The "ping" was the screw that holds the end cap in place hitting the floor, the nut had come off.
Lesson 1, you don't get what you expect, you get what you INSPECT. I am now going over this makeover with a much more critical eye.
For the first couple of seconds I was in denial, as I heard all those little bearings bouncing around a cluttered concrete floor. I then emitted every curse word I could muster in two languages...along with a few in Korean & Spanish for good measure. Call me juvenile, but I repeated them all for good measure.
I next spent 2 hours emptying a cluttered room & searching for a bowlful of small brown plastic balls. I came up with 62, good karma I thought, that divides evenly. After loading one side of the car & a little research I learned 2 facts, you need a car loader for the non captive bearings, & there are supposed to be 64 of them. Another 20 minutes searching & 2 more of the litle buggers were located.
I spread an old sheet on the floor to contain any runaways, & 1/2 hour later concluded that you do indeed need a device to reinstall them. Actually installing them is easy, it is getting the car back on the track whilst keeping all 64 in place that is the Rubiks cube of travelers.
Not willing to be defeated by such a simple problem I looked at improvising a loader made from thin strips of very thin aluminum cut from a can of good German beer, which was consumed while brainstorming a solution. Didn't work. I couldn't quite secure the strips properly & always ended up with 1 or 2 bearings falling into the center, or out the end.
I next considered using tiny specks of flour & water paste, letting it set up, then washing it out by soaking the end of the beam in a bucket.
I took a break to contemplate that approach, & to consume another Grolsch, & was set upon by a truly inspiring idea.
What if I took 2 strips of regular Scotch tape, wiped the adhesive off the center strip with a Q-tip & alcohol, stuck the tape to the sheet a couple of times to almost eliminate the adhesive remaining on the edges, then used it as a retainer. By having the tape long enough to protrude from the ends of the car, I figured I could grab it with needle nose pliers & pull it out after the car was on the track, as they don't mate up to microscopic tolerances.
The idea worked so well that it went together in less than 10 minutes. 32 balls to a side, install tape strips, turn beam upside down & gently slide car on, holding it in the position shown. Once on I turned the beam 90* & used a razor knife to gently prise the weakened tape loose from the outer edge of the car, leaving it attached only by a thin strip on the inside of the car. It was then very easy to pull the tape out from the end of the car.
Another thing I learned is that Mclube 1 Drop is NOT the only thing Harken reccomends for lubing travelers. Any light machine oil such as 3-1 will do, I quote from the Harken site
http://www.harken.com/pdf/4970.pdf
"Do not use spray lubricants because ball bearings may skid, not roll. Apply one to two drops of McLube® OneDrop to ball contact surfaces of track. Roll car back and forth through OneDrop? several times to distribute onto bearings. Wipe remaining OneDrop off track. OneDrop is preferred but you can also use one to two drops of a light machine oil, such as 3-in-1. Too much oil attracts dirt."
So there you have it, a car loader may be more convenient, but is not critical, and you probably have a lifetime supply of lube in your wife's sewing machine box. It also lends weight to the argument that beer & boating may be a desirable combination.
--
Hobie 18 Magnum
Dart 15
Mystere 6.0XL Sold Was a handful solo
Nacra 5.7
Nacra 5.0
Bombardier Invitation (Now officially DEAD)
Various other Dock cluttering WaterCrap
--
