Foray into at home maintenance

[Chokstick]

So, after learning and sponging up information from this forum and the wiki, I decided to try to do some maintenance on my GS.  I followed along the suggested servicing to be completed every 6000km.  As I went down the list, most of it was fairly straight forward.  Changing the oil was way easier than I had anticipated.  Its a wonder why anyone would pay someone else to do that.  Is it that easy on a car?

Changing the brake fluid was trickier, but doable and almost fun.

I was nervous about getting into the heart of the bike.  There were hoses and wires everywhere!  I decided that as I dismantled, I would tag each hose with where it came off of.  In hindsight, I was a genius.  The bike would still be in pieces if I hadn't.

It was going well.  Air filter came out no problems.  Then I hit the carbs, and this is where I stumbled.  I was going to checked the valves, so I was trying to remove the carb.  So I went about marking all the connections, and loosening screws, etc.  Well, just when I thought I had everything undone, I went to remove it.  Nope, its still attached to these thin cables...hmm.  Oh, I see!  Its the throttle and clutch cable.  Yes, it would make sense for them to be attached.  Now, how do I get them unattached??

And this is where I stopped.  I tried to figure it out, but failed miserably.  I did however figure out how to tighten the throttle cable...that was nice.

So, in short, how do I disconnect the throttle and clutch cables??  Do I even need to or am I able to work the carbs still hooked up?  I tried to search the posts/wiki/etc, but this seems to be a glossed over procedure...which leads me to believe its incredibly easy and I'll feel pretty stupid when I get my answer.  Oh well.  Humility is a good thing every now and then.

Any help would be appreciated.  I've just bought a Muzzy slip-on and rejet kit from the Buddha, so I'll need to get back in there this winter.

[Green]

Can't help you with the cable/carb questions, but let me be the first to chime in and say, "Get a shop manual".  You've probably already paid for it in the money you saved doing your own oil change.

If you use one of these links, GSTwins.com gets a little financial support:
Clymer: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0892878339/ref=nosim/gstwincom
Haynes: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1844255972/ref=nosim/gstwincom

I haven't dug into home maintenance on this bike yet, but I can vouch for the need of a shop manual on other ones I've worked on.

[Mdow]

oil on a car is that easy or easyer

hard part is getting under the car

easyer part is the oilfilter is a screw off its not under a cover

[the mole]

You don't need to pull the carbs off to check the valves, the cables do get in the way of removing the valve cover but you can wriggle it out. Its hard not to knock the gasket loose as you wriggle it back in though.  By the way, I had to take the little breather cover off the top of the valve cover before I could get it out of the frame.

[Juan1]

Car v. Bike - Depends on the car's oil filter location.  Mine is in a place that requires gymnastics, and a love of spilling oil, in order to access.

Choke Cable -
Step 1 - Follow the rubber cable as it goes to the carb.  See where there is metal tubing surrounding the cable?  Pull that to the left side of the bike.  This puts the actual thin metal cable in the carb's bracket rather than the metal sleave.  While pulling the cable to the left, slide the thin metal cable towards the front of the bike, out of the bracket.
Step 2 - Look down at the end of the choke cable, and you'll see that the cable comes out from between two metal circular pieces.  The circular metal piece on the left side has a groove cut in it.  Push the choke cable forward, and try to get it through the groove.  Once you've done this, slide the little metal hole punch looking thing that's attached to the end of the cable, to the left.   

Throttle cable - I don't completely remember this, but the idea is to unscrew the lower nut (you have to partially unscrew the top nut to do this) and then run the thin cable through the bracket that's currently holding the threaded metal cable sleave.