CSB disassembly

[polo_pro]

First let me thank Karl and Will for their advice and help in this matter. I'm in the midst of switching my e167 from Hypertronic connectors over to Elcon connectors. Since both my CSB and handlebars are Hypertronic, this entails yanking out the offending Hypertronics cable on both sides.

I've bought a broken CSB with Elcon connectors, and I have a broken handlebar with Elcon connectors from my accident. I'm scavenging these Elcon parts and transplanting them into my e167. Today, I focused on the CSB (since the handlebars are quite easy), and my big challenge was removing the Elcon wiring from the CSB so it could be transplanted.

All the discussion that follows assumes you have the CSB positioned just like it is when its mounted to the platform. The Elcon connectors going to the handlebars are hanging out the top of the CSB's "throat". All the CSB's screws that can be easily undone are actually on the bottom of the CSB and would be between the CSB and the platform when everything is put together.

The difficulty is when you disconnect the CSB from the platform, you find that undoing all the screws on the bottom of the CSB doesn't cause the guts to fall out the bottom?! I sat for a while wondering what's holding them in. That's when Karl (or Will) pointed me to the "inch wide rubber nut" in the throat of the CSB that's holding everything together from the top. To make matters more difficult, the wires and connectors are coming up through this nut! At least the nut has notches all around the outside making it easy to grip...if you could get your fingers or hand down there...

Somehow you're suppose to be able to reach down about four inches into the throat, dodge all the bulky connectors and somehow find enough leverage to twice a big nut that's possibly got some sealant spread all over it holding it down. Ick. Karl says he has some long nose players that he uses. Will suggested screw drivers and a stiff blow to get it to come undone initally.

I ended up devising my own solution. A special tool made out of a piece of one inch PVC pipe. I whittled it down so that it had six evenly space square nubs. Each nub is about 2 mm wide, and the spacing needs to match the notches on the nut. Essentially, the finished product looks like a rook (castle) in a chess set, but it's got a big 7/8 inch opening to feed the connectors through.

It took a few tries. I adjusted the spacing and widths a bit. But on the third try, it worked like a charm. I did find that the wall of the PVC pipe was a bit too thick. So I thinned it out (shaving off the inside wall of the PVC) carefully so as not to take a nub off. Then I did have to apply a fair amount of force (maybe 10 lb of presure) to get the nubs to drop into the nut's notches. But at that point they held nicely and, the nut spun right off!

I should add that this nut ended up being plastic. I don't recommend taking a screwdriver/hammer to it. It looks sturdy, but if it breaks, you're going to be really bummed. I can see how six inch long needle nose plyers will work, but it's going to be difficult apply the rotational force while dodging the connectors. If somehow you could get those needle nose plyers to clamp shut, that'd definitely work. But you still are only applying force at two opposite points. The PVC pipe solution applies force at all six points around the whole nut.

My next big challenge is figuring out how to extract the Elcon wiring harness now that I have the CSB open. Essentially the wires come down from the nut to a small daughter board that pass the handlebar information straight down to the platform. All the complicated circuitry of the charger is bypassed. My problem is the plastic 7/8 inch bolt (with the wires going through it) is held by an internal metal frame...and it's rivoted together in such a way that the bolt is trapped. I guess I can pry this internal frame apart, extract the plastic nut and then put everything back together with screws. Maybe I'll even flip my charging lights to be above the plug while I'm in there messing around!

One last thing, if Karl or Will are reading this, two spacers fell out of the CSB when I finally popped it open. They look like thick small washers, and I'm betting they went with the 2 screws that went into the bottom of the CSB where the frame spreads out into a T. Or maybe there were 4 spacers so there'd be one for each screw? What do you all think? Where do these go? How many were there (and have I lost some)?

ps - Sheesh the components in the charger are HUGE! These things are rated for some serious wattages!