QBoiii

I left The Army in 1994! (i was an Inst.Tech and already an electrician before I joined)

I used the driving licenses obtained in The Army and did some agency driving for a few months

while I looked for a proper job

I then used the skills learnt on resettlement and blagged my way into a job working for a facilities

management company on automotive production lines.

i got promoted to foreman pretty quickly.

The same firm then got a contract at a new induction foundry so I went there to help set it up in 1998.

I'm still there now! (when not furloughed)

Take your time and Good Luck!

How did you find the transition to civvy street? I'm a bit worried if I'm honest, that I'm going to get myself in trouble. I've had 13 years where turning up hungover, dropping the C bomb and other unmentionable things were the norm

I'm not sure I could walk into a normal workplace without offending everyone so a driving job like you did is looking more and more attractive. On my own in a wagon with minimal civvy interaction to start with might be the sensible option.

I bet its alot easier now with new style screens and the general awareness of things like posture, taking a break every so often and so on

Don't think what I do would appeal to you!

I've spent the last 32 years of my life looking at computer screens!

https://www.webspain.net/

It would drive me insain! i need a few weeks off after just an hour on here

You may already be aware of it but

Armed Forces Covenant

https://www.armedforcescovenant.gov.uk/support-and-advice/service-leavers/

See what employers are a part ( personally avoid a large transport company whose livery is green )

My Current Employer ( yellow break down recovery vehicles) are a part and quite a few ex service

To be honest Tim, i was aware of it but had never thought of using it to aid my job searching! that's a brilliant Idea and I'll get looking to see who's local to me. Thanks Tim!

Pyrotechnics, you already work with high explosives, know how to handle them safely, should be fairly straight forward to get a licence with your background etc

Pyro's are my bread and butter! There is a company nearby that does theatrical pyrotechnics and fireworks, i hadn't thought of them! Thanks Dynax! I have touched base with a few bomb disposal companies that work on building sites which is a potential but they didn't offer any part time work.

The ball on the end of the foot peg is what scrapes the ground when you lean over in a corner. They bolt on so I think the idea is that as they wear away you're supposed to replace them with a new one and that stops you wearing away the foot pegs

That makes sense, it was threaded! it made a brilliant projectile to throw at her when I realised what she had done

do you have a good head for heights

Thanks Skyrider! Yeah, I'm OK with heights! jumped out of a few planes, always made it down safetly well, so far so good.....

What do you do in raf any transferable skills?

I'm an Armourer. I do Bombs, Missiles, Ejection Seats, small arms, ammunition, its what we call a technical trade, engineering mainly but on stuff that goes boom. There are jobs working with the old bill and their weapons but I'd rather stick my love stick in a wasps nest. As part of the resettlement package I did a course about interview techniques, CV writing and transferrable skills. They made us realise we have a lot to offer stood next to the bloke straight from Uni with the qualifications but no life skills but I'm also no nieve enough to think I'm going to get the first job I go for. Thanks Bender! always helping me out

If the admins/moderators feel this is a bit to personal, please feel free to delete it but I am after finding out what jobs people do.

I'm currently in the RAF and am due out next august, and although I have been offered a few decent jobs through friends and their families, I have no idea what to do. I have started a business which is going to take a while to get off the ground before it's paying the mortgage so am looking at something part-time but have no idea where to start. Luckily we get a fairly decent resettlement package which we can use for courses and qualifications but I have no clue what to use them for. I can't stand sitting behind a computer all day, but other than my management qualifications and driving licences, I don't really have any qualifications that will be much use to a civvy company. That's where I thought I'd ask you guys and see what weird and wonderful jobs you did to maybe get some inspiration for my next profession. I'm leaning towards a driving job at the moment, a few days a week, or a mate of mine who owns a scaffolding company offered to take me on and i was in shock at how much those guys make!

I'm all over the place at the mo, and luckily I still have over a year to decide but any help or ideas are appreciated! Thanks in advance

My missus did the same to mine, I lost a mirror and any shred of respect I had for her driving. Also some form of ball off the end of the footpeg but no structural damage. Just cosmetic, hopefully yours is the same.

It's been a while but here goes:

I put everything clutch and body-wise back together, was so focused I didn't get any photo's but never mind, you all are fully aware what a motorbikes looks like

One of the things I hate about the T'cat is the huge rear light sticking out like a spare dick at a wedding and although i had found evidence of some guides on a tail tuck on an inferior forum, it was from so long ago it had been removed. I decided it couldn't be that hard so I took the tail light off and there was what seemed to be an after thought put on by Yamaha. The light was mounted on some sort of cradle adaptor which isn't too clear in the pics but was held in by 6 spot welds. I had a go at drilling these out but due to not having a pillar drill or sufficient vice, them being at a funny angle, me being a bellend and a whole host of other factors this didn't work well and I managed to break 2 brand new drill bits so i hack sawed it off instead. I removed the rubber grommets and screwed the light fittings and grommets into what seemed like the original holes from before. This had the effect of bringing the light more into the body of the bike. I have checked and the white number-plate light still illuminates the number plate so I can only presume the reason Yamaha did it was for night visibility from the side. I don't really do much night riding so this wasn't something that bothered me.

On final assembly of the fuel tank, i noticed a cold wet hand and a strong smell of petrol. Sure enough the small U-bend pipe that goes rear-wards from the fuel tap switch thing, forwards onto the fuel filter had split. Quick trip to euro part then!

I fitted that and thats all I can really do for now! The suspected brake pipe split on the right of the front wheel looks to be a fork seal which is a pain in the ass as these were only changed in June around 50 miles ago

Ive got the guy who done them coming to look as there looks to be some very light pitting on the stantion so i may be having to buy two of these as well as another set of forkseals, then its MOT time and back out on the road FINALLY!!!!!

amazing work, what an inspiration!

I had the exact same issue as to the parts with a sit on mower! 20 Stellas and a flick through gumtree and the next thing I know there's a bloke knocking at the door with a sit on lawn mower. Perfect, I love a project, so I took it to work and sat it in the back to the armoury doing little bits to it as I went along. It was a tecsumeh or something which also wasn't a company anymore so I ended up getting rid. A turbo lawn mower sounds fun, I bet the neighbours would love some anti-lag on that!

How about wearing one of these for social distancing?

No twat will come near you!

another way is to straighten a metal coat hanger, (not that you see many of these nowadays) and poke that down the hole

Yeah i borrowed one from work, didnt realise until i got home that it started at 30, then borrowed one from a friend that started at 10 .

The T'cat has been left as the last post on it with the new pressure plates soaking in oil for around 2 months. They should be more than ready to go on now!

I have been trying to find/borrow a torque wrench that went low enough to reach the 8nm needed to torque the clutch bolts in but [mention]Stu[/mention] recommended on another thread to chin the torque wrench off and just nip them which is exactly what I did. Thanks very much for that [mention]Stu[/mention]! Hopefully will be on the road a little sooner now.

A worry I had about not torquing the bolts in was them shaking loose but [mention]Ian Frog[/mention] suggested to locktite the screws to stop this happening. Thanks again Ian!

Luckily the bolts just came to a natural stop so i gave it another 8th of a turn in an opposing pattern so as to not stress the plate unevenly and put the cover plate on! The gasket was still good so I cleaned it up and put it back on with some military grade insta-gasket. Bodge job I know, but if that stuff stops Tornado's leaking, it should be fine on the bike.

The next cease of play is a leak i have discovered on my fork seals. I had the seals done the tail end of summer and although the bike has done 1.4 miles since then (literally the journey home), it seems they are leaking again. Doh!

Thats all for tonight, I did want to get it up and running, fairing back on and so on but I cant be bothered tonight. Kind of dis-heartened buy the leak which has p***ed all over my break pads meaning they need replacing and ready for a shower and bed.

Got down on my knees, back and all sorts of strange yoga positions tonight to try and get to the bottom of this leak. I look off the clip holding the hose to the forks and to my surprise i couldn't find a split! I de-greased the area and kept squeezing the brake lever hoping to find a leak but to no avail. I then saw some liquid on the fender/wheel cover type thing and looked up to see moisture where the plastic dust cap meets the metal fork. I really hoe its not the fork seals as these have only been replaced at the tail end of summer! Ive included some pics which I can only apologise for the quality for. Long day at work. hanging out from that then two young kids to deal with and put in bed so by the time I got to my bike i was blowing out my

I've messaged the guy who did my fork seals as i thought they were still leaking before but he told me it could be pitting picking up bits of oil but this is a full puddle on my floor in the few weeks the bike hasn't moved.

Thats a brilliant idea [mention]Ian Frog[/mention] that will deffinately be getting done! Thank you very much

Thanks [mention]Stu[/mention] ! To be honest, knowing that was a low setting I was going to go with one white knuckle but i had read horror stories about people over tightening them and them shattering, and undertightening then and them shaking themselves loose. Ill try and just nip them up like you said, thank you!

Do not try to torque those bolts! you will more than likely strip the threads!

What clutch bolts are you talking about?

the 8 bolts that hold the clutch together with springs (4 short, 4 long). I thought these needed to be torqued to 8nm?

[mention]fastbob[/mention] [mention]dynax[/mention] Thank you both very much! I'm glad the tyre can be salvaged

I borrowed a torque wrench from work, only upon trying to set it to the 8nm I needed did I realise that it started at 30nm. I then borrowed one from the motor club on base which started at 10nm. I was tempted to use this but It hadn't been zeroed before it was put away so the already risky 10nm could have been a lot higher. I'll swing past screwfix on the way back. Thanks again chaps!

Ive had my bike of the road for a few weeks now whilst do the clutch. Unfortunately life has got in the way a little bit and I am on the search for a torque wrench that goes low enough to torque up my clutch bolts. Yesterday whilst manoeuvring around the bike I noticed a small stain on the concrete around the front wheel. Upon closer inspection, there is a puddle in the wheel itself and it looks like the brake line which was already a braided aftermarket one, has split where it is held onto the fork. The top of the rubber grommet-type thing is bone dry and the bottom soaking wet.

Ive begun the hunt for some new braided lines to replace this and it looks as though the brake pads have absorbed some of the fluid so they will be getting changed to. The level in the reservoir hasn't dropped much but I may as well do the whole lot.

Will I need a new tyre? It looks ok to me, but I'm unsure how long its been sitting in the fluid and I'm aware that brake fluid is hygroscopic so absorbs moisture but I don't know what this means for the tyre.

Thanks in advance for the help

I couldn't get past the video on works computer but I will have a crack when I get home. Then ill try the survey....

Sounds like you have it all planned out now. We'll done for getting the services benefits, you serve your country and deserve some recognition enjoy!

Thanks Mike! It is strange how differently its all seen. I was at the NFL at Wembley in the tickets for troops section and at half time they had a veteran amputee up in the middle and played the yank national anthem. 2 American chicks in front of us where stood and shouted "oh my god, don't you lot support your military?" to which someone told her to wind her neck in, she's in the military seats and we get stabbed and spat at over here