Deseret, Cactus, & Texas: Full Slate

This week we had several goals:
1) Get the Camry bumper repaired
2) Go to the Temple
3) Get the motorcycle repaired
4) Celebrate our 34th wedding anniversary
5) Sing in the choir at Stake Conference

4/5 ain't bad

A couple of years ago our Camry bumper sustained minor damage to the left corner when Gordon backed it into a low stucco planter wall at his hotel when he and Alison were visiting us. Then during the Disneyland vacation this past April Eric and Krystal took the car to their hotel in California and it came back with an oval shaped scrape on the right corner of the bumper. I said to Felicia that if we were lucky, someone would run into us so we can get our bumper repaired. As luck would have it, that is exactly what happened. An older man ran into Felicia at a stop light.

The impact chipped a chunk of paint off in the center of the bumper and left a dent the shape of a license plate holder. Felicia worked things out with the man's insurance and the collision repair shop and she took the car in Tue. She was given a dark gray Altima rental to drive during the repair.

Friday I was off work. We planned on going to the Temple in the afternoon so I started repairing my motorcycle clutch in the morning. I had the bike all put back together by noon and was adjusting the clutch when I felt something happen in the clutch lever. Suddenly the clutch lever was loose like the cable had broken. I checked the cable and it was good but the actuator lever going into the clutch housing no longer had a spring force on it.

That was not good. That meant I would need to drain all the new oil out and take everything apart again to see what happened. Maybe some spiritual guidance would help. I quit working on the bike and we drove the Altima to Mesa. Surprisingly, it achieved 35 MPG on the highway with a V6. That is only 5 MPG less than our hybrid.

The session only had 12 people in it even though the Temple parking lot was full. After dinner at PF Chang's we drove home and I drained the oil trying to catch it in a clean container for reuse. I was mostly successful but about a quart ended up on the floor. I took the clutch apart and something fell into the oil collecting pan. It was the brass plug that was supposed to be in the center of the drive shaft. It was mangled from being wedged between the clutch release head and the primary gear drive shaft. Here is a picture of where the brass plug was supposed to be.

Now I needed to see about getting a new brass plug for the primary gear drive shaft. It was midnight and time for bed.

The next morning (Saturday) we had choir practice at 8AM. Sis Moss seemed more stressed than usual because we weren't watching her lead very well on 'Consider the Lilies'.

After choir I went to get Eric's car title transfer notarized and then took the brass button with me to Ironhorse BMW in Tucson. I showed the part to the parts guy and he started shaking his head. He said that it could not be purchased alone but was part of the drive shaft assembly...not good. He took me to the service manager who then took me to the mechanics to look for a solution. The mechanics were amazed. They had never seen that part come out before. They gathered around and one said that this was the most exciting thing of the day for them.

The mechanics looked at the part and said that neither I nor they would want to split the engine just for this part. They said its purpose was to block oil from leaving the clutch cavity. They suggested I shave off the burs from the mangling of the part, get some green retaining Loctite, and tap the part back in place. Here is the result.

The moon shape carved on the plug is from the release mechanism head. I put everything back together, let the Loctite dry for 8hrs and tried it out. All was good again. Now for the anniversary.

Luckily, Felicia had announced to Facebook our anniversary so I could not forget. I purchased a gift for Felicia from Brighten.