I didn't let up riding this thing last weekend, until the sound of mechanical discontent started coming from the front end. It didn't take long to discover that a few of the front wheel bearings had decided to join the choir invisible.

Also, I found this. That's not a happy cone.




Luckily, we're in the Internet Age, meaning we have the benefit of "obscure crap on eBay." $18 later (a bit much, IMO, but what can you do?) put a pair of direct replacements in my hand. Both are identical for the RH side - fixed cone with no wrench flats. Only needed one, but seller was selling two as a pair.

I do wish I had put blue Loctite on this one just for ease of adjusting the whole mess afterwards, but I managed to get it happy.



In more visually interesting news, I decided to try an alternate type of OA bath: The soaked wet towel method. I read a thread or two that alluded to this being possible, but couldn't find anything definite or photos to show the results.

Well, I'm pleased to say it worked:




This is after two hours (nearly to the minute) of soaking. The paper towels had been triple folded and were previously dunked in a very concentrated bath of OA I mixed up in a small plastic container. I did the same with baking soda to neutralize the frame, then wiped it down with WD40 to help displace the water.

Full disclosure, these photos are after I dried the area, polished it with Meguiars #7 and sealed it with a wax, but this is essentially identical to how it looked after I wiped down the area following the baking soda neutralization.





Obviously it isn't perfect; there's still spiderwebbing - but it's a heck of a lot better, and I'll take patina every day over outright eradication of the original finish. Cheaper too

This should bode well for the removal of the remaining surface rust.

-Kurt