IntAceptor

I simply jack the truck up by placing the jack on the tire with a couple of 2X4 to protect the rotor. The bead breaks easily. If you shake the balancer and not spin the wheel, the heavy spot will drop like a rock and you don't have to waste time with the spin.

Bike on the center stand and wifey or someone pressing down on the tail hauls the bike high enough to put a block and some wood under the engine. It will keep the bike high enough and stable enough to do any of the work on the front end you have to do. Not dissin' your strap method but if you are in a hurry, the jack and chock method works too.

I have this meter also and mounted it on the grey plastic on the right side. The meter, as it comes, is not waterproofed. You can take some silicon sealant or better yet, Household Goop and seal around any seam that is exposed. Then I took some clear plastic tape and put it over the display to waterproof that. Do not just mount the meter without doing at least what I suggested above or it will fail.

A word of caution here. The pistons usually get cruddy and as the pads wear, they move out considerably further than when the pads were new. This crud is usually pretty hard by pad change time and when the pistons get pushed back in to make way for the new fatter pads, that crud gets pushed in with them past the very thin neoprene "O" rings that hold the fluid in and allow the pistons to move when the brakes are applied. Without taking the entire caliper off and cleaning the pistons, you are inviting two things. The first is leaks and the second is stuck pads that don't retract properly after the brakes are applied. The voice of ugly experience speaks. Now the pistons get cleaned to a shine at all my brake changes.

"I hate those meses to pieces" --------- bet not many remember that one. No matter. I was riding the GAP one day and took a quick glance down to check the speed and low and behold, there was a mouse sitting on my handlebars. I was tooling along and checked the mouse out as often as i could and the little bugger was holding on for dear life or just enjoying the ride, who knows. When I got done, no mouse and nothing in the air box as far as I can tell. He may have bailed out to pick up on a squid for a better ride, I don't know???????????

That is a great MacGyver for sure. I did pretty much the same thing with a ball bearing and a pair of vise grips and have been doing it that way through 3 chains. Being the rivet cover is a press fit, you do not have to flare the rivet much to keep it on.

What about something like controlling the voltage from the stator before reaching the regulator by moving the cores with centrifugal force of RPM increase if one can be designed into a stator like device? Linear Variable Differential Transformer <A name=LVDT>A linear variable differential transformer (LVDT) has an AC driven primary wound between two secondaries on a cylindrical air core form. (Figure below) A movable ferromagnetic slug converts displacement to a variable voltage by changing the coupling between the driven primary and secondary windings. The LVDT is a displacement or distance measuring transducer. Units are available for measuring displacement over a distance of a fraction of a millimeter to a half a meter. LVDT's are rugged and dirt resistant compared to linear optical encoders. LVDT: linear variable differential transformer. The excitation voltage is in the range of 0.5 to 10 VAC at a frequency of 1 to 200 Khz. A ferrite core is suitable at these frequencies. It is extended outside the body by an non-magnetic rod. As the core is moved toward the top winding, the voltage across this coil increases due to increased coupling, while the voltage on the bottom coil decreases. If the core is moved toward the bottom winding, the voltage on this coil increases as the voltage decreases across the top coil. Theoretically, a centered slug yields equal voltages across both coils. In practice leakage inductance prevents the null from dropping all the way to 0 V. With a centered slug, the series-opposing wired secondaries cancel yielding V13 = 0. Moving the slug up increases V13. Note that it is in-phase with with V1, the top winding, and 180o out of phase with V3, bottom winding. Moving the slug down from the center position increases V13. However, it is 180o out of phase with with V1, the top winding, and in-phase with V3, bottom winding. Moving the slug from top to bottom shows a minimum at the center point, with a 180o phase reversal in passing the center.