| Author | Message | ||
     Biffdotorg |
So twice this summer, I have gone to start my XT and it was dead after an attempt to start. Both times, I pulled out my Phillips in the tool kit, tightened the battery terminals and it would fire right back up. What do you recommend, star washers, lock washers, or Loctite? Thanks for the recommendations. | ||
| Ratbuell |
NO loctite, its an insulator. Star washers. I have one between every layer - screw head / star washer / ring terminal / star washer / ring terminal / star washer / battery. | ||
| Natexlh1000 |
I also have stars on every layer. Despite this, I still have to tweak the 10mm bolts a couple of times each season on my XB12X. The funny thing: The only time I ever have to touch the terminals on my X1 is when it's time to replace the battery. I have no star washers on it and it has never given me trouble. I'm thinking the periodic roasting under the seat must be the real factor. Perhaps safety wire? | ||
| Court |
I unbolted everything that is bolted, behind the fairing and in the battery area . . . last week . . .cleaned everything with a wire brush and steel wool . . . applied a lyre of contact paste and re-tightened everything. | ||
| Teeps |
Court Posted on Monday, August 25, 2014 - I unbolted everything that is bolted, behind the fairing and in the battery area . . . last week . . .cleaned everything with a wire brush and steel wool . . . applied a lyre of contact paste and re-tightened everything. Not a bad idea... Doubt it will help to keep the battery terminal connections secure. I used star washers, too. But after a few years I found that vibration has caused erosion of the battery cable terminations in the outline of the washer. Battery terminal screws were loose, too... I have since returned to using plain washers & just check the screws monthly. | ||
| Court |
>>>>Doubt it will help to keep the battery terminal connections secure. The other thing I did was removed EVERYTHING from the battery terminals . . . they are designed to have ONE lug on them. I made up a custom bus bar (you can buy them from car stereo places) and ran a single cable from the battery to the bus bar. Each and every device (I'm kinda anal and have 4 GPS's in my car along with 2 iPhones and an IPad mounted on a pedestal) has it's now termination. I wire it the same way I would the panel lights on my aircraft . . . . . I want to make damn certain I don't add to any late night problems in remote locations. I'm also kinda known for the number of mini-mag lights I keep ty-rapped, in nylon holsters, around my bike, Boy Scouts . . sheeeesh | ||
| Court |
By the way . . . whenever you are dealing with a V-Twin the "check monthly" is a good thing . . . . . I used to . . . when I had a large fleet of bikes, take them and lay them on their side on a quilt in grass and go over everything connector on the bottom. I frequently check critical (generally, in my mind, pinch bolts, fork tubes and so forth) connections. Old times will recall my "kicking the bike" stories from when I was doing lots of testing of development bikes. | ||
| Reepicheep |
I like the bus bar idea... | ||
| Ratbuell |
...I may end up with a buss bar behind my flyscreen, during my "WTF is causing my trip to reset all the time???" repair... | ||
| Etennuly |
Hey Joe, when I fixed my "trip resets all of the time" problem, I moved both of the triple splices in the steering neck bundle up to the fly screen area. It got the splices out of the 'having to flex' area and removed four wires from the diameter of the bundle. That allows for it to move easier in it's clamp.  Court, I like the battery lug idea. It makes good sense on these poorly constructed little battery connectors. Star washers work well, but checking them every now and then is still a good idea. I have that on my oil change check list. | ||
| Biffdotorg |
Thanks guys. I was just surprised how often it has happened this summer. At least I am not surprised when It kicks over for a fraction of a rotation then goes dead. Ahh, go to the toolkit. I will start with Star washers and see if that helps. Thanks again! | ||
| Ourdee |
I put a battery in my XT that had two connection points on each terminal. The main neg and pos cables had their own spot. My extras went to the secondary connections on the terminals. That's how I kept the fly out of the ointment. | ||
| Biffdotorg |
Ok, so when I put in a new battery, the bolts that it shipped with had a washer on them, that could not be pulled off. Not sure how they even threaded the thing on. Needless to say, I still had my old battery and swapped the bolts, so that I could use a star washer. After closer inspection, I noted that the washer allowed the bolt to back out, and you can actually see where there was an arc between the head and washer. All seems good for now.  | ||
| Ourdee |
Most likely, The fastener manufacture inserted the unthreaded bolt through the washer then rolled the threads onto it instead of cutting them. |
