Just Thanks

[Dred]

I gotta love all the bits and pieces I pick up by nosing around this forum.  Somewhere here, I read about the ignition switch going wonky.  A few weeks ago I was riding witht the wife and the problem arrived.  With the bar turned to the right, I had no ignition, but centered or turned left I had ignition.  I thought for a few minutes and couldn't figure a left turn only route to get me the 80 or so miles home.

Zip tie to the rescue - and tying the short closed held all the way home.  Actually, it held until today - about 50 miles from home when the wife needed water.  Pulled into the Chevron and all was well.  Turned on key to get back toward our destination and nothing :( .  

So, I immediately looked at the harness still held fixed by zip ties.  No amount of jiggling would achieve contact.  So ... I had to figure a way to actually pull the ignition switch so I could see about improving upon the rig.  'Bout a half hour and 1 beer in, I managed to remove the ignition switch with tools I had handy.  When I popped off the bottom cover, sure enough the power in at the switch had let go at the solder.  Well, the only electrical supply I carry is a roll of electrical tape.  No way to tape the wire into place ...

So ... I decided to just hot wire across the switch and complete the day's mission.  A few minutes later, I'd figured how to accomplish this by selectively providing hot to the other wires leading to the ignition.  So, strip back a bit of insulation with a razor blade supplied by the dude at Chevron.  Wrap the hot lead around the section I'd bared and viola ... I can continue on my way.  I was fresh out of zip ties, so ... I used a length of bailing wire I did have to wire the switch to the general vicinity to keep stress of the kluge and enjoy another 150 happy miles.

So, now the bike is safe in the driveway and I'll go about a more robust fix in the morning.  I'm extremely glad this happened before I take off cross country next month.

Anyway thanks ... without my seemingly incessant reading here, I might have called in a trailer.  Armed with the numerous tidbits of Triumph Trivia i've now got stored, I've avoided the trailer twice already.

So, thanks,

Dred

[Timbox2]

Fair play to a fix at the side of the road, were the bolts only in finger tight? I know the "Shear off" bolts can be a real PITA to remove sometimes.

[Dred]

the PO or builder had a phillips head holding one side and an allen socket holding the other.

The bike has a spec title with a New Hampshire VIN.  The PO explained that it was a government seizure at some point.  I'm starting to suspect it may have been a rebuild.  I believe there is a pretty good sized Triumph bone yard in NH, so who knows.

I keep two reconfigurable screwdrivers on the bike - by attaching various bits to achieve the longest single driver, I was able to work the phillips side with a phillips bit, and I was able to work the other side with a flat head bit.

I'm gonna standardize:!: when I settle on a fix this afternoon.  I'm presently flipping through the service manual to figure switch function so I can test before determining repair versus permanent switched hotwiring.  I'll keep the key, but it may be relegated to fork lock function only.

Thanks again,

Dred