boning up on as much knowledge and lore that can be gleaned on the 'net, being rather anal about my toys I simply
had to almost completely tear it down, freshen everything like new or better, re-style, modify, upgrade, innovate, improvise, etc, etc...
This bike, and my brother's identical model came from Cape Cod. Left sitting in storage for some time in the salt air environment and after a few probable runs on the beach, a fair amount of corrosion and crud was festooned about liberally.
The bare frame has been mostly de-rusted, stripped of unnecessary bracketry (for carbon can, etc.)
It now sits waiting for 're-weld'... that is
finish the welding on of key gussets, mounting brackets, etc. vs. the glorified tack-weld job it came from Asia with.
Had to cut a weld on one side of a misaligned bracket to square it up and cut a filler shim to insert in a gap elsewhere to be plug and bead welded in place. Mostly it appears square but,
Hoo-Boy, they don't waste a lot of time on small details! (I'm used to Jap motorcycle build quality!)
Quite awhile back I pulled the CVT apart to see what makes one of these things tick. I could see there was some rust within the clutch, especially the torque spring... that simply will
not do! >
(I did mention being anal...?
)
Initially I ordered one of these from Sears to attempt the clutch teardown:
www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_00999865000PBesides the strap being too wide to fit between the jaws of my vise (while it grasps the clutch nut) and outer pulley half, what a clumsy POS!!
Might as well wrap a piece of 3 ft. wide jute backed carpet runner around something to turn it!
Yesterday I spotted this on Harbor Freight's site:
www.harborfreight.com/20-inch-chain-wrench-97073.htmlSo right after work this afternoon I ran over to HF to see if the store had it in stock.
While there I also noticed this one:
www.harborfreight.com/locking-chain-clamp-36813.htmlNot wanting to have to wait until tomorrow to go back to the store if one or the other failed to give results and having no aversion to amassing ever more tools, I bought them
both.
Tried the 2nd one first, gripped great and turned it easily...
OOPS! With everything upside down and all, started turning the
wrong way, tightening!
Once I rigged the wrench the right way it removed the nut easily, needless to say.
Did manage to evoke the dreaded "SPROING" factor despite holding the pulley down firmly whilst turning... even after completely removing the nut the assembly remained, 'er, assembled.
Took a few whacks around the perimeter with a soft face hammer and the whole thing jettisoned its components about the shop, "Haw-Haw, DUH!"
No harm done, nothing damaged, (especially me!)
(I understand the torque springs are color coded to denote tension strength... the stocker being pink, does that signify extra
wimpy?
)
Don't think I'll be wanting to upgrade that one, just clean up.
Gonna' pull the E-clips off tomorrow inspect and give everything a good 'dusting'.
Once up and running I may want to go for higher RPM springs on the clutch shoes... will have to see how it 'grabs' at idle with the originals.
That's all for now, hope you enjoyed this 'novella'... just dawned on me it might make a decent bedtime story.
"zzzzzz..."