Renten's XT660z thread
 

So this will be a thread of my XT660Z Tenere. It is 2008 model with 65 000km on the clock.
It has:
*Aluminium Yamaha luggages with inner bags
*Touratech rear fender plate
*Touratech hand guards with spoilers
*Touratech tank bag
*Touratech 20mm raisers
*Touratech seat
*Metal skid plate
*Heated grips
*Voltmeter
*Hyperpro front and rear springs
*OTR crashbars
*Rectifier put on crashbar for more protection against water and mud
*Scottoiler
*New chain and sprockets
*Original and extra 2 longer windshields
*Akrapovic exhaust
*Adjustable levers
*Very good history and maintenances
*Michelin T63 front and rear

I will use this thread to post my maintenances, repairs, ride pictures and such.
So far I have done:
Fixed windshield scratches. Sanded with different sandpapers and later wet P 1500 and P2500+Polish:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...t660/pager.jpg
Added USB charger through relay, so it will start when ignition is on. Also did wire heated grips wire through same relay.

Broke the touratech handguards.. fell over when I tried to back it up in forest(sooooo top heavy bike, impossible to pull back if its leaning ~45degrees). https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...katekaitse.jpg
Relay I did for grips and USB:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...218_181624.jpg
Tried riding with yamaha boxes. Makes leaning harder if not riding, wants to fall over with them :D
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...0/DSC_9769.jpg
Little selfie:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...0/DSC_9805.jpg

Nice looking bike!..good selfie too..how do you rate those t63 tyres?..

Thanks. Well I can't say much about them cause they have only 4.5mm tread at rear and 6mm in front and bought this bike last month. I used mitas e09 front before on my xt600E and it was great unless I went into wet muddy roads(But I think only full knob tire would have grip there).
But I will get new Mitas e09 rear next month for sure. Same tread as t63, but 25� cheaper.
However I drove in sand couple of days ago and they did ok and didn't get stuck in sand. Even if the center was pretty worn. Was suprised :)

I too like the Mitas tyres and a good price too!..

Rear tire pictures:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...311_180542.jpg https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...311_180602.jpg
Some videos so far.
Snow+worn tires: https://youtu.be/YS0_YqhUsMA
Last week quick ride: https://youtu.be/VNqysUQnwSE

So far I have done 300km with my Tenere and I love it. Perfomance is good, that very little surging it does sometimes is like nothing compared to my old 1992 xt600. Only thing I need to get used to is that weight at the top. Very top heavy and I have hit the ground 4 times in a month(2x cause snow and front end slip and other two when pushing bike backwards to turn around in the forest). I am 184cm in length, previous owner was 194cm. Seat is Kahedo's +4cm higher version. Feet touch the ground completly when I lean the bike very little( somewhat 1cm is missing when bike is straight). Should I let someone to lower seat little?

Ordered new Mitas E09 today. Cost me 55� and 3� shipping. :icon_tongue:

Ive been thinking of upgrading my MX helmet to Dual sport one because the wind noise. Haven't found the one that fits me(head shape problem...). However when im standing on my pegs, theres like no wind turbulence in my helmet, its calm. When I sit down, the hell breaks loose with huge wind noise. Ive used Puig Racing screen since I bought my Tenere and I can't remember that I had so much wind noise from my old XT600. I remember the XT600 had same wind noise like when I stand up on pegs now on Tenere.

Only logical solution: use lower screen. I changed the screen, but its too late and below 0 degrees right now, so I can test it tomorrow. Puig screen is like 10cm longer that original. I have one Givi windscreen also that is little longer than Puig and has extra deflector on it, but I do not like how it looks.

Right now I think that if lower screen works... I prefer lesser wind noise than the air hitting my chest(I haven't tried it so, I believe it has much less wind hitting than XT600 that had no windscreen at all).
And Im more into dirt roads and offroad, so I do not need huge windscreen anyway.

Will edit the video I recorded today in half frozen/snowy forest with 0-2 degrees(celsius) outside.:066:

Where are you from renten?..definitely agree on the Mitas,I'm not sure on the screen have left mine as standard for now...

I am from Estonia.
Heres the video :)
Https://youtu.be/ima1hvrMApQ
Its mostly a flat small country. Im living in the western side which is almost completly flat with some little hills like in video that are only in one place.
Southern region is better with high hills but never been there with motorcycle, will fix this with Tenere :)
From one side of country to next side is almost 200-400km. Depends where you start and go to next. We also have nice pine forests here.

Fuel consumption is 5,74 L/100km. Last time I fueled on side stand and not to the fuel tanks neck. So I guess its around 5.5. It is pretty good after those hard rides I've done(heavy accelerations and offroad). And 0-5 degrees outside.

Today I tested my windshields. Original yamaha windshield is 29,5cm long(measured from above the headlight). Wind is worse than with Puig racing screen(same measure method and 37cm long). Tested with hand in front of helmet and it came straight into my face with original.

Then used the longest one I have: Givi with 39,5cm + wind deflector total of 40cm. Least wind noise, head bounced littlebit sometimes because MX helmets visor got hit by wind. Gogggles fogged up very soon cause no wind cooled them down. Could drive without goggles cause wind didnt enter my helmet that much. But still had noise, so it means I still have to look dual sport helmet.
Will use the Puig racing screen for now. Ordered Yamaha badge sticker to cover up headlight cowl hole.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...324_180559.jpg
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...181528_HDR.jpg

More nice pictures!..one of the places to visit on my list and it's a big list, I have the agv dual sport helmet and would recommend it too anyone..

The AGV AX8 Dual looks cool. Will try it out someday, hope it fits.
I will do alot pictures, cause im a hobbie photographer. But must wait til its more beautiful outside :)

Today I installed Polisport high fender that I got with the bike but previous owner never installed it. I was bored and curious to see it on my bike.
At first I used pieces of hose, but rubber is squishy and didn't work well.
Then used some plastic pipe with thin aluminium inside. Rear ones were about 1.8cm long and front ones I didn't measure. Will go try how it works in the muddy roads this weekend.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...660/fender.jpg

Today I went for some offroad to test out new fender... it looks cool... but... BUT... all the dirt jumps on my fuel tank that didn�t happen with original fender. Don't like it like this. So I reinstalled original.

Also the tires are too worn for offroading. No grip at all in wet forest and front tire wants to slide away all the time. Wont talk about the rear... New E09 rear should arrive next week. For front I will go Mitas C17 or some slightly used dirt knobbie that don't cost much. Would like to get Mitas C23 but can't get it anywhere..
Anyway got stuck today in the ditch... crash bars are amazing cause I pulled my Tenere out of that ditch backwards with left hand on crashbars and right at the rear handlebars. Time spent in the ditch: around 15 minutes.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...t660/kinni.jpg

Went for a ride with two guys this week. Was fun :)
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...%20%283%29.jpg

Video: https://youtu.be/4v-uAP2aY4U

Also got new Mitas C17 front and E09 rear. Much better offroad now. Didn't notice any handling problems on tarmac either.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...%20%282%29.jpg https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...%20%281%29.jpg https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...%20%284%29.jpg

Like the look of that c17.how much was it?..

Rear was 55�+3 shipping
Front 40� +3
Heres video of them in action :
https://youtu.be/y0BMYq1HJww

Filmed myself with digital camera.
Cool to see how the bike handles and to look myself riding in 3rd person :)
https://youtu.be/K1Neb8F9Zh8


Also did over 100km offroad ride with 7KTM's. I was like a sheep in a pack of wolves. Pretty hard to keep up with them sometimes cause they are lighter and better dampers. Even the 1190 adventure didnt have any traction problems but its totally different bike aswell.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...%20%281%29.jpg https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...%20%282%29.jpg

Great posts. Keep them coming.

Great photos..and some great forest to ride in. Tenere is looking good Steve

Great thread this one. Keep it up!

Thanks! I will :)
Tomorrow I will be getting new steering head bearings cause sometimes it seizes a little and it is getting worse and more often. Will change them someday. Total for bearings will be 26€. Lower Koyo bearing with seal and part nr is 32006 and top bearing part nr is 32005.

Some pictures I took... bike is dirty cause I love to offroad :yahoo:
Last time I washed, it was clean only for 1 day cause I didn't ride that day :D
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...0/DSC_0064.jpg
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...0/DSC_0145.jpg
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...0/DSC_0158.jpg https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...0/DSC_0130.jpg

Lovely..... makes me rethink my plan to buy a Blue Tenere, the white is also a fantastic machine.... :love5:

My favorite color is blue. But usually I do not buy by color :)

Today I got my steering head bearings. Top bearing is Fag 32005 and bottom Koyo 32006JRRS(with seal). https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...60/laagrid.jpg

Also got myself a new helmet. After 4 years of using Lazer MX6 helmet, it was time to upgrade. It is Arai Tour X4.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...%20%281%29.jpg https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...%20%282%29.jpg
Did about 40km gravel road test. Its very quiet compared to open face MX helmet. Can't really compare it to other helmets cause I never owned or used any other. I do not have to use noise plugs in my ears when riding in city or when doing short high speed(90km/h) riding. Will use for longer rides cause my ears are pretty sensitive. It has plenty of options for cooling. 3 near chin, 2 at visor. 2 more above the helmet. 2 Back of the helmet and 2 at rear bottom..
And my Oakley OFrame MX goggles fit perfect and I could close the visor when using the goggles. Got it for for a nice deal of 390�, all the shops sell them for 599-699�.
Now I can hear my akrapovic exhaust that I didn't hear that well before with plugs .. . Maaad :077:

Also noticed that my rear brake pads are metal to metal with rear disc... will get new brake pads for rear tomorrow.

So far Ive ridden over 1200km in two months.. which is more than I had total of last year with XT600. Love it :060:

Tenere looks good in white like this.. great pics mate!

Changed the rear brake pads and steering head bearings...
The top bearing was okay but the bottom had no lube at all.. It was very hard to spin. Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OyE5RG8BfLY

Also it was hard to get the bottom bearing race out.... had to weld it out cause it had no edges to hammer it out. Went to local motoshop to get the bearing out. Then I greased it up pretty nice. https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...660/laager.jpg

Then I changed rear brake pads. I was amazed how easy it was to change them... just take the pin out and replace pads... no need to take wheel off :101:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...60/klotsid.jpg
And then I went for a ride. Ten was clean, maybe covered in very little dust cause gravel roads.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...xt660/rand.jpg


Now theres a problem that I didnt have before. Throttle is very nervous when you twist it from 0(only if I let go and then accelerate again but not if doing it very slow), impossible with first gear at technical terrain cause it jumps all the time. I put more tension on the chain and it went better. I also checked the cables to throttle cause I had to remove them for steering head bearing.

Chain looks kind of worn cause the pivots wont return to default position after I twist them. Also front sprocket is pretty sharp. Will get new front 14t sprocket someday.

All coming along nicely..

So today it started to do knocking noise...went to watch motocross with rainy weather and when I rode home, halfway I noticed it started to do the nervous throttle thing again(when I let go and then throttle again) that it didn't do so agressively when cold. Then under traffic lights I heard knocking sound from engine.
Its knocking randomly, starts to knock more when I use throttle as you can see in the video.
https://youtu.be/Hm8R2FoclcI
When I used front brake and then loaded the engine it started to make more noise.
I hope its the nut from crankshaft...otherwise this season is kind of over...
:hmh:

Its not the nut ..
:headhack::071::angryfire::angryfire:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...417_185908.jpg
I am cursed... any car or motorcycle I buy brakes down.... I put over 1200� to old XT600 to make it run. Twice as much it cost me to buy. Also top and bottom end rebuild...
Now this again :S

That's not good news at all!!...sounds awful!.

Hi, sorry to hear about your problems. Try to find source of that bad noise as precisely as you can (left/right side). Last time I saw this engine with bad rattle it was broken timing chain guard:
http://www.xt660.com/showthread.php?t=25309&page=2
https://www.flickr.com/photos/andyellis161/
So I'd try opening also left side and check chain and everything what I can before removing from frame.
Good luck

So far Ive calculated the prices of parts.
Prox piston set ~150€
Athena gasket set with valve stems 140-180€
Crankshaft bearing RH ~30-40€

Crank pin+bearing+rod+chain guides+chain with shipping is 301€. Those are from https://www.motorcyclespareparts.eu but I will ask my local Yam dealer and should get answer tomorrow. Also got one shop that might get even cheaper than Yam dealer. Then I will see where I buy which part, so I get them as cheap as possible from different dealers. Right now the price for parts is around 670€.

Work price:
120€ with engine on the desk. I will take off the engine(No problem for me to do that or other jobs on my bike or car, but I will not touch the engines, cause if I do something wrong there, its way too expensive for me to fix again compared to anything else and the error margins for engine are lot higher cause too many parts).
40-50€ for crankshaft pressing. Should be done in a day.

I removed my old XT600 engine total of 3-4 times. I can't run the engine anymore cause the case is off already. But most shops agreed that its the rod. But to find it out if its true, I need to remove cylinder anyway. Its much easier for me to transport the engine than whole bike.

While the engine is off, then I can grease rear link if needed. Do cush drive mod. Clean up everything properly. Do the tail mud guard with rubber under the seat(aftermarket exhaust problem) so it wont push dirt there(used silicone for the moment).

Almost have the engine. Need to remove the starter and it should be all.
I removed AIS system. Will it show errors if I removed AIS? Link bearins are dry..
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...0/lammutus.jpg

I think the akrapovic exhaust I got, still has cat's inside. I do not care about cat and emissions, but I read it might start fire if unburnt fuel piles up before cat.

Yesterday I spent over 8 hours on my bike. Removed engine(had only 3 more bolts to remove). Cleaned up engine, frame and other parts from years of grease and muck... nasty near the chain area.
Removed tail parts and spent over a hour to install rubber flap there. Tried different ways but at the end I used large rubber flap to cover the whole area. Two bolts hold it under the exhaust bracket and two hold in place under rear luggage rack. Will see how it works out someday.

Keeping the AIS cause of the O2 sensor. But I blocked the pipe. Will remove the catalytic converter for better exhaust flow(cut cat open and then weld back together).

Greased rear swing bearings. Have two more bearings to do on the rear shock. Also cleaned up bolts from rust and greased them.
Chain rivets are done, getting stuck and pretty hard to move. The chain should have done more than 20k km's for sure. Will order new chain and sprockets with rear wheel dampers. Will do the mods to increase the life of them. Link: http://www.xt660.com/showthread.php?p=211578#post211578

Parts will be in the picture + Prox piston set ~150€. So around 680€for parts. 170€ engine work. +120 DID 520VX2 and JT sprockets. + Rear wheel dampers. So over 1k €..
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/.../jupid1111.jpg


https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...t660/lahti.jpg https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...421_191420.jpg

Good luck getting all back together again. :101:

So I ordered parts. Total 576€. However.... this has happened:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/.../silinderr.jpg
Extra 235€and 4 weeks. It is being shipped to UK for nikasil repair and then back. I think I should get it running next month. Must get new sprockets and chain aswell. Also new rubber dampers for wheel. Did the mod also. Used galvanized steel of 23,5X1,2MM.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...t660/ratas.jpg

Got bored today and cleaned my titanium exhaust pipes with red synthetic steel wool. Not 100% clean but better than before :)
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...660/sumpad.jpg


Also yesterday was the beginning of Estonian Motorcycle season where I couldn't attend with my bike but filmed at the side of road. It was raining the whole day and still everyone came.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dC-HkJ2Onc

No news from the engine yet. Cylinder still somewhere between UK and no idea about the parts.

Good luck with the bike. ...that was a lot of bikes you filmed! Steve

So today I finally got it running again :)
First start: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQQVUhJMRAs

It took 4 weeks for cylinder nikasil restore. Then over a week because stupid postage and customs problem...
Got engine back yesterday. It took me from 7.30 PM to 00:00. Next day 8.30am to 2:00PM to get everything back onto frame.. It was pain in the ass to get the crash bars fitting. And everything else... just tiny problems that took over 30 minutes to fix each...
Bought new chain with front 14 sprocket and rear 45. Chain is DID 520VX2 and sprockets are JT. Also extra 4L motul 5000 10w40 with filter.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...605_131731.jpg

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...607_101745.jpg

Painted the exhaust.... nice and shiny...
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...608_140217.jpg
But... that paint is awful(Motip heat resistant spray 800c). It came off sooo easly and when I started the bike outside, then the rain washed it off instantly...
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...610_170435.jpg


It was raining in the evening. But when you have not ridden over a month... It doesn't matter at all what weather you have outside. And what would be better to break in the engine in easy forest trails where you can use different rev's.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...610_202201.jpg

That motor sounds as sweet as a nut now. Well done.:respeck:

Awesome, sounds good. I hope mine eventually starts that easy...

Thanks!
Theres small ticking sound but that was even before rebuild. Might be compression pin but who knows...
Did a 190km long trip today. It was great. Never done so long distances and Tenere was great, only my butt hurts :D
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...660/soomaa.jpg
It had different kinds of gravel roads and only 30km tarmac. Will edit the video someday of this ride.

Since the speedo lied even with 15 teeth sprocket, then now with 14 teeth its even worse. When I want to ride 90kmh then I must ride 104kmh according to Teneres speedo. Speedo healers should work but I went for cheaper way :D
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...t660/spido.jpg
Reciever with ziptie between fork and brake support and the magnet glued to disc.
Wheel size set for 2153 and its spot on with the GPS speed with my Mitas c17 front knobbie.

Also the gear shift spring was worn, so it didn't return to its default position.
Grinded one spot off to get the pin out. Then made new spring out of random spring I found with the pliers. Will weld it someday, so it won't jump out cause I grinded it off before. Works like a charm. :079: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...4iguvaheti.jpg