Thanks Kev for the super fast reply.

That just saved me 20 minutes of stripping time, i can start by dropping the motor and not mess about trying to see if its possible or not.

The motor has 62000km's on it, what other bearings or parts would you recommend I replace while its open? From what I have read crank main bearing have gone at these sort of Km's.

I'll be changing my 5th gear while I'm there as it has been whining for about 20000km's, it hasn't gotten any worse since I first noticed it so that's why I haven't been very worried about it. It actually goes quite after a 1200km run to Johannesburg from Durban and back, and stays quite for a few weeks.

I love my XT. I haven't had many bikes but this one is going to stay around for as long as I can keep it alive.