Reassembly Troubles...

[RiderX]

This all started out as a "straight forward" weekend project to mount the SW Motech center stand I finally got around to ordering. I have a '98 steamer that I have posted the odd question or ride report here on and have had it for a bit over a year now. I put the Hepco-Becker crash bars on it last winter with no trouble at all.

I read the article here on center stand installation, read my Haynes manual on the removal of the exhaust system et. al. Let me tell you it was quite the hassle getting the bolt that fits through the lower suspension point to go together using only jack stands and a 2-ton floor jack to support the bike! I managed my way through all of that though and my bike sat right up onto the center stand just like my dog when offered a treat  :lol:

The trouble began when I went to reassemble the other parts. Firstly the exhaust pipes did not want to fit all the way back into the headers. The metal ring gaskets appeared to be in good shape and pretty fused to the pipes so I decided just to leave them on and reuse them. Perhaps this was a mistake? In any case I put them in as snug as I could get them and screwed the retaining rings back on over the header studs. There is still about a quarter inch separation between the retaining ring and the header, but after putting the silencer/mufflers back on and firing her up she runs fine and I don't notice any exhaust leakage. I held a strip of paper down next to the header, revved the engine, covered the muffler ports with a rag and I don't see any leaks. I can live with that.

The real fiasco came when I tried to put the skid plate back on where the bolts go through the crash bar holes and the frame and screw into the skid plate. Things are not lining up and I'm afraid I have stripped both the bolts and the skid plate threads as when I do get the bolt to start it just wont go more than one turn before getting so tight I'm afraid I am going to shear the bolts! I put the skid plate behind the frame hole (the crash bar hole is in front of that). The aluminum spacer from the HB crash bars goes on the right side (I know) between the frame hole and the skid plate (I think). I should have paid better attention when I was taking everything apart on Friday.

All in all I wish at this point I had just taken the whole damn assembly down to the dealer and paid them the two hours labor it would have taken them to do it instead of the over 10 hours I spent on it this weekend and still don't have it finished. Arggghhh!
Any help, insight or advice you all might have would be greatly appreciated.

Pictures to my bike with the crash bars installed (before the center stand) are here: http://tigertriple.com/forum/viewtopic. ... highlight=

[Mustang]

need pics of what you are having trouble with or I don't have a clue what you are talking about !

[RiderX]

Ok, number 6 in the upper picture is what I call the "metal ring gaskets," part 1 is what I call the "retaining rings" that secure the pipes to the header. Part C is the left side point where the bolt goes through the crash bar and the frame point and into the skid plate all depicted in the lower image. I can't get the bolts into either the right or left sides.
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[Mustang]

Ok , I thought that might be what you meant but was not sure .

The header flanges can become uneven if you don't tighten them down evenly does that make sense ?

And the hepco beckers are a bitch to get that bolt you  are talking about , sometimes helps if you loosen up all the mounting bolts ( the engine bolts ) and get the skid pan bolt started then tighten every thing up . You might also want to run a tap into the hole on the skidpan mount you may have buggered the threads which is making the bolt hard to turn .

I am pretty sure that on this one I had to use the alum spacer on the left side and I used a big nut for a spacer on the right side .

[RiderX]

Hey thanks Mustang! Sure enough that did the trick. That and taking my two riding buddies with me to lunch and saying "guess what, we are going to make an unplanned stop by my place on the way back and you can give me a hand.  :lol:

We loosened the engine mounts and removed the rear brake pedal which gave us a lot more room to work. Now I'll just finish up tonight by tightening them all um and putting the faring back on and be back on the road tomorrow! Thanks again.