02 Base for my son

[Snowbound]

Then I switched to the black pad which is softer than the orange and used the polish. I went even farther forward than I did with the first round of cutting compound just so it would blend and not look like I polished out a square spot on the rear quarter.

I put more polish on than what I should have so I kept working it this time.

As you can see, if I get the light angle just right you can see it but standing up looking at the rear quarter it’s almost not noticeable.

 

[Snowbound]

I’m leaving it there for now. It’s gonna have to be wet sanded out and then buffed. Had to clean the pads real quick and get back to work. This stuff works really well at cleaning the compounds off the pads.

Just spray it on and work it in with your fingers and then rinse with warm water. They come out good as new. I have 5” pads that are over 4 years old that are still soft and useable because they get cleaned after every use. I highly recommend chemicals guys products. I switched to them about 3 years ago and I couldn’t be happier with them.

I think in the near future I’m gonna do a detailed wash, claybar the entire vehicle and wax and buff it. Then I’ll map out all the chips and scratches and start filling them, wet sand and polish sections one at a time to do a complete paint correction. The hood is gonna need to be repainted but I may buy a new hood for that. This one has a dent on the front right corner and I like the way the cowl hoods look on these rigs so I’ll end up going that route. Black vehicles show everything but nothing looks as good as black when they are clean and perfect.

 

[adventurenali92]

Another plus one for Chemical Guys! Some of the best products on the market! That scratch looks much better after the polish! Nice job!

 

[Snowbound]

Did a few things to the bike when I got off in the morning. I wanted to be able to pull the trunk when riding solo or for short rides with the wife when we don’t need the tour pack. Take the trunk off an Ultra and it becomes a street glide.
I picked up set of 4 point docking brackets and completely removed the tour pack and put brackets on. Attached the sissy bar and now it’s a street glide.

Ordered a bracket to attach trunk to so that is now a quick attach.

So now I have the ability to switch back and forth when I need the tour pack or when I don’t.

 

[Snowbound]

One thing I didn’t understand was why Harley put all the LED lights on the tour pack, front and rear fender tip lights, even the headlights and driving lights are LED but the front marker turn and rear marker brake were both incandescent bulbs. Why would they do something stupid like that? So the front marker/turn bulbs got replaced with LED. They now are a white halo for running lights but flash amber with turn or hazard on the inside. I have a video of them flashing but I need to upload to YouTube before I can post it.

I have smoked covers for them on there now but I also have chrome covers. I like the smoked ones better.
The rear brake/marker I replaced with a complete LED unit in a smoked lens.

That light has a clear window on top that casts a light onto the plate. Issue is, now that I have a new rack for trunk, that plate needs to be mounted below the light or else I won’t have a plate when running the sissy bar. I have a new bracket coming for the plate that attaches between the brake light and fender but I didn’t want a light shining up off the brake light and there not be a plate there. So I took the new light apart and unsoldered the wires going to that LED. I’ll cover that clear window with tint to make it not stand out like a sore thumb.

I have LED lights coming for the holes between fender and saddlebags. Right now I have no rear turns because they are part of the lighting on trunk. So those filler panel lights will be my new running/brake/turn lights on back. The bottom fender tip light is getting tinted tonight at work so that will look better too. I might even take the tip extensions off the pipes. They are just asking to get get dented backing to a curb and I think I’ll like them better flush.

 

[Snowbound]

Kinda hard to see with all the clutter in my garage, I have yet to even start to organize my garage because I had plans to extend it to a 4 car but with lumber the way it is, I’m in a holding pattern. So here is a better view of the way it looks with the tour pack off. I gotta say, the first corner I hit I was surprised how nimble the bike felt without that 40lb trunk sitting back there.

 

[Snowbound]

I need to get an antenna relocation for when pack is off but I have a flat window mount antenna I can stick under the seat when I have pack off. I’ll have to see how that works out.
When sissy bar is installed it uses the inboard shock mounts as the front attachment and the front mounts on the 4 point docking brackets. So the rear mounts are left exposed. I picked up some magnetic caps to cover the rear mounts when they are not being used.

Extended saddlebags are on the way and so are the 14” ape hanger bars but the bars aren’t going on until this season is over unless we get another week of non stop rain like we’ve had here lately.

 

[Snowbound]

Another little thing I did was repair a loose and rattling shifter. At first I thought I just needed to tighten it up but it turns out the splined shaft and shifter linkage wears which causes the rattling noise. Left unattended, I guess it can get so bad that the linkage strips out leaving you stranded and not being able to shift the bike. So I went ahead and replaced that splined shaft, shift arm and also the linkage but got a Willie G piece.

Made a world of difference! No more rattle and it’s so much tighter that finding neutral is effortless.
I’ve already changed out all the fluids to Amsoil but I need to get a tuner soon.

 

[Snowbound]

Finally got the tint on the fender tip light.

Looks much better.

As far as the antenna, this is the one I used.

I shoved it up under the tank console.

Still waiting for my Ciro LED filler lights to get here because right now I don’t have rear turn signals and I need that license plate bracket. I hate waiting for parts.

 

[Tonyrodz]

Finally got the tint on the fender tip light.
View attachment 345408
Looks much better.

View attachment 345409
As far as the antenna, this is the one I used.

View attachment 345410
I shoved it up under the tank console.
View attachment 345411
Still waiting for my Ciro LED filler lights to get here because right now I don’t have rear turn signals and I need that license plate bracket. I hate waiting for parts.

Radio antenna? If so how's the reception with it?

 

[Snowbound]

Radio antenna? If so how's the reception with it?

Sucks. I’m not sure if it didn’t seat correctly in the plug or what. I’ll order an antenna relocation kit or just use my phone for music like I usually do anyway.

 

[Tonyrodz]

Sucks. I’m not sure if it didn’t seat correctly in the plug or what. I’ll order an antenna relocation kit or just use my phone for music like I usually do anyway.

I have the same issue when I removed my antenna for the Esky module. I stream my music too lol!

 

[Snowbound]

It’s been a little while. I haven’t abandoned the site, just finally getting a bunch of things done so I can maybe get back to some sort of normalcy.
House sold. First day on the market, first people who looked at it offered full asking price, not contingent on sale of their house and conventional not FHA. I was pulling my hair out trying to make everything right and perfect until I got with realtor and she said, just stop! Glad I listened. Only thing inspectors found was garage door sensors missing. They are in rafters above openers because I hate them things. Utility sink in laundry room drained slower than other drains. I didn’t install vacuum break on drain line. I have it but I never really cared that much. That was it! Asked to fix those things or a $400 credit. I said give em $800, I don’t care. I feel like I wanna slap these buyer anyway. You’re gonna give me $205k for a house I bought 10 years ago for $88k cash? This market is unbelievable. But I’ll take it.
Had a little issue with the plat of survey. The neighbors driveway is encroached on my property by 8” or something. It’s the nosy neighbor that always called on me and the other neighbor. She died a couple months ago too. AMF!! (Adios ***** Trucker) Title company had to sign off and now closing is planned for 11/12. Glad that’s about done. I spent a lot of time and money getting it ready and now realize I did too much. Oh well.

I’m sure I mentioned the nightmare I’ve also been dealing with up north with the douchbag that bought the property next to me. My new garage is on his property by 8” none the less. So after fighting with the county because they gave me the permits and talking to a lawyer, I’m having to move it. Had Wisconsin Power come out and move the electric lines feeding the house so I wouldn’t be on top of them. That was $2200. Garage is completely empty and I disconnected the power and pulled the wires into the main garage. Dealing with people that say they’re gonna show up but never do. On my 3rd contractor since July and still zero progress. I just need the concrete poured and I’ll move the garage myself. This is ridiculous. Now here we are getting into snowmobile season and I’m down a snowmobile garage!

Solid line is where I want it and will require me to 1/4 turn it so I can use both garage doors and drive thru. Also it lines up better with main garage that way. Dotted line is if I had to just slide it towards driveway but also away from main garage because I have to be 10’ off existing structure.

Here you can see what I mean about lining up with other garage.

But it’s empty and just waiting to be moved.

I have these Hillman Rollers that are good for 30 ton and I have a plan on how I’ll move the garage but I’m sitting on my hands right now. If it was 3 months ago I would go rent a bobcat and do the excavation and concrete myself.

 

[Snowbound]

Just for size comparison. These are 3 ton rollers.

And these are the 30 ton ones.

I have to move the big ones with a forklift. They are that heavy!

 

[Snowbound]

While we were up north in August, I had some new shoes put on the Esky. It needed it before winter and I went with some Nittos. It was like $1200 but at least I dongg to have to worry about it anymore.

I had Jack driving me around the entire time while we were up there. It’s his vehicle anyway and he needs the hours behind the wheel. He drove us home 270 miles of the 326 mile trip.

While we were up emptying the garage I also managed to put on my tunnel decals for the sled. Those decals are thick and don’t go on like vinyl, it kicked my butt and took about 6 hrs for both sides but I like the way it came out. I had some scuffs on the tunnel from my boots.

Lola took a turn for the worst during this summer while I’m running every day between work and getting house ready she got a real bad infection and it almost killed her. That was $2300 in vet bills to nurse her back to health. It was my fault, I didn’t have time to stay up with her allergy BS and if the infection got into her blood she wouldn’t have made it. But we pulled thru and she’s back to normal self at 11 years old now. I wasn’t ready to lose her yet. Just seemed like everything was piling up on my plate and unfortunately she was one of them that suffered. But you know me with my animals, I don’t let go very easy.

Oh forgot to mention, I bought this tool chest for more tool storage. These things are nice boxes. Anyone in the market I highly recommend.

 

[Tonyrodz]

Glad to see you finally sold the home Jim! I was actually thinking about you the other day--wondering how you were doing. Did you build the garage that's on the neighbor's property? Or did the previous owner do it? If the prior owner did it do you have any legal recourse?

 

[Snowbound]

Glad to see you finally sold the home Jim! I was actually thinking about you the other day--wondering how you were doing. Did you build the garage that's on the neighbor's property? Or did the previous owner do it? If the prior owner did it do you have any legal recourse?

I keep meaning to check in with you guys but there just hasn’t been enough hours in a day. I’m starting to see a little slow down here finally.
Yes, I built the garage. It was the same thing, couldn’t get contractors to show up. So I had a permit and got a guy to do the leveling of the yard but then nobody did the concrete. The next year I had to get a new permit and had the concrete poured and then nobody would come out to build the garage. So the slab sat there a year. The next year, another permit to build the garage and I just went and did it myself. So three permits for that garage and my plat of survey showed straight property lines and I was plenty far away from the line. But then this guy buys the lot next to me and he comes up with angled property lines which made me encroaching on his land. I tried putting it on the county, that didn’t fly. I tried to find out if he bought the lot knowing I was there, that would have grandfathered me in but couldn’t prove it. It’s been a battle with this guy. I tried trading 20’ off the back of my property for 10’ down the side but he had every excuse in the book not to. Said there was an easement back there which there isn’t. 40 year timeframe passed without updating easement. Then he said it would make his lot on the side of me too narrow to build which was another lie according to county. He wanted to sell me 10’ x 25’ of his property right around my garage for $8k. I could have bought that lot for $9k! So I said screw you, I’ll move the garage before I give you my money.

 

[Snowbound]

Another nightmare I had to deal with, moving my K5. I threw the 10 bolt axles in the scrap dumpster at work when I was doing the tear down on it years ago. So I needed to find axles so it would be mobile. Bought some used ones locally but there were no hubs, brakes, wheel studs, steering, or locking hubs so I had to buy all that stuff too. Also I never bought rear springs because I was planning on doing a 4 link in back. So I had to buy new springs too. I went with 62” springs in a 3” lift with a shackle flip so the rear lift would match the front. That put me well over a grand just to get axles mounted. But I didn’t have the right u-bolts and spring plates either. Everything I had was for the one ton axles I have for it but they weren’t ready to go under and I thought I would save money by just buying some used 10bolts and make it roll. I was wrong!
So I got them mounted.

Then the 6 lug wheels I planned on using wouldn’t fit over the front hubs! So I had to source some wheels and tires and pretty fast because I needed to get this thing moved. Found some decent 17’s and they came with 35’s. Tires are worn but hold air so it is what it is. They went on.

Had to weld on my winch plate to trailer and get that on so I could winch up the K5. Got that done and loaded it up.

 

[Snowbound]

The next issue was the trailer slammed down onto the tires! I just rebuilt this trailer and put in new axle, all new brakes and bearings, new springs, shackles and hangers. I noticed the springs were flat. Got to looking at them and I ordered 5 leaf 3,000 lb springs for a total of 6k on each axle so I should be able to haul at least 10k on this trailer. They sent me 4 leaf springs that are for a 7k lb capacity trailer. The trailer is probably 2300lb by itself and this K5 has a Cummins in it so it maxed out the springs and put the tires into the deck supports. The company that sent me the wrong springs said I’m past the warranty and wouldn’t do anything for me. So I cut out the deck supports and dragged the thing to storage the way it sat. I didn’t have time to pull the springs and redo it. If it weren’t for bad luck.......

 

[Snowbound]

I went back up north a couple weekends ago to get my preseason maintenance done on the sleds. I brought up a 65” tv and got it hung up above the mantle and installed an outlet in ceiling above it and also ran a pipe for HDMI and coax cable. I was tired of the entertainment center and small 36” tv that I’ve had up there forever. It was long overdue for an upgrade.

Then I had to move everything around in the garage to be able to work on the sleds. Everything is packed in this one garage so it took me a little while to make room.

After a few hours of moving stuff around and cleaning up I was able to start the tear down.

Drained the oil and got the oil tank and chaincase cover off. Last year I used a pump and sucked out the chaincase oil so I had to tear into it this year to check everything over really well.