Mechanic woes

A rubber hose in my 50cc scooter has sprang several leaks due to age, so now I have to replace it.
The hose goes under the starter motor, so I have to remove the starter motor.
But I can't remove it unless I remove the rear wheel, because otherwise there isn't enough space to work the allen key.
And I can't remove the wheel without removing the exhaust pipe and the brake pad assembly.

And the other end of the tube sits under the upper right fairing, which won't come off unless the lower right fairing is removed first.

So I have to take apart half the damn thing, and all just for a rubber hose.



I swear, whoever came up with this design needs to be shot.

</rant>

Ouch! Sounds like you have your Saturday or Sunday all planned out. Nothing I hate more than to have to "work" like that on my weekend.

Fallingwater,

What a bummer. At least replace it by the sturdiest piece of hose you can find!

The first thing the designer put on the drawing board was obviously the hose. He then developed the bike from there ... .

Good luck.

Kees

Well it's time to use some redneck engineering, I don't know what it's like but I'd imagine a cut down allen key, needlenose plier, perhaps even welder would make it work.

Tried a shorter allen key - not enough torque.

I got the hose out. I had to carry the scooter to a nearby mechanic because the bolt on the rear wheel was too tight for my hand wrench, but the rest I did myself. I now have the broken hose in a plastic bag, the exhaust pipe and the rear wheel in my closet, the right fairing in my entrance and the starter motor on my desk (fun fact: a lab power supply that maxes out at 5A can't output enough current to even get it to spin at nominal speed with no load. I don't even want to think what kind of torture the small lead-acid battery has to endure while the engine is cranking).

I hope I don't have too much trouble finding a replacement hose tomorrow, then I'll have to put the whole thing back together and bleed the brakes, and if I'm quick enough I can get it serviced before the shops close. Then back to work to remove the restrictions, and if the mechanic gods are on my side after that I can actually drive it.

*sigh*

:laughing: theres ALWAYS that 1 stubborn bolt :laughing:


did you try a leverage bar on it

Whatever a leverage bar is, I don't have one...

Breaker bar

That and a 6 feet long pipe, plus me and buddy weight close to 400 lbs total, I've never met a bolt we couldn't turn by hand.

Sounds like your hose location is the result of a common occurrence we call an "engineer". Engineer's have a knack for putting things in the wrong place. Hoses routed through six different holes, but only six inches long, bolts that are behind solid steel plates which require taking half the thing apart, and one of my personal favorites; the oil filter that was installed without enough clearance to remove it.

As a final act of defiance, engineers also made certain to put them selves in an extremely difficult to reach position after you've worked a 10 hour day working around their 'brilliance' and would love to grab one and scream "Why did you put that there!?"

Amen DieselTech! Engineers should be required to get their hands dirty and service the prototypes of the devices they're designing. This includes all normal maintenance plus any repairs that might be necessary on a regular basis.

I know, in a perfect world............

:buddies:

Note: I know most engineers are good folks and quite competent. However, like any group of people, idiots abound too.

a steel pipe about 3 feet or longer and stick on the handle of wrench like this and you get massive leverage




this though is over the top ,that bolt must be really tough

I would only trust an engineer who has badly scraped their knuckles while loosening a bolt at least once in their lifetime, and then only up to a point.

I would only trust one of them more than that if they actually had several scars on their hands.

The bar mechanism would work for a car, but in my case I'm pretty sure the scooter (60kg or thereabouts, I think) would have been lifted on the rear wheel and dumped on the side. It almost did that while I was trying with the hand wrench...

I need to buy an impact wrench. :devil: