Mk5 centre stand

[dalgrae]

The centre stand on my bike seems to be stiffening up with time as I raise and lower it,is it a big job to remove it from the bike to service it I assume one of the exhasts needs to be removed to allow the main bolt to be removed ,any thoughts on what I may find please most welcome ,does the bolt sit in a steel bush withiin the ally stand ,does the bolt usually come out of the stand

Regards. Colin

[eddie]

Colin,
        Originally the stand had a steel sleeve 5/8" OD x 1/2" bore and a 1/2" dia pivot bolt. Now, quite a few owners found that if the bike was repeatedly started while on the centre stand, the frame cross tube that carries the stand lugs got twisted to the point that the pivot bolt could not be removed, as it fouled the bottom frame tubes. The usual dodge to get the bolt out was to saw off one side of the bolt head. With this problem in mind, Club Spares used to supply the 'bolt' as a stud and 2 nuts.
 If you do get your stand off, it will pay to check that the lugs are not pinching in on the sides of the stand. If they are, carefully tweak them out to give some clearance (care will be needed as some frames had cast bronze lugs) and then make up a new spacer tube to suit, so that the 2 lugs and the tube can be clamped up without binding against the side of the stand - then refrain from starting the bike on the stand!

  Regards,
                Eddie.

[dalgrae]

Hi Eddie thanks again for this detailed advice ,I will have a look this weekend at it in detail ,hopefully the bolt will move and come out .

Regards. Colin

[dalgrae]

I have now had a close look at my centre stand fixing on the bike and it looks alright with regard to it fixing to the frame,with the retaining nut loose I have managed to be able to rotate the bolt ,I have looked at Spannerama and have 10.5 inches reference the measurement from floor to middle of frame rail ,what does bother me before starting the job is the comment about it needs to be a bare frame and upside down ,with the stand in the raised position and with the return spring removed I was assuming the bolt could be driven out of its location ,would this be right

Regards. Colin

[eddie]

Colin,
         The biggest problem when removing the stand is releasing the return spring tension. Start by removing the rear chain shock absorber cover, then disconnect and remove the battery - the spring is anchored to a lug on the battery carrier. Loosen the lower 2 battery carrier bolts, and remove the rear upper bolt. As you remove the last bolt, keep the battery carrier pushed forward (against the pull of the spring) - you can then release the tension on the spring (using the battery carrier as a lever pivoting on the bottom bolt). Now slacken the nut on the stand pivot bolt and lean the bike on to that side rocker cover. With the stand dropped out of the retaining clip, the nut can be undone and the pivot bolt removed (you may need to release one of the exhaust pipe clips and spring the pipe enough to clear the bolt).

  Regards,
               Eddie.

[dalgrae]

Thanks Eddie for this info ,the spares list shows the steel tube as a spareable part does this mean it can be removed from the ally stand somehow

Regards. Colin

[eddie]

Yes, Colin,
                It's just a piece of 5/8" OD x 16g steel tube.
Eddie.

[dalgrae]

Job finished after removing the required parts and with the help of a friend to support the bike when it was off the stand ,the 1/ 2 mounting bolt came out really easy so I cleaned everything and regreased the tube and bolt and reassembled the stand ,with the main nut tight I reckon to have about .020 " side play max so I was happy with this and reassembled alll the other parts including the strong return spring .The stand action now feels much smoother

Regards. Colin