Dead Reckoning

Rat Rod Bikes Bicycle Forum

Help Support Rat Rod Bikes Bicycle Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Time for wheels

10A4D82A-7A8F-4FBC-A545-16C698F21BFF.jpeg
 
@ingola was kind enough to send me a replacement chrome seat post, but it’s coming from Canada, so Lord knows when it will arrive. I have to assume it won’t be here in time for final pictures, so I had to improvise. I wire wheeled the powder coating at the max height line and below. Slipped right in up to that spot. The white looks good, but isn’t adjustable, so the chrome one will be the permanent solution eventually.

9B42E713-7B56-4775-8820-BE16A69B3B19.jpeg



I did a ton of polishing tonight. So pressed in the BB cups. Years ago I bought a Tange Seki headset hoping it would fit a muscle bike. It didn’t, so the box has been sitting in my headset parts drawer for years. When I realized the original headset and BB on this bike was Tange, I busted it out and tried it. Pretty close, so I made some minor modifications to help it fit, including opening up the crown race a bit.

3E8E81C8-FDDE-4D20-91AD-AB3FEE82488A.jpeg


I pressed in the cups and the crown race and put it all together.

133340F3-C58F-451D-9C1A-CD5C9DDC657E.jpeg



Now a Sleep break…
 
Here’s an interesting snag I’ve never run into before. The pedal threads of the crank were so corroded that I couldn’t install the new pedals. The old POS pedals came off ok. But the new left one fought me all the way on, and I couldn’t get the right one started at all. So I took the bike to my LBS to have them tapped. The left side cleaned up fine and the pedal went on smooth. But he couldn’t even start the right one. So I attacked it from the inside. He got 3/4 of the way through and it felt like he hit a wall. You can see where the clean threads end at the corroded threads.

E9BFBDE5-9489-4064-9EFE-8BA29C2DA2E6.jpeg



So I came up with the idea of giving it an evaporust soak. So I brought it home to soak it.

9BA04882-4005-42D4-8A89-F87C8526FD84.jpeg



I’ll take it back tomorrow to get the last few threads tapped. Hopefully this idea works.
 
Nailed it! I keep two sets of old spindles from discarded pedals to use as thread chasers. When pedals don't fit the 'right' way, nail them from the opposite direction. Have not ruined the tools or the crank arms yet.
 
Got the decals on. Just need to get the pedal on, and this bike is ready for some pictures in the sun!

View attachment 221761
Great idea. I have pedal taps. I have a dog leg that has a pedal cross threaded in half way. I’ve been squirting penetrant on it for a month but haven’t attempted to remove it. It’s very rusty, it’s a pre reflective pedal so it’s been there for years. I was wondering if I could even start a pedal straight in it. If I get the cross threaded pedal off I’ll try retapping from the back. It’s the non drive side that’s messed up so I’ll need the reverse threaded tap. The other pedal is in all the way but is way bent. I’ll have to ex tract that one to save the crank. The crank could be bent, I have a bent dog leg so I’m hoping this one is good. Thanks for the idea. I’ll use rust buster before I try threading. The half that doesn’t have the pedal all the way in is rusty.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top