Re: Re: Re: Re: St. Pete "German Machine"


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Posted by Jay Bertolet on August 30, 2000 at 12:27:28:

In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: St. Pete "German Machine" posted by Rick Denney on August 30, 2000 at 11:24:45:

Exactly right Rick!

In fact, I was thinking exactly the same thing as you. I also wonder how many clockspring assemblies are needlessly replaced when the real problem is the linkage. I've had a couple of students who replaced the linkage on their clockspring paddles and they worked great afterwards. In my experience, the clockspring is a pretty indestructible setup and is desirable to keep if possible.

The other thing to look out for when doing this conversion is the size of the head of the retaining screw on the stop arm. On the Yamaha 641 I just converted, that head was a huge, hemispherical nightmare. Having that retaining screw with a head that is flush to the stop arm makes all the difference. But I bend the push rod about 1" from the paddle arm connection to about a 45 degree angle so that the push rod comes in almost level with the top of the stop arm at the valve connection. That way, I never have to trim the linkage parts because of rubbing. And when you use this lightweight, faster linkage, the clockspring action usually becomes golden.

Thanks for describing that process in such an easy to understand way. I've tried recently to write a description of the process for folks who asked and I wasn't able to do so without wondering if my instructions needed a bit of "translating". In other words, I sure wish I could write like that!

My opinion for what its worth...


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