Want to hear a good one?

[Lamonster]

Yesterday I decided to change out the plugs on my RT to some NGK Laser Iridium plugs before I take off on this trip to the West Coast. The RS and the RT are a real pain to change the front plug so I wasn't looking forward to messing with that.

I pulled all the plastic off of both sides and did the easy plug first. That went as expected and so did the front plug. I pretty much had to take the airbox loose from the throttle bodies to move it so I could at least see the front plug. Even then you have to be a contortionist to get your hands in there to work on it. I got the front plug out and the new plug in and everything looked great. I went ahead and fired off the Spyder to make sure on got the cap on good and tight before I put the plastic back on. The Spyder ran great and reved just fine.

So I put everything back on the right side and put most everything back on the left side when I found a new Laser Iridium plug sitting in my parts. :yikes: Now I know I put new plugs in because I had the two old plugs sitting out on the table. So now I'm hoping and praying that it wasn't the right side that I messed up on. I pull the left side plastic off and sure enough I had put a new non Iridium plug in the left side. It must have been on my workbench and I just grabbed it by mistake. So that was good news. I swapped plugs and just about that time Ron pulled up and we started looking at his Spyder.

Ron started getting some bad tire wear on the inside right front tire so we decided to do and alignment before we took off to CA on Monday. As we got to looking at it we found the right front felt loose like it was a wheel bearing. We jacked it up and pulled the wheel and found that it wasn''t the wheel bearing at all, it was a tie rod end. So we make some phone calls and it turns out you can't just buy the end you have to buy the whole tie rod with the ends on them. The other thing is we can't find one in stock and we can't get one here in time before we leave. So guess what? my bike gets to be a parts bike for Ron. I'll pull mine off today and we'll swap it out for now. This is not what we wanted to do before a big trip like this but it needs to be done.

So here's the good part. Ron leaves and I put all the plastic back on the RT and fire it up. It starts right up but the throttle response is weak. It idled just fine but it just wasn't right. I decided to take it for a test drive to see what's going on. I let it warm up and put it in gear and it dies. I've never had that happen before. Even when I gave it some gas it would die. So this happens enough times that now my battery is not happy. I'm thinking great, my Spyder ran just fine before I messed with it and now I screwed it up right before our trip and I'm going to have to change those plugs back to stock. :gaah:

Now remember it reved just fine when I had one stock plug in and the only thing I changed was to put the other Iridium plug in. So I'm thinking I had a bad plug if that's possible. :dontknow: I pull the left side off to change the easy plug first and guess what? I didn't put the plugwire back on when Ron pulled up and I forgot to look at that before I buttoned it back up. pps:

What's amazing to me is the thing ran pretty good on just the front cylinder. I guess I wasn't very good at multitasking that day. :shocked:

 

[Dudley]

Yesterday I decided to change out the plugs on my RT to some NGK Laser Iridium plugs before I take off on this trip to the West Coast. The RS and the RT are a real pain to change the front plug so I wasn't looking forward to messing with that.

I pulled all the plastic off of both sides and did the easy plug first. That went as expected and so did the front plug. I pretty much had to take the airbox loose from the throttle bodies to move it so I could at least see the front plug. Even then you have to be a contortionist to get your hands in there to work on it. I got the front plug out and the new plug in and everything looked great. I went ahead and fired off the Spyder to make sure on got the cap on good and tight before I put the plastic back on. The Spyder ran great and reved just fine.

So I put everything back on the right side and put most everything back on the left side when I found a new Laser Iridium plug sitting in my parts. :yikes: Now I know I put new plugs in because I had the two old plugs sitting out on the table. So now I'm hoping and praying that it wasn't the right side that I messed up on. I pull the left side plastic off and sure enough I had put a new non Iridium plug in the left side. It must have been on my workbench and I just grabbed it by mistake. So that was good news. I swapped plugs and just about that time Ron pulled up and we started looking at his Spyder.

Ron started getting some bad tire wear on the inside right front tire so we decided to do and alignment before we took off to CA on Monday. As we got to looking at it we found the right front felt loose like it was a wheel bearing. We jacked it up and pulled the wheel and found that it wasn''t the wheel bearing at all, it was a tie rod end. So we make some phone calls and it turns out you can't just buy the end you have to buy the whole tie rod with the ends on them. The other thing is we can't find one in stock and we can't get one here in time before we leave. So guess what? my bike gets to be a parts bike for Ron. I'll pull mine off today and we'll swap it out for now. This is not what we wanted to do before a big trip like this but it needs to be done.

So here's the good part. Ron leaves and I put all the plastic back on the RT and fire it up. It starts right up but the throttle response is weak. It idled just fine but it just wasn't right. I decided to take it for a test drive to see what's going on. I let it warm up and put it in gear and it dies. I've never had that happen before. Even when I gave it some gas it would die. So this happens enough times that now my battery is not happy. I'm thinking great, my Spyder ran just fine before I messed with it and now I screwed it up right before our trip and I'm going to have to change those plugs back to stock. :gaah:

Now remember it reved just fine when I had one stock plug in and the only thing I changed was to put the other Iridium plug in. So I'm thinking I had a bad plug if that's possible. :dontknow: I pull the left side off to change the easy plug first and guess what? I didn't put the plugwire back on when Ron pulled up and I forgot to look at that before I buttoned it back up. pps:

What's amazing to me is the thing ran pretty good on just the front cylinder. I guess I wasn't very good at multitasking that day. :shocked:

At least you can do what most of us can't. See you in CA.

 

[Yfactor]

Blame it all on Ron :roflblack::roflblack::roflblack:

 

[MouthPiece]

FOCUS!!!!!!!!!!:shocked::shocked::shocked:

 

[Raptor]

Yup, it's Ron's fault! :roflblack: That is something that the engine ran "OK" on one cylinder man. I have alot of respect for this V990. Both of ours have been rock solid, and I stress 14's pretty good!

 

[granpa in Cincy]

Insert little finger into left ear and shake vigorously. :roflblack: :roflblack:

 

[fleegeds]

Yup, it's Ron's fault! :roflblack: That is something that the engine ran "OK" on one cylinder man. I have alot of respect for this V990. Both of ours have been rock solid, and I stress 14's pretty good!

You mean the V495 :roflblack::roflblack::roflblack:

 

[freebob]

Lamont,

Welcome to the Senior Moment Syndrome ( SMS )...

Freebob...:doorag:

 

[Firefly]

Typical Ron-- stealing parts from yer rides.... :roflblack:

 

[3tracs]

This sounds like something I'd do! Hope I'm not contagious! :roflblack:

 

[boborgera]

Could have been worst,
You could have been packing Ron's Parachute when you were distracted. :yikes::roflblack:

 

[Bob Denman]

You didn't switch to de-caffeinated coffee; did you? :shocked:
Tape a note at the top of your toolbox: PLUG WIRES TOO! :roflblack:

 

[ezduzit]

Could of been worse!!! Plug the Tie rod into the cylinder and screw the plug into the suspension!!!! :roflblack:
All in all I'll still let you tinker with my machine any day!!! :cheers:

 

[nudle]

:roflblack:Happens to the best of us.

 

[Phil]

SQUIRREL! :clap:
(gotta be into movies...)

 

[Raptor]

SQUIRREL! :clap:
(gotta be into movies...)

:roflblack: :roflblack: :roflblack: Well played, Sir!! :yes:

 

[SpyderAnn01]

Ron must have been snoring and you got distracted.

 

[NancysToy]

If you think you have a tough time keeping track of what you are doing, wait 'til you get to be my age...errrr mileage. :roflblack: Some days you get the bear, and some days the bear gets you! Glad you got things worked out.

BTW, a 6" and a 10" extension, with a universal in between, takes some of the pain out of the plug change, since you no longer have to get your hands in there. Be sure to use a spark plug socket instead of a regular socket. The rubber insert will hold the plug.

 

[BajaRon]

I was going to post on this thread but I decided not to since I'm already taking a beating here! :bdh:

But I must say using Lamont's Spyder as a parts bike is a first!

Still, it seems a bit wrong to be swaping out a 20,000 mile part for a 50,000 mile part. :yikes:

 

[bjt]

...Still, it seems a bit wrong to be swaping out a 20,000 mile part for a 50,000 mile part. :yikes:

You must ride harder than Lamont....