[mlempenau]

I have a 02 LT with around 90,000 miles. I just opened up the handlebar covers and found that a lot of the wiring harness has holes in it. I don't like seeing exposed wiring so what to do. I don't know what my options are since I live in Thailand. Any ideas are welcome. I prefer not to use electrical tape. Simple is best I think here in Thailand.

 

[Spenceer]

3M makes some very good sealing products for wires and cables. Check their web site,
very good products and instructions.

 

[jzeiler]

Try smearing a little silcone seal on the holes. I'll bet that is available over there.

 

[mlempenau]

I'm still looking for someone who can tell me how to take the stanchion off the triple tree. I don't have an impact wrench so I need to hold the stanchion steady. There is a space between the bottom of the triple tree and the top of the stanchion that will allow me to get a thin wrench in there but I don't know what size I'm looking for and don't even know if there is a nut in there. Anyone know what I should be doing? Thanks, Mike

 

[jzeiler]

I believe that is a 22mm that fits the top of the stanchion under the top clamp. I have not taken one apart - yet. The early manual had a cryptic "Use spanner to hold fixed tube at w/f 22 flats..." .

If you are after the steering head bearing you can always just pull both tubes out of the lowers and leave them attached to the "triple clamp" ( I believe BMW just calls it an upper fork bridge as there is no clamping going on). There is nothing holding them in.

 

[mlempenau]

What does w/f 22 flats really mean?

I was really wondering if I needed to remove those screws. So I will skip that and go straight to the upper fork bridge. What is the easiest way to remove? Looking at the breakdown of the parts it seems that if you heat up the area first and then use an allen wrench on the top and a socket on the bottom it should work. The manual calls for a special tool used on the bottom. Is that necessary?

Now an hour later. I tried to heat the whole joint but the frame is hard to heat without damaging the wires. So I just went at it. I used a 13/16 spark plug socket on the bottom. I think it should have been a 21mm but didn't have and the 13/16 was perfect and very tight. I put a ratchet on it and let it butt up against the stanchion. On top I used a 7mm allen socket and a cheater bar. It came off slow because of the dirt on the threads of the bolt. When I lifted it out the stanchion nuts did not drop through. I took a hammer and tapped on it but can tell by the sound that this was not the way to go. I have the stanchion nuts to get off and the two screws holding the key to upper fork bridge. I will buy a thin 22mm open ended wrench for the stanchions and it looks like when I get the stanchions loose there looks to be enough wire cable left to turn the bridge over and get to the screws from the top. We will see. Mike

 

[mlempenau]

I have the upper fork bridge off. You have to take the stanchion nuts off too. The top of the stanchion has a 22mm nut cast into the top of the stanchion cap. I recommend taking off the bolt holding the upper fork bridge to the frame first. Then you can pull the bridge up far enough to get a thin 22mm opened wrench between the bridge and the stanchion without having to cut it short.

Now that I have the bridge off I can turn it over and see that there is no need to take off any screws. There is an electrical put to unplug. I have no idea at this point how to do it. It is unusual even for someone who has been around cars, motorcycles and airplanes most of his life. More to come.

Pic are attached.

 

[mlempenau]

I have tried to take off the electrical connection and have no idea at this point how to do it or even if I can. It's actually possible that it's a hardwired connection and you have to take the screws out. So now the question is how to take out the screws? As you can see in the attached pics they are made to prevent theft. I'm going to quit for the day so if anyone knows how to do this I would appreciate the help. Otherwise in the morning I'm going to take my dremel and carve a notch for my straight slot screwdriver.

 

[eskov]

There must be connector somewhere if you follow the cable from ignition switch.
Wiring diagram shows connector but it doesn't tell how far it is from ignition switch.

 

[eskov]

I found instructions how to remove wiring from ignition switch and where this cable goes.
See attached picture.

 

[saddleman]

It goes into the relay box under the gas tank. You'll have to remove the tank & remove the cover for the relays.

 

[jzeiler]

Yup those are one time use anti theft screws and Esko hit the nail on connector removal. I don't think you need to remove the screws if you just want to unplug the wiring. I guess we now know that "w/f 22" means a thin 22 mm wrench. Keep us posted on how it goes. You are in new territory - for me at least.

 

[mlempenau]

I already checked and found that the cable goes under the gas tank. I have been in that area before and if you remove the gas tank it should not be a problem to find the end. The instructions eskov found are really amazing. Where did you find them? I'm not sure what is the best way to go. I am thinking of trying to remove the set screw and see what happens? I'm still wondering what the bearing is going to look like once I get to it. It is still hidden within the upper fork bridge. Keep you all posted.

 

[mlempenau]

I took the option of removing the set screw. I found that you just need a very small straight slot screwdriver and the screw comes out easily. Then with the normal prying the switch comes out. I have attached pics. Now for the removal of the bearing from the bridge.

 

[mlempenau]

I then heated the bridge using a heat gun. Do not point the gun at the plastic key holder or at the bearing and stud. Point the gun directly at the bridge. I moved the heat gun around the bearing housing to heat evenly. I tapped lightly after about two minutes and nothing happened. I waited another two minutes and tapped again and the bearing came right out. You do not need to tap hard. Now to get the bearing off the stud.

 

[mlempenau]

I tried freezing the bearing and stud and then trying to tap it out but that didn't work. To get it off you would hurt the threads on the stud. So I took the assembly to the dealer and had them press it off and install the new bearing. Then I started my install. Getting the main switch back on the upper fork bridge was easy and getting the stanchions into their respective holes was also very easy. But when I went to insert the bridge on to the frame it would not go. The correct procedure from looking at the manual is that I should have removed the front tire and lower fork bridge during my uninstall. This would let the stanchions drop down and make it easy to install the upper bridge. Now the stanchions seem to be keeping me from being able to insert the stud on the upper bridge into the hole in the frame. Humm

 

[mlempenau]

After thinking about it for a while I reached under the faring and pulled down on the top part of the stanchion ... it came down quite a bit. So I did the same on the other side. Then I put the upper bridge into the three holes and it went right in. At least far enough for me to easily get the nuts on. So now I will take one nut off at a time and apply locking compound and torque. Thanks everyone for all their help.

 

[mlempenau]

To follow up ... I don't know if the bearing was going bad or not but it sure did not fix my problem. My guess is that the bearing was not a problem.

 

[wa1200lt]

Michael, your original post stated that you found holes in the wiring under the handlebar covers:

I have a 02 LT with around 90,000 miles. I just opened up the handlebar covers and found that a lot of the wiring harness has holes in it.

So you replaced the bearing in order to fix the holes or to keep new holes from appearing? Maybe some pics of the holes would help the gurus on this site help you figure out the fix.

Loren

 

[jzeiler]

Original issue was some very unusual wear on a front tire. My guess is it was the tire and not the bearing. In the 8 years I have been hanging around here I have never heard of one going bad in an LT. But I have changed several in other bikes.