breakdowns and limp home old style

We have all been there, well most of us anyway so I thought an entertaining spot for those times.

In the last two years there have been several instances of malfunction..oh hell the damn things broke!! and all but three I managed to bring the bike home without a trailer or wrecker.

1. downshifted to second gear popped the the primary drive belt...5 hours side the road waiting for tow.

2. front exhaust valve broke off and stuck in piston...6 hours stranded before tow truck.

3. The freaking lock washer on the clutch lock nut tang broke and dropped the whole clutch basket off the shaft..buddy following on his bike went back home got trailer..2 hours and a six pack!
 
brought her home.

1. Left bike show/event 9 Sunday of course) got three miles down the road the engine started cutting out loss of power, almost like running out of fuel. Stopped checked gas all okay started out again few more miles same thing fuel stravation came to mind pulled over checked the clear filter between the tank and carb..yes I still have a carb no fuel injecters....looked good but very little gas, rocked the bike banged on the peacock fuel poured into clear filter..stop and go all the way home. Pulled off the peacock the in tank filter was clogged from debris etc..replaced the filter.

2. Left PNS HD one saturday evening after an event got several blocks away the engine started shutting down running with little power acted like not getting gas to one of the cylinders. Pulled over checked over the gas even checked the carb adjustments to be sure nothing had backed out or fell off..some times that happens on shovels..nope all there checked the plugs not fouled looked good fired it up still running like crap ..what the hell. I had to get back home to Gulf shores.Rode a few more blocks pulled over checked for firing at the plug wires and found rear cyclinder plug wire dead no fire, checked around all looked good pulled the coil...damn there was a crack in the case and somethingleaking out..coil was recent new drag specilitaly buy since I removed the other being unknown age and WORRIED about it dying on me..had wife bring old coil before going over the predio bridge replaced ran fine.

I will add some more later on and hope the rest of you do also, some just human error others ..well that is the rest of the story.

Tool kits and misc items for old bikes and some new bikes.

Spare plugs...for fouling and the all time favorite plug missles

two different gauges of saftey wire 0.20 & 0.30 ....20 for cleaning out the jets after getting crappy gas and being so cool by not running 2 fuel filters to keep trash out of the carb.. .30 great for exhaust pipes that vibrate loosen the (1) exhaust bolt and dropping the exhaust on the road trying to take out a fellow rider...so sorry about that scadoole. but hey it slid off the road and he missed it!

Also the .30 is good for making repairs when you are out riding and the recently replaced clutch cable..i.e.J&P brand%%% end breaks off and you make it to the side of the road after power shifting to keep from getting run over by the old lady cager on your a$$!!

Also the above wire is good for wiring the parts back on the bike when they vibrate off, mirrors, seats lights etc.

Spare set of points in case you run them till they burn down to a  trickle spark.

jumper wires for when the ignition switch goes north and you need to keep the bike running and start up after fueling stops on the way home.

Roll of black electrical tape , hole in tire , wiring shorted or burned misc parts falling off..

spare piece of fuel hose and clamp, hoses break down quickly in heat and todays gas.

All great tips. 

I carry......um.....yeah. I carry a cell phone.   I do have a set of wrenches in my bag. But no room for anything else. Hopping to have that problem solved before too long.

New emergency kit for road trips.

1. Duct tape
2. saftey wire.020 and .030
3. large plastic bags
4. roll of electrical tape
5. two large flat bladed screwdrivers..or if you can afford them to tire spoons
6. can of air..or tire pump
7. two flashlights with new batteries
8. Pack of JB weld
9. pack of chewing gum
10. pack of jerky
12. matches or lighter
13.6 feet of electrical wire

14. AAA plus with motorcycle coverage for when the above fails to get you back on the road, and of course as hayweed said cell phone.
13. bottled water or six pack
14.

hehe hhmm been there done that , best way to ride a shovel or older is to hook a trailer up with every conceivable spare part and tools to boot ..

peeps these days don't know how well they got it riding , ride one hour , wrench two hours is the norm it seems

but at least with the EVO and earlier , it is pretty simple to work on when it do squat , I mean , my gauges use more wire than the shovels or panhead does for the entire bike

theres what uumm mebbe six wires total in the shovels and pan

  Yep, less than a dozen wires..way better than my old EVO I had. But went for a ride yesterday lost one rivet out of the rear sproket, damn acorn nut vibrated off the dash panel..then it rained buckets!! Great ride and after another hour I was almost dry..

Okay, this one has me stumped for an on the road repair without a spare. freaking primary belt broke after 28 months and 8700+ or minus miles up in Atmore last sunday, primo 11mm 1 1/5 wide 92 tooth belt with kevlar embedded. Going back up friday to replace and bring home, lucky me my relatives are up there so have a place to leave till belt arrives tomorrow. other than spare any ideals??

They make a spare drive belt that can be used at any length. Maybe it would work for a short time. I don't know.

Might be worth looking into, got a new belt due in tomorrow $109.65 with shipping.
I had this nagging feeling a month or two ago that I should change the belt as part of regular maintenance, now I will every 24 months.