Got my carb bowl gasket the other day, so I took my Puch Newport for it's first 2 rides tonight - totaled about 8 miles (brrr - a bit nippy in the cool damp weather for shorts and a t-shirt). Now that I know she's fully committed to this relationship, I'm gonna take good care of her. I have some basic questions that I'm hoping you connaisseurs can help me with:
- I start off at the bottom of a pretty good hill, and I can't get going without walking it along, or pedaling at least 20-30 feet. Once it gets momentum on other hills, it goes over them no prob. I hit 30+ (I think the speedometer maxes out at 30 if I remember correctly) on my ride without any difficulty - is all this normal? Should I expect not to be able to go from a stop up a steep grade? Was my 1 lb. of pasta for dinner too much?
- Does the speedometer gauge normally have a light? You're right, I guess I could look for any wiring to it...
- After my ride, I put a new tire in the front (dryrot) & just replaced (last week) the flat piece of rubber that 20 years ago must have been an inner tube. As you all advised me, I took the bearings out, and repacked them - in the front, at least. I noticed the hole through the hub that the outer race nut (yeah, that's what I'll call it!) contacts was machined (I thought) rather sharply since it had a fine edge on it. I don't remember any pitting or scoring on the race (please don't make me take that out again lol). I'm wondering how tightly I should put the outer race nut before I tighten the jam nut against it. If I tighten it so that there is no play at all in the axle, it feels like a slight drag against that sharp edge (I don't think the drag is against the bearings themselves. If I back it off slightly, it spins very freely with no friction, but there is a very slight play in the axle, if I wiggle it back and forth with force. What should I do?
- The flat washer/cover that goes on top of the bearing cup - does that need to be clicked into place, or will the pressure take care of that when I put the axle nuts on? If it does need to be seated, how should I do this gracefully (let me just put this sledge down until I hear...)
- I sanded the glazed brake shoes and drum to bring it back to life. Guess I got some new grease to clean outta the drum by now...How important is it to grease the pivot point for the shoes? Can I use something I might have? Like wheel bearing grease, white lithium, silicone spray, pb blaster, marine grease...? If not, what exactly do I need to use? My old (full) can of brake cleaner spray doesn't seem to want to come out of it's happy can home, so I used carb/choke spray on inside of hub. Didn't want to use on brake shoes since I don't know if it'll damage them? What other solvent can I use - I have a lot of cans: denatured alcohol, brush cleaner, kerosene, xylol, etc...
- I think the speedometer bearing on the axle was a little gritty. Should I pull that apart (didn't look closely yet - not sure if I need to bend tabs or something) to clean it and grease it up? Or, should I just spray something in there and grease it up afterwards?
- My headlight wasn't working, so I took apart the assembly. I noticed there was no voltage going to it and bulb filament had continuity, so I played around with the switch and it lights sometimes in one position. I sprayed some electrical contact cleaner in there, but haven't tried it again yet - is it serviceable at all? Also the tail light was out when I started this mess a couple of weeks ago, and I noticed the filament was bad in the old bulb - I happened to have a compatible(?) bulb - think it's the same as a 1156. It looked pretty clean in there, but the light was out when I went for my second ride - I tapped the lens (being held on by one bolt until I find where I dropped the #)(*$#@ other one) and the light came on. I think my bulb is 12v and the original might be 6v - does this matter? Is there a ground or something inside the tail liight assembly?
- The brake light doesn't seem to work - is this a separate bulb? What type? Thought the thing might not run with a bad bulb, but maybe it's continuous or only tail light matters? How does the bulb get energized? Is it in the levers or what?
- When I have it up on the stand (let it run for about an hour today), the back tire can end up spinning - maybe even pretty fast. I got distracted by the tv a couple of weeks ago when I took the carb apart, and lost track of how many turns that adjuster screw was at - I think I reinstalled it at about 1-3/4 turns. Should I do something to fix this? Is it more important to idle/not stall when cold, or have correct idle when hot?
- Anything I should know before I do the same for the rear wheel? Are the bearings loose back there too?
- Am I the only one with a plastic briggs&stratton tank bungeed to the rat trap? Do I really look that ridiculous?? Bet no one will notice how I connected the 1/4" line to the tank and the 3/16 line to the carb. Too bad I bought the 1/4" inline filter - who knew it'll eventually all have to be only 3/16??
Sorry I'm so wordy, but look on the bright side - maybe you'll never have to hear from me again, except to tell you about the nice rides I take past the gas station. Now I know why everyone likes to ride these things - I had some fun tonight! My friend wants to pick one up now that he's heard about all my travails...Thanks a lot for any help you can give me!!!