Tuesday, Jun 6 2017 [5,148 miles]
About a week and a half ago I made some side cover thumb screws to remove the side covers of the DR650 without needing tools. The ultimate goal is removing the saddle without tools. Today I took care of that.
brass rods and drilled screws
ready to solder
I removed the existing m8 screws and drilled a 3mm hole. The head of the screw has a concave profile which made drilling a bit of a pain… the bit wanted to wander. I eventually used a stiff center drill for the holes (and broke the tip off the center drill, too). The result was a hole slightly larger than 3mm.
I cut two sections of 3 mm brass rod and rounded the ends. One rod is about 50 mm long; the other 40 mm long. I didn’t think there would be anough clearance on the right side for a 50 mm rod. Both rods and screws were de-greased and roughed up for soldering.
silver soldered
mostly cleaned
I used silver solder. The blackened mess is the residue of the copious amounts of flux paste. Most of black rinsed off with water and a bit of brushing with a bristle brush. Good enough.
left side
right side
Here are the screws in use. The rods give just enough leverage to loosen and tighten by hand. In combination with the side cover thumb screws I can now remove the saddle without tools.