ZMotorsports Shop Projects 2.0

[aka Larry]

Mike I believe never satisfied is a great quality to have, never settling for good enough. There are some negative people that are never satisfied and just always want to complain. But that is a different kind of never satisfied in my opinion and don't think that's what I would call the type of never satisfied some of us are. I'm very hard on myself and always questioning and overthinking everything I do thinking I'm missing something or not doing it good enough. I've come to realize I am this way and I think it's a good thing. Always wanting to do better and learn new things and ways to do them better. Not settling for good enough and "it works" mentality. That's why I follow your posts and learn new things and techniques from someone I know has similar thinking of doing things right and the best they can. I've picked up so many small(and large) details from your posts and pictures, from the tools you use or techniques. Thanks for never being satisfied and also sharing your work on here for others like myself to be able to learn from that!

Well said, and I agree 100%.

The world could use more people like Mike for sure.

 

[zmotorsports]

Mike I believe never satisfied is a great quality to have, never settling for good enough. There are some negative people that are never satisfied and just always want to complain. But that is a different kind of never satisfied in my opinion and don't think that's what I would call the type of never satisfied some of us are. I'm very hard on myself and always questioning and overthinking everything I do thinking I'm missing something or not doing it good enough. I've come to realize I am this way and I think it's a good thing. Always wanting to do better and learn new things and ways to do them better. Not settling for good enough and "it works" mentality. That's why I follow your posts and learn new things and techniques from someone I know has similar thinking of doing things right and the best they can. I've picked up so many small(and large) details from your posts and pictures, from the tools you use or techniques. Thanks for never being satisfied and also sharing your work on here for others like myself to be able to learn from that!

Thanks Scott. I guess I didn't take it as a good thing when he said it. I took it as a negative like I'm never happy. I am very happy and content with my life, but when I do a job, I look back and can't be pleased with it because all I see is some little detail that I could have done better, and it discredits the entire job in my mind. I am far from perfect and I don't do perfect work, but I do try to improve with each job I tackle. He was making such a big deal about our vehicles and all I could think of was the rock chip here or the ding there or some other small detail that sticks out to me like a sore thumb.

 

[ntsqd]

I am/was struggling with how to say what signcrafter said so well.

 

[zmotorsports]

Well hell, I just got off the Snap-on truck, I had ordered a couple 12-point crowsfoot sockets that I was missing in my set, and I got a text this morning from my dealer, Ken, saying he had them on his truck and he just informed me that today was his last day. He sold out his franchise. He's been an absolutely fantastic dealer and even though I haven't bought a lot of tools from him over his 12-year run, he has sure taken good care of me. I'm gonna miss him.

 

[PugetDude]

Well hell, I just got off the Snap-on truck, I had ordered a couple 12-point crowsfoot sockets that I was missing in my set, and I got a text this morning from my dealer, Ken, saying he had them on his truck and he just informed me that today was his last day. He sold out his franchise. He's been an absolutely fantastic dealer and even though I haven't bought a lot of tools from him over his 12-year run, he has sure taken good care of me. I'm gonna miss him.

When one door closes, another opens. New dealer is going to be hungry for a while...( With apologies to @SilverJimmy )

 

[ntsqd]

When one door closes, another opens. New dealer is going to be hungry for a while...( With apologies to @SilverJimmy )

Does Snap-On still make their dealers finance the truck?

 

[zmotorsports]

When one door closes, another opens. New dealer is going to be hungry for a while...( With apologies to @SilverJimmy )

I know the guy who bought him out, he's a nice guy as well. I don't have any worries, but then again, I really don't buy that many tools these days.

 

[zmotorsports]

Does Snap-On still make their dealers finance the truck?

I believe so, they are a franchise so the dealer is on the hook for everything from the truck to the inventory.

 

[SilverJimmy]

I always told my customers the truth, that the only thing free to a dealer from Snap-On were catalogs. One of my customers challenged me to prove it. I told him that I could order him 40 cases right then and there and UPS would deliver them free of charge. He told me to order them, still didn’t believe me. Then I explained to him how when the brown truck showed up and started stacking them by his door at first it would be funny….. until he realizes that he now has over 1/2 a ton of catalogs he now has to deal with. 800 catalogs! He doesn’t have that many friends and the paper is too shiny to use as TP! When I had 3 trucks running I would get more than that amount of catalogs auto-shipped to me every time a new one came out. My poor wife was the one going to UPS daily picking up our stock orders, she hated those days!

 

[rd65]

Others perception of us never matches our own. We are in our own heads too much, some of us anyway, myself included. We all have certain ways of doing things. My FIL for example was in construction for his working life. Mostly large projects but he has a decent sized wood shop at home but he is not a "finish" carpenter type of guy. Get the big parts done, make it functional, and move on. It took him 10 years to finish the trim in his family cabin. He helped me remove a tree from our front yard a couple weeks ago, pushed the tree over, hauled limbs and things to the firepit. Sort of cleaned up the lawn as far as filling the hole and leveling it out. I was a bit bummed that he didn't do a little more back blading of the area to smooth it out more but I know that we both see the details differently. He was happy as a clam running his little tractor and pulling the stump, digging the trench for my shop drain, that type of thing. Then he was ready to move on to the next thing. He wanted to do a couple more things but I declined, knowing that I would have, what to me, would be a mess to finish. I know I am a bit particular about things but that's who I am. Dont worry about how you see things, if what you do brings a smile then keep on keeping on.
On another note, how often do you or someone go recruiting at that school. Every year, every class? If you only got one bite per graduating class, I would consider that a success. My stepson is trying for a new position here at work, we both work for a decent sized city (over 100k population) Public Works. He is very hands on but his appearance is a bit rough, lots of beard and not-so-kept hair. I have tried advising him that may be a turn off for others, maybe trim things up a bit. So far, he hasn't.

 

[zmotorsports]

Others perception of us never matches our own. We are in our own heads too much, some of us anyway, myself included. We all have certain ways of doing things. My FIL for example was in construction for his working life. Mostly large projects but he has a decent sized wood shop at home but he is not a "finish" carpenter type of guy. Get the big parts done, make it functional, and move on. It took him 10 years to finish the trim in his family cabin. He helped me remove a tree from our front yard a couple weeks ago, pushed the tree over, hauled limbs and things to the firepit. Sort of cleaned up the lawn as far as filling the hole and leveling it out. I was a bit bummed that he didn't do a little more back blading of the area to smooth it out more but I know that we both see the details differently. He was happy as a clam running his little tractor and pulling the stump, digging the trench for my shop drain, that type of thing. Then he was ready to move on to the next thing. He wanted to do a couple more things but I declined, knowing that I would have, what to me, would be a mess to finish. I know I am a bit particular about things but that's who I am. Dont worry about how you see things, if what you do brings a smile then keep on keeping on.
On another note, how often do you or someone go recruiting at that school. Every year, every class? If you only got one bite per graduating class, I would consider that a success. My stepson is trying for a new position here at work, we both work for a decent sized city (over 100k population) Public Works. He is very hands on but his appearance is a bit rough, lots of beard and not-so-kept hair. I have tried advising him that may be a turn off for others, maybe trim things up a bit. So far, he hasn't.

Thank you for the comments and joining in on the discussion. I agree that at I am in my own head way too much. Usually beating myself up for some detail I overlooked or somewhere I could have done better.

As for how often our company is at the local trade school, I am not sure as our HR department has the majority of the interaction. I think 2-3 times per year when they have some form of job fair. That being said, our Maintenance department is a very, very small fraction of the workforce here so there is much more emphasis placed on the non-skilled sector so less time is spent at the trade school as I would like to see. Seems like the only time we get attention is when we have an opening whereas I think we should be interacting and trying to attract interested young people much more often, not just when we have a vacant position.

 

[rd65]

Exactly. Proactive vs reactive.

 

[PugetDude]

At one time we sponsored three industrial maintenance programs at the local community college, (Hydraulics, Electrical Controls, and Machining) but never had much luck hiring the graduates. Most of them fled to Seattle for twice the prevailing local wage scales when they graduated. Bright lights, big city,...
Still have a seat on their Workforce Advisory Council, but it's pretty much just rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic at this point.

 

[ntsqd]

Find the funding for some Internships. Maybe they're only for the summer and maybe they're part-time year-round after or before school. It isn't just about those young men who work one. It's also about who they talk to. Word will spread. One guy's solid experience will promote the option more than anything else. There was one such opportunity when I was in HS and getting in was very competitive.

Puget, with that user name I'm guessing that you weren't over on the Dry Side?

 

[PugetDude]

Find the funding for some Internships. Maybe they're only for the summer and maybe they're part-time year-round after or before school. It isn't just about those young men who work one. It's also about who they talk to. Word will spread. One guy's solid experience will promote the option more than anything else. There was one such opportunity when I was in HS and getting in was very competitive.

Puget, with that user name I'm guessing that you weren't over on the Dry Side?

I was on the dry side, lived in Spokane for 20 years. 8 over on the Olympic Peninsula.

 

[zmotorsports]

Hope everyone had a great weekend.

We had a lot of rain here along the Wasatch Front again between later Friday night and then started again late afternoon on Saturday.

Friday night my son and DIL dropped off their RDX for some suspension work we were planning on for Saturday. Our grandson talked us into going to dinner with them, like we needed much convincing , then after dinner the wife and I sat on the deck and watched the storm roll in.


Saturday morning my son came by and we started to replace the rear shocks and front struts on their RDX.









With everything wrapped up by late afternoon it was time to clean up the shop and close it down for the day. It was nice to hang out with my son in the shop on Saturday and spend time with him and his family on Friday night for a bit.

Thanks for looking.

 

[ntsqd]

I'll guess those Kick Yer Butt's firmed up the ride by a bit. Objectionable?

 

[zmotorsports]

Monday night while mowing my lawns a guy showed up to buy the five 37" Mickey Thompson tires I had for sale. He had been messaging me all afternoon asking questions and then lowballed me, and I usually tell people like that to pound sand. However, I was tired of looking at them and moving them around the shop, so I accepted his offer with the stipulation that he needed to pick them up before 5pm that night. He eagerly agreed and said he was 9-minutes away. Based on the series of messages I got the impression that English was not his primary language but so what? As long as he brought cash and hauled them away what did I care. He arrived in a Hyundai Tuscon to pick them up and spoke no English, we communicated via a translation app on his phone. Once he arrived, he tried to renegotiate and only wanted four and wanted me to haul them to his place. WTF is wrong with people? That is just F**KED up, regardless of the language.

I told him he had to take all five or no deal, I really didn't care which; cinco or nada. He wasn't happy and started giving me attitude because he only wanted four of them and wanted me to take them to his house, because it was only 9-minutes away but I really didn't give a **** by that point and had enough back and forth with this guy's ********. I just took his money, rolled the tires out to his car and went about mowing my lawn. I could have helped him load them, but after his ******** I was not in the mood and not happy about the BS he was trying to pull. Before people make deals, they really need to think them all the way through and either have a way to transport, enlist in a buddy's help or not start negotiating in the first place. He then asked if he could leave the one with the small cut in the sidewall and he'd pick it up in a couple of days. I said absolutely not, cinco or nada. I knew he'd drive off and I'd never see him again, then end up having to get rid of one tire or pay the disposal fee. I told him to load all five up or unload them now and I'll give you your money back.

By the way, have you ever seen five 37" tires stuffed into a Tuscon?


While he was f**cking about loading tires a friend dropped off his sled to have me go through the carbs and get them ready to leave up at his cabin all winter. He picked up two older but new to him sleds and he just wanted them running. I asked about checking clutches, belts, skids, engine alignment, etc. and all of the things I used to check back in the day on pre-season tune-ups, but he only wanted them running, nothing more. Okee Dokee. This is the only guy I even work on sleds for anymore as this is not a service I offer. The stipulation was that he brings one at a time and on a flatbed trailer so I can work on them without having the skags mark up my shop floor as I no longer have my dolly to move sleds around.

When he was leaving the guy was still out front screwing around loading tires and he stopped my buddy to ask him to haul the tires to his house for him. What a circus Monday night was.

Last night I pulled the Jeep into the shop to swap my tops around. It's that time of year again, unfortunately, when the Sunrider top comes off and the Freedom tops go back on for the cold weather. With our work schedules it doesn't look like the wife and I will be able to get our last trip in to the Swell, so it's time to put the coach to bed for the winter and to get the Jeep in winter trim.


Sunrider flipped back and fasteners removed as well as the door surrounds.


Freedom tops brought up from the basement and ready to install.


But first, I sprayed the gaskets and surrounding areas with some Meguiar's All-Purpose Cleaner and used a small detail brush to remove any dirt and debris from the gaskets and reveals.




Same process at the rear.




Much better and the grit doesn't deteriorate the rubber from moving about.




Freedom tops installed and the Jeep is ready to park back in the house garage.



Thanks for looking.

 

[WoodsTruck]

Selling things ***** anymore.
I travel the western portion of this state in a pickup on a reasonably regular basis. I have bought and sold tires and wheels on a relatively large radius and have delivered if it is on my travel pattern and I'm not out any additional time. I have a low threshold for **** though.

 

[zmotorsports]

After parking the Jeep back in the house garage, I commenced the work on the late 90's Polaris XC700.



I couldn't help myself and just had to test the compression before starting, even though he JUST wanted the carbs gone through. Seemed a bit low actually. If they've been sitting for a while it is possible that the rings may be a bit gummed up and once running they may free up and seal a bit better. Plugs were dark as hell, but he didn't know when they were run last as he just picked them up and the guy told him they've been sitting for "a while". He interpreted that as in more than a year. Upon a casual glance, I noticed that the last registration decal I saw on the sled was 2019.


Airbox out of the way and the grime was obvious. Plus the smell really started permeating the shop by this time, and not a good smell.


Carburetors removed.


And on the bench for disassembly.


Pretty gummed up inside and the pilot on the PTO side was plugged solid.


As was the pilot on the MAG side.


Both disassembled and ready for cleaning and final inspection.


One cleaned and one to go.


A couple of tweaks to the float tang and the needle & seat appear to be holding well.



More pictures to follow.

 

[signcrafter]

Mike, it's amazing how different some people's thinking or expectations of what they can ask or demand are. I would have delivered for him for full asking price. If you low ball me and then try that I would have just asked firmly for him to leave. I've been buying a lot of marketplace lately, rarely sell anything on there because I don't want to deal with idiots. If I see something I want and think the price is fair I say I'll come get it and don't haggle over price at all. If I think it's border line inline price I will shoot an offer asking if they will take say 80 bucks instead of 100. I won't low ball, obviously the seller thinks his item is worth what he is asking or close to it. I'm not going to low ball, I'll move along. I have a couple times sent a message to seller saying I would like the item you are selling but it's not something I will be using often and can't justify spending that much right now. I could afford to do ***.** cash if you would like otherwise I understand if you can't come down that low. But most of the time if I can't afford or justify the price I just move along or save the item and see if it sells or comes down in price in the next few weeks.

 

[zmotorsports]

Continuing on with the work on the sled.

MAG side carb completed and on to the PTO side carb.


Adjusting the fuel level and ensuring the needle & seat on the PTO carb holds. Looks good.


Carbs completed and ready to install.


Carburetors installed back into the sled. Ready to clean the slides and needles along with a little cleanup on the top of the tunnel and bulkhead.


Plugs bead blasted and gapped before reinstalling.


My son will probably recognize this shop-made tool. Nothing more than a piece of TIG rod with a loop on one end to hook to a seat snap.....



and the other end flattened to a screwdriver blade. This tool is probably 35 years old and was used on a LOT of sleds over the years during tuning both in the shop and on the mountain.


Makes reaching those MAG side and center carbs (on 3-cylinder engines) much easier.


Fired up and running. Before reinstalling the airbox, I used my air flow meter to ensure both carbs were flowing the same volume of air and the idle transitions were synchronized. Airbox installed and then a little more fine tuning of the carbs and it is ready to go.


Owner ran right over to grab this one and will drop off the next one tonight or tomorrow night.


Thanks for looking.

 

[zmotorsports]

Selling things ***** anymore.
I travel the western portion of this state in a pickup on a reasonably regular basis. I have bought and sold tires and wheels on a relatively large radius and have delivered if it is on my travel pattern and I'm not out any additional time. I have a low threshold for **** though.

Same here. I hate both buying AND selling anything anymore and my threshold for other people's **** is dropping drastically lately. I just don't want to deal with people, period. I have a guy on an RV forum that can't find anyone to perform the work on his coach and after reading some information that I posted a few years ago giving some advice to someone else, he has contacted me and expects me to do the work on his. He got my phone number from another guy whom I do know and exchange information with and now won't leave me alone. I am a little pissed that the one guy gave out my phone number without asking me first, but that's another topic. I have explained that it wasn't a fun job on my coach and I don't want to do another one. I keep getting the response back that he just bought this coach and knows nothing about it and doesn't trust anyone else nor can he find a shop willing to perform the welding and repairs. Like that is my problem. I have enough to do without being guilted into working on something I simply do not want to do.

I'm tired of dealing with people that think their problems are my problems because they either didn't do the research before buying or bought before they knew what they were buying. Either way, not my problem, not my circus.

Mike, it's amazing how different some people's thinking or expectations of what they can ask or demand are. I would have delivered for him for full asking price. If you low ball me and then try that I would have just asked firmly for him to leave. I've been buying a lot of marketplace lately, rarely sell anything on there because I don't want to deal with idiots. If I see something I want and think the price is fair I say I'll come get it and don't haggle over price at all. If I think it's border line inline price I will shoot an offer asking if they will take say 80 bucks instead of 100. I won't low ball, obviously the seller thinks his item is worth what he is asking or close to it. I'm not going to low ball, I'll move along. I have a couple times sent a message to seller saying I would like the item you are selling but it's not something I will be using often and can't justify spending that much right now. I could afford to do ***.** cash if you would like otherwise I understand if you can't come down that low. But most of the time if I can't afford or justify the price I just move along or save the item and see if it sells or comes down in price in the next few weeks.

Yeah Scott, I simply don't understand people's logic these days. Had he negotiated delivery or asked politely, maybe. But the way he went about it after the agreed upon deal is what pissed me off and I almost told him no deal and to leave, but I wanted them out of the shop.

I have been looking at a trailer that I found on FB MP and it is "almost" what I am looking for. Other than it has lighter duty axles under it and I want to incorporate removable fenders into my trailer. I had inquired about it and asked a few questions last week. Upon the responses I figured it was borderline on whether I could purchase the materials for what I could get the trailer for. My wife told me it was my choice but not to settle and if it isn't "EXACTLY" what I want then not to buy it. I opted to pass on the deal.

Over the weekend he reached back out to me to tell me he lowered the price and is motivated to get it out of his yard. He even said he put new tires on it, but it was still right on the bubble of what I would be paying for the materials. I waffled all weekend thinking I could make him a lowball offer, then yank the axles out and sell them and put the 6k pound axles under it that I want to us and then cut apart the fender mounts and make them removable. All this work going through my mind but in the end, I just can't bring myself to make a lowball offer on something that I will still have to do a ton of work on and in the end it won't be EXACTLY what I have in my head. I messaged him and told him I was going to pass.

He messaged me again last night with another offer. At this point I told the wife I didn't even want to think about it anymore, I just want to build what I want and not deal with anyone in the process. I had to finally tell him that I was no longer interested as it is not what I am looking for.

I don't like lowball offers and I surely can't bring myself to do that to someone else. I'm not made of money, but I simply can't live with myself by lowering my standards to what I am seeing lately. I HATE selling stuff anymore, especially online because people are dicks in person, let alone through the anonymity of the internet.

 

[gearhead1960]

Mike,

It's time to block the RV owner on your phone. If you don't know how, I'm sure your technically savvy son can walk you through the process...

 

[ntsqd]

Had a guy try to tell me that there was something wrong with the manual trans because it it didn't easily go into reverse and then made me a lowball offer on what was already a heavily discounted price on a rare-ish truck because of the blown head-gasket that I didn't want to fix (22RTE). I had rolled it out the driveway to make it easier to look at and if a deal was made, to load it up. I told him it was no longer for sale and rolled it back down the driveway.
Then his truck started acting like it too had a blown head gasket and he wanted me to help him fix it. I figured that anyone who can pop the HG on a VG30 is beyond help and went back to work on whatever that day's project was.
The next guy to look at that truck knew exactly what he was looking at, and what was going to be involved in fixing it. I felt good that a rare-ish truck was landing in good hands and helped he and his tweener son load it up.

 

[pancholasvegas]

Mike,

What is the tool that with the hose and gauge that you are hooking up to the carb to check the needle and seat? I've not seen that before. I don't typically have to deal with more than one Carb at a time on the motorcycles I play with, and I've always set the float height with a float height gauge or my calipers. I'm very interested in seeing what your carburetion set-up consists of.

 

[zmotorsports]

Mike,

It's time to block the RV owner on your phone. If you don't know how, I'm sure your technically savvy son can walk you through the process...

I'm about to that point Mark. I was trying not to be a ****, because I am quite active on a couple of RV forums and really do want to help others to maintain their older and aging coaches. However, during the 2020-2023~ish timeframe I had about enough of these idiots buying these coaches and not having the slightest clue what they had, nor did they know what to look at prior to pulling the trigger on the purchase. The pandemic really brought out the morons in the RV world.


That being said, most of the fellow coach owners that I have communicated with over the years have been exceptional and really stand-up guys. We have made a lot of improvements and upgrades to our coaches through a lot of collaboration, and I am proud to know most of them.

I had made a lengthy post a couple of years ago on one of the forums where someone asked about buying an older upper end coach vs. a new coach of lesser hierarchy. I gave my opinion on coach ownership and highlighted the points that before purchasing one of these older coaches, it is best to do some deep soul searching to evaluate if you are up to the task of ownership. What I meant by that was the time involved is not to be taken lightly and if someone is going to purchase one of these aging beasts, they either need to be relatively handy and mechanically inclined, OR have really deep pockets to pay someone to maintain them, that is, IF they can find someone that can work on them or even wants to work on them as the shops that will work on RV's is rapidly decreasing. Either way I explained that there needs to be a LOT of research done before pulling the trigger on the purchase because the initial purchase is only the cost of admission, from there you're committed and there's no turning back unless you are willing to take a hell of a loss.

I got a lot of comments and feedback from that post. There was NO being in the middle. People were either in 110% agreement, or they were pissed off at me for even suggesting that someone think before buying and being realistic or accountable for the repairs afterwards.

I have met so many people in our travels and most with older coaches really have a knack for knowing their way around their coaches and are proud to show them off along with the upgrades and repairs they have performed. These are the kinds of people I can really relate to. Those who think they can open their checkbook and buy their way out of any situation I have less respect and use for.

Unfortunately, that was a major reason why I ended up closing my business down back in 2016, got tired of dealing with people with that mindset. Back then it was the side by side owners, but I found during the pandemic it transferred to the RV owners. I probably could have made a ****-ton of money had I just kept my head down and taken their money, but I don't like the caliber of people that exhibit that behavior.

Sorry, probably more than anyone gives a **** knowing about me, but my tolerance for certain kinds of people is really wearing thin lately. Those with that "entitled" attitude can pound sand.

 

[PugetDude]

Sorry, probably more than anyone gives a **** knowing about me, but my tolerance for certain kinds of people is really wearing thin lately. Those with that "entitled" attitude can pound sand.

 

[OutlawDrifter]

Ugg...going through similar sales stuff right now on FB marketplace with my FIL's 1987 F250 and an Aunt's tractor.

People don't understand what "no trades" means I guess...went ahead and listed at the top and bottom of the ad with stars on each side...

 

[Mr.zippy]

I have a bunch of "stuff", nice things that most people would like to have, that I no longer need or use. I end up just storing all of it because I despise the selling process.

 

[PugetDude]

Ugg...going through similar sales stuff right now on FB marketplace with my FIL's 1987 F250 and an Aunt's tractor.

People don't understand what "no trades" means I guess...went ahead and listed at the top and bottom of the ad with stars on each side...

OK, but will you deliver?

 

[zmotorsports]

Had a guy try to tell me that there was something wrong with the manual trans because it it didn't easily go into reverse and then made me a lowball offer on what was already a heavily discounted price on a rare-ish truck because of the blown head-gasket that I didn't want to fix (22RTE). I had rolled it out the driveway to make it easier to look at and if a deal was made, to load it up. I told him it was no longer for sale and rolled it back down the driveway.
Then his truck started acting like it too had a blown head gasket and he wanted me to help him fix it. I figured that anyone who can pop the HG on a VG30 is beyond help and went back to work on whatever that day's project was.
The next guy to look at that truck knew exactly what he was looking at, and what was going to be involved in fixing it. I felt good that a rare-ish truck was landing in good hands and helped he and his tweener son load it up.

Thom, had a similar situation about 20 years ago. My son had an XR250R that we had bought as he wanted to try out a 4-stroke bike after always owning 2-strokes. It needed a little TLC, so we didn't do a full frame-up resto on it, just fixed a couple of things and installed new tires, tubes, wheel bearings and brakes for the time being as well as stretched the rear swingarm a couple of inches while it was apart. Turns out he didn't really care for it and wanted to go back to a 2-stroke, so we put it up for sale for what we thought was a fair price considering it had a little oil burning and was down a little on compression, but offset with new tires, bearings and brakes. I listed all of this in the ad for full transparency.

A guy contacted me and wanted to see it and was "very interested" as he put it. I gave him my address and when he shows up in his new modified Hummer, he makes the comment about how when he turned into the neighborhood, he thought this can't be the right address where someone would have something nice, and he said he almost turned around. First off, I would agree that our neighborhood was in decline at that point, but who the hell says stuff like that to someone they just met, especially who is looking to buy something?

That comment immediately set the tone, but I thought he was just showing off for his buddy and his son. He looked at the bike and immediately started knocking it and picking it apart mentioning EVERYTHING I had listed in the ad. I mentioned that he wasn't telling me anything I didn't already know and listed it as such so I wasn't sure if he really noticed those things or simply read the ad and was trying to show off. I told him it wasn't a new bike, it needs some attention but we opted to sell it as is rather than put any more time or money into it, hence the price is reflective of that.

This ******* throws a lowball offer at me and I immediately declined it. He asked you don't even want to talk to your son or consider it and I replied I'd keep it before I'll give it away. He kept commenting about what was wrong with it and I just mentioned again that ALL of that was in the ad, you are not telling me anything I don't already know.

I finally asked him to leave and told him I wouldn't sell it to him now anyways. He was "offended" that I told him to leave. They walked away back to their vehicle and sat there talking for about 10-minutes. My son mentioned to me that they were walking back to the shop again. He then made me what I considered a reasonable offer and what my son and I had previously decided on what we would probably get out of it. My son was excited because he already found another bike he wanted so he was excited this one was selling so quickly. I looked at him and told him it was no longer for sale and I asked him to leave my property. The look of shock on my son's face as well as his son's and buddy's face was priceless. I told him I would have sold it to him had he not acted like a complete ******* and again told him to get off my property.


Fortunately, that is about the only situation like that I had ever had and hope to never have another one. One was enough.

 

[zmotorsports]

Mike,

What is the tool that with the hose and gauge that you are hooking up to the carb to check the needle and seat? I've not seen that before. I don't typically have to deal with more than one Carb at a time on the motorcycles I play with, and I've always set the float height with a float height gauge or my calipers. I'm very interested in seeing what your carburetion set-up consists of.

The small gauge with the hose is simply a hand pump to measure pop-off pressure of the needle & seat. I use it for also verifying that the needle and seat can hold pressure and close the fuel off coming into the float bowl.

As for synchronizing carburetors, I have a couple of different tools. I have a monometer that can do up to 4 carbs at a time that I used when setting up metric motorcycles, but for snowmobiles and sandrails with multiple carburetors I have a couple different size of airflow meters that I use. I can take a couple pictures tonight and post them up. I didn't take any pictures of setting the airflow last night as the owner arrived and I was trying to get it done so he could hook up and take it home.

 

[zmotorsports]

I have a bunch of "stuff", nice things that most people would like to have, that I no longer need or use. I end up just storing all of it because I despise the selling process.

I am just about to that point. My son and I had this discussion on Saturday while working on his wife's car. We are so done with dealing with trying to sell things, we are thinking twice before buying and when it comes to selling, we'll sit on them before dealing with people. In all honesty, I should have just let the tire shop have these and try to resell vs. my blood pressure rising trying to sell them.

 

[Jgaz]

I am just about to that point. My son and I had this discussion on Saturday while working on his wife's car. We are so done with dealing with trying to sell things, we are thinking twice before buying and when it comes to selling, we'll sit on them before dealing with people. In all honesty, I should have just let the tire shop have these and try to resell vs. my blood pressure rising trying to sell them.

Amen!!
Over the past six months I‘ve given a number of duplicate tools to what I felt were deserving individuals.
I just feel so much better doing that than trying to sell them and dealing with assholes.
My best experiences by far have been dealing with folks on this forum.

I’m so over Facebook and Craigslist.

 

[PugetDude]

I am just about to that point. My son and I had this discussion on Saturday while working on his wife's car. We are so done with dealing with trying to sell things, we are thinking twice before buying and when it comes to selling, we'll sit on them before dealing with people. In all honesty, I should have just let the tire shop have these and try to resell vs. my blood pressure rising trying to sell them.

When my wife bought me the Brookville Roadster '32 body for our 20 year anniversary, I put the old fiberglass body on CL and FB Marketplace. Lots of Nigerian Princes wanting to "establish trust" before their emissaries would pick it up with a cashiers check, sight unseen trade offers, "can you deliver it?". Every Tomas, Ricardo, and Harry that made an appointment turned out to be a no show, no call. Probably 7-8 in a row.
Did manage to finally trade it off, but even that was a completely uncomfortable and awkward transaction.
WTF is wrong with people? Have we devolved so far as a society that basic societal norms are now meaningless?

 

[ntsqd]

I wonder if putting stuff like that on ebay is any better? I have seen listings that stipulate "local pick-up only, no shipping." Likely just a different set of hassles.

As was posted above, if I think that a price is reasonable for condition and rarity I buy it. If I don't think it's reasonable or close to that, I pass it by. If I think they're only a little high on the price I'll ask if there's any movement in the price as I know some folks price high expecting people to haggle. If they will move then I'll pursue it. If they're stuck on that price then it's "GLWS" and move on.

 

[rd65]

Wonder if he got the rest of the Hot Dogger with that sled. I had one of our old grass drag sleds for a few years, 94 VX500 short track. When I sold it, it had a set of 600 cylinders, Reicher twin pipes, 136 x 2 track, Yamaha XT long travel suspension. It had a turbo for a season but it was too hard to tune, and a bit snappy for trail/road riding. Snow conditions here are very hit & miss so I sold it after a few seasons. Easier to dirt bike in slop than snowmobile in it.

 

[zmotorsports]

When my wife bought me the Brookville Roadster '32 body for our 20 year anniversary, I put the old fiberglass body on CL and FB Marketplace. Lots of Nigerian Princes wanting to "establish trust" before their emissaries would pick it up with a cashiers check, sight unseen trade offers, "can you deliver it?". Every Tomas, Ricardo, and Harry that made an appointment turned out to be a no show, no call. Probably 7-8 in a row.
Did manage to finally trade it off, but even that was a completely uncomfortable and awkward transaction.
WTF is wrong with people? Have we devolved so far as a society that basic societal norms are now meaningless?

Yes.

 

[pancholasvegas]

The small gauge with the hose is simply a hand pump to measure pop-off pressure of the needle & seat. I use it for also verifying that the needle and seat can hold pressure and close the fuel off coming into the float bowl.

As for synchronizing carburetors, I have a couple of different tools. I have a monometer that can do up to 4 carbs at a time that I used when setting up metric motorcycles, but for snowmobiles and sandrails with multiple carburetors I have a couple different size of airflow meters that I use. I can take a couple pictures tonight and post them up. I didn't take any pictures of setting the airflow last night as the owner arrived and I was trying to get it done so he could hook up and take it home.

Thank you for the response. I would like to try to find one of these and/or make one myself. I've never seen that method used for diagnosing proper function of the float - I'm very keen on that as many of the old machines that I play with, I find myself fighting the float occasionally (Older Honda Motorcycles, typically).