SW-Motech Skid Plate Install

Twisties

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The SW-Motech skid plate arrived today, so it's off with the old, and on with the new.

Tools and Supplies:

10 mm box end wrench
10 mm socket
12 mm socket
4 mm hex tool (socket style)
5 mm hex tool (socket style)
8 mm hex tool (socket style)
Socket wrench
Long extender
Torque wrenches
Hammer and wood block
Blue Loctite

(To see images at full size right click and choose "view image" in Firefox)



It came in a large box, just a little dinged up.



But it was well wrapped...



...and emerged unscathed.



The welds are through, and appear professional.



The Yamaha aluminum skid plate sits well inside the SW-Motech product, but is taller.



The Yamaha plate is considerably shorter than the SW-Motech.



Hardware and brackets come in this bag.



Brackets are individually wrapped.



The hardware. Note that a number of identical items are entered more than once on the parts list, so you have to add them up.



The brackets. These are steel and much heavier than the plate. Much heavier than the Yamaha brackets as well. Probably 2mm for the front brackets and 3mm for the rear. A 3mm skid plate is 3mm skid plate, but these brackets make the difference.

Also included are a parts list and a series of diagrams showing the assembly. It is assumed that anyone using this post is referring to these supplied materials.



Mount 8 rubber grommets into the skid plate holes. Place the large spacers in the 4 bottom grommets, and the 4 smaller spacers in the 4 front grommets. Remove the oem black plastic skid plate if it is still mounted. Don't worry about the two oem steel brackets just now, we'll get them later.



All 8 mounted.



Prepare the front under engine bracket. Place one of the three button style "rubber elements," and the two large threaded rubber elements. Use a large washer with only one of the threaded rubber elements, as shown. Use two small washers and the silver locking nuts to secure. Tighten the nuts with a 10 mm socket, holding the rubber by hand.



Go ahead and mount this bracket. Use the two 5 mm hex cap screws, m6 x 20, and two small washers. Mount to the lower mount posts used by the oem black plastic skid plate. You can use blue loctite on these screws. I did not look up a torque for these and tightened with a T-handle hex tool to my best judgement. Go ahead and tighten these up now.

Now mount the two front brackets.



The left bracket goes where the oem left front bracket is. Remove the oem bracket with a 5 mm hex tool. Remove the plastic fuel overflow line guide with a pliers by compressing the prongs. It should come right out. Install it in the new bracket. Mount the new bracket with the original screws and torque to 8.7 ft lbs. Yes, go ahead and tighten it up. No loctite.



The right front bracket also replaces the oem bracket in the same spot. Use a 12 mm short socket to pull the two screws and mount the new bracket with the original screws. No loctite. Torque to 7.2 ft lbs.

Now prepare the rear under engine bracket.



First mount the short threaded rubber element with the metal spacer to the boss at the rear of the engine. Use blue loctite and tighten by hand.

Now place the two remaining button style rubber elements in the rear bracket.



Mount the rear bracket to the muffler hanger bracket on the right. Use a 12 mm socket. No loctite. Just get it threaded properly for now. Do not tighten.

Mount the rear bracket to the side stand bolts on the left. Use an 8 mm hex tool. These bolts are torqued down well and loctited. I had to use a socket style 8 mm hex tool and a large socket wrench to free them. A small bracket will fall out when you have removed the two side stand bolts, and the side stand will hang free. The small bracket is not used, and the rear skid plate bracket replaces it. Clean the old loctite from the bolts. Apply fresh blue loctite. Slip the new rear bracket between the side stand and the engine and mount the two bolts loosely. Tighten just enough that you will be able to adjust the bracket position with a hammer and a piece of wood, but that it won't move around on you.

You are now ready to mount the skid plate. Mount the 4 bottom bolts first (m6 x 20 hexagon screws) and use a washer with each. Adjust the position of the rear bracket as needed to get correct threading. No torque is given for these screws. I used my judgement. When all 4 screws are mounted and tightened go ahead and torque down the rear bracket. The two screws on the side stand mount go to 46 ft lbs. The muffler hanger bracket screw goes to 14 ft lbs (it is tensioned by the rubber grommets in the muffler hanger bracket).

Now mount the four front screws with the 4 countersunk washers and the four black locking nuts. Note: Anything you drop may result in you needing to remove the skid plate to retrieve. I used a 10 mm box end wrench to hold the black nuts without dropping them. A 4 mm hex tool will drive the screws. No torque is given. I tightened them up until they seated and I saw some swelling in the grommets.







The skid plate has two holes for draining the engine oil, but I don't think that oil filter is going to come out of there with the skid plate on.
 

Twitch

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Great write up and photos. That's a useful install thread that I'll use when I get my SWM plate. Good job!
 

colorider

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Great instructions!!!

Worth a sticky, I'd say......
::024::
 

freeflow

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yes nice write up...you could have posted it before I did mine a few days ago :D ::008::
 

JHKolb

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Nice job!

Quick question on these skid plates, do you have to drop the whole thing to do an oil change?
 

fredz43

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You remove the two front two screws and nuts, plus the 4 bottom bolts. I have done this 3 times on my bike and it is very easy, about a minute to remove maybe a bit longer to install. Not a problem.
 

behindbars

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Thank you! Awesome write up! ::012::

Just finished installing mine and your pics and instructions made installation a breeze! ::013::

Steve
 

Motowalt

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#1!
Well done Twisties!
I just followed your excellent instructions and mounted mine up with no problems.
 

BWC

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Just a heads up for those of you with the SW Motech skidplate. It seems that the fender extender offered for the Tenere is not compatible with the skid plate. Theres a note on Twisted Throttles site regarding this to not use it if you have the Motech skid plate as it could catch on heavy suspension compression ???
Of course I have that set up on my bike :mad: with no issues yet. Have to do a good check up on the compatibilty issue and or remove the extender.
 

snakebasket

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BWC said:
Just a heads up for those of you with the SW Motech skidplate. It seems that the fender extender offered for the Tenere is not compatible with the skid plate. Theres a note on Twisted Throttles site regarding this to not use it if you have the Motech skid plate as it could catch on heavy suspension compression ???
Of course I have that set up on my bike :mad: with no issues yet. Have to do a good check up on the compatibilty issue and or remove the extender.
Anybody out there actually had this happen. The Tw Throttle site says "Special Note: Do not install this item with the SW-MOTECH skid plate. Upon heavy compression this item can become lodged in the plate and cause damage to the front fender." I would have thought that most S Ten owners are on this forum so what's the experience. I have been out looking at my bike and it just doesn't look that likely?
 

fredz43

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I have had that combo on for over 6,000 miles with no problems. I have zip ties still on my forks that I used to measure sag and have had them slide almost all the way down after landing way too hard when practicing my wheelie prowess. ;D
 

justbob

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I love to see old guys pulling wheelies, just kind of warms my heart.
 

Brick

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Good job... GREAT write up and the photo's really show just what you did! I guess no matter which skid plate you put on you are going to have to remove to do the oil change and the SW skid plate sure seems to be a good one... looks substantial. And with a recommendation from that old guy... Fredz43 how can I go wrong!! O:) O:) O:)

There goes the credit card again... skid plate and Fenda extenda! Cha Ching!

::012::
 

markjenn

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snakebasket said:
Anybody out there actually had this happen. The Tw Throttle site says "Special Note: Do not install this item with the SW-MOTECH skid plate. Upon heavy compression this item can become lodged in the plate and cause damage to the front fender." I would have thought that most S Ten owners are on this forum so what's the experience. I have been out looking at my bike and it just doesn't look that likely?
This is not something to be nonchalant about. When I "eyeball" the clearance it looks marginal.



I measure only 4.5" of suspension travel before the bottom of the FE is even with the top lip of the skid plate, quite a bit less than the full suspension travel of the bike. So at full compression, there is virtual certainty that the FE is high enough to catch the skid plate. What isn't so clear is whether the fork travel angle is enough to bring about contact. When I lay a straightedge between the bottom lip of the FE and the top lip of the skid plate, the angle looks approximately the same as the fork angle. If they're not touching as the fork compresses, then they're definitely VERY close to one another.

What happens if the FE "catches" on the skid plate could vary. If your gluing/fasteners between the FE and the fender are weak, it will probably just snap off the FE. Next to go is probably the fender, but the fender may be surprisingly strong, possibly strong enough to interfere with steering control. And then there is the brake crossover which is attached to the fender and depends on the fender to keep it from wedging on the tire. (On the 800GS with a similar crossover, there have been several wrecks attributed to the crossover and a while back someone started a project to build a brake line kit to eliminate it on the S10 - haven't heard anything lately.)

I'm going to be tracking this closely. I think what needs to happen is to take the springs out of the forks and move the forks through their full range of travel to see exactly what the clearance is. The easy/safe thing to do is probably just to shave 1/2" or so off the bottom of the FE. Since this is a lot easier to do than removing fork springs, I'll probably just do this.

- Mark
 

fredz43

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markjenn said:
This is not something to be nonchalant about. When I "eyeball" the clearance it looks marginal.




I'm going to be tracking this closely. I think what needs to happen is to take the springs out of the forks and move the forks through their full range of travel to see exactly what the clearance is. The easy/safe thing to do is probably just to shave 1/2" or so off the bottom of the FE. Since this is a lot easier to do than removing fork springs, I'll probably just do this.

- Mark
I was thinking the same thing, Mark. Taking the springs out would tell the story.

Evidently TT had some feedback about a problem with this. Kev, are you still on line? How about some more info?
 

markjenn

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fredz43 said:
Taking the springs out would tell the story.
Has anyone done this yet? The manual indicates that to remove the springs, you have to have a special tool to separate the damper rod from the fork cap. Anybody have a workaround? Perhaps for this application, you could just unscrew the fork caps insitu which would allow the fork to move through the full range of travel.



Evidently TT had some feedback about a problem with this. Kev, are you still on line? How about some more info?
Yes, it would be good to know whether this is just a hypothetical issue of what looks like insufficient clearance margin, or a confirmed problem. But without further information, when it comes to issues interference with steering control, I think one has to err on the side of worst case. This stuff can be just fine until you get the right set of conditions where it jumps up, bites, and bites hard.

It reminds me a little of the fender brace fiasco on the FJR. As I recall, someone was selling a fender brace which had sufficient clearance on the non-ABS models, but contacted the bottom of the brake junction at full suspension compression on the ABS models. The vendor did a recall to cut some clearance relief in the brace. This one is a little more subtle since it involves the interaction of two separate accessories. In these cases, the burden of making sure they're compatible shifts more to the end user rather than the vendor.

- Mark
 
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