PICTURES MAINTENANCE 27000KM

MILEAGE: 27.559km or 17124mi

Date: 25 May 2017

With 27500km or 17100mi on the clock i did this maintenance just before the Project Carpathian Balkan trip. Due to my own clumsiness, I nearly had to postpone the trip … .

Before the long Project Carpathian trip I want to be on the save side and had another look at the valve train of the 690ty. The camshaft …​

and both …

rocker arms looked nice. The valve clearance was also within the specs (EL 0,13mm, ER 0,11mm, IL 0,09mm, IR 0,11mm). Also the front …

and …

the rear oil sieves looks fine. Just a few fine shapes and “slime” have been found on  …

the oil magnet. Nothing to worry about. With the thoughts already thinking forward to the incoming trip I made a bad mistake: I adjusted the torque handle wrong …

and torn off one of the valve cover bolts. *F*ck*ng bull*sh*t!??!?##### O M G !!!

​Due to less space around the cylinder head nestled from the motorcycle frame, I was forced to buy a small electric drill, because my standard drill was to big for that job.

​With the small drill I got it managed to center drill the thread. With a left-hand drill I intended to turn the torn of thread out. Guess what happened … . The left hand drill tilted and broke instantly apart. No chance to drill out the broken left-hand drill! *holym**herf*cki*faaaAAAAHHHH!!!!?###

​Personally I was now nearly on a core melt accident while I was hardly thinking about a solution, or the Project Carpathian Balkan Trip would have been over before it begun… .

O_o”

​… …

Finally, with the best tools of all tools (a hammer) and a fine flat screwdriver I got it managed in the tight corner above the cylinder head: I got some grip on the top of the thread/ particularly – the snapped left-hand drill. With gentle strokes on the screwdriver and loads of instant quick prayers to the great almighty I finally got this little bastard of a torn off thread out. *phew* ^_^°

​I ordered 4 new bolts at the local KTM dealer and mounted them, now after double checking the torque handle-scale. No further troubles so far and the start of the trip was safe.

​BTW: an interesting thing: The snapped screw was the last I tightened and the only one out of four which broke … . -_-