Another step backwards today.
Started the day hacksawing out the rear number plate bracket from a lump of 5mm angle iron. Trust me, it'll be prettier than that sounds! It'll bolt to the back of the axle diff & carry a steel backing plate for the number plate.
Then Reg arrived on his Beemer to deliver the new steering stops he'd made for me. Great -except they won't fit. The previous ones were moving when the bars were dropped onto full lock. 14mm stainless steel pins with 8mm studs that screwed into blind holes in the bottom yoke. Being an ally yoke, finished in powder-coat, which is a fairly soft finish, the force of the stops hitting the central pin on the headstock was gradually straining the threads in the yoke. Solution One was to make new stops with a wider flange on the base which would hopefully spread the load over the yoke. Being wider we couldn't get them past the headstock to screw them into the yoke though. Bugger.
Solution Two is to drill the bottom yoke again to take a recessed allen bolt from underneath, which'll pass right through the yoke & screw into the underside of the steering stop. Much stronger. Hopefully. Sorry Reg! That'll be the third time he's machined those damned stops!
Only problem was, that meant jacking up the front of the trike & taking the front end off again to remove the bottom yoke. Bugger x 2.
Left by myself I'd have put off doing that for the next week & probably eventually convinced myself it didn't need doing -then cursed myself for ever more that I didn't. Fortunately help was soon at hand. As Reg left. Lunatic arrived -& he had choccie donuts! Top chap.
Forks & yokes removed & bottom yoke delivered to Reg for re-drilling. I'm praying he can do it without destroying too much of the powder-coating. Minor damage can be retouched with the aerosol of touch-in paint I've got left over from the last trike. While he's got the yoke he's also going to drill a hole for the speedo cable to pass through -another job that got overlooked during the initial build.
So no piccies, just go back & look at the ones before I fitted the front end -it looks the same now.
Thanks Lunatic & Reg for your help.
