G'day guys,
I'm a proud owner of an '06 GS500F, it's done me no wrong for the 30,000k's I've put on it... until recently, lack of maintenance from my part and I spun a bearing. My mech says not to bother trying a rebuild, get a new motor.
A motor is expensive enough, but my mech quoted me 1k to swap the new one in. I've thought about trying to do it myself... but my mechanical experience extends no further than oil changes, chain and wheel adjustments. Should I try giving this a go myself, or is there too great a risk of stuffing something up? If you guys reckon I should give it a shot, can you please outline what exactly I need to do, eg what I need to unplug/take out in what order, etc etc. Assume I know nothing (cos I pretty much don't!)
I just really want to get my baby back on the road soon! Cheers in advance everyone
any one can do it just get a haynes manual .theres not a lot to it .spend your k on tools though you wouldnt ever need to spend that much .exhaust pipe off first 4 cap screws and one bolt .tank off , hoses offtank ,it now comes clearer whats next .unplug electrics,maybe remove carbs and airbox to give yourself room to work ,you should be able to see the next step as theres not much left.you would probably be ready to remove the right frame tube about now and slide the engine out now .DONT FORGET THERE ARE ENGINE BOLTS HOLDING IT IN THE FRAME TO ..
I just pulled mine a few weeks back and it wasn't hard. But i took a lot of pictures so when I put it back together I could use them as reference. I could also see where putting it back in would be a lot easier with two people because the engine has to be lined up just right.
what lack of maintenance caused a spun bearing?
also, for people who have pulled their engine, do you guys just support it by the oil pan on the bottom?
First year rider and wrencher here.
Taking the motor out and back in is CAKE!!!
No lie, DO NOT waste your $$ having a mechanic do it if you have the tools and place to do it yourself.
& reload.
I only had my bike on the center stand with both rims still on when I took the motor out, nothing more.
took the mounting bolts out when everything was off the motor to remove it.
removed the side piece of the frame (next to the motor, i forget what its called)
and simply picked that heavy sucker out myself.
of course before I took the side piece off the frame, I was supporting the motor with one hand and a foot lol
when I put the motor back in, I had the frame flat on the ground. (totally bare frame tho)
it wasnt hard, just a tad harder by myself.
& where are you located Kola?
sadly I would doubt you would be close to me. (only one friggin GS rider I know of is near me and dont think I seen him post here yet, even tho he said he visits the site)
Im in North east Pennsylvania.
if you were tho, I would help ya swap the engines.
done with most of my work and in withdrawl for something else! haha dunno, I just Love workin on these suckers!
(edit)
and as I said, first year rider and first year wrenching on anything but BASIC things on a car.
not bragging but if I can do all of this http://gstwins.com/gsboard/index.php?topic=58225.0
then I doubt you will have any problems swapping motors.
as long as you go at it calmly and stop when you run into any problems and ask for help here.
Depends. I frequently find use for Henry Ford's (roughly) "Whether you think you can, or think you can't, you're probably right" in these situations. That's partly for the mindset, and partly the self-assessment. If you break everything you work on, probably not. If you manage to be somewhat mechanically ept, and things still work after you've worked on them, it's not rocket science and you can probably figure it out, and figure out when you need to ask for help, if you do.
If you can borrow a body for brute force (at least) and perhaps a bit of additional mechanical ept-itude, so much the better. There are tricks if you need to get it out/in without help (I haven't done it, but they have been posted here in the past - IIRC, laying the bike over on the left side helps with that.)
The advent of cheap digital cameras means there's little excuse not to take LOTS of pictures of EVERY step of disassembly so you can look back and find the one you need during reassembly. If things get derailed for a while, it's easy to forget how that worked.
As for how wrong even the seemingly simple can get, loaned someone a sewing needle the other day, and got it back with the eye bent. Never seen that before. The truly gifted inept can come up with ways to break things that simply would never occur to anyone with half a clue...
Question is.. Are you looking to put a bigger engine in? Or the same exact one? I op for bigger if you've ridden 30k miles on that thing...
Quote from: DoD#i on December 14, 2011, 08:30:11 AM
Depends. I frequently find use for Henry Ford's (roughly) "Whether you think you can, or think you can't, you're probably right" in these situations. That's partly for the mindset, and partly the self-assessment. If you break everything you work on, probably not. If you manage to be somewhat mechanically ept, and things still work after you've worked on them, it's not rocket science and you can probably figure it out, and figure out when you need to ask for help, if you do.
This is a big part of it...but if you have been successful in changing a tire and adjusting the chain...you should be okay...just make sure you use lots of ziploc bags for the bits (make sure to label them), and lots of tape to mark connectors that go together...the digital camera idea is another good one...never hurts to actually see what it is supposed to look like...
As for the spun bearing...wrong oil...no oil change...ignored leak??? or is that an indicator that maybe others should be performing the work?? :confused:
Not pointing a finger or trying to say anything...just a question to ask yourself... :dunno_black:
Later.
(http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y17/xdarkdrake/rant.gif)
1k to swap a motor? I would never let that guy work on anything of mine ever again. d-bag,...1k, wtf is that???
Thanks for all the replies guys, and sorry for my late response, been drowning in work lately...
I'm definitely gonna give this a go myself, I'll let you guys know how I go.
My mate has a Haynes manual for the 89-97 GS500... will this do the job for my '06 model? Cheers!!
It should...most of the bike is the same...the obvious difference is the tank and plastics, but the real difference is the addition of the oil cooler and the carb set up...but for engine removal and replacement it should cover it...
Good Luck!
Later.
Quote from: Kola Emcee on December 14, 2011, 12:43:49 AM
G'day guys,
I'm a proud owner of an '06 GS500F, it's done me no wrong for the 30,000k's I've put on it... until recently, lack of maintenance from my part and I spun a bearing. My mech says not to bother trying a rebuild, get a new motor.
A motor is expensive enough, but my mech quoted me 1k to swap the new one in. I've thought about trying to do it myself... but my mechanical experience extends no further than oil changes, chain and wheel adjustments. Should I try giving this a go myself, or is there too great a risk of stuffing something up? If you guys reckon I should give it a shot, can you please outline what exactly I need to do, eg what I need to unplug/take out in what order, etc etc. Assume I know nothing (cos I pretty much don't!)
I just really want to get my baby back on the road soon! Cheers in advance everyone
1) buy you/yourself/your wife a new bed... (there are bonuses to this, keep reading) but keep the old mattress in the garage
2) a new engine
3) toss the bike down on the old mattress... undue all the bolts that hold the engine in, anything that looks connected (chain, wires, fuel)
4) stand the bike up
5) toss old engine in truck for scrap yard
6) lay new engine down on mattress
7) lay bike down on new engine
8) attaché bolts/stuff
9) wires/stuff
10) fuel tank/hoses/stuff
ride
it's a $200 job, if your mechanic wants to charge $1000 for an engine that you provide, you have the wrong mechanic.