First service at 600 - Motorcycle-Journal Forums

WyoBear · 09-20-2009, 09:09 PM

I did my first service this weekend. I just didn't trust the dealer to do the job properly.
I did everything except lubricate the control cables. I thought the dealer would just blow it off anyway. I will probably get with my local bicycle shop for the best way to do this.
I didn't have the official belt tension tool but my finger and common sense seemed to be adequate.
The transfer case oil change had me stumped for a bit. I really had to think about that one. When looking over the job intially it helps to have an inspection mirror to locate stuff like the drain plug.
There are probably some small variations in these machines that may make the job harder for some people than others. I am referring to the exact placement of the heat shield clamp directly in front of the "check hole" for the transfer case fluid. Ideally I wanted to loosen and move that clamp a bit but the head of the clamp faced the engine and was completely inaccessible.
I used my own variation of the alternate method where you don't touch the fill hole at all - that would have been impossible on my bike without removing the exhaust. The service manual says to remove the exhaust for this job - screw that!
The alternate method calls for using the check hole as the "fill hole".
I did this job on a nice warm day but the bike was cold. No point in making this even harder the first time. I wasn't about to burn myself doing this. I did warm up my new oil (Royal Purple Maxx Gear 75w-90) in the sun prior to squirting it in though.
I cut the black tie wraps on the heat shield wrap in front of the drain hole and held the bundle out of the way with a couple very small bungee cords wrapped around the exhaust. I tried to pinch the black tie wraps where they insert into the little bracket and pull the bundle away from the bracket but it just wasn't happening for me so cutting and replacing was more time efficient. Note that when I reinstalled I just used one and be careful not to get too snug and restrict the line flow. Also note that the stock tie wraps are the extra fancy type with the "click insertion" ends. This type really isn't needed for the job and if they were available to me I still wouldn't bother with them.
I used a micro gear wrench with a T40 insert bit to remove the drain plug - (available at Sears in a nice little set for about $30). This worked ok but an L shaped Torx wrench would have been fine also.
I used a Wiha L shaped 4 mm ball end wrench with "screw holding" feature to remove the "check hole screw". I like the Wiha brand of tools for jobs like this. It is labelled Wiha 369R CR. V. on the tool - (go to the Wiha site online). I still wound up dropping the screw and having to retrieve it with a magnetic tool when it lodged itself below however.
Note that the little gasket stayed in the hole rim the entire time - it did not come out with the screw. I even tried to pull it out with various angle head picks but couldn't get it. If it wants to stay in that recessed hole that much why not just let it stay there huh?
Since I did this job with "cold" oil I used a can of air sprayed in the check hole to help provide a boost of sorts for the oil to drain. I left it to drip for a couple hours while I did other projects.
Now - how to get the new oil in that tight little hole.
I got a 6 ounce oil can with a trigger pump from Ace Hardware. It had a very fine tip to seat in the hole and squirt the new oil in. The fill tip was just barely long enough and I had to refill the can quite a few times but it worked good. Another option would be to purchase a small bottle of "Zoom oil" with an internal plastic lube straw that is maybe 8" long. Dump out the Zoom oil and clean the bottle - refill a bunch of time with your gear oil and that should work also. I am going to shop around for a bigger oil can with a flexible spout but it must still have a very fine tip. When the oil is streaming out of the fill / check hole you can stop filling and reinsert the screw. The Wiha tool works great from a bit of an angle for the reinsertion.
I looked over the oil really good in my drain pan. It looked like clean oil but the sun showed a few shimmery / shiny particles in the bottom of the pan.
I really think that you could go to 1000 miles for this first change based on what I saw. The method I have described is easy enough to do the change more often than Yamaha recommends so I will keep tabs on how the oil looks each time as a reference.
The engine oil change showed the oil to be dirtier in comparison to the transfer case oil. The hardest thing about the engine oil change for me was to get the two crankcase drain plugs started by hand again. I used Yamalube semi synthetic 20w - 50 for this first change but will switch to Royal Purple 20w -50 Maxx Cycle at 1200 miles and thereafter.
I got kind of long winded here but hope this helps someone save some money and get some satisfaction from doing it yourself.

Lance