5th gen header removal: how hard is it?

I have a slightly leaking exhaust gasket on the front head. Aside from the noise, the bike runs well. I have new gaskets ordered but would like some advice from anyone who has pulled the headers off a 5th gen and lived to tell the tale. Is this a major exercise, or easy? I'm pretty handy with spanners but don't want to commit to a frustrating task without some foreknowledge. Any hints or tips gratefully received.

 

Ok, one right up my alley. On a job from one to ten and you know how the bike comes apart, I rate it a 5 "if" Just more a case of it seems like half the bike comes a part. To get the fronts off you'll need to disconnect the rear primary's, good thing here is you won't need to mess with the rear header flanges, those are a real challenge to get to with the shock in place. First the rear muffler needs to be removed. Then You'll need to take the right foot peg and brake master assembly off the swing arm pivot taking the heat shield with it to access the primary tube connection. If it hasn't been done before, or even so, I'd spray some penetrating oil there, let it sit for a while, like over night, from that in no order the front side and chin fairings all come off. once you have the rear primary's lose undo the front header flanges and wiggle em a bit. they won't come out, just get them lose then go back working then the rears, they should drop by wiggling and pulling down , once that happen you can move the header forward to get the front primary s out. The biggest thing I can see not going as planned is the rear primary connection being all rust and corroded, mine wasn't so it just cam apart, but i can see this being a real bug a boo. Hope that helped.

 

have u tried simply tightening up the bolts ?

 

Thanks Gentlemen.

In addition to the leak, I found non-standard nuts on the front studs, so I replaced those last week with OEM parts and torqued them up, but there was little improvement. My next step is going to be full removal and some new gaskets when these arrive from Partzilla, which will also be an opportunity to repaint the headers.

I will try to do as you suggest RVFR and leave the rear header stubs in place. I'm not totally opposed to shock/swingarm removal if needed but there's no point making it a bigger job that necessary.

 

The short answer: Time consuming, but not hard.

If I was going to all the trouble of taking the stock header off, I would replace it with a new stainless Delkevic.

 

LOL you would huh?

 

Ok phase 1 completed. Not too much of a struggle to remove, one seized bolt in a rear connector clamp, and those gaskets put up a fight. Found one front header gasket was mangled by a PO hence not sealing well. Time now for prep and paint (if the wintry weather lets up for some outdoor painting).



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

see that wasn't to difficult now was it

 

Phase 2 completed; not only did the crappy weather depart, we got an absolute corker of a day without a cloud in the sky, but pretty nippy. So three coats later I have a better looking set of headers (yeah, I know, not a stainless steel delkevic set!). They're in pretty good nick, no significant rust, one little dent underneath, and plenty of stone chips. The old paint came off very easily with 220 grit paper and a wire brush.


Did get out riding on my other V4 as well, which included a first use of the new heated grips, a welcome addition. A great view out over the Kaipara Harbour.

 

Good job. kinda crazy to hear the weather difference. Here in the PNW we are finally getting some decent warmer & drier weather.

 

I completed the refit of headers during the week once the parts arrived. Wasn't too bad of a job, needed some rubber hammer help for the rear mounts, and copious use of copper grease. While this was not a critically important job I feel better about doing a decent paint job on the pipe, and correcting the leak.

So I took a celebratory ride yesterday which was fun but occasionally a bit wet, so everything needed a good clean when I got home.

 

Looks nice!