Are you sick of the creaking and groaning coming from the steering stem bushes?
I was, so I did something about it.
This topic will take you through the steps that I took to convert the upper and lower stem bushings to be remotely greaseable.
I'll start with the top bushing.
The top bushing is well and truly buried in the bike, so it's not a 10 minute exercise to service. The factory flat rate guide states 2.4hrs for the top and 1hr for the lower.
Ok. Start by removing the seat, airbox cover panel, speedo cover panel, both side panels and all 4 inner guard panels. I haven't taken any photos of these steps.
The next step in gaining access to the top bush, is to remove the front rack. If you have never had the rack off your bike, you'll find 2x extra screws holding the front guard to the rack. These 2x screws can be discarded IMO as they serve no real purpose.
Refer to the picture for the attachment bolt locations. The 2x screws are beside the shock absorber towers.
If yours is an XT, you need to loosen the front bar bolts that are above the winch fairlead. You don't need to remove the front bar completely.
Next step is to remove the front nose panel then the speedo mount. If yours has the twin dial gauge assembly, there are 2x clip tags at the top of the gauge that need to be released, then the gauge can be unplugged and removed.
The fuse box needs to be unclipped and the headlight looms, ignition switch and ACC socket need to be released.
The airbox has to be moved next. Make sure that the area around the throttle body is free of dirt as you will be lifting the box from the throttle body and dirt will go into the motor.
Refer to the next photos for the bolt locations etc.
Note that the rear brake hose is held in place by one of the rear airbox bolts.
I was, so I did something about it.
This topic will take you through the steps that I took to convert the upper and lower stem bushings to be remotely greaseable.
I'll start with the top bushing.
The top bushing is well and truly buried in the bike, so it's not a 10 minute exercise to service. The factory flat rate guide states 2.4hrs for the top and 1hr for the lower.
Ok. Start by removing the seat, airbox cover panel, speedo cover panel, both side panels and all 4 inner guard panels. I haven't taken any photos of these steps.
The next step in gaining access to the top bush, is to remove the front rack. If you have never had the rack off your bike, you'll find 2x extra screws holding the front guard to the rack. These 2x screws can be discarded IMO as they serve no real purpose.
Refer to the picture for the attachment bolt locations. The 2x screws are beside the shock absorber towers.
If yours is an XT, you need to loosen the front bar bolts that are above the winch fairlead. You don't need to remove the front bar completely.
Next step is to remove the front nose panel then the speedo mount. If yours has the twin dial gauge assembly, there are 2x clip tags at the top of the gauge that need to be released, then the gauge can be unplugged and removed.
The fuse box needs to be unclipped and the headlight looms, ignition switch and ACC socket need to be released.
The airbox has to be moved next. Make sure that the area around the throttle body is free of dirt as you will be lifting the box from the throttle body and dirt will go into the motor.
Refer to the next photos for the bolt locations etc.
Note that the rear brake hose is held in place by one of the rear airbox bolts.