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Picnic 2023
Jul. 23rd, 2023 10:30 pmThe UP picnic is done. The normal things occurred. The big rocket was very successful. Of course there were spectacular failures, we would be disappointed if not. My contribution was to try making sugar rocket engines. I learned some stuff and will be able to do better next year. I need to make some tools and get an arbor press. Using a hammer does not really work nearly well enough.
I had a new motorcycle for the trip and it is NOT really off-road capable. I would have been fine had I left the bike at the top of the hill (I did on Tuesday) but when I returned Thursday I tried the ramp. Mistake. About 1/3 of the way down I was stopped dead by a rock, and when I got to the bottom and shut off the engine I smelled oil and was dumping oil on the ground. I had left a trail of oil all the way down the ramp and around the corner to the parking area, then dumped about a liter on the ground. Everyone was somewhat amused by my trail :)
Thankfully this is a problem we know how to deal with - last year we had a car with a holed oil pan and fixed it. This one was much easier to fix since we could just lay the bike on the ground and easily work on the pan. Dan K did it last year and he showed up again and took care of it for me, doing a much better job than I would have. I guess I know how it's done now. JB Weld and aluminum sheet, plus careful prep work with file and wire brush and brake cleaner to make an absolutely clean, roughed up raw metal surface for the JB to grab. The fix is perfect, I made it the 600 miles home without trouble and it's bone dry. It's honestly probably good forever but I ordered a replacement oil pan anyway. I also read some forums and found that bike is a bit notorious for having a vulnerable oil pan, so I ordered a protection piece to take any future hits.
If I bring that bike up again in the future I'll just have to stay at the top of the hill.
I didn't get all the tourist stuff I wanted done because of not having a vehicle, but I did do some before the event. I left a day before I had planned so that I would have someone following behind me in case I had any issues.
The problem:
( Photos of the fix behind cut )
I had a new motorcycle for the trip and it is NOT really off-road capable. I would have been fine had I left the bike at the top of the hill (I did on Tuesday) but when I returned Thursday I tried the ramp. Mistake. About 1/3 of the way down I was stopped dead by a rock, and when I got to the bottom and shut off the engine I smelled oil and was dumping oil on the ground. I had left a trail of oil all the way down the ramp and around the corner to the parking area, then dumped about a liter on the ground. Everyone was somewhat amused by my trail :)
Thankfully this is a problem we know how to deal with - last year we had a car with a holed oil pan and fixed it. This one was much easier to fix since we could just lay the bike on the ground and easily work on the pan. Dan K did it last year and he showed up again and took care of it for me, doing a much better job than I would have. I guess I know how it's done now. JB Weld and aluminum sheet, plus careful prep work with file and wire brush and brake cleaner to make an absolutely clean, roughed up raw metal surface for the JB to grab. The fix is perfect, I made it the 600 miles home without trouble and it's bone dry. It's honestly probably good forever but I ordered a replacement oil pan anyway. I also read some forums and found that bike is a bit notorious for having a vulnerable oil pan, so I ordered a protection piece to take any future hits.
If I bring that bike up again in the future I'll just have to stay at the top of the hill.
I didn't get all the tourist stuff I wanted done because of not having a vehicle, but I did do some before the event. I left a day before I had planned so that I would have someone following behind me in case I had any issues.
The problem:
( Photos of the fix behind cut )
