Still kickin :)

[RIDE-RED 250r]

Hi guys. I've been absent here for quite awhile. Life has taken me in directions other than trikes, but I still have them all. Been getting back into it with my kids. My 12 year old daughter has been having so much fun on the 125 she ran the rear axle bearings clean out of it. My 16 year old son just landed his first job at the local hardware/home store and is excited to get rebuilding a sad old 350x we picked up awhile back. I changed jobs again, made a major step up for us taking a job spinning wrenches in the fleet department for National Grid. Never thought an "uneducated" guy like me would ever have the opportunity to do so well. Color me grateful. How have you all been? Well I hope.

[fabiodriven]

Great to see you peeking in Joe!

[Arky-X]

Hi guys. I've been absent here for quite awhile. Life has taken me in directions other than trikes, but I still have them all. Been getting back into it with my kids. My 12 year old daughter has been having so much fun on the 125 she ran the rear axle bearings clean out of it. My 16 year old son just landed his first job at the local hardware/home store and is excited to get rebuilding a sad old 350x we picked up awhile back. I changed jobs again, made a major step up for us taking a job spinning wrenches in the fleet department for National Grid. Never thought an "uneducated" guy like me would ever have the opportunity to do so well. Color me grateful. How have you all been? Well I hope.

Electric and gas utility?

[RIDE-RED 250r]

Yes, that's what National Grid does on this area. I'm in the fleet department, mantainence and repair of all of their toys.

[yaegerb]

Glad to see everything is going well for ya Joe!

[El Camexican]

Was just thinking about you the other day Joe, good to see you on here. I hope it happens more often.

[plastikosmd]

Amazing news!
It is great to hear from you and thank u for the update
It is nice to have good news for a change

[RIDE-RED 250r]

I've been thinking of you guys lately too.

Got the 125 bearings done before leaving for work today. I work 1600-2400 Monday through Friday. Have to do a little more tweaking to the rear end in the chain adjustment mechanism, she's pulling and I figure the rear end is cocked a bit. Got some brand new sneakers for the Big Red and installed them over the weekend. Long overdue, front tire was the original and badly dry rotted.

[ironchop]

Good to see you back in here

Sent from my Z958 using Tapatalk

[RIDE-RED 250r]

Thanks for the replies guys.

Well, the little 125 is back up and running. Got my JD serviced and hung the deck, and got our new generator ready for camp.
The MSR clutch lever and perch are giving me problems on the big bore R, just ordered an ASV Pro clutch lever and perch for that.

Next projects are to put a set of BKM swingarm bushings in my 350x that I've had since last summer and then address the sadly broken case on Momma's 350x. My boy was riding it and the chain broke, not the master link either. Punched a hole at the bottom of the sprocket, not the dead spot further up. Oil puked out and you can wave "hi" to the shifter shaft. It's a nickel sized hole and a skilled welder could probably fix it, but by the time I split the cases for the job, I might as well hunt down a good case half.

Anyway, just rambling here. Been enjoying getting all these projects done that have been back-burnered for too long

[atc300r]

Welcome back.

[RIDE-RED 250r]

Went to camp at the Oswego County ATV club this past weekend. After getting about 50 miles in with the Big Red on the rockiest, roughest, spine crunchin-ist trails I've ridden, it lit a fire under my ass to swap those bad swingarm bearings in my 350x. She's getting a set of BKM delrin bushings

[RIDE-RED 250r]

Well, I bought this trike from my younger brother a couple years back. When he went through it back in '04 he installed a zero fitting in the swingarm pivot. Smart man! Pivot bolt came out with ease and bearings slide right out! Huge win!

[fabiodriven]

Did he drill the swing arm bolt?

[RIDE-RED 250r]

Negative. Drilled and tapped the pivot housing in the swingarm itself. There is a crush sleeve in there similar to the axle carrier. Grease goes in between the pivot housing and crush sleeve and does make its way into the bearings. Bearings still had grease in them. At this point I'm not entirely sure if the bearings were bad or my pivot housing is worn. Bryan's bushings fit a tad loose. I measure 1.125" ID on the housing and 1.115" OD on Bryan's bushings. I'm going to put them in and see how it works. I'm confident in Bryan's research and work, I suspect my pivot housing is to blame. Maybe might hit him up for a set customized to my pivot housing dimensions if things are still sloppy when I get it together