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248 little annoyances on my Plymouth


TodFitch

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Last weekend my wife and I drove out to an inn on the coast, did a little hiking and did a little sightseeing. Between the dirt roads and dirt parking areas, the morning fog and the local stray cats donating paw prints, the car needed some cleaning up before this weekend's events.

 

There are 36 spokes on each wheel. Only way I know to clean them is to do each one, one at a time. All the other methods I've tried don't do as nice a job. 36 times 4 is 144 (fortunately the rear tire cover hides the spare tire, wheel and all those spokes in a nice smooth easy to clean package).

 

There are 34 louvers on each side of the hood. 34 times 2 is 68.

 

And there are 36 narrow little gaps in the radiator grill that are a bear to clean between.

 

Total annoying little things to get clean: 248. Sometimes I think I should have looked into a later car with plain old steel wheels, no side louvers and nice (widely) spaced front trim work. OTOH my car is pretty unique.

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Trade it for a Prius?

 

Wait, I believe you already have one.  ^_^

 

Leave it the garage? NOT!

 

Feel your pain some but I don't have wire wheels either or such a nice car. ;)

 

DJ

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Ha, welcome to the world of old and antique motorcycles! Well I guess you have two more wheels to do, but yeah, I've spent half my life cleaning spokes, and on a motorcycle, everything is visible, so everything gets cleaned and detailed. But funny you should mention it, just noticed yesterday that the spokes on my BMW need some serious attention.

 

Now on Lumpy, just hose off the primer, wash the windows, shine up the chrome wheels and all done. !!

 

ken.

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Ha, welcome to the world of old and antique motorcycles! Well I guess you have two more wheels to do, but yeah, I've spent half my life cleaning spokes, and on a motorcycle, everything is visible, so everything gets cleaned and detailed. But funny you should mention it, just noticed yesterday that the spokes on my BMW need some serious attention.

 

Now on Lumpy, just hose off the primer, wash the windows, shine up the chrome wheels and all done. !!

 

ken.

Did you ever completely re-spoke a motorcycle wheel? I did once and vowed to never do it again. Using a dial indicator it took forever to get it both round and square.

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Don:

 

I do alot of bike repair work and I have done my fair share of truing bicycle wheels.  They make a truing gig that the hub and rim sits in and then there are  two indicators that you and  bring in from both sied of the rim to see where the rim is out of true.  Then it is a combination of loosening and tighenting the spokes in that area to get the rim to be straight. But you also have to be careful not to get the rim out of round.  Then there isa dishing tool for the rear wheel to make sure the rim is centered over the entire width of the hub.

 

So yes I know what it takes to true a bicycle wheel so I just imagine what it takes to true a spoke wire wheel for a car.

 

Not an easy task.

 

Rich HArtung

Desoto1939@aol.com

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think most folks say 60 spoke minimum for a car wheel with the 72 spokes the strongest..however even at that I do not recommend spokes on cars with high rear wheel HP and constant aggressive driving habits..spoke wheels are very much a PITA to clean and keep true...and unlike some of the more modern rims where the wire lacing is external to the rim and can allow a tubeless tire..older style wires do not offer that luxury...definitely a labor of love and aesthetic accuracy of the rebuild only in my book..even motorcycles use mag wheels for the majority of their products these days...

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at least you were able to drive your car to an area, get out and go hiking., get back in and drive home...chebbie owners take their car out for a ride and have to hike back.... :lol:

Ah-so true! :lol:  A fellow who frequents my workplace owns about five Chevy trucks, from the fifties to the seventies, and every day, he drives up.......in a Dodge- while working on his chevys every night -_- .........

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I have laced and trued my own motorcycle wheels, but lately I lace them up, then pay the man to true them for me. Many of the old bikes, the hub is not true with the rim, there will be an amount of offset, just to make things even more interesting. I'm so far from the modern motorcycle world...foot clutch, hand shift lever, spoke wheels, oil from the engine dribbles on the primary chain, then out the bottom, heck, even my "new" bike, a 1992, has spoke wheels. It's kind of funny, compared to the new bikes, my '37 is rough, crude, uncomfortable, difficult to drive...but it sure is a hell of a lot more fun. Kind of like our cars versus new cars.

I think spoke wheels are more problematic on a car, where you have large amounts of side thrust. Going around a corner, and hitting bumps must put tremendous pressure on them. On a motorcycle wheel, in a corner, all the force is in a straight line, through the tire, spokes and hub, and then out the top. ??? As you are leaning into "the force". Did that make any sense? If you think about it you know what I mean. Or not!

But I sure have cleaned many spokes in my life, and will be doing it for some time to come.

ken.

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You don't turn the bars, you just lean in the direction you want to turn. My father had a hay meadow along side I 80 in Western Nebraska during the days of the LONG fork bikes of the late 60's. We would watch those riders 'weave' their way with their handle bars locked down and theri arms folded on their chests. I think they were called "Easy Riders".

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Don Coatney, on 19 Jul 2014 - 04:43 AM, said:

So tell me, if you are riding your old motorcycle down the road and you want to turn right what direction do you turn the handlebars?

I know I know...

 

bikes with the long rake and the high ape hangers did not have a casual flip of the wrist handle bar positioning PP..not like the tilt wheel of the modern car for certain..every so often I still see an ape hanger...just got to laugh at the very idea they think they could actually handle that bike in an emergency situation...I have to laugh..all the ape hangers were good for was drying armpits..please riders...grow up!!

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I know I know...

 

bikes with the long rake and the high ape hangers did not have a casual flip of the wrist handle bar positioning PP..not like the tilt wheel of the modern car for certain..every so often I still see an ape hanger...just got to laugh at the very idea they think they could actually handle that bike in an emergency situation...I have to laugh..all the ape hangers were good for was drying armpits..please riders...grow up!!

Most motorcycle riders that have been riding for a long time do not know. And if you tell them they don't believe you.

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You turn the bars in the opposite direction to initiate the turn, then lean, relax, and let the bars return to where they want to.

 

If you were to ride no hands into a turn, (steer completely by leaning with no hands) and watch the bars, you can see them turn slightly in the "wrong" direction as you first lean, and then return to a neutral position as you lean more into the turn, or as the bike settles into the turn. Of course, watching the bars as you go into a turn no-hands, instead of where you are going, is not for the faint of heart...or perhaps even the smart of heart. And of course wheel bearings, alignment, tire pressure, neck-bearing pressure, axles true and in alignment, all that has to be spot on for good no hands riding.

 

Indeed it is instinctive, and many people don't realize it. Sometimes, when inexperienced riders go into a turn too fast, they will panic, and try to steer into the turn, which is backwards, and crash, and never know why they crashed.

 

Now under a certain speed, but real slow, like under 10mph, or something, just guessing, you do turn your bars in the direction of the turn.

 

k.

Edited by Lumpy
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While you can make a bike lean by only leaning your body, it isn't very efficient, nor is it the correct technique. Don is referring to counter-steering, where you press on the left hand grip to lean the bike to the left and press on the right hand grip to lean the bike to the right.

 

I agree that many long time riders don't understand this concept. I teach it on a regular basis and many are confused by it at first, until we do a couple of exercises that focus on it, then it all makes sense.

 

Merle

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