There’s never a good place to blow a head gasket, but about 250 miles from home has to be close to the worst. Except I got lucky — she let go right near a brother’s shop.
The brother himself was off on a run somewhere. But his son was there, and his son didn’t hesitate. We rolled my bike in, put her up on the lift, and got to work. That’s family.
The Teardown
We pulled the top end down — heads off, jugs off. And since we were in that deep anyway, we did a valve job while we were at it. No sense tearing a motor down that far and half-doing the job.
New head gasket. New base gasket. Everything cleaned, checked, and torqued back down the way it’s supposed to be.
Back on the Road
And then — boom. Back together and back on the road, like it never happened.
A breakdown 250 miles from home could’ve been a tow bill and a ruined trip. Instead it turned into good times at a brother’s shop, with family. That’s what this life is — you take care of each other out here, and somehow the road takes care of itself.
— Tattoo Mike
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