Why does it always happen in three's?
Posted: Fri May 12, 2017 12:26 pm
An often quoted old wives tale in these parts says that bad luck always comes in three's. That seems to have been the case for me recently.
A couple of nights ago, Mrs O & I had our local Norton owners club meeting to go to. We had quite a lot of stuff to take along in readiness for an upcoming event we have, so two up on the Commando was not an option. We decided as it was a lovely evening, we'd go in the plus 2, but I opened the garage door only to find it sitting there with it's O/S/R corner slumped down & the corresponding tyre completely flat. Not having the time to mess about changing it, we had a quick change of plan & instead, loaded up the Elan & set off in that. About half way through our 26 mile journey, I caught the distinct smell of petrol, Mrs O commented on this at about the same time, so I pulled off the road to investigate. I soon found the problem, fuel was dripping from the fuel pipe between the 'T' piece & the rear Webber at quite a rate. Both pipe clips were tight, so I figured it must be the pipe had split. After removal, it became clear that the pipe was beginning to disintegrate, I can only assume the Ethanol had got to it, a bit annoying as I had replaced all the pipes less than two years ago with a supposedly ethanol safe product. Within a few minutes of stopping, and one of the things I love about driving/riding a classic vehicle in this country, two people had stopped to offer help, one of whom turned round, drove back home and returned about 20 minutes later with a roll of new fuel pipe. We replaced the offending pipe, and were back on our way. The next day, I replaced the rest of the pipes & added a length of spare pipe to the 'emergency' kit in the boot. I checked round to make sure there were no other visible gremlins looking for somewhere to wreak havoc, and decided while on a roll, now was a good time to adjust the ever diminishing hand brake. I raised the rear wheels just off the ground safely under the A frames so the weight was still on the suspension, only to find the O/S/R wheel didn't want to spin freely, the car is on CV joint drive shafts, but it felt more like it had rotoflexes with the suspension on full droop, and it was trying to push the diff housing to the left as it went tight. The N/S/R would spin quite freely, so obviously something was amiss. I figured it must be in one of the CV's, so removed the drive shaft for investigation. In the tin cover part of the inner joint, I could detect an outward ball shaped dent, so removed the gaiter & tin cover to find one of the balls floating about loose. It had somehow escaped from the cage & was getting caught up occasionally as the joint rotated, the tin cover preventing it from falling away into the gaiter. I cleaned everything carefully, and could see no other signs of damage, so re-inserted the ball to where it should have been, packed it with fresh grease, reassembled everything, and all seems to be well, no noises, no notchyness, and no play. I have no idea how or when the ball escaped, the car drove and sounded perfectly normal, and would roll freely and easily if pushed. It was only when jacked that I could detect the problem, I guess even though I lifted under the A frame, it changed the suspension angle just enough to cause the interference. Fingers crossed, no harm done, but I dread to think what could have happened.
As that would seem to be the three things, hopefully I can look forward to a trouble free rest of the year
Regards, Tim
A couple of nights ago, Mrs O & I had our local Norton owners club meeting to go to. We had quite a lot of stuff to take along in readiness for an upcoming event we have, so two up on the Commando was not an option. We decided as it was a lovely evening, we'd go in the plus 2, but I opened the garage door only to find it sitting there with it's O/S/R corner slumped down & the corresponding tyre completely flat. Not having the time to mess about changing it, we had a quick change of plan & instead, loaded up the Elan & set off in that. About half way through our 26 mile journey, I caught the distinct smell of petrol, Mrs O commented on this at about the same time, so I pulled off the road to investigate. I soon found the problem, fuel was dripping from the fuel pipe between the 'T' piece & the rear Webber at quite a rate. Both pipe clips were tight, so I figured it must be the pipe had split. After removal, it became clear that the pipe was beginning to disintegrate, I can only assume the Ethanol had got to it, a bit annoying as I had replaced all the pipes less than two years ago with a supposedly ethanol safe product. Within a few minutes of stopping, and one of the things I love about driving/riding a classic vehicle in this country, two people had stopped to offer help, one of whom turned round, drove back home and returned about 20 minutes later with a roll of new fuel pipe. We replaced the offending pipe, and were back on our way. The next day, I replaced the rest of the pipes & added a length of spare pipe to the 'emergency' kit in the boot. I checked round to make sure there were no other visible gremlins looking for somewhere to wreak havoc, and decided while on a roll, now was a good time to adjust the ever diminishing hand brake. I raised the rear wheels just off the ground safely under the A frames so the weight was still on the suspension, only to find the O/S/R wheel didn't want to spin freely, the car is on CV joint drive shafts, but it felt more like it had rotoflexes with the suspension on full droop, and it was trying to push the diff housing to the left as it went tight. The N/S/R would spin quite freely, so obviously something was amiss. I figured it must be in one of the CV's, so removed the drive shaft for investigation. In the tin cover part of the inner joint, I could detect an outward ball shaped dent, so removed the gaiter & tin cover to find one of the balls floating about loose. It had somehow escaped from the cage & was getting caught up occasionally as the joint rotated, the tin cover preventing it from falling away into the gaiter. I cleaned everything carefully, and could see no other signs of damage, so re-inserted the ball to where it should have been, packed it with fresh grease, reassembled everything, and all seems to be well, no noises, no notchyness, and no play. I have no idea how or when the ball escaped, the car drove and sounded perfectly normal, and would roll freely and easily if pushed. It was only when jacked that I could detect the problem, I guess even though I lifted under the A frame, it changed the suspension angle just enough to cause the interference. Fingers crossed, no harm done, but I dread to think what could have happened.
As that would seem to be the three things, hopefully I can look forward to a trouble free rest of the year
Regards, Tim