Terry (right) and his brother-in-law on one of their trips to Alaska.
Ill.,” he says. “When I got done filling out the application the guy looked at me and asked, ‘Would you rather run a machine or push a broom?’ I already had experience pushing a broom, so I took the machine. I couldn’t even spell ‘machinist’, and I didn’t have a clue what one did.” After 15 years of machining for other
people, Terry and his wife, Janelle, started their own machining busi- ness in 1992 – Promach Manufac- turing. “Our main source of income is in manufacturing research equipment used in medical fields and for studying water and aquatic plant life,” he says. “The best thing about being a machinist is that I don’t need a smartphone or games to play on a computer. I can write programs for my CNC machines and make really cool stuff – the machines are my toys. It doesn’t get much better than that.” In early 2010, with both he and his
brother-in-law both on R 1200 GSes, Terry discovered it was kind of a pain to get the front wheel off for tire changes. Being a handy guy with access to materials and machines, he made a double-ended tool out of some scrap metal to aid in quick removal of the front axle. Being a nice guy, he made one for his brother-in-law as well. After deciding to make the 600-mile trip to that year’s MOA rally in Redmond, Ore., his wife had an idea. “Why don’t you make some more of those tools and take them to the rally.
Maybe you could sell them,” she said. It turned out to be sage advice. “Sometimes business slows down a little,” he continues, “and the Dual Tool has bailed us out several times.” Terry had a couple of days before he left
for the rally, so he made up a few dozen of them and packed them on his bike. “Those
BEING FORCE-FED FRESH AIR ON A BMW MOTORCYCLE IS A VERY FINE OUTLET AFTER MANY HOURS OF MACHINING.
things paid for my whole trip,” Terry said. “And one of the guys I sold one to – he’s now my friend – he kind of gave me the idea for the Dual Tool. While riding home, I was designing it in my head, and a week later I had 100 of them made up and ready for sale!” The Dual Tool is a small, lightweight tool
that does two things. First is the original tool Terry designed that is a 19mm hex on one side and a 22mm hex on the other side, with a channel through the middle that fits any 3/8” drive ratchet. The 22mm side works perfectly on R 1200 front axles and K 1200 R/S/GT front axles as well. The 19mm side works for F 800 axles. If you don’t have a 3/8” drive ratchet handy, you can use a wrench that fits the other side to provide the rotational force needed to extract or install the axle. It’s simple and elegant. The second function of the Dual Tool is
to unseat the pencil coils from the spark plugs. “I saw this other tool for doing that, the thing was huge,” Terry explained. “It worked fine, but when I tried to store my axle tool in it, it would just rattle around. That’s when I got the idea for the other half of the Dual Tool.” Terry machined a chan- nel around the axle tool for a rubber O-ring that keeps the axle tool secured inside the pencil coil puller, and started selling the Dual Tool on his website,
www.promachdual-
tool.com. “About a year later, I was think-
ing about that 19mm end on the tool and how else I could use it on an R 1200. That’s when I came up with my tamper-resistant oil filler cap. BMW’s stock cap uses some plastic tool, and I’d seen some other caps like that. With mine, you’ve already got it in your tool kit to take off your front wheel, so it’s harder to lose, and using it makes the Dual Tool even more useful. You can get rid of one more cheap item from the fac- tory tool kit,” Terry said. “This has all been a very cool experience
for me,” Terry said. “I have met many peo- ple through the sale of these and have never had any negative feedback. And if it wasn’t for Janelle, the Dual Tool never would have happened. She retired from being an RN 19 years ago to take care of her parents, and watching her be a caregiver has shown me what a great person she is.”
February 2016 BMW OWNERS NEWS
51
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