Servicing - how many do their own?

[Eiger120]

Having bought a cheap bike to see me through the winter I think its about time I learnt how to service it myself. How many other P'hers do their own?

My initial plan of attack is the Haynes Manual. Any other recommendations? Tools and garage space will be supplied by my brother however is a stand a necessity or a luxury? Bear in mind I intended to do minor jobs only (single spanner haynes manual jobs!!!!!!) and one of the aims is to reduce the amount of money I seem to be spending at garages.

One worry is the consequence of doing something wrong. My brother in law lost a rear caliper after the dealer failed to reconnect it properly - luckily he was not injured but the bike wasn't in good shape . Does anyone else have similar tales we can all have a chuckle at?

Edited by Eiger120 on Tuesday 10th July 17:13

[Yoda954]

Nope....I learned the hard way many years ago

Edited by Yoda954 on Tuesday 10th July 18:02

[Spydaman]

Always service my Guzzi myself. It usually takes about an hour every 3000kms. Even replaced the big ends in an hour and a half last week and that included going to get the oil. It's not difficult really.

Edited by Spydaman on Tuesday 10th July 18:05

[_Dave_]

I´ve done my own servicing since I was a teenager, (20 yrs ago!)

The haynes manual is ok for starters but have a good look at the job you need to do first, don´t take the manual as gospel, for instance to change the thermostat on my bike it said:

1. remove left and right fairings and v piece.
2. Remove petrol tank and airbox.
3. drain coolant from radiator
4. remove radiator top hose to allow access.
5. undo water pump and thermostat housing
6. dismantle the above
7. replace the thermostat.
8. refitting is the reverse procedure.

When in reality all I had to do was take the tank off (2 bolts), undo thermostat cover (2 more bolts), wiggle it a bit till it separated then take the old ´stat out and put a new one in, total time taken 10 minutes, lost an eggcup full of water but that was it.

I sometimes think the Haynes manual puts people off doing their own maintenance due to crap like the above, it can help if you find an owners club forum for the bike, it makes fixing the usual and not so usual problems easier with help from fellow owners

[Momentofmadness]

I'm in no way a good mechanic, but I'll have a go a most things! Tend to do the simple (!) stuff including oil change, coolant change, filters, brake pads etc.

I'll be needing to change the chain and sprockets soon and am a little aprehensive

The key seems to be to take your time and if things begin to go wrong walk away and have a break (here speaks the voice of experience )

[dern]

I've done all mine on my blade for the last 20k miles. The biggest thing I've done so far is have the engine out to take the head off to get the plug threads on no1 cyl rethreaded when it spat a plug. I bought a workshop manual off ebay on a cd and it's way better than the haynes manual. Having the correct tools before you start is the key imo. Having plenty of plastic boxes to put the bits in is a good plan, a big one with little compartments is the key to getting valve bits in the right place. If you take off a cover or something like that with lots of bolts then draw the shape of the bits on a bit of cardboard and push the bolts through the cardboard picture where they have to go back is a top tip a mate passed on to me.

[Buelligan 984]

In my view, Haynes manuals are only good for lighting bonfires.

Go buy the original factory workshop manual (its the only spare part for the bike you don't have to pay VAT on).

Get a good torque wrench and use it every time. Whilst you're at it, get a huge box of latex gloves too.

Never resort to the "bigger hammer" approach - bike componants are fragile things. Never use a socket or spanner that "nearly fits" - you'll only end up rounding the bolt head.

Keep cover bolts etc in order - put them back in the hole they came out of. Always take the time to clean up and inspect the threads before replacing them.

Understand which componants are "one time only -mission critial" items: brake disc mounting bolts, small end rollers, lock washers etc get taken out and thrown away, never reused.

Try not to clean up old gasket faces with a stanley knife blade - its harder than the cases and will score them (OK, as a last resort and with huge care its sometimes necessary, but is a last option).

Don't work in a hurry and keep thinking "is this right - does it look sensible -could it fit another way?" etc etc.

As for dealer "howlers", well I've had a few. One dealer dropped the bike off the workbench (ouch); another forgot to replace the detent plunger in the gearbox and found it later when draining the old oil out of their catch can. Worst was when I had a bike stolen from the dealer's yard when they'd left it outside for a hour or so. (You'd really think the'd have removed the keys wouldn't you!)

HTH,

Dave

[Lostusernamedamn]

I went for a test ride on a bike last year and when I got back to the dealer I noticed the front wheel axle bolt was almost off. Careless b4stards.

[MTBR]

I can do pretty much everything on my bikes, although on occasions, I choose not to. Dyno work obviously needs a dyno (much as I'd like one, I really can't justify the cost!) and I usually sub out fork and shock modifications. I do the work because I enjoy it, any monetary savings are secondary.

I think you need to be quite realistic about any savings you might make. Until you have built up a suitable tool kit and developed the necessary skills, any savings in "labour rates" will be partially offset by the purchase of tools and quite possibly the cost of any mistakes you make.

I echo the comments about factory workshop manuals, the ones Honda and Ducati publish are very good, I have never used Hynes manuals, so I can't comment on them. Haynes do however publish a range of non model specific training manuals and some of these are very good. For example "The motorcycle fuel systems techbook" written by the late John Robinson.

Taking the time to understand how and why things work, rather than just following a series of instructions, will pay dividends in the future. (even if things take a little longer in the short term)

[m3psm]

I do almost everything myself. If it's a really time consuming job though like engine inards, I'll sub it out because I've got better things to do with time.

[A1ec]

Buelligan 984 said:

. . . . Keep cover bolts etc in order - put them back in the hole they came out of. . . .

Dave

Good tip for this is to get a piece of a cardboard box and draw the outline of each cover on it , poke a hole with a screwdriver where each bolt is located and as you take the bolts out push them into the appropriate hole.

This way you know exactly where they came from no matter how long it takes before you put them back in and they won't get mixed up, lost or roll away.

[Bizzle]

I do mine myself.
Have done since i first started riding 2 strokes. So much better and cheaper to be honest. I have rebuilt my TL1000 from a bare frame. All self taught. Not hard, it's just like lego. Most things can only go on one way

[Eiger120]

Thanks for the all the tips and advice - definitely seems to be the way forward! As some of you have stated anything time consuming / too complicated will be sent back to the garage but it will be interesting to get to know the bike even if it is just oil changes/pads etc etc.

[rsv gone!]

Momentofmadness said:

I'm in no way a good mechanic, but I'll have a go a most things! Tend to do the simple (!) stuff including oil change, coolant change, filters, brake pads etc.

I'll be needing to change the chain and sprockets soon and am a little aprehensive

I tackle similar things but I took a new chain and sprocket to the dealers when I had an interim service.

[dern]

Bizzle said:

Most things can only go on one way

On the blade all the loom connectors are unique apart from two... needless to say they're close to each other and I plugged them together wrongly and blew the low fuel sensor in the pump. Digital cameras and bits of masking tape on the loom as labels are your friends

[dern]

rsv gone! said:

Momentofmadness said:

I'm in no way a good mechanic, but I'll have a go a most things! Tend to do the simple (!) stuff including oil change, coolant change, filters, brake pads etc.

I'll be needing to change the chain and sprockets soon and am a little aprehensive

I tackle similar things but I took a new chain and sprocket to the dealers when I had an interim service.

Chain and sprockets are pretty easy with a few provisos. Firstly take the output shaft nut off *before* you remove the chain so you have some resistance against which to undo it (unless you have air tools, obviously). Secondly make sure the replacement chain is the right one before you cut the old chain off using and angle grinder. The only slightly tricky bit is fitting the new link to the new chain and you can do that quite easily with a ball end hammer making sure that you don't make that link inflexible in the process. The tools you can buy to help you do this are shite.