Changing upper triple clamp

[rk97]

The WERA SuperStock rules demand that my purty Vortex upper triple clamp come off the bike, and the fugly stock unit goes back on.

Is this a hard swap? It seems straight-forward enough, but I'm nervous about having to mess with the steering head bearing...

little help? the only "manual" i have for this bike is on a CD somewhere...

Assuming this goes smoothly, I'll have a vortex triple for an '03/04 600RR for sale shortly.

 

[Dave561]

It's as easy as it looks. Should be a 15 minute job and that includes grabbing a beer first

 

[rk97]

Thanks Dave - looks like it's going to take a bit longer, because my box-o-spares has an extra lower clamp, which is probably why I thought I'd need to deal with the bearings. They're on the spare lower.

I'm looking for upper clamps on 600RR.net, but if anyone here has an '03/04, 600RR that they don't intend to race, I would be totally willing to trade my vortex for the stocker, plus a few bucks.

I'm just going to double-check that the change is required by WERA SS rules, and I'll have the vortex ready to ship tomorrow.

 

[Mikey75702]

Just support the bike by the bottom of the engine, so that when you take the upper triple off the new one is easy to slide back on. Then torque to spec... easy enough.

 

[rk97]

Success. The hardest part was loosening all the screws on my damper bracket. I also discovered that I do not own the 30mm socket needed to torque the steering stem bolt to spec. It's only supposed to be 56(?) lbs-ft, so I was able to remove it with a crescent wrench, but I want to get the proper socket to make sure it's torqued properly.

Now I just need the stock part. Got a couple leads, but trying to avoid eBay prices!

 

[rk97]

$23 shipped on eBay? BOOM. DONE.

I take back everything I ever said about eBay sucking ass for parts. Who wants a Vortex triple for an 03/04 600RR?

 

[pajixxer]

I wouldn't worry about that if I were you... The only way something would happen is if you were protested. But if you do have the stocker it is a fast fix.

 

[rk97]

i thought that too, but another thread about "cheating" leads me to believe that not everyone shares our opinion on this issue.

Would they protest me? I doubt I'll be in a high enough position for them to care, but apparently it irritates some people when ANYONE on the grid is in violation of the rules, even to the slightest degree.

I believe the argument is that even backmarkers (lap traffic) can affect the outcome of a race, so that's no way to justify allowing a slow rider to run a 1000 in C superstock... Granted, my vortex triple and double-bubble wind screen are hardly such dramatic "upgrades," but they are in violation of the SuperStock rules, as printed.

P.S. - i'm pretty sure your numbers are illegal too. I wouldn't put it past people to protest something like that at the GNF, when things get serious.

see you at Nelson on 4/30?

 

[BigBird]

Mikey75702;177425 wrote: Just support the bike by the bottom of the engine, so that when you take the upper triple off the new one is easy to slide back on. Then torque to spec... easy enough.

can you just use a front pin stand to do this?

 

[rk97]

I don't know if there's an advantage to supporting the bike from below, but I can tell you right now that using the steering-head lift stand worked for me.

I popped off the vortex triple last night. Minus the 20+ minutes removing the damper, Dave was right on - 10 minute job, with time to drink a beer.

The top triple came off easily, and went back on just as easily (i left it loose, but in-place to keep the forks stable).

 

[fitz]

BigBird;177615 wrote: can you just use a front pin stand to do this?

That's what I used, but I also used a couple of blocks of wood under the front wheel so the weight of the wheel didn't pull down on the forks.

Seemed to work, the upper triple pulled right off and then back on again no problem.

fitz

 

[Mikey75702]

I'm not sure on the pin stand.... I took my upper triple off a while ago to install the clipons, and it came off easy.... then the front wheel rolled just a hair and took any slack that was in the headstock bearings.... the hole for the steering stem was a hair off and wouldnt line up.... jacked up the bike to take the weight off the forks and boom, slid right down on its own.

 

[Dave561]

These bikes are so heavy, its a shame you couldn't jiggle the wheel a little to get it all to line up

 

[Mikey75702]

slow_honda;177643 wrote: These bikes are so heavy, its a shame you couldn't jiggle the wheel a little to get it all to line up

Yeah yeah.... hindsight is alway 20/20 right..... just figured it was easier to support the weight just a bit rather then have to "jiggle"