So I finally got myself a pair of 89 clipons... but I cannot for the life of me remove the top plate where the handlebars mount. I REALLY dont want to strip (shear?) the nut, so I want to do everything possible to reduce the force on it.

I am using a 14mm wrench... 13 is too small, 15 is too big, but the 14 still has a little bit of wiggle room... is this normal? Is it possible that I somehow ended up with english/standard/imperial nuts here?
I also sprayed some PB blaster onto the bolts, hopefully that will loosen them up a bit, but is there anything else I can do?
And it seems like a stupid question but to be sure, if I am looking up at the 2 bolts holding the top plate on, I want to turn the wrench CCW? The trusty old "righty-tighty, lefty loosy" has worked everywhere else on my bike so I dont see why they would use reverse threads here...

anybody that has removed that top plate before feel free to chime in...

thanks!

Grant

Everything on those bolts should be standard. Metric and lefty loosey. I've removed mine several times without any problems. The direction is less confusing if you hold the wrench on the nut stationary, and then just twist the bolts loose from the top. the only thing holding the bolts in are the nuts, they're not threaded into the triple clamp with the nuts there to lock them, so you can do it either way.

it is possible that someone lost one and went to the hardware store and just picked up SAE bolts, but there's not way to know for sure. Try an SAE wrench on it and see if it fits better. If it's a tighter fit there's no reason you can't use it. If nothing else you may just need a longer wrench. You can't really use an impact wrench for fear of the bottom wrench denting the fork tube. I wouldn't worry too much about hurting them. if you shear them off you can just go to the hardware store and get yourself a new set. 

alright so I got one loose, and embarrassingly sheared the hexagon of the other... what is the best way to get the sheared one off?

Pound on a socket that is slightly smaller. Often, using a slightly undersized SAE socket here may help, otherwise a 13mm socket. Another option is to try to throw a vice grip on the clamp.

If you need to, you can remove the entire upper triple to try to get easier access to that nut.

You may need an impact wrench.
Today we went to replace the top tripple on Trey and broke allen wrenches trying to remove the top plate.
Then I mentioned that we were going to replace the top place for clip ons so we realized we were wasting our time.
Put on new tripple (for a new ignition switch) and put on a new top plate for clip ons. The 2 parts are still frozen together and stitting on the garage floor.
I have remove two others with a lot of effort.
Not easy. Good luck.
Other choice is to grind off the bolt & nut then use new bolt and nut.

If you're already stripped the bolt your best bet is just do drill the top out. Drill straight down the center of where the hex key would go. You don't have to drill far, but start far, and just keep going up a size and eventually you'll separate the top part from the bottom and it'll drop out. Unfortunately an impact wrench won't help you if you've already stripped the bolt and clamping the nut with vice grips doesn't really help either if you have no way to twist the top half.

If you have a dremel, you could also just cut/grind the nut from the bottom, and eventually slide the bolt out of the top. Either way something gonna need broken  haha

I GOT IT!

I will post pictures and the story of my adventure later, but I will tell you it was much more destructive than it should have been.

The solution was much more simple than I thought 

Grant

Alright... so my first mistake was not looking at a part diagram... learn from me 

Also, please excuse the horrible pictures. I was only home for the weekend, and left my real camera at school

After removing the top triple, I was able to loosen up both bolts holding the top plate on. I was confused as to why suzuki would make this process so difficult, by having bolts that just spin in place  . Whatever, I have to get it off somehow. After 20 minutes of trying to hold the end of the bolt with vice grips and loosening the bolt, I ran out of bolt to hold... so I had to come up with another solution. 2 Minutes with a dremel and I had this...



I was able to hold the bolt still with a flat head screwdriver and get the bolt off, FINALLY 

But then another problem arose... how the hell do I get this bolt out?! 



This is about the time that it dawned on me... THERE IS AN EASY (see: correct) WAY

Yeah, these are little chrome caps. They make life easy, and bolts accessible.



Today was a learning experience for me... I even got to make sparks fly with a dremel! Anyway I had to come back to school so I didnt get to finish installing my clipons... here she sits, in my cold garage, sans handlebars



Next weekend I am home I will be putting some fresh silver paint on my 89 top plate, and installing the vortex bars I ordered last night. Should be fun, will post pics 

Quote from: VWAG on February 20, 2011, 03:20:06 PM
2 Minutes with a dremel and I had this...

I was able to hold the bolt still with a flat head screwdriver and get the bolt off, FINALLY 

This is about the time that it dawned on me... THERE IS AN EASY (see: correct) WAY

Yeah, these are little chrome caps. They make life easy, and bolts accessible.

I thought about that one! I didn't bother to mention it because if you were stripping a bolt, I never thought you'd be able to get enough leverage with a screwdriver.

I also didn't catch that you were just spinning the whole bolt. You've definitely gotta pull the handlebar off first. I'll bet that DID make it difficult!