Epilog

Friday, October 1, 2010

Epilogue

I have been here 2 days and am feeling rested and I have finally stopped vibrating.

When I went out yesterday morning (Thursday) to go to the store to get supplies to try to bleed the front brake and to do the 5,000-KM service, the rear tire was flat. I put the spare on the back and did my shopping.

I purchased a device called a “Brake Buddy” which is a small plastic bottle and some tubing which is designed to enable one person bleeding of auto brakes. I had no luck bleeding the brake, but I did take the tube out of the flat tire and find the nail hole. I could feel a nail or staple inside the tire but could not find it on the outside and could not pull it through from the inside.

This morning I used the syringe I purchased yesterday to measure gear oil for the final drive and the tubing from the Brake Buddy to force brake fluid into the system from the bleed valve. That worked. The 64-dollar question now is where did the original fluid go? There are no signs of leaks. We will see how it holds up. I also got the sharp item out of the tire and patched the tube and changed the lube in all three stations. Tomorrow I will close up the spare and check the air filter and spokes and go over the rest of the fasteners and bearings and all will be well.

My current plan is to buy a new tire and tube (or 3) and bungee the tire to the spare for the trip home, just in case. Some of the places between here and California are pretty far from a Ural tire store and my “spare” is pretty thin.