So, Marc and I finally threw in the towel and sent Smutyanka off to the mechanic’s. We found out that the other Ural owners in this area use a very small shop called Brooks Cycles. It’s only a two man outfit, but they’re really nice, they offer free towing, they have experience working on Urals, [...]
Posts Tagged ‘maintenance’
If it’s not one thing, it’s another…
I swear, as soon as you fix one thing on a Ural, something else breaks.
Last week it was our right-side carburetor deciding that it didn’t want to stay attached to the engine head (the flange/compliance fitting on that side is old and the rubber is stiff, making it difficult to crimp the pipe clamp down [...]
Android Motorcycles?
I think our Ural was made by the Weyland-Yutani Corporation.
Separated at birth?
(Crossposted from Marc’s Soviet Steeds post over here.)
New Air Intake Hoses
As I mentioned in my last post, we replaced Smutyanka’s air intake hoses today. This was our third, and finally successful, try. Our first attempt was with aircraft hose, which was too big (2in, when our diameter is 1.75in). Then, we bought rubber hosing (rated to the proper temperature) that was the right diameter, but [...]
New Toys!
Smutyanka has gotten quite a few new toys recently! Some are more necessary than others. In order of installation:
Duck Boards
Urals come with a rubber mat that fits in the floor of the sidecar. It provides some nice traction, but water gets underneath and if you don’t air it out regularly, you can get some pretty [...]
It’s been a busy few days for Smutyanka!
A lot has gone on for Smutyanka in the last couple days! When I last wrote, we were hoping that our battery drain problems were being caused by the fact that we hadn’t been disconnecting the battery after driving. Well, we had another Ural Tourist owner from Soviet Steeds come by and help us take [...]
Good News!
So, it has now been confirmed that we don’t have one of the “Russian Grenades” for an alternator! Unless something drastic happens, that alternator should last us quite awhile, apparently. This is good, because apparently they’re a bitch and a half to replace.
The other bit of good news is more like…potential good news. As I [...]
Good News and Bad News
The Bad:
It’s always something with a Ural, and Smutyanka is no different.
We had her up and running for two weeks, and we thought that the source of our problems was a dead battery. As it turns out, we were half-correct. We did indeed have a dead battery, but what we didn’t realize is that we [...]
She’s Road-Worthy!
We put mirrors on Smutyanka this afternoon, and she is now officially road-worthy according to the state of Virginia. We got some that are stable but easily removable, so that when we take her to reenactments, we can remove them easily, along with the modern license plate, luggage rack, etc. I’ll be ordering my helmet [...]
New Battery
Marc and I have hopefully figured out what was plaguing Smut’ka: a dead battery.
When she was delivered last Tuesday, she started up fine in the morning. But, when we tried to start her that evening, it was just a lot of fruitless kicking, and she wouldn’t turn over. We checked Soviet Steeds, and most folks [...]
