Month: January 2016

The pedal saga continues! After thinking of just replacing the pedals and mentioning that in an Excelsior group, I was challenged (in a respectful manner) by a few to “rebuild” the originals. So I will accepts that challenge!

The pedal assemblies are very rust-welded but percervierence pays off so far.

The top cone came off on both pedals just fine. 
No wear on the slots.

Bearings were a pile of rust. They all came out but are like little rocks!

Soaking in my new 50/50 mix of ATF and acetone.

Other side pedal.

Wala! One almost done…

Still a long way to go. More soaking.

More work tomorrow on these.

New rubbers are ordered so I am an optimist that I can save these!

 

Next on the list was to remove the engine belt sprocket. While attempting to loosen the sprocket nut I had some AWESOME news….the bottom end spun over which moved up the cylinder (no doubt the piston is seized inside). But to know the bottom end is loose is a GREAT relief!

 

Lots of heat, lots of kroil, and LOTS of patience. Care had to be taken to not break the outer lip off. Propane (illustrated in photo) was not enough. Acetylene had to be used to heat up the center before it could be easily removed.

 

Not sure why the threads are there on this sprocket. Might have been for a special tool to remove the sprocket??

 

Yup, that’s smoke from all the heat.

 

A perfect shaft and woodruff key!

 

Short and sweet. Slow steady progress!

Here is the front sprocket with the leather liner.

 

It is riveted on and the parts book shows originally had screws.

 

I shipped it off for a new leather wrap to be made. Will also have extras made as long as they are making one, might as well make a half dozen! I might need them if I put on a lot of miles!

 

Sprocket in overall great shape! Nice clean sharp edges in woodruff slot. No scoring or pitting in taper.

 

Will grind off rivets and investigate if screws are a viable option.

 

More pictures after the sprocket is wrapped with a new liner.

WARNING! You are about to read WAY MORE about pedals than you ever imagined you would! As the rest of the bike is soaking in Kroil I thought I would spend a full day taking apart the complete pedal assembly. The post will detail all the steps involved. All fasteners were loosened with Kroil and heat.

1. First was to loosen up the two peg shaft outer nuts. And they came loose after appearing to be “rust-welded” (my term). A great first step!

 

2. Once they were loose, they came off with no damage to threads on shafts or nuts.

 

3. The dust shield could now be broken away from the support and removed.

 

4. The center nut and special washer were now able to be “Kroiled” and allowed to soak a bit before attempting to be loosened.

 

5. The nut and washer came off unscathed.

 

6. Next the main support was able to be removed.

 

7. The pedal shaft inward nuts and shafts were able to be removed next. Again all with no damage. Making great process so far!

 

8. Last was the left hand thread peg mount. This was really locked on! Took a while of heating and Kroiling to get a budge. Once the little budge was attained I knew it would be all good. Back and forth (tightening and loosening in small increments) movements led to the removal with no damage. Now to source a LH tap and die for the crank.

 

9. Moving over to the right side of the crank, there are three screws that had to be removed. One came out OK. This one snapped off: the FIRST damaged fastener!

 

10. And one had to be drilled out

 

11. A perfect drill right through the entire screw!

 

12. One size larger drill and the screw could be removed.

 

13. FREE at last!

 

14. A tale of the three screws: one unscathed, one broken and chiseled out, and one drilled out.

 

15. Time to tackle the bearings now.

 

16. The outer bearing race spun off easier than I thought. LH threads.

 

17. This exposed the bearings and retainer clip.

 

18. Hmm…..what the hell is that “stuff” inside the frame? All bearings accounted for. NOT useable!

 

19. Left side bearings all there also, but NOT useable.

 

20. Shaft is bent….might be able to straighten. Outer threads stripped, but can be welded and re-tapped.

 

21. Right crank is slightly twisted. Might also able to save this and twist back to normal position.

 

22. All in all both bearing races look great and usable again. New bearings though for sure.

 

And that my friends is a 8 hour day! More on the crank assembly later. Thanks for hanging in there and taking this all in. Here’s a preview of what’s next:

 

We had a celebration! Attendees included myself, Kathie (who you previously met earlier in this blog), Paul (who I mentioned earlier as the man who introduced Kathie to me), Charmaine (Paul’s friend), Nancy (my wife), and Jim (my neighbor who just happened to stop in for a visit)………OH and FRED!  The purpose was to celebrate the “transfer” of stewardship from the Hazen family to the Tribbey family. We had time to talk about how this all came to be and generally hang out in the garage taking it all in. Had a chance to show Paul a lot of aspects to this machine and we could listen to Kathie reflecting on growing up with her grandfather’s Excelsior. It was a fun day as well as emotional. At the end of the day we all agreed Fred was now enjoying his new home and was looking forward to the journey of restoration!

Sometimes no words are necessary.

 

The patience and soaking are paying off! Most fasteners are now coming apart in a useable condition. A few are still too frozen to attempt to loosen and possibly damage. The fork rockers, top steering stem nut and riser nuts, intake valve pocket pieces, and base nuts all are now loose and removed for cleaning. The actual intake pocket is still frozen in the engine. This will require some heat (more than propane) to loosen after all the years of sitting.

Still a long way to go but this steady progress is motivation! I will be making (or heavily modifying off the shelf tools) in the coming days. Next to tackle will be the pedal assembly and removing handlebars. More to follow! Thanks for looking.

After considerable time soaking and tweaking, both the rear wheel and pedal assembly are now free wheeling! Previously frozen but with patience and good luck, both are now free. This will make disassembly much easier. Then all new internals will be installed.
 

A note from Kathie:

I love these. This is an original page from a magazine. It will be framed.

 

This was the gem that was included with Fred. The initial picture of Fred did not show a carburetor. How happy I was to see it laying there when we went to have a look in October. So now it is time to free it up and dissemble. Everything came apart pretty nice. Very similar carb design as the Linkert. The float of course will need to be replaces. Hard to imagine again that I am messing with a 105 year old carburetor! Might be the first time it has ever been apart. Using some Kroil all fasteners came loose just fine. Metal pieces were cleaned using an ultrasonic parts cleaner. Pieces came out looking like jewelry! I have to order the float and other pieces to reassemble. Fun Stuff!