[adrian]

Originally Posted by man_of_steel

Adrian, I have never experienced it. But I tried to do some reading on it. Check if the below link is of any use.

From below thread, I could gather that the studs are indeed replaceable. So you wont screw up that bad even if the straightening goes bad!

PS: Ignore if its not of help!

@man_of_steel : Thank you for your time friend, really appreciate it.

The studs are replaceable and readily available in the spares. The problem is that the studs are removed by tightening two nuts against each other and then wrenching it out. My problems is that the stud nuts come off and not the flange. With the flange in place, I don't have space for the two nuts to pull the stud out. So the only solution left is to straighten the studs and what I am afraid of is not snapping the studs but cracking the cylinder
regards adrian

[man_of_steel]

Originally Posted by adrian

The studs are replaceable and readily available in the spares. ....So the only solution left is to straighten the studs and what I am afraid of is not snapping the studs but cracking the cylinder

If its readily available, then you can sacrifice this studs. Why not weld a nut to its ends and wrench it out?

[Argan365]

Originally Posted by ArizonaJim

You are correct. A new battery should not drain immediately away although if you left the ignition on without the engine running, no battery could stay charged for a day's time..

Update: On the battery draining issue, the service center folks found the magnet coil defunct and replaced it with a new one. Gotta collect the bike from service center tomorrow. I'm just curious what could cause a magnet coil to go kaput in some cases while some last years.

Mod Note: Please quote ONLY the relevant bits of a post. Quoting a full, long post inconveniences our mobile readers.

[adrian]

Originally Posted by man_of_steel

If its readily available, then you can sacrifice this studs. Why not weld a nut to its ends and wrench it out?

Can't take chances with welding near the cylinder head. Arc welding is know to change the temper of metal and gas welding produces enormous amount of heat which will instantly burn of the paint around the area. Let's see what advice Arizona Jim (Sir, your experience and expertise over this matter please) has for me and if nothing turns out that can be done as a DIY, then probably the job is going to be the service center's headache after all they over torqued the stud bolts bending it.
regards adrian

[ArizonaJim]

Are you absolutely sure the studs are bent?
As was mentioned in the link given earlier, sometimes the exhaust pipe will be stuck in the cylinder head making it appear that there is another reason like bent studs.

I notice on my UCE 500 there is a finned collar held in place with a trapezoidal, loose plate.
It is this plate that the nuts react against. I also note that the finned collar is binding against the exhaust pipe. Given this condition it wouldn't surprise me a bit to find the plate and collar are binding up.

This leads me to my first suggestion.
With the exhaust pipe completely disconnected from the silencer and with both nuts totally removed so that they cannot interfere with possible movement of the finned collar and the trapezoidal plate, try moving the silencer end of the exhaust pipe both up and down and side to side. You want the pipe to be as loose as it possibly can be. Hopefully this will break it loose up at the cylinder head and the entire thing will pull off of the motorcycle.

If this doesn't work because the studs are indeed bent and their bend is keeping the trapezoidal plate from becoming loose and coming off, study the situation to determine where the interference with the plate actually is. Hopefully, it is due to the stud being bent away from the pipe.
If so, install one nut on the offending stud so that it is still loose but the threads are at least 50% engaged. Then, using a small hammer, give the nut a light to medium tap or two.
Removing the nut, check to see if this has loosened the interference with the plate to the point it and the exhaust pipe can be pulled off of the studs.

If it didn't, you can try repeating this a few times.

The studs are not hardened steel so they should be farily easy to bend without putting undue stress into the aluminum cylinder head. (The threads in the cylinder head are larger than the exposed stud threads.)

If all of this doesn't get the job done, take it to a mechanic and then leave before he starts to work.
His methods and process may be like making sausage. It's great to eat but you really don't want to see how it's made.

PS: The exhaust gasket is rather poor and all of this will undoubtedly destroy it. Make sure you have a suitable replacement when you put things back together.

[man_of_steel]

Originally Posted by ArizonaJim

I notice on my UCE 500 there is a finned collar held in place with a trapezoidal, loose plate.

Speaking of which, what is the purpose of that finned collar? My '09 TBTS did not have that collar, but the later UCEs does.

If so, install one nut on the offending stud so that it is still loose but the threads are at least 50% engaged. Then, using a small hammer, give the nut a light to medium tap or two.
Removing the nut, check to see if this has loosened the interference with the plate to the point it and the exhaust pipe can be pulled off of the studs.

As mentioned in the link I provided, I guess it would be useful if you can use a chisel for a tapping on the nut.

[B O V]

what is the purpose of that finned collar?

I think its meant for reducing the discolouration on the portion of the chrome pipes near the head due to the heat.Basically heat dissipation.

Although I don't know why it was present on some Enfields and not on others.

[adrian]

Originally Posted by ArizonaJim

I notice on my UCE 500 there is a finned collar held in place with a trapezoidal, loose plate.

In my bullet the finned collar and trapezoidal plate is welded together as a single unit.

Originally Posted by ArizonaJim

If this doesn't work because the studs are indeed bent and their bend is keeping the trapezoidal plate from becoming loose and coming off, study the situation to determine where the interference with the plate actually is. Hopefully, it is due to the stud being bent away from the pipe.

This is the spot on scenario in my motorcycle. The finned collar along with the trapezoidal plate can be moved out more than half way and then it gets stuck at the point the studs bend out.

Originally Posted by ArizonaJim

The studs are not hardened steel so they should be farily easy to bend without putting undue stress into the aluminum cylinder head. (The threads in the cylinder head are larger than the exposed stud threads.)

Thank you sir, really appreciate your help and good to have you with us here. I will do as you have advised and report back, if possible with pictures.

Originally Posted by ArizonaJim

If all of this doesn't get the job done, take it to a mechanic and then leave before he starts to work.
His methods and process may be like making sausage. It's great to eat but you really don't want to see how it's made.

When I tried to change the front brake shoes, I couldn't remove the brake plate nut as it was rotating along with the axle. What I did was to buy a 14" bench vice, installed wooden liners with grooves for capturing the axle and then wrenched the bolt out. On another occasion I saw a roadside mechanic removing the same nut like a king.
1.He loosened the fork pinch bolts.
2.Wedged a screw driver between the fork and wheel.
3. Pushed the fork legs to one side for space and tightened the pinch bolts back and wrenched the brake plate nut out.
The genius used the fork bottom caps as a vice.

Originally Posted by man_of_steel

My '09 TBTS did not have that collar, but the later UCEs does.

Originally Posted by B O V

Although I don't know why it was present on some Enfields and not on others.

Constant R&D from Royal Enfield. You will be surprised to see the changes they have made to the Standard UCE 350 since 2011. Below are some of them that have come to my notice.
1. Exhaust bend pipes
2. Exhaust studs (problematic in my bullet)
3. Exhaust flange nuts
4. Carburetor (problematic in my bullet)
5. Speedometer assembly (problematic in my bullet and replaced with new)
6. Air box (This was installed as a retro work during service in my bullet)
7. Hex head screw rocker cover
and the list continues..(Owners of UCE bullets prior to 2012, please refer to the parts manual for learning about more modified parts (believe me there are so many of them) and feel the pang in your hearts.
By looking at the modifications, sometimes I think that I should have waited for a couple of years before buying the new UCE bullet.That is all for now and I think I will go to loo and cry a bit
regards adrian

[B O V]

The finned collar was found back in their j2,g1 and other models(U.K).I don't know if the ones that were assembled here(India spec)had them.Maybe someone who had one could shed some light on this.

Yeah RE seems to be improving things on their motorcycles(at a snails pace).Theres a thread on here regarding that too.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/motorb...es-mods-2.html

[adrian]

Here is the picture of the bend exhaust stud. Look at the way the tip is deviating from the base axis. If you observe carefully you can see the bend in the flange (trapezoidal plate )as well.

Planning to do the job this Saturday and keeping my fingers crossed.
regards adrian

[adrian]

With God's grace was able to successfully straighten the exhaust stud and replace the exhaust gasket. I thank ArizonaJim and Man_of_steel for taking their time to explain the whole thing to me. I thought of starting a new thread for the DIY procedure of removing and replacing the exhaust gasket, but then decided not to attempt what I am not capable of (you may have noticed from other posts that I am not a great story teller) Anyway I will just let the pictures do the talk (sorry for the picture quality as it is out of my Nokia xpress music and to be frank I loath the camera during DIYs as I will be usually tense at heart and would want nothing between me and my machine during this meditation)

At last the flange got released

Exhaust port with old gasket

New gaskets (I brought two of them in case )

Look at the condition of the old gasket

The second catalytic converter near the bend pipe muffler junction

Bend pipe and muffler lying around

There was soldering deformation where the bend pipe join the exhaust port and may be the reason why it was not seating properly. I used a flat file to smoothen out the deformations. (Another example that the company is not giving attention to detail. They are doing this whole thing like a boring ritual.. sad but true)


Cleaned up exhaust port. You can see the exhaust valve stem as well.

I cleaned up the exhaust port, applied a small bit of grease to the new gasket to hold it in place and assembled back the whole thing. When tightening the exhaust flange you have to tighten the two stud screws evenly. Another thing to remember before tightening the flange bolts is to position the bend pipe in the muffler, which is the first thing to be installed back to the motorcycle (don't tighten the bolts at the junction). Tighten the muffler bolts evenly and finally tighten the bolts at the junction of the muffler. If you do the otherway, ie tighten the flange bolts first, you will have trouble with the brake lever hitting the bend pipe and it will be hard for you to install the muffler and in the process you will disturb the bend pipe assembly as well.
Final outcome

regards adrian

[blueknight]

Hello Experts! I just bought new CL350 and would like to know some good places from where I can get good seat covers and the back seat handle cover for my new Bullet in Hyderabad. Any suggestions are most welcome and eagerly awaited.

Thanks!

[navin_v8]

Originally Posted by ArizonaJim

navin_v8:

In any case, as your battery overheated IMO it should be replaced by the dealer. The mechanic should also go thru all of the electrical circuits to determine the reason for the blown fuse. This could range from a short circuit to just a poorly made fuse.

Hope they find the source of your problem, replace the battery and send you down the road with a RE that is as reliable as mine has been.

Hi Jim, I received my Thunderbird 500 from the RE service centre on last saturday. The faulty battery was replaced and the starter motor too which was faulty was replaced. Did a 50 odd Kms running and bike is doing fine now. Thanks for the help.

[man_of_steel]

Originally Posted by adrian

With God's grace was able to successfully straighten the exhaust stud and replace the exhaust gasket.

Great work man! Thanks a lot for the pics but it should have been a new thread!

BTW, the studs were tightened using the same procedure Jim suggested?

[Majumdarda]

Hello all,

With me I have the Old Air filter, spark plug pairs and the Front disk pads. I will upload the pictures, followed by my queries. This is all after the fifth servicing with approx 11652 on the odo.

Old Air Filter




We can observe that the fins are distorted behind the fence. Now I had observed this at the time of the filter cleaning at home too, but had no clear answer to the cause for it. I understand that its no worry though. One possible thought which came to my mind was because of the air being sucked in, the fins got distorted, but when I asked the same to the service technician, their response was quite surprising. "If you intend to replace, we will, but the filter is good to go. Why this unusual bending of the fins : Its supposed to be so" Obviously it did not answer anything and so here is my query. Why do these fins in the airfilter bend in such distorted fashion? Also is there anything to inference looking at the bent fins or the used air filter?

Used Spark plugs





These spark plugs are cleaned just with air blow and waste clothes. Gaps are not adjusted. What I observed was that gaps have increased (normal I understand as I compared with the new ones). What else to be inferred with regards to the running engine looking at this year old spark plugs? I am not facing any issues at this moment but would like to know if looking at a used spark plug may infer something worth looking into for the future.

Front Disk Pads





Just look at the thickness. I am solely responsible for this, but never have I faced any braking issues, albeit the sudden loss of braking which I highlighted a couple of posts back (that is not there any more). I never heard any screeching sounds nor any loss of braking at need. Also at time of cleaning though I saw the rings forming on the dick plate, I do not know why I ignored them. Service technician advises that disc ring is all good, but the pads should have been replaced long back. Now how can I infer that the pads are at the end of life when the braking is just as adequate as it should be. Please advise. I sincerely do not wish to make the same blunder the next time.