Top Fool

[Psychographic]

Can you get a replacement cog after you (Oops!) trash this one? and as always, your results may vary...

Personally I'd lean towards replacing the odd gear that doesn't match the rest of them. But I have heard of guys thinning down sprockets before. Take your time, check and recheck repeatedly, you don't want to take off too much.

Carl.

You have no faith in me Carl?

Don't worry, I don't have much faith in me pulling this bike off either. But then again, I never let that stop me before!

Trying to grind down the cog by myself was a little hard as the drill kept wanting to bounce around.

I have a catch every once in a while. It catches on the tooth coming off the cog, so I think it's just one or two teeth that need attention.

I think I will mark the teeth to see if it is the same one(s) catching. The front chain is way too loose and it has no adjustment right now, I plan to put a tension idler on it, Seeing as the BB is just tacked into place, I'll see about getting a better fit by moving it forward or back.

 

[Psychographic]

Poop out of a goose,
Banana peels,
Butter,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

These are the things I use to describe my drive train now.


I pedaled it through a bunch of rotations of the chain and marked the teeth from the back each time it caught.
I pulled the adapter off and sure enough it was only two teeth catching, each had multiple marks. I went over the two teeth with a fiberglass cut off wheel for my Dremel, then lightly went over the whole cog. No more catching and it operates smoothly, it also seems to shift better when I push in the derailleur by hand with this chain. Now to sand the grind marks out of it, both to prevent unnecessary wear and for looks.

I would never have known the wrong chain was on the bike when I got it. Thanks to you guys, I am probably saved of a lot of aggravation down the road.

With the back chain working well, I turned my attention to the front chain. It looked like I would need to move the BB too far in any direction to get the slack out, so I will be adding an idler. With that decision I ran a straight edge off the front sprocket, lined things up, and started welding in the filler pieces. It was a mad dash to finish as it started raining. Electricity and water scare the "you know what" out of me.

I got scolded by my spellchecker for using the word poop. It told me (I kid you not) I was using childish language. "I'm a grown man, I can say Poop if I want to!"

 

[OddJob]

The censors on this site are pretty cens-itive.

Very deductive reasoning on getting it narrowed down (chain ring tooth pun intended) to just a couple problem teeth.

It's probably too late, but I would try shortening your chain length first before adding yet another pulley / guide. You may be able to take a full 2 links out of the chain (which is what it amounts to, to get to the next 'open' link). If that is too much, you can always go with a half link. Yes, there is such a thing. And you can really dial in chain tension by using one.

Of course, that requires a chain tool...

 

[Psychographic]

I do have a chain tool.

I can't take out a full link, it's so close, but no deal. A half link will help, but I think it will still be too loose.

I just hooked up the shifter, it goes into every gear but 4th with no effort. If I just push a hair past 4th and let it drop back it works fine. I'm betting with a little more fiddling I could get it right.

 

[GuitarlCarl]

Ain't about faith it's about assurance, and
If there ain't no pictures , it didn't happen...

Merle.

 

[Psychographic]

I was hoping to finish up some welds and cut off the remains of the suspension mount on one side of the BB. Unfortunately I didn't feel like dealing with all the wind, dampness and it's a bit chilly. I try to avoid using cutoff wheels, grinding discs, and flatwheels inside, it stinks and makes a mess!

So I turned my attention to the wheels, I found the front had a race crossthreaded, so I moved to the back wheel. After cleaning and regreasing, I centered it, and then trued it up. It was way off to one side and pretty crooked when I started. My truing stand is just the back from a Varsity with some plumbers strap bolted to the side. The strap is very bendable and makes for an easy gauge.

I have to say, truing wheels is a lot easier than I thought it would be. I gave them all a squeeze to set them and nothing felt really loose or tight, so I hope I'm OK. When I did the wheels on my Varsity, I took it to the LBS to see if they could get them any better, they told me I got them as good as they are going to get.

Almost forgot, proof for Merle,

 

[GuitarlCarl]

I use an old rear section of a mountain bike for my truing stand too. I clamp it into a vise. A couple zip ties mounted and nipped to points works real good for pinpoint truing. I do know they may drift a little after riding on them, but not far, if any.

Carl.

 

[Psychographic]

The wind died down a bit today and I got the other side of the BB ground down along with the welds on the filler pieces.

I want to do as much of the accessories as possible in gold anodized, or a reasonable facsimile. I ordered an idler pulley for the front chain.

While looking through ebay, I found this motorcycle shift linkage. Immediately I thought "This would look good going from the bolt that the shifter attaches with, to the base of the seat tube." I'll need to make and weld a couple of brackets for the seat tube when it comes in as I want to have the actual part to measure from.

I'm not sure if it will actually help as a brace, but it can't make it worse!

 

[MattiThundrrr]

That chain tensioner is jewelry! Good thinking on the shift linkage, that should be cool. I love a repurposed part. Hardware store, motorcycle shop, truck stop, all can be the LBS for a clever Ratter.

 

[Psychographic]

The motorcycle foot control arrived yesterday, I wasted no time in getting it mounted. Now I can work on finishing the shifter while I wait for more parts. The foot peg design works great as it's offset away from the frame.

 

[Psychographic]

Getting closer to buttoning up the shifter. I drilled 3 holes through the plastic shifter piece and just kissed my metal handle to leave a mark. Then the metal part was drilled and tapped for 4-40 screws (I lucked out that the heads of the screws fit into the channel and clear the cable). I then drilled the plastic part 2 sizes larger for the screws to slide through. Between the three 1/8" pins and the 3 screws, the handle is nice and tight.

For now, I can use the lock collar I made before to hold the assembly in to the base. It wasn't strong enough to hold the lateral force of the handle, but it is strong enough to hold everything to the base for now. I would still like to find a metal collar to fit.

Now to figure out a cover. I wonder what the diameter of an old Cragar SS center cap is? Anyone got one laying around?

 

[OddJob]

PVC end cap painted? Also check plumbing and sink dept for drain covers, strainers. A cap with holes in it might be cool.

Really dig the ano shift lever!

 

[RustyGold]

I wonder what the diameter of an old Cragar SS center cap is? Anyone got one laying around?

I don't have one laying around...but, the ID is a tad over 3". They aren't very deep, though.

 

[Psychographic]

I don't have one laying around...but, the ID is a tad over 3". They aren't very deep, though.

I really only need something about 1/2" deep, but 3" is way too big.

 

[Psychographic]

Shift Cover 2nd try.

This one also is made from a 1 1/4" PVC cap. This time I kept it simple, rather than grinding out the inside to cover my metal piece, I butted up to it.

After sanding the info off and cutting the cap down, I found center and drilled it to fit a 1/2" CPVC cap. Then I drilled the center of that cap for the screw that will hold the cover in place, mounted it on the shifter, put the 1 1/4 cap through it and marked, cut , and glued it in place.

When I put it on, the handle didn't have clearance and would move with it when shifted. Apparently PVC fittings aren't precisely molded. I marked the end limits and ground it down about 1/16", then gave it a quick sanding to clean it up.

I mentioned earlier in the thread, one of the reasons I picked the foot lever for a handle as it's offset. Here is why, when it's in 6th gear, it's right along the frame rail.

I'm happy with this cover so far and it doesn't have really thin spots like the last one did.

 

[Dr. Tankenstein]

I foresee more people using one of those foot levers.
Hey man! You’re an innovator!



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[OddJob]

What he said ^ ! Very cool on the foot lever.

Your ingenuity and attention to detail will go a long ways here on RRB. What's next in your bag of tricks?

 

[Psychographic]

The idler pulley unit showed up this morning. I was told it was not spring-loaded, but it is. The mount is made to fit into a dropout and has bosses on it to keep it from rotating. I ground a notch into a nut, drilled a hole in the frame and welded the nut in place. I had to cut and grind some pieces to get it to fit, and it just barely fits!

I should have mounted it either a 1/2" higher or lower, as I had to grind the face of the button head bolt a little to clear the chain.

I'm going to need a half link to get it to fit the way I want. My local hardware store (Ace) has them. I'll have to bring a chain with me to see if they have one the size I need.

This is how it will look with a 1/2 link removed.

Stupid me removed the bosses for the V brakes of this rear suspension to use on another build. I just ordered a pair.

 

[MattiThundrrr]

I'm not feeling the green chain with gold tensioner... Kinda clashes a bit IMHO

 

[Psychographic]

I'm not feeling the green chain with gold tensioner... Kinda clashes a bit IMHO

The green chain is just for mock up.

Once again, I'm Dazed and Confused! I know I tried to take a full link out of this chain with no luck, it was too tight. While looking at the pic with the 1/2 link bunched on the front sprocket and how much slack there still was, I bunched a full link and it now fits fairly well.

Before I do something stupid, let me ask this. How much slack should there be on a single speed chain, and how much should I expect a chain to stretch?

Here is the chain with one full link removed.

With me pushing up to take the slack out.

I think I wasted money on that tensioner. While it is a pretty piece, if it's not needed, it's just clutter. The silver lining, I can use the bolt welded onto the frame for a chain guard mount.