A
Alaskavan
Guest
Today, at about 8 mile (8 miles from town, 25 miles from home) on the way to work, the chain came off the engine sprocket. It beat up my lights and flag a bit, took out the rear fender mounts, and took some paint off the frame before wrapping up and locking the rear wheel >A testament to the WheelMaster, there was no damage to the spokes or wheel<. With the trike, even with the rear locked, I was able to just steer it off the shoulder of the road.
I feel pretty dumb. Yesterday, I noticed that the chain was a little loose, but I chalked it up to stretch, and thought I'd deal with it later. This morning, I noticed a little excessive motion of the exhaust pipe, but it didn't cause me to look closer. One of the motor mount bolts had worked it's way out, and the others had loosened. That caused the problem. Then, when I was tightening down the remaining bolts, I sheared one off in the case. I'll have to pull the engine off to extract the end of the bolt. On the positive side, I've had an oil leak that I've been ignoring until I had a good reason to pull the engine. Now I do.
Anyway, even if it's not a Happy Time, it's a good idea to keep it firmly fastened to the bike.
I feel pretty dumb. Yesterday, I noticed that the chain was a little loose, but I chalked it up to stretch, and thought I'd deal with it later. This morning, I noticed a little excessive motion of the exhaust pipe, but it didn't cause me to look closer. One of the motor mount bolts had worked it's way out, and the others had loosened. That caused the problem. Then, when I was tightening down the remaining bolts, I sheared one off in the case. I'll have to pull the engine off to extract the end of the bolt. On the positive side, I've had an oil leak that I've been ignoring until I had a good reason to pull the engine. Now I do.
Anyway, even if it's not a Happy Time, it's a good idea to keep it firmly fastened to the bike.
