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Message started by toddlamp8 on 07/18/07 at 20:31:14

Title: Changing the oil seems impossible!
Post by toddlamp8 on 07/18/07 at 20:31:14

I tried to do it tonight and I failed. I read the procedure in the tech files but the bike is too low to the ground!!! I use 2 2x4's under the stand but that only leveled the bike out and didn't give me and clearance. Plus, there is no room for a socket, and, with mine being an 86', my 17mm socket is too long to clear and get leverage! I can see why they switched to 14mm. 14mm wrenches are inheritely shorter. The only way I can see this working is to get a lift. But I have a lift! I just can't get it under the bike because it's too low.

I could really use some tip and/or tricks.

Title: Re: Changing the oil seems impossible!
Post by Max_Morley on 07/18/07 at 21:13:53

I use a 17 mm short combination wrench. I'm sure you can get one at Sears, mine is one of a Snap-on set. I think S-K has them also. Or what is sometimes called a starter wrench, cresent shaped double box should also work if one end is the correct size. I don't think a socket or even a ratcheting box wrench will fit if the bike is on the tires. I use a flat deck Handy Brand hoist and the short wrench and a shot hammer have not failed me in 10 years. I use a small loaf bread pan to catch the hot oil in and rock the bike back forth a cople times slowly to drain the crankcase pockets of old oil. Max

Title: Re: Changing the oil seems impossible!
Post by Max_Morley on 07/18/07 at 21:14:57

Just had a thought, buy a 17 mm wrench for a buck at a pawn shop and cut it down to about 4" on the box end should work.Max

Title: Re: Changing the oil seems impossible!
Post by verslagen1 on 07/18/07 at 21:46:22

I just did this a couple of weekends ago.

Get a brick and lay a 2x6 on it for a ramp and push the front wheel up it. Have a similar brick for the kick stand.

Plenty of room under it then. ;D

Title: Re: Changing the oil seems impossible!
Post by toddlamp8 on 07/18/07 at 21:52:29

I have a set of car ramps that I just remembered about so I was going to use that for the front and I will doing something similar to your brick for the kickstand.

I guess i've just been spoiled by my Yamaha FZ1's center stand :P

Title: Re: Changing the oil seems impossible!
Post by serowbot on 07/18/07 at 22:41:05

I did "Max_Morley's", and cut a cheapo wrench in half. Now it's no problem.

Title: Re: Changing the oil seems impossible!
Post by justin_o_guy on 07/18/07 at 23:23:00

Mine sits on the sidestand, no spacer & I lay on an old quilt, slide a small plastic bowl under it & bust the thing loose. If I needed a 17 mm wrench shortened so I could use it I wouldnt care if it was a New one from Sears or Snap on, I will cut that doggie where I want it, because tools are supposed to get the job done or they arent tools at all. Whatever it takes to get the tool to do what I need is what is gonna get done to it. I have adrawer with hacked off & bent wrenches in it.
IF the threads are the same size in the case, maybe you could replace the plug, if that would make it easier. AS soon as I realized the easiest way was for the box end to be on the head of the plug with the wrench pointed at the front tire & Give it a smack down to get it loose, oil changes got easy.

Title: Re: Changing the oil seems impossible!
Post by verslagen1 on 07/18/07 at 23:29:24

exactly what I do, full size box end pointed at the tire.

Now I've changed to a mag plug it's a 14mm. Also, I figured out how to interlock two combo wrenches together to get leverage. So I've needed a hammer. Take two combo wrenches, slip the box end over one side of the open end and now you got a wrench long enough to do the job.

I only put it on a brick so I can put the recycle oil pan under the bike.

Title: Re: Changing the oil seems impossible!
Post by smokey02 on 07/18/07 at 23:57:16

None of my regular 17mm wrenches fit, so long they hit the ground. I have to use the short one from the bike's tool kit.

Title: Re: Changing the oil seems impossible!
Post by luxup on 07/19/07 at 01:44:43

I'm lucky in that mine uses the 14mm but I feel your pain.
I tried and failed due to not having the proper tool. I was missing the 14mm wrench and the plug just laughed at my pliers. Monkey wrench got it's but kicked too so next day, Home Depot.

I got the bike on the home made lift (thank you tech section)...

http://w2.bikepics.com/pics/2007\07\19\bikepics-967268-full.jpg

but I still did not have enough cleanance for the wrench. I also got the box end on the plug, wrench pointed at front tire and a good smack down.

Before you know it...

http://w2.bikepics.com/pics/2007\07\19\bikepics-967367-full.jpg

you'll have struck oil.

Title: Re: Changing the oil seems impossible!
Post by toddlamp8 on 07/19/07 at 07:52:28

Thanks for the tips guys. I am about to attempt it now. I will be replacing the stock plug with a 14mm magnetic plug so that should make subsequent changes easier.

Title: Re: Changing the oil seems impossible!
Post by justin_o_guy on 07/19/07 at 09:29:16

I did the mag plug thing, too, but Old Feller has a line on some real serious magnets for reasonable $$ that pulls the grit from the oil so well his magnetic plug was completely without fuzz, because it all went to his mean mags near the filter. Ask him how. Congrats on busting in there.

Title: Re: Changing the oil seems impossible!
Post by toddlamp8 on 07/19/07 at 12:01:06

Well I was finally able to get it changed. I rolled up the front whell onto one of the ramps I use for my car and the stacked some 2x4s on the left side to rest the stand on. Plug came right out and oil drained.

Thanks again.

Title: Lazy Man's Bike Stand
Post by Digger on 07/19/07 at 19:07:09

Here is how I stand the bike up for an oil change or minor maintenance:

First, I park it on the kickstand and straighten up the front wheel. Then I chock both wheels, the front tire gets a chock in the front and the rear tire gets a chock in the rear:

http://img204.imageshack.us/img204/2847/level2evc7.jpg

http://img204.imageshack.us/img204/8527/level3eah4.jpg

Next, I run a tie-down between the bike and the wall of my garage.....I leave it a little loose for now:

http://img204.imageshack.us/img204/1198/level4eqk2.jpg

http://img204.imageshack.us/img204/144/level1evy5.jpg

Next, I insert a block I made from two sections of 2X4 under the kickstand. The tie-down is tight enough to prevent the bike from falling over on the non-kickstand side:

http://img204.imageshack.us/img204/5947/level5emc8.jpg

Now I snug up the tie-down and I'm good to go.

http://img204.imageshack.us/img204/9008/level6ejm7.jpg

BTW, for my bike (see signature), a 14mm Gearwrench works great to get the drain plug out/in.

http://www.gearwrench.com/catalog/wrenches/ratcheting/combination/stockdetails.jsp?view=Metric&part=9114

IHTH!

Title: Re: Changing the oil seems impossible!
Post by justin_o_guy on 07/19/07 at 20:22:19

Well, that isn't how I do it, AND it looks like it's a bit "overengineered" , BUT, anyone who accomplished\s the goal gets a Gold Star for thei ingenuity & labors. Congratulations on your clever way of conquering the problems.

Title: Re: Changing the oil seems impossible!
Post by tuxedo on 07/20/07 at 02:08:08

umm....i can change the oil on my 86 with a huge 17mm wrench on my gravel(i use the term 'gravel' loosely....big friggin rocks) driveway. On the kickstand. Hot.

Am I doing it wrong? Or are you guys changing the oil on a completely different bike?

Title: Re: Changing the oil seems impossible!
Post by Savage_Rob on 07/20/07 at 05:38:45

I just do it on the sidestand in my garage but my drain plug is 15mm, I think. Anyway, no problems.

Title: Re: Changing the oil seems impossible!
Post by Savage_Greg on 07/20/07 at 05:46:44

The "Poor Man's Bike Stand" and a floor jack work real well.

Ah, Rob, it should be a 14 MM on yours :P

Title: Re: Changing the oil seems impossible!
Post by Savage_Rob on 07/20/07 at 06:14:46

Savage_Greg wrote:

Ah, Rob, it should be a 14 MM on yours :P

That's probably right. I just remembered it was smaller than the 17mm mentioned in the manual. I think my magnetic plug is the same size as my OEM plug (which is the 14mm). Now I'll need to check just for the heck of it.