KevinFH
New Member
There is a very good Youtube video about how to change your plugs (4 each). It was my first time under the hood at 12000 miles.
The video is located at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R58I0cORw24
The video was very helpful, but there are always things that you learn as you do it.
For example, the gas tank has washers between the big screws and the rubber bushing. They might stick to the bushing and you don't know its even there until you hear a sound of something dropping down into the deepest parts of the "inner bike", that mysterious region that eats screws and washers. When you remove the gas tank screws, make sure you get the washers at the same time.
Also, there is a "V" shaped breather tube cable clamp screwed to the bottom of the tank. For some reason during assembly of my bike they put the clamp on (2 screws) but didn't bother running the breather tubes through the clamp. I took the clamp off and ran the tubes through it. Maybe it was a design feature they decided they didn't need and cost to much to bother using (assembly time cost). Also, there is a giant bracket on the front of the motor. If the bracket were removed, removing the bolts that hold the coils on would be easier. They were a pain to remove.
Oh, here is a good one: my spark plug socket was so sticky to the spark plug, I couldn't get it out of the spark plug hole until I duct-taped it to the ratchet extension. That made life much easier. It is probably better to do this job with an emptier gas tank (duh).
To put the hose back on to the bottom of the the air box, I put a pair of large vise grips on the hose clamp from the left side of the bike, then worked the hose on to the air box from the right side using needle nose pliers. After the hose is on, put the air box the rest of the way onto the intake and screw down both clamps. Everything after that is smooth sailing.
Rubber down!
Kevin
The video is located at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R58I0cORw24
The video was very helpful, but there are always things that you learn as you do it.
For example, the gas tank has washers between the big screws and the rubber bushing. They might stick to the bushing and you don't know its even there until you hear a sound of something dropping down into the deepest parts of the "inner bike", that mysterious region that eats screws and washers. When you remove the gas tank screws, make sure you get the washers at the same time.
Also, there is a "V" shaped breather tube cable clamp screwed to the bottom of the tank. For some reason during assembly of my bike they put the clamp on (2 screws) but didn't bother running the breather tubes through the clamp. I took the clamp off and ran the tubes through it. Maybe it was a design feature they decided they didn't need and cost to much to bother using (assembly time cost). Also, there is a giant bracket on the front of the motor. If the bracket were removed, removing the bolts that hold the coils on would be easier. They were a pain to remove.
Oh, here is a good one: my spark plug socket was so sticky to the spark plug, I couldn't get it out of the spark plug hole until I duct-taped it to the ratchet extension. That made life much easier. It is probably better to do this job with an emptier gas tank (duh).
To put the hose back on to the bottom of the the air box, I put a pair of large vise grips on the hose clamp from the left side of the bike, then worked the hose on to the air box from the right side using needle nose pliers. After the hose is on, put the air box the rest of the way onto the intake and screw down both clamps. Everything after that is smooth sailing.
Rubber down!
Kevin