High winds kept us in Loreto a few extra days so we took the time to do a bit of maintenance on the Wee Rover.
Over the past few weeks, we have had a couple of little engine stumbles at odd times, so while we had wifi I did some research. The hesitation, and the few mini stalls are a fairly common indication that the fuel filters needed to be changed. We carry a couple of extra filters, so we popped the old ones out and the new ones in. Voila! Problem solved.
The other maintenance item was to make the change from bell cranks & rods to a cable actuated throttle. This is what happens with the “crank & rod” system. We try to slowly climb some nasty bit of track and the rover hits a bump, the diesel rocks a bit on its motor mounts and the wee Rover pops a little wheelie! Just kidding, but it does jerk forward a bit like we jabbed the gas peddle! Makes it tough to pick our way around over a rough patch, or a tiny cobblestone village street. Switching to a cable should fix the problem.
The mounting brackets for the new cable system came with the motor conversion kit, but we needed a bicycle front brake cable to complete the swap. Off we went to find the only bike shop in Loreto! Broken Spanish, pointing, and hand gestures were used to get a custom brake/Wee Rover throttle cable. A second trip to the bike shop, the next day, to shorten the cable to the right length. And a third trip, the next day, to find 2 bolts to mount one of the brackets. Three days, a few miles on foot exploring Loreto, and we had all of the bits ready to install! Even the little things are an adventure on the road.
