CB desert sled

[Luke]

The swingarm is about the last thing I'd expect to break. Other stuff, like the frame, worry me more. Hauling a welding setup down there would be a pain, especially TIG. My small acetylene setup might go though.

[MrPulldown]

Over the years I have taught myself how to weld with two car batteries. I now have a small set up I bring on 4 wheeling trips.
This is currently my only welding set up. I have almost bought myself a little buzz box several times, but it is hard to justify when I have a neighbor who is a professional welder that works out of his garage across the street.
Enjoying the build. Keep at it.

[oregoncoast]

Originally Posted by MrPulldown

Over the years I have taught myself how to weld with two car batteries. I now have a small set up I bring on 4 wheeling trips.
This is currently my only welding set up. I have almost bought myself a little buzz box several times, but it is hard to justify when I have a neighbor who is a professional welder that works out of his garage across the street.
Enjoying the build. Keep at it.

Did some proper internet research on the 3 car battery welding system and I gotta say....what a freakin cool idea for emergency repairs!

[Mr. Fisherman]

Originally Posted by oregoncoast

Did some proper internet research on the 3 car battery welding system and I gotta say....what a freakin cool idea for emergency repairs!

It is a fairly common tech for old school off roaders and 4x4 clubbers.

I have heard of coat hangers being used as rod in a pinch.

[RedRaptor22]

Originally Posted by Mr. Fisherman

It is a fairly common tech for old school off roaders and 4x4 clubbers.

I have heard of coat hangers being used as rod in a pinch.

Yep, have seen that done on a broken fourwheeler a-arm about two hours out on a trail, surprisingly it held the whole way back and broke about 50yds from the campground lol.

[Luke]

A few little things today:


Quick and dirty wheel spacers. The washers are 1/8" thick but it's a pain to get them all in the right place when installing the wheel. The swingarm width is also not an even number of washers, and is too stiff to bend in to the next smallest number. So I welded a stack of washers together and then sanded down the face to get it right. Ugly, but much faster than using the lathe.




Next up was a bracket for the clutch cable. It's attached to a motor mount plate just like the stock cb550 setup, but it's in a slightly different place to deal with the different airbox. It's not done in the picture; there's another support for the plate which is attached near the cable.




My new favorite things. Weld nuts. I bought a box of them from Mcmaster in different sizes. They're awesome. Drill an oversized hole for the bolt you want and then weld them in. They're unplated so there's no prep required, they have a ridge on them so they align right in their hole, and they're much wider than regular nuts so there's plenty of material to dig into with the welder.

These weld nuts are for holding the lid onto the battery box.






Finishing up the battery box lid, I put some screws in the mounting holes to transfer the hole pattern to the lid. Easier than measuring.






Lid (with coils) attached. I also made a bent pipe for the air filter. Far from ideal, but it'll have to do until I modify the airbox inlet.






I also installed the chain. The slack is set by moving the swingarm up so that the front sprocket, pivot, and rear axle are in line. Make sure there is just a little slack there, and it should be looser everywhere else.
In line (roughly). The chain slack was set here.


Compressed.


Extended





It's going to need chain rollers and a guide, but even without those the chain slack isn't horrible anywhere.

[Mr. Fisherman]

Another solid day of progress

[DustyRags]

It's gonna be a beast!

[oregoncoast]

She is going to be a big girl, that is for sure. But as Luke has told me...just think of it as an adventure bike (GS/990/etc) more than a dirt bike. Then the shear girth and weight become much more palatable.

[Jayrod1318]

Quick question, What are you using for fasteners metric or Merican?

[kellymac530]

While you were testing the chain tension with the shocks off, did you take a measurement so that you can always set it correctly?

Even something as simple as picking a specific spot where 2 fingers fit between the chain and swingarm or a spot where 10mm or 20mm gap works?

[Luke]

Originally Posted by Jayrod1318

Quick question, What are you using for fasteners metric or Merican?

All metric. All the donor parts are metric and mixed fasteners are an abomination.

I bought a fastener kit that has the nice OEM style hex head fasteners. Expensive, but still cheaper than the hardware store.

[Luke]

Originally Posted by kellymac530

While you were testing the chain tension with the shocks off, did you take a measurement so that you can always set it correctly?

Even something as simple as picking a specific spot where 2 fingers fit between the chain and swingarm or a spot where 10mm or 20mm gap works?

Not yet. Adding the rollers and guide will change that.

[LC Garage]

Originally Posted by Mr. Fisherman

It is a fairly common tech for old school off roaders and 4x4 clubbers.

I have heard of coat hangers being used as rod in a pinch.

In my Dad's body shop is was not uncommon to use coat hangers, we also did a lot of brazing. When we got a stick welder, we were in heaven!

[LC Garage]

Yesterday was a long but productive day in the shop for the Outta Sight team. Luke and Al arrived about 9:30, Paul got there about an hour later. Danny was there to greet them, hoping for a treat.


This old fellow stopped by for a few hours, made himself at home and then later just disappeared.


Luke and his helpers;


Luke spent many hours fabricating an entire wiring harness. Once built he hooked it up and tested, everything seemed to work just fine.


Corey arrived about 2 PM and went right to work, here Al captures him working on the seat project.


Al was a big help all day, in addition to working on the bike, we also reorganized the out buildings to create a little more shop space.


Paul painting his cage;


Paul liked the progress on the SL350!


Corey developing the seat shape;




Seat roughed out with dense foam;


Luke likes!


Corey was designated to set base timing as he had worked with this system before.






A jump start from the Paul's Subie brought the big sled to life!


A great way to end our day in the shop, with an unmuffled 650 four cylinder roaring!