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Message started by twelveport on 12/26/13 at 17:51:15

Title: Battery box design
Post by twelveport on 12/26/13 at 17:51:15

I just got done removing the battery to check the fluid levels, corrosion, etc. I think that Suzuki done a poor job of design work here. No. 1: After mounting saddlebags on the bike it is a real pain in the %#& to remove/install the seat bolts. They recommend removing the seat so you can get the 2 screws out of the top of the battery box. 2: If they would have just used a couple of thumb screws or some sort of clip so you would not have to remove the seat, then I would not have had to remove my saddlebags. 3: If they would have reversed the battery cables so the positive is on the left, then the fluid site lines on the battery would have shown up through the site hole on the battery box.

I'm sure Suzuki was thinking they were creating more work for the dealers with this design. They certainly were not helping the owners. :-?

Title: Re: Battery box design
Post by verslagen1 on 12/26/13 at 18:57:08

you can replace the bolts with anything you like.

here's what I've done...
http://suzukisavage.com/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl?num=1328393923

Title: Re: Battery box design
Post by twelveport on 12/26/13 at 19:31:36

Now that is one smart idea. I'm going to see what they have locally, but if I can't find them I will surely purchase them from you. Thank you!

Title: Re: Battery box design
Post by twelveport on 12/27/13 at 13:29:30

I really liked this suggestion of using ball retention pins. I found some retention pins, and have found that there are several names for them depending on the vendor, from ball lock pins, quick release pins, etc. The ones I got today were 1" long. I drilled the holes in the nuts out to 1/4" and put the pins in. I thought I was going to tear the seat up getting them out with the saddlebags mounted. I removed the tie downs on the saddlebags so I could flip them up and go under them to remove the pins. I pulled the ring apart on the first one, then had to use a stiff screw driver to pull the other one. I took one of the 1" grip pins and tig welded a L lever handle and tried that, but little help. I went and bought 3" long pins and they were too long & the store did not have 2" pins, so I cut them down to 2" and drilled the nuts out to 17/64" and filed the slots a little on the frame, that seemed to help a lot. Just need to find a suitable cable to hook to the top of the shock mounts. :-/