Wednesday, May 06, 2009

Tach It Up

Things have not been going well lately in regards to mechanical matters. The other day, The Fuzz was riding back from the trailer on his motorcycle. As he neared the house the tach fell off. This was a bit of a bummer, since due to another situation which I'd rather not go into right now, this bike is his main method of transport. Now this is not as strange as it may seem, since so much of this machine is constructed of (now aging) plastic. But The Fuzz admits, he was not expecting it.
Realizing that this would surely be an expensive part to replace, he gave it a bit of thought, and the wheels began to go click-click-click. Here is the result.
A hose clamp (A ) was purchased at the Home Improvement Store. This was then cut open and bent to fit the mounting on the bike. Appropriately sized holes were drilled for the screw, and it was fastened to the bike. Of course there were complications. Since the tach was slightly tapered, it had a tendency to slip out of the clamp when tightened. First a bit of old inner tube was tried unsuccessfully. Finally, he resorted to adding a clamp (B) made out of an unused scrap of the hose clamp. This was more successful.
Now there are many folks who would probably be disgusted by this crude expedient, but this is not a $50,000 Chopper or any thing like that. As The Fuzz has said he "Got it to ride on, not rub on". And so far, it hasn't fallen off again. And as you know, it's hard to argue with success.

3 comments:

maria said...

got is to ride on, not rub on ?! hahaha I can honestly say i have never heard that one :)

deftgurl said...

sorry the truck is misbehaving. Sounds like a great stop-gap on the bike, tho. good work!

The Lazy Iguana said...

If duct tape can not fix something, ring clamps often can.