Removing the rocker cover & Cylinder head

**tedmagnum** · #1 9th August 2006

Do i have to remove or lower the engine for this task ?? Iv just bought a 2003 XT600E and the exhaust studs are very corroded so im replacing them. I need to get the head off though.

On my old XT, you had to drop the engine in the frame, is it still the case ??

Thanks

**dawack** · #2 24th August 2006

im only after replaceing the full exaust on a 2002 xte and had the same prob as ur self how i cured ut was to get heat aplied ie oxy accet and heat the nuts red hot and they should come of the studs okay

**tedmagnum** · #3 25th August 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by dawack

im only after replaceing the full exaust on a 2002 xte and had the same prob as ur self how i cured ut was to get heat aplied ie oxy accet and heat the nuts red hot and they should come of the studs okay

Unfortunatly my problem is much deeper rooted than this now !!

On removing the downpipes i discovered 2 of the studs are heavily corroded and snapped off with only 1-2 mm protruding out of the head !! For gods sake this is a 2 year old bike with 5k on the clock.. the last owner must of been a complete idiot and over torqued them (and im an idiot for not checking)

This is going to be a nightmare ! I planned on drilling the centres out and using left hand thread stud extractors. The problem is that i have to drill hardened steel studs DEAD centre.. i have a pillar drill but the studs protrude at an odd angle so cant use the drill... AHHHHHHHH

**dawack** · #4 25th August 2006

sorry to hear wht happened to ya i suggest u start looking into helicoils.
i had a similar prob with a stud on a kmx and used a dremmel to remove its remains. chances r its to well seized and to small (weak) to get any sort of grip with a thread extractor i got lucky with the kmx the hole was a lot bigger than the original stud and there was virgin alloy just wait ing to be tapped

good luck

**tedmagnum** · #5 25th August 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by dawack

sorry to hear wht happened to ya i suggest u start looking into helicoils.
i had a similar prob with a stud on a kmx and used a dremmel to remove its remains. chances r its to well seized and to small (weak) to get any sort of grip with a thread extractor i got lucky with the kmx the hole was a lot bigger than the original stud and there was virgin alloy just wait ing to be tapped

good luck

well.. i attacked one of the studs today... JESUS what a day.. I drilled out the centre and tried a left hand thread extractor... Wouldnt budge..

I eventually drilled it out until there was only 0.5 of a mil to the thread and the stud (being hardened steel) still wouldnt budge. Ended up having the drill the whole thing out.. Helicoil is going to be my only option now. If that screws up then its new head time.

Its amazing what torment a small thing like a snapped stud can do to your bike !!

**Aussie_Dan** · #6 27th August 2006

So did you end up taking the head off? If so, did you manage to remove the head without dropping the engine?
I know that you can get the rocker cover off without dropping the engine, as i had to do this to my 02 XT600 a few weeks ago. There was plenty of room between the head and the frame, so i assumed that there would be enough space there to be able to remove the head.
I wouldn't worry about having to buy a new head... if the helicoils don't work for you (can't see why they won't), all you need to do is tap out the stud hole in the head and put an oversized stud in there.
Dan.

**tedmagnum** · #7 27th August 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aussie_Dan

So did you end up taking the head off? If so, did you manage to remove the head without dropping the engine?
I know that you can get the rocker cover off without dropping the engine, as i had to do this to my 02 XT600 a few weeks ago. There was plenty of room between the head and the frame, so i assumed that there would be enough space there to be able to remove the head.
I wouldn't worry about having to buy a new head... if the helicoils don't work for you (can't see why they won't), all you need to do is tap out the stud hole in the head and put an oversized stud in there.
Dan.

I had to lower the engine to get the rocker cover off.. I tried for about an hour to get it off without removing it but to no evail... It even says in my Clymer that you must do this, you must of found some magic technique caus i couldnt do it and I removed everything else.

Yup.. Helicoils my only option now !!

**Aussie_Dan** · #8 28th August 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by tedmagnum

I had to lower the engine to get the rocker cover off.. I tried for about an hour to get it off without removing it but to no evail... It even says in my Clymer that you must do this, you must of found some magic technique caus i couldnt do it and I removed everything else.

Yup.. Helicoils my only option now !!

Well, I removed the seat, plastics and tank, undid all the airbox bolts and slid it backwards and removed the carbs. Once this was all off and there was no other crap left on the frame, we undid the rocker cover and if you lift it at the front, you can slide it backwards to remove it. There's not much room, but we did it. The catch is that you have to remove the carbs to make room for sliding the rocker cover backwards...
Cheers, Dan.

**tedmagnum** · #9 28th August 2006

[quote=Aussie_Dan]Well, I removed the seat, plastics and tank, undid all the airbox bolts and slid it backwards and removed the carbs. Once this was all off and there was no other crap left on the frame, we undid the rocker cover and if you lift it at the front, you can slide it backwards to remove it. There's not much room, but we did it. The catch is that you have to remove the carbs to make room for sliding the rocker cover backwards...
Cheers, Dan.

Cheers, ill remember that !!