What are the wired screwed to the frame on the right side?

[ulflyer]

On the RT, directly across from the battery hot wire, on right side of bike as you sit on it, are a couple wires held down by a 10mm bolt. One wire apprears large and other small. What are these for?
Maybe the ground from the battery ground wire? Anyway, mine is slightly loose and won't tighten up; doesnt seem to affect anything so far.

 

[NancysToy]

If you are talking about the jumper terminals under the seat (these are not the battery connections), the right one is the negative jumper terminal, and also serves as the battery ground. It needs to be tight. All kinds of problems can arise if it isn't. Unfortunately, it is a through bolt, held by a nearly inaccesible nut. You will have to remove the right side panels and make or bend a wrench to fit, in order to tighten it...or see your dealer ASAP.

 

[Mr. White]

Scotty, I continue to be impressed with your Spyder knowledge and the many times you have helped us with this knowledge. I have learned a lot from reading your responses. Thanks from all of us.

:spyder2:

 

[ulflyer]

Scott, thanks for info. A second look and I see its clearly marked with a big "minus" sign. Its not loose enough to get anything thin like wire, or piece of aluminum under to tighten it up, so I'm hoping it will hang in there till I can get it to my dealer next monday morning which was the earliest appt I could get. I wouldn't hesitate to pull all the side panels to get at it if I thought I had a tool, or could fashion one, to fit the nut. Any idea of what kind it would take? Socket? Open end bent to fit? I have a pretty good suppy of metrics.

 

[MarkLawson]

When I installed the CB/Intercom system, I decided that would be a good time to remove that bolt, thread the hole and put a proper bolt in there that doesn't require a nut. When I got it out, I found that the hole was already threaded. I bought the proper size bolt, replaced the wire ends whith larger ones that would go on the larger bolt, use a bit of blue locktite & am now in good shape. I have no idea why they did it the way they did...

 

[boborgera]

. I have no idea why they did it the way they did...

Cheaper, They used left over part's from their parts bin, Hench the 1157 tail lights, Left overs from the bin also.hyea:

 

[cougar]

Mark,

What size and type bolt did you use?

 

[NancysToy]

Scott, thanks for info. A second look and I see its clearly marked with a big "minus" sign. Its not loose enough to get anything thin like wire, or piece of aluminum under to tighten it up, so I'm hoping it will hang in there till I can get it to my dealer next monday morning which was the earliest appt I could get. I wouldn't hesitate to pull all the side panels to get at it if I thought I had a tool, or could fashion one, to fit the nut. Any idea of what kind it would take? Socket? Open end bent to fit? I have a pretty good suppy of metrics.

I'm sorry, I don't remember the size of the nut. It may be 12 mm, but don't quote me on that. If you have some ratcheting box wrenches with the right offset, they will work without modifying them. Took me a while to find a tool to fit. I had a bent and cut off wrench in my toolbox that I bent just a bit more to do it. Make it up as you go along...that's what I do.

 

[boborgera]

Mark,

What size and type bolt did you use?

Put a wrench on the top , that will give the size. It's been 3 years since i played with that horror show, but I'm thinking 10 or like Scotty said 12mm:dontknow:

 

[ulflyer]

Its a 10mm bolt. Got to thinking I might be able to hold the nut underneath with a bent screwdriver and then give it a rip with my elect impact driver. While fishing underneath with the screwdriver, using a socket and rachet to turn the bolt in order to get a "feel" of the nut, the dang thing tightened up nicely. You can believe its really tight now!

Boy, talk about luck!

I'll still keep my appt next monday to get the brake spring installed and a couple other minor things I want checked before I leave on a long haul 10 Sep. Going with some others to the "Over the Ozarks" rally in Eureka Springs, Ar, with a night in Branson for a show. Prob be a 3K miles plus trip but we're taking a lot of time and doing some sightseeing. At my age one travels slowly.

 

[ulflyer]

Now the Battery has discharged!

Went out this morn to crank it up and he dash lights lit up, but the batt was too weak to turn motor over. Put Batt Tender on and its slowly building up but no idea what caused this "sudden" loss of power. I think I should switch to a 2 amp charge.

Could it be the battery has not been taking a charge the past several days when I was riding it with the slightly loose ground bolt, and this morn it finally gave it up?

 

[MarkLawson]

Mark,

What size and type bolt did you use?

Paul, I don't recall. It was April of last year I did it. I went to Home Depot and bought the next two or three bolt sizes larger than what I took out of the hole. One of them fit.

 

[NancysToy]

Went out this morn to crank it up and he dash lights lit up, but the batt was too weak to turn motor over. Put Batt Tender on and its slowly building up but no idea what caused this "sudden" loss of power. I think I should switch to a 2 amp charge.

Could it be the battery has not been taking a charge the past several days when I was riding it with the slightly loose ground bolt, and this morn it finally gave it up?

Don't use a 2 amp charger unless you want to kill your battery for good. If your Spyder doesn't charge adequately overnight, pull the panels and check/clean thae actually battery connections, then try again. If one end of the cable was loose, the other may be, too.

 

[ulflyer]

Thanks Scotty for good advice. Terminals on battery itself are snug. Have had Batt Tender on about 8 hours and its light turned green, indicating charge. Took it off and measued voltage and it reads 12.04 now. Will check it in the morn and see what it reads.

 

[boborgera]

Thanks Scotty for good advice. Terminals on battery itself are snug. Have had Batt Tender on about 8 hours and its light turned green, indicating charge. Took it off and measued voltage and it reads 12.04 now. Will check it in the morn and see what it reads.

At 12.04, your battery is dead, [Bad cell] After 8 hours and a green light you'll need a new battery.

 

[StanProff]

getting to that batter nut

Mine was loose after I tried to back the bolt out to hook up a ground wire for a 12 volt power socket. (the hot side is not a problem). laying on the garage floor and looking up with a flashlight you can see the nut through a hole in one of the frame members. I had an extra long flathead screw driver that would reach up through the hole and wedged the nut with my left hand and reaching up with my right hand on my rachet I was able to tighten the bolt. It might be easier to get to it by removing the side panels but I am new to the spyder and wasn't sure what to do. I figured that if I could see it (the nut up under there) I could get something to it and it worked. Maybe I was just lucky getting a good grip on it but it worked.

 

[NancysToy]

Thanks Scotty for good advice. Terminals on battery itself are snug. Have had Batt Tender on about 8 hours and its light turned green, indicating charge. Took it off and measued voltage and it reads 12.04 now. Will check it in the morn and see what it reads.

If you just took it off the charger and it reads 12.0 volts, you have a bad battery or a bad charger. It should read at least 12.4-12.5 volts after sitting a few hours to overnight. A freshly charged battery usually reads 12.7 or higher right off the charger. Have the battery tested by a dealer.

 

[ulflyer]

Scotty, will take it to AZ for testing. This morn it read 11.9 volts after sitting overnight, so its not holdiing charge. Will keep the Batt Tender on for now.

 

[ulflyer]

"Bad Battery" caused by BAD Throttle Body

Called Best Ins for a tow yesterday PM after the RT showed the infamous "Limp Mode", and within 45 min a big tow truck showed up and hauled it up to Winston Salem Honda dealer.
They called this morn and said it was the throttle body thing and has to be replaced and that thing was causing the battery to lose its charge; nothing wrong with batt. Bad news is it may take a week or more to get the part. Good news is I know now that the emerg road service of Best really works.

For anyone in the Triad area of NC I would hardily recommend Garrett's Towing in Thomasville. Nice guys, family owned, very careful in loading and tieing it down. 336 476 3153