Month: October 2007

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Let the fun begin [FJR 1300 Final Drive Seals]

This starts back here at “My FJR thinks it’s a Harley”, or better yet a BMW.

I received all the seals that I ordered from University Motors in Fargo, ND. (Whom I highly recommend. They saved me almost $40 in parts after shipping.)

Tonight I started tearing into it. I drained the final drive (oil was still pretty clean), then proceeded to remove the rear wheel and take the pumpkin off.

Since it was leaking from the weep hole, I really expected to see a LOT of fluid in the swing arm. I at least expected a good amount. I didn’t find that. I know for a fact it was leaking from/through there as it was dripping.

Grr….

I also expected to see the inside towards the final drive at the end of the drive shaft good and lubed. It was, but not as much as expected.

It almost looked like it was leaking between here as the bottom of the entire final drive was pretty nasty too, but I think that’s only because it ran to the bottom.

You can see the bottom half (not on the towel) is dirtier around the plastic shield but it’s not as nasty as I’d expect if it was leaking from here.

I’m a little torn at the moment as to which seals to replace. I have them all 🙂

Seal #34 is easy, #12 not so much, as I’m going to have to find that ‘special’ tool.

I’m going to post up on the FJRForum and see what the consensus is.

Update: Well, after inspecting all the parts, I can’t really see where it’s leaking from.  I still think #34 or #12, others on the board thing I have an issue with O-Ring #20 but I’m not convinced.

#34 was ‘dirty’ so I cleaned everything backup and reassembled it.  Did the normal maintenance for this time of year, greased the splines and changed all the fluids.  We’ll see if it continues to leak.

After putting it all back together I came in to find that I’d received the ECU recall notice.  So if I’m taking it in for that, might as well have them fix the seals under warranty at the same time.

We’ll see how it goes.  I really haven’t had the altitude surging issue that others have noticed or had issue with.

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Out you demons of stupidity!

Stupid-Bengals

I’m struggling, really struggling, but I suspect by the end of the day I’ll simply need to fire the Bengals.

Ineptitude seems to be contagious in Bengaldom.

Edit (Update): WOW! After the game Coach Marvin Lewis (and I use the term Coach lightly) said:

“In hindsight, we should have gone for it on fourth down rather than take the points.”

Yet, today, one day after the fact, he backpedaled.

“I still feel we’re going to possess the ball three more times, by taking the points,” Lewis said. “We have an opportunity to stop them, get the ball back before halftime then have the ball coming out in the third quarter. So I’m probably going to still kick the field goal at that point with where we were in the game. It was a good yard that way. I have to go with how I’m getting information. We weren’t sure, we had a little bit of rundown on the play clock because they didn’t get the ball spotted exactly right away. If you look at the tape, once I called timeout, it was a little bit further. But again, I have to go with what is there. It’s easy to look back on it now, particularly after they score a touchdown, and think that makes a difference. … It was important to get points.”

Damn son, where’s your conviction? NFL Coaches aren’t paid millions of dollars to waffle on their decisions.

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Bengals now 2-5 as expected.

Watching that game was down right painful and the outlook is now worse than before.

Buffalo beat the Jets and is now 3-4, and nope I don’t think the Bengals can beat Buffalo so we’re probably looking at 2-6 after next week. Equaling their poor start in 2004. They did get to 8-8 that year…

Key disappointments this week:

  • Play calling. Outside of the first drive, it was pitiful, and predictive as hell. When Palmer audibles with a closed fist, they are running. If I can catch that don’t you think the rest of the league has?
  • That gutless 4th and one call. You’ve got to be kidding me. Every team has a sure fire play to gain one yard. Generally a quick slant pass play that’s good for one yard and can’t be stopped. Given the score down 14-3 at the time, knowing you’re already 2-4 and haven’t stopped Pittsburgh all day you have to go for that. The whole complexity of the game changes if you make it.
  • Chad and TJ, though Chad more so than TJ. I understand these guys are getting played soft, and/or double teamed. When a team sits back and takes away the deep stuff, there’s all kinds of open stuff underneath. Good teams (will just pick you apart if you stick to cover-2, and force you to move up, thus opening the long ball. These guys have to get open, if they aren’t someone else is. You can’t blanket cover 3 wide outs and the tight end. Someone is open and Carson had time today.
  • Clock management. From the time O’neal intercepted that ball we should have been in the two minute drill. There wasn’t any sense of urgency with the Bengals. You can take your time and put together a 17 play 8 minute drive when you have the lead, not when playing catch-up. The Steelers drove 67 yards in 9 plays/2 minutes to and the half. I know you need to rest the D and keep the Steelers of the field, but you need points more at that stage of the game.
  • Challenges – my goodness who is Marvin getting feedback from? This person needs their eyes checked.

I thought last week that 4-6 was a possibility. I’m revising that to 3-7… The Bengals *might* steal a win in the next 4 weeks, and expect they’ll maybe finish 5-11 or worse 4-12. Of course adding Chris Henry to the mix will help but it’s not going to help enough.

The best part of today? My weekends have opened up considerably.

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The beloved 2-4 Bengals.

I hadn’t written about the beloved Bengals for a couple weeks. They certainly laid an egg against a very beatable Chiefs team. They darn near lost the game to the Jets. While it was a great come-back in the 2nd half, I find the enthusiasm of fans a bit overwhelming. You’d think they made the playoffs or something.

Injuries aside, they did play well that and half but as much as as they played well, the jets played poorly. So it’s not really as good as it looks.

Looking ahead, this is Pittsburgh week (currently 4-2). Do they have a chance? I’m afraid they probably don’t. The line is currently Pittsburgh by 3.5 I don’t think they have a chance to stop Pittsburgh but they might just get lucky at home. Can Pittsburgh stop them? The proved on Monday night that they were vulnerable, much more so that I’d thought. Of course the Bengals will probably start Rudi instead of Kenny so the first half will be a bust run-wise.

I’m fairly certain they don’t have what it takes to get up for this game. Hack they couldn’t get up for the Chiefs and that was a *must* win, and it took them half the game to get up for the Jets which was a double-must-win game.

The following week it’s the Bills (2-4). We should beat the Bills, but we also should have beaten the Browns, Chiefs and whooped up on the Jets. This game isn’t a mime, the Bengals are notorious for playing to the level of their competition. This game will have a lot of turn-overs in it.

Ravens (4-3) three weeks from now? They Ravens are no where near as good as the Bengals made them look on opening night. This game is also a *must* win but won’t be easy.

Cardinals (3-4) again not a gimmie for the Bengals.

If they get past Pittsburgh with a win, that might be just enough momentum to allow them to win the next 3, moving them from 2-4 to 6-4, but I don’t have faith that will happen even with Henry back for the Ravens and Cardinals.

I’m thinking we’re looking at 4-6, which would pretty much signal the end of the Season for the Bengals.

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Well it happened…

With just the right amount of rain and a little bit of wind that we had today…

This became this:

It was only a matter of time… This time a guy offered to at least cut it up for us and get it out of the driveway. He’s returning the favor because I let him cut down a certain type of tree along our tree line that he uses to make bows or something.

We’ll see how well this works out.