Elpee in (Minor) Trouble Again -- Handlebars By ellpee (Read 779 times)

[ellpee]

Was doing minor maint today -- oil and gear oil change*, and while assembling my tools had the scoot running at idle for a few minutes to warm up the fluids.
Lo and behold, I come back out and notice that the cap on the right (throttle) handlegrip is about to fall out -- had vibrated itself loose somehow. So now I have the black end cap, metal I think, but maybe plastic; the long phillips head bolt and the next piece is a rubber "cork" with a hole thru it for the bolt, that looks like maybe it was once held in place by some sort of silicone or similar sealer. Next piece in line, still inside the handlebar, appears to be another rubber gizmo with a hole thru the middle that won't come out, at least not easily. I put the bolt thru the hole and turned it to see if it would thread onto something, nada; tried the same with a longer bolt of same approx. size, still nada. Didn't even FEEL anything inside there, let alone connect to it.

Before I start dismantling things and have a bunch of springs and what have you fly out in my face, thought maybe I'd ask here about how this is supposed to work. My sense is the the bolt is indeed supposed to thread into SOMETHING back in there -- hole is too small to see anything or even grope around with tweezers -- so when tightened the pressure expands the rubber cork thingie to create a watertight situation.

So, long and short of it, who can tell me the least painful way to solve this problem? Throttle still works as it should, but don't want to venture out without that end cap and whatever deeper, darker purpose that bolt might have down inside the handlebar.

*PS, what a pain getting the gasket to stay in place when I was reinstalling the tranny housing! Tried putting some silicone all along the edge, helped a little but not a great answer; of course it hadn't dried completely, I was too impatient to wait that long. Any newbie who tries this task, have a couple good cusswords ready at hand.

[alleyoop]

You do not have to worry to much, the END CAP you have with the Screw in the center goes through one or two rubber bushings and a NUT on the other side. But the nut is not attached to anything except the bolt So if you unscrewed the Bolt all the way the bolt is laying on the other side of the rubber bushings.

The way it works is as you tighten the bolt the NUT squeezes the rubber bushings expanding it and tightening against the inside of the handlebar and that is what holds it in.

So to fix it you need to get the rubber bushing out and you can tilt the scoot so that the nut falls out or you can fish it with a piece of wire. Then put the rubber bushing on screw the nut on loose and wet the rubber to make it easier to slip back in and then tigthen the it up.

Spray some Soapy water in there and maybe get like a METAL TOOTH picker that have the tip bent with a point or make something up and grab the rubber part and pull it out.
Alleyoop

[ellpee]

OK, cool. I tugged on it a little bit but didn't want to damage anything so desisted until I could get your wisdom. Think I have just the gadget to get the second bushing out. Thanks once again.

[alleyoop]

Yea, next time do not unscrew the it all the way just loosen it and then wiggle it out.
Alleyoop

[ellpee]

Didn't unscrew it at all, just left the scooter running at idle for a few minutes (= vibration} and when I came back it was on the verge of dropping out. Was probably loose already, Chinese quality again I suppose. Lovin' the scoot so far; only 200 miles, but hoping to get lots more use out of it and not TOO much more grief. Don't mind oil changes, tightening screws and bolts, checking tires, just hoping to avoid any major engine or transmission work for at least the first year or so. It'll have May-->October off more or less, as we don't take it along to our summer digs in the mountains, but as much fun as I'm having already, I might be tempted to buy another one for up there. Nah, too many dirt/gravel roads. If anything, trike or ATV. Meanwhile, will need to be sure to "summerize" this one as it'll be stored in the garage all that time.
'

[ellpee]

All fixed, worked like you said, though I couldn't get the lost nut out even with a magnet probe. Just put on a new nut, hopefully the lost one won't cause any mischief and some day I'll find it when I have to dismantle the handlebars. At worst a permanent rattle! ;>)

[alleyoop]

It might of rolled over the curve of the handle bars if you turned the handlebars the other way and is down in the middle now.
If you have a long bendable magnet pole you should be able to fish it out. Or maybe it fell out and you did not notice.

Anyway good job, I replaced mine I had black end caps and I put on Chrome ones.
Alleyoop

[alleyoop]

It is just the Nut and may be a washer if it had one that is all. He got the rubber bushings out and put a nut on the end of the rubber bushing and slipped it back in and tighten the screw to expand the rubber bushings to hold it in.
Alleyoop

[ellpee]

Unrelated to the handlebar issue, but I checked the gasket on the tranny housing and there was one place where it hadn't seated right yesterday, so I took it off again, cleaned/reapplied silicone and put it under a heat lamp for awhile. That seemed to create a pretty good bond, went back on OK after that. In tightening the two long bolts, though, one of them didn't really seem to get tight, almost as though it or the hole it goes into was partially stripped. Didn't put a whole lot of torque on it yesterday or today. So I took both of them out again and applied some loctite (Brand X actually, but same kind of stuff) and put them back in. Right hand (rearmost) one tightened pretty good, and the loctite should seal the deal, but the left hand (forward) one is questionable in my mind. Will have to watch it closely and see if the loctite keeps it in place and sufficiently tight. Anybody else ever have this kind of problem? If it turns out the hole IS stripped, is there an easy fix like some kind of insert?

[alleyoop]

Several things you can do, ONE is get a couple of LOCK WASHER and put those on.
TWO, is get equivalent bolts in AMERICAN THREAD and not metric. Drilling to fit a Helicoil on some there isn't much meat on the outside of the bolt holes so It would make that Iffy as they say.

If it really is bad, GET JB WELD and fill the hole and Drill and ReTape the sucker to fit your bolts.

The CVT cover bolts do not have to be tighten that much just nice and snuge if you add a lock washer to each bolt that is plenty.

Also the Gasket you can just rip that out you do not need it really. I have not gasket on mine for 3 years now. Most of the time when you take the CVT OFF it rips so just about everyone just take the whole gasket off. The Cvt Cover fits nice against the Case and if you notice there are AIR Inlets and outlets built into the COVER so it is not to keep shit out really.

Actually on mine since I fool around with different variators and weights and clutchs I only put on the 4 center bolts and leave the rest off so I can change stuff within ten minutes.
Alleyoop

[ellpee]

Okay, lots of possibilities there. Those are kinda special purpose bolts, finding an exact US-thread equivalent would be a challenge, but I suppose as long as it's the same length and more or less the same head configuration, close enough is close enough. Right now, at the outside end there's a rubber gasket and a slightly oval-shaped sorta-washer; are you suggesting replacing the latter with a lock washer? Could always put JB Weld in the hole and screw the bolt in, and just never take the cover off again! LOL

Oddly enough, if I screw in the bolt with the cover off, just with my fingers, it seems to tighten down pretty good, to the point at least where I can't finger-tighten it any further. But with a wrench, I never get to the point where it feels really snug, like the other one does; there always seems to be a little bit more if I keep turning the wrench, so I don't, lest I make matters worse.

[alleyoop]

The bolts you want you can find at any Hardware store that carries bolts and nuts and washer.
Just take one bolt with you and they will match it up not a problem. I know because I lost one and used an American bolt and added a lock washer.

If you say it holds pretty good then maybe the stripped part is at the end inside so try using a lock washer.
Alleyoop

[ellpee]

Something new every day. Went out this morning to swap the OEM spark plug for a new NGK C7HSA, working through the little "porthole" underneath the seat. First order of business, determined that the new plug is 16mm, aka 5/8" close enough. So, got a 5/8" socket down into the plug well -- too small. Next one I had, 11/16", was too big. (BTW, an el cheapo "socket" was included in the tool kit that came with the scoot; one end fits the new 16mm plug, the other end is larger, SEEMS to fit the plug that's in there now, but once it's on the plug I could see no earthly way to turn it. The little holes where one would insert a screwdriver or similar are completely inaccessible at that point.)

So, I contributed a few bucks to the Harbor Freight bottom line and bought a set of deep metric sockets, something I needed anyway. The 16mm fits the new plug, and just measuring with ruler and eyeball the 17mm looks like it matches the larger end of that OEM tool kit socket. Raining now, though, so won't confirm that until later. My concern, having run into this odd situation, is whether the new NGK is going to match the OEM plug in other respects like thread diameter and thread reach. Will post here later about how that turns out. Mainly I'm just writing all this for the information of any other newbies who may follow in my footsteps. Little hiccups like this are a lot less disconcerting if you know to expect them.