Been a busy few days here at Admiral's Port Headquarters as we're getting ready for our next adventure.
Finally changed out the leaky output shaft seal. I'd have a drop or 3 on the shop floor after every ride so I figured it was time to replace it. I wiped it clean to clear any debris from the seal a few months back hoping that would stop the leak but it reappeared a couple of weeks later. I could have waited but since I wasn't taking a nap I thought I'd swap it out!
Replaced (4) broken spokes on the "skinny tire conversion" rim as well. After replacing the spokes I "trued" the rim laterally as well. Radially the rim is spot-on true. Since I had to replace the worn 12T sprocket with a 14T (no 13T's available yet and is my preference for front sprocket size) I also replaced the 50T rear (shown in the picture) with a 55T I had on the shelf. Needed to put a longer chain on as well. Everything now works as it should and is ready for adventure.
A couple of non-TW things, Sunday we had a big wind storm (very little rain). Must have been the same system Mistervelocity experienced at Griffith Ranch on his shakedown ride. Blew some tree's down near home with almost every road blocked. Power was out for 8-10 hours and found out my emergency electrical generator cord hardwired to the house didn't fit our new emergency generator. The generator has multiple plugin receptacles just not the one we needed. Mrs. Admiral has ordered the proper adapter so "next time" we'll be prepared better.
Damage survey patrol on the XT350
Top of a tree launched and speared right into the ground like an errant missile. Thankfully, our "streets" aren't that busy up here on a Sunday night.
Lots of down tree's all over the neighborhood but this is the only tree to hit a structure I could see. Thankfully, the tree landed on the front porch of this house and not the main structure.
Earlier that day (Sunday), I got to Pin Staff Sergeant (Army E-6) stripes onto my youngest son. His promotion was actually in January but he knew I wanted to be there and talked his command into waiting until we returned from our winter/spring trip before the "pinning ceremony".
A couple of things I was unaware of until now was his unit was attached to the Historic 101st Airborne Division when he was deployed to "stan" a few years back. He has the "Screaming Eagle" combat patch on his right shoulder. While not Airborne or Air Assault qualified, he is a flight paramedic so I think it's appropriate.
The 2nd thing I was mostly unaware of was he was awarded the Combat Medical Badge (for being in a combat situation as a medic). Like many, he doesn't talk about his wartime experiences much and he had mentioned bullets hitting the ground around his helicopter once but I was unaware of what he probably really saw and went through until his former Company Commander (who was reading his promotion bio) briefly mentioned my son's military background. He rode one of my TWs to Griffith Ranch last year with the guys so that's what I'm using as being TW related.
Yup, it's been a busy few days!