Last week Halo 4 came out for xbox.
The boys have been patiently waiting for it,
as they've logged many hours on the earlier version.
That is,
before they went through there "modelmania" phase over the summer.
In the past couple months,
video games have been really low on there interest list.
That obsessiveness needed to complete a project (like a model),
has now been focused on a couple schwinn projects.
Right now each of them has 2 stingrays - one rider and one project.
Needless to say it wasn't too difficult for me to veto getting Halo 4.
The daylight hours of the weekend passed by way to fast.
My project was blue-balled way too early,
and in all honesty I was ready to play some of the old Halo Reach against the kids.
Jakob even turned the machine on.
I knew that Jaxon had been slowly stripping his 2nd stingray,
and there was no way he was going to stop now.
This particular stingray has been the definition of "royal PITA"
Over a month ago,
he bent up the front wheel.
*******************************************
a little backstory...
Even with the tweaked rim,
he continued to ride it around.
I'm glad it didn't taco.
After putting the stingray to the ramp test,
the headset and cranks were in serious need of adjustment.
We were shocked to see the bearings were about as dry as could be.
What started as a simple grease and tune,
ended up being a month-long disassembly nightmare.
Basically the stem had rust-welded itself to the fork.
The long clamp bolt had broke off inside,
and the goosneck was stuck inside like a chinese finger trap.
We tried everything.
Hammering, oil, torch, hammering, oil, more torch.
Interest slowly diminished,
but Jaxon would bang on it every couple days.
Nothing.
Weeks passed....
Still wouldn't budge.
Finding a replacement fork on ebay was the needed incentive.
Using all the tricks they had learned from his first stingray project,
the bike was quickly torn apart.
Part of me really wanted to jump in there at times,
but it was more fun to watch both the boys.
Plus who would take the pictures.
We were surprised how fast it came apart.
Now it was time for surgery.
A sawzall would have taken all the fun out of watching the kids use a hacksaw.
Each had their turn,
and finally the fork was removed.
The old fork had a serious bend in it from the previous owner!
Goes to show how strong those ashtabula forks are.
Now it was time to see if the stem was saveable.
I thought we could do it in 15 minutes.
Nope.
6 songs and 45 minutes later...
The fork remnant was rust-jammed like nobodies business.
I thought a couple side smacks would loosen it up.
Nope.
A couple holes and more oil didn't do the trick either.
Since the headset pieces were stuck on there,
it was tough to cut lengthwise.
A couple strategic cuts and the stem was finally freed up.
Way better hanging out in garage then playing video games!
TP
The boys have been patiently waiting for it,
as they've logged many hours on the earlier version.
That is,
before they went through there "modelmania" phase over the summer.
In the past couple months,
video games have been really low on there interest list.
 |
| stool time - Macey, Jaxon & stingray project #2 |
That obsessiveness needed to complete a project (like a model),
has now been focused on a couple schwinn projects.
Right now each of them has 2 stingrays - one rider and one project.
 |
| Jakob & stingray project #3 |
Needless to say it wasn't too difficult for me to veto getting Halo 4.
The daylight hours of the weekend passed by way to fast.
My project was blue-balled way too early,
and in all honesty I was ready to play some of the old Halo Reach against the kids.
Jakob even turned the machine on.
 |
| trust |
I knew that Jaxon had been slowly stripping his 2nd stingray,
and there was no way he was going to stop now.
This particular stingray has been the definition of "royal PITA"
Over a month ago,
he bent up the front wheel.
*******************************************
a little backstory...
Even with the tweaked rim,
he continued to ride it around.
I'm glad it didn't taco.
After putting the stingray to the ramp test,
the headset and cranks were in serious need of adjustment.
We were shocked to see the bearings were about as dry as could be.
What started as a simple grease and tune,
ended up being a month-long disassembly nightmare.
Basically the stem had rust-welded itself to the fork.
The long clamp bolt had broke off inside,
and the goosneck was stuck inside like a chinese finger trap.
We tried everything.
Hammering, oil, torch, hammering, oil, more torch.
Interest slowly diminished,
but Jaxon would bang on it every couple days.
Nothing.
Weeks passed....
Still wouldn't budge.
 |
| check out hammer print on his hand! |
Finding a replacement fork on ebay was the needed incentive.
Using all the tricks they had learned from his first stingray project,
the bike was quickly torn apart.
 |
| removing seatpost clamp |
Part of me really wanted to jump in there at times,
but it was more fun to watch both the boys.
Plus who would take the pictures.
 |
| removing schwinn kickstand |
We were surprised how fast it came apart.
Now it was time for surgery.
 |
| prepped |
A sawzall would have taken all the fun out of watching the kids use a hacksaw.
 |
| Jaxon removing front fork |
Each had their turn,
and finally the fork was removed.
 |
| jakob and the hacksaw |
The old fork had a serious bend in it from the previous owner!
Goes to show how strong those ashtabula forks are.
 |
| bent ashtabula stingray fork |
Now it was time to see if the stem was saveable.
I thought we could do it in 15 minutes.
Nope.
6 songs and 45 minutes later...
 |
| jakob center punching |
The fork remnant was rust-jammed like nobodies business.
I thought a couple side smacks would loosen it up.
Nope.
A couple holes and more oil didn't do the trick either.
Since the headset pieces were stuck on there,
it was tough to cut lengthwise.
 |
| drastic measures - drillium |
A couple strategic cuts and the stem was finally freed up.
 |
| crazy macey |
Way better hanging out in garage then playing video games!
TP
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