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.

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.

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.

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.