Hello. I'm sure this has been covered before so apologies if it has - thought I'd share the fruits of my labour.

Spent a bit of time today trying to remove the rocker cover without removing the carbs or dropping the engine. It can be done.

Remove the side panels, seat, tank, ht coil etc. I also removed the horn, oil return pipe and the entire throttle mechanism on the carb (1-off 12mm bolt and 2-off Phillips screws). Remove upper engine 3-bolt mount.

Remove 4-off airbox securing bolts (3-off at the top, 1-off on bike LHS)
Loosen the carb to inlet manifold banjo clamps. Pull the entire airbox and carbs back as far as possible. Remove the small 1" rubber tube on the inlet manifold of the LHS carb.

Remove all tappet inspection covers (you need to remove the inlet one anyway, probably both exhausts too to re-set the clearances).

Remove all 5mm Allen bolts, remembering the one that sits under the upper engine 3-bolt mount. This one can't be removed from the rocker cover whilst still on the bike so get a 3mm Allen key (or similar). Get your fingers inside the inlet tappet inspection cover and push the tail of the Allen bolt flush with the underside of the cover. Now, insert the 3mm Allen key through the bottom of the 3-bolt engine mount hole and under the head of the 5mm Allen bolt. That painfully awkward is now gently jammed out of the way.

Remove the rocker cover by lifting the front and sliding it off backwards and out of the LHS of the bike. Make sure the carbs are right back and there is just enough room.

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I do not know why Yahama didn't manufacture the bike with the 5mm more clearance required not to have to do the above. Someone should punch the designer directly in the face.

Thanks. Great info.


Have you removed the carb’s? PITA. The XT600E is strong and reliable, but maintenance could be so much easier.

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Yamaha XT600E '01, Honda XR400 '03, Yamaha XT550 '83

Many times, hence my refusal to do so again. If anyone has a better way than brute force I'd like to know. Currently I leave the inlet manifolds in place and release the airbox rewards. Then let battle commence.

After way too much carb-work, I Can now remove the carb in no time. I'd guess I could dog it in 10-15minutes, so it can be done

I followed the method suggested by charlesm87 however after trying for a while i just could not dislodge the carbs from the manifolds.

In an attempt to gain the few millimetres clearance required I first removed the bash plate then the two bolts holding the front of the engine and the single bolt at the bottom of the engine inboard of the footpeg mount.

As a precaution I removed the bolts securing the exhaust to the frame except for the rearmost bolt.

With all of those bolts gone I was able to carefully pry the engine down probably about 8mm, pivoting on the swingarm pivot bolt, which allowed the rocker cover to be removed from the LHS of the engine with "relative" ease.

I believe I should have no trouble resecuring the engine as it should simply rotate back to its original position.

This post is submitted despite many years having elapsed since the original posts in the belief that many are still riding and maintaining their XT600's.

I can now proceed with my attempt to replace the valve stem seals, engine in frame, without removing the head using the "rope down the cylinder" method. Fond hope I know so I will post this before proceeding as I may not be in a mood to post anything if I fail.

Never had any poblem removing rocker cover without lover engine, had this of plenty times to find a leak.

I, like Charlesm87 needed to find a few mm to have the cover clear the cam gear even with the throttle cables out of the way.

Regardless I was able to do so and even managed to replace the valve stem seals after making up a few screw down jigs bolted variously to the head and to the frame, to compress the springs. Admittedly it took me a couple of hours to reinstall the keepers on the first valve but got the process down to about 30 minutes for each valve all up after the first one.

Also as a matter of interest, after trying several gauges of rope to keep the valves from dropping too much with the springs removed, I opted for nylon whipper snipper/line trimmer cord. Rope and bungee/shock cord appeared to distribute itself unevenly and allow at least one valve to drop a little too much. The advantage of the nylon cord is that it probably coiled around evenly within the cylinder with three of the valves being held firmly up to the head and only one dropping a couple of mm.

Anyway, job done and I did not break anything it appears.

Look at this video, its plenty of space coming in from behind.

https://youtu.be/2g-hGK5K7Gg?feature=shared

Totally agree - with the carburettor out of the way, however, getting the carb out of the way was not as simple as pivoting the motor down a few mm. I suspect that old hard manifold boots made removal of the carb difficult.

2 bolts on top airbox, 1 down on the side and the 4 at the rubber mountings, just pull carb its like 2min job. You are dropping engine 8mm, what about the oil hose in front, its not made for extending like that. If you disconnect its oil all over.

OOPS - I did not even notice that (slightly flexible apparently) oil hose. I did not even consider its existence given the last dry sump bike I owned was in the early 70's and it had a BSA badge on the tank I did only gently pry the motor down to get that clearance so I got lucky there. Thankfully I will not have to revisit the issue which led to removal of the cover.

Also, so you suggest detaching the manifolds from the head to move the carb rather than trying to separate the carb from the manifolds I presume. Can breaking that seal at the head lead to problems after reassembly?

What you mean breaking seals? The rubber boots have O rings against head for seal. Always check boots when doing this job, they suddenly crack, so bend them good. The china copy dont last long, they have some cheap plastic rubber that handle heat very poor.

OK Thank you for your advice.

Btw i dont undo the boots to get carb out, i undo clamps, pull the airfilter back and pull carb to the side. Yes its a little fiddle job but its no big deal, when you do this you also get to see tge condition of the boots because the must bend to get it out. Offcourse its possible to lower engine to have more space for the rocker cover, but its just importan that people are aware and careful not damaging hose or get leak. Not all reading here have been doing maintence before..

I understand, thank you.