I changed the badly corroded front cover on my 2005 Gs1200 a few weekends ago. I bought a used cover from ebay for £70. It was corroded but nowhere near as bad as the one on my bike.
I set to work on the ‘new’ cover, with some different sized wire-wheel attachments in a drill and cleaned off most of the corrosion, back to bare metal. I removed the old seal and the bearing also as I was going to replace these with new ones.
I then sprayed on 2 coats of Halfords acid etch primer….
…..followed by 2 – 3 coats of Hammerite smooth silver spray paint.
I then got ready to change the covers. I removed the tank, engine bars, drained the oil, removed the alternator belt and the pulley.
Then I removed the crankshaft position senor at the top of the cover
The black plastic bearing cover was removed (4 bolts) and I spotted a 8mm bolt that holds the bearing onto the inner shaft. So that bolt was removed along with the heavy washer which grabs the inner bearing race and clamps it to the shaft.
Removal of the case wasn’t easy but it eventually came off by tapping around the edge with a rubber hammer and by also tapping on the lower shaft piece that is supported by the bearing. There is a little lug at the top of the cover that is accessible with a small drift (when tank is removed).
Behind the cover looks like this
Comparing the old and ‘new’ covers on the bench
Fitting the new cover was easy. I put on a thin film of gasket sealer on the new cover and popped it in place (aligning the upper and lower locating dowels) and tapped it home with a rubber mallet. I had bought new stainless bolts M6 x 30mm from a local supplier and torqued them all down evenly. I refitted the crankshaft sensor, pulley and belt and black plastic cover.
Looks much better doesn’t it?
I set to work on the ‘new’ cover, with some different sized wire-wheel attachments in a drill and cleaned off most of the corrosion, back to bare metal. I removed the old seal and the bearing also as I was going to replace these with new ones.
I then sprayed on 2 coats of Halfords acid etch primer….
…..followed by 2 – 3 coats of Hammerite smooth silver spray paint.
I then got ready to change the covers. I removed the tank, engine bars, drained the oil, removed the alternator belt and the pulley.
Then I removed the crankshaft position senor at the top of the cover
The black plastic bearing cover was removed (4 bolts) and I spotted a 8mm bolt that holds the bearing onto the inner shaft. So that bolt was removed along with the heavy washer which grabs the inner bearing race and clamps it to the shaft.
Removal of the case wasn’t easy but it eventually came off by tapping around the edge with a rubber hammer and by also tapping on the lower shaft piece that is supported by the bearing. There is a little lug at the top of the cover that is accessible with a small drift (when tank is removed).
Behind the cover looks like this
Comparing the old and ‘new’ covers on the bench
Fitting the new cover was easy. I put on a thin film of gasket sealer on the new cover and popped it in place (aligning the upper and lower locating dowels) and tapped it home with a rubber mallet. I had bought new stainless bolts M6 x 30mm from a local supplier and torqued them all down evenly. I refitted the crankshaft sensor, pulley and belt and black plastic cover.
Looks much better doesn’t it?
