Charmayne's rebuild of her 550L

[Charmayne]

Today my goal was to remove the brakes, chain, and sprockets. I started by taking off the front sprocket while my dad held the rear brake to lock the wheel. Then we ground down two of the rivets on the chain so i could take off the chain.


Once that was done, I removed the rear brake caliper. I found out that I have to loosen all the bolts before removing the brake keeper nut because the caliper flopped down on me. Then we removed the rear wheel and will remove the rear sprocket later.





Then I took off the rear master cylinder so that we can rebuild it. The brake fluid looked nasty when I drained it from the reservoir. Dad said, ?It?s a good idea that we?re draining this.? I also double-checked how long the rear brake line was since we are replacing it.


Finally, we took off the front brake and master cylinder. We brought everything home to work on because it was too cold in the garage.
Sorry some pictures didn't upload properly will show later.

[cowboyup3371]

I was very proud of her today as she worked very hard at the bike with minimal assistance from me (twas hard though). We'll start cleaning calipers and master cylinder tomorrow and then begin ordering parts next week I think.

I'm not sure why the pictures wouldn't upload but I'll do it this way as single attachments.

She's removing the lock washer before breaking the nut free:

[cowboyup3371]

And sprocket, nut, and washer are off.

[Charmayne]

Thanks dad your the best for helping.
It was so hard for me but i worked through it.

[Griffyn]

Getting dirty and working hard, good things come to those who take the time and effort to get their stuff done right.

Great start on the project, keep it up and you'll be riding safe before you know it. And most importantly, you'll know the bike from one end to the other and know how to keep it nice for years to come.

[Guest]

Good stuff .
It helps with your riding to understand how your bike works .

Cheers , Simon .

[Charmayne]

Thanks guys

[Crankthat]

Nice job!
I take the complete rear off my bike at least once a year to check things over, and clean things up.
I know it is not necessary to do that so often but I like working on it and inspecting it anyways.
Giving my bike a through inspection often has led me to finding things before they become a problem down the road.
It is good to know your bike real well as if you are broke down on the side of the road you will stand a much better chance of repairing it on the spot.
And only having two wheels without a cage around you, a well maintained bike is less likely to have a failure.
I have always found it handy to keep a couple of pieces of thin rope tied to the frame around the rear seat area to hold things up for disassemble.
Comes in real handy while working on the brakes, removing the shocks, keeping the swingarm the perfect level to remove or replace the rear tire, and removing or replacing the swingarm.
Bet you are excited to bring the bike to a safe and well running condition so you can ride it!
Keep up the good work and have fun!!

[Stahlgrau333]

I have to say, Cowboy, that I'm somewhat jealous. I've got a 'spare' 550 sitting in the shop, starting to think it may end up in my 16 y/o's hands very soon.

[Guest]

That's a great father/daughter project. Great to see you two working together and having fun doing it. Excellent progress, hang in there. Ray

[wedoo2]

Well done. At your age I didn't know the difference between a sprocket and a socket.



But I did know how to focus a camera.

[cowboyup3371]

Well done. At your age I didn't know the difference between a sprocket and a socket.



But I did know how to focus a camera.

Yea pictures are courtesy of my daughter, Cheyenne. We already discussed that with her

[cowboyup3371]

Sadly Charmayne sprained her arm last weekend walking upstairs (missed one and put her hands out to catch herself) but that hasn't kept her from wanting to work on the bike. After a long week at work, I finally sat down with her tonight and we started in on fixing the ignitor wires. It's not my best soldering job but I think it will be okay for my first one:



We then started in on tearing apart the brake calipers. The rear is going to be a bit of work so we'll run by the garage tomorrow with it. The front on the other hand is being worked on now. She'll post up pictures of it later as well as a couple of questions but here's one for the crowd:



She's a tough gal and won't quit which I like...now to just get her to use that toughness for other things (school )

[tkent02]

Excellent!

http://dayton.craigslist.org/mcy/4177738898.html

[cowboyup3371]

Thanks for the info Tom...you made your point now stop please