Grab bar delete, shock replace? Header bolt help

Hey all, New to the forums.

I picked up a 1982 XJ650 Maxim for $500 in San Francisco and it's been a pretty reliable beater.
It got me from San Francisco to Vegas, up to Salt Lake City, and now it's brought me to Central Oregon for my seasonal job.
If y'all want a writeup on that trip, let me know!

I'm hoping to do some simple aesthetic/performance mods to it, and I wanted to start with a grab bar delete and replace the shocks, as they're getting pretty cruddy/grimy and they're starting to give me some weird headshake.

The only concern I have with removing the grab bar is that the shock seems to be supported/mounted to the frame through it, and I don't want to compromise that system.

Two of my exhaust studs have also sheared inside the header, so I have a decent exhaust leak coming from the header, and the clamp is just rattling against the frame. It doesn't sound great.

It's on the second pipe from the left, so there's a frame piece in the way when I try to get an extractor in there. Is there a way that you've found to get around this without pulling the engine? Is pulling the engine hard? The XJ is my primary transportation right now, so I don't want to muff it up top badly.

Thanks for reading. Hope to get some good info here!

 

Pulling the engine is hard but relatively straight forward. It absolutely is a 2 man job (its really awkward getting the frame around the U joint) and you will want to strip the bike down pretty far (both wheels, swingarm, fork, battery, carbs, tank, bodywork). I've managed it more times than I like to think about, but most times had the luxury of working with a completely naked frame. If you have 4 people, you might be able to do it without stripping the front end, but at the very least have to remove the rear wheel and final drive unit to get the drive shaft free.

The trick is to drain the oil, then lay it on its side on something soft ad lift the frame off (installation is the reverse). I liked using a haybale, but a couple old tire also works.

 

I tackled the frame blocked exhaust studs on another bike by removing all the engine mounting hardware and jacking the engine to one side then blocking it. This provided just enough clearance to remove the broken stud.
Ideally, pulling the motor is the best way for this type of repair.
On my XJ550, I found a couple of the threaded stud bosses in the head had became out-of-round. This would be an ongoing problem. My fix was to install steel threaded inserts, not helicoils, for all the studs and replace the hardware with NOS studs and nuts that I found on eBay. A solid permanent solution and upgrade.

 

Here's a trick for disolving steel studs out of aluminum heads that might work for you. With the right setup (say slipping a hose over the stud instead of a can) you could probably avoid pulling the engine. Obviously you'll want to do a test exposure on some less critical area (maybe a cooling fin) first.

 

+1. That does work, but you have to keep the solution warm.
Build a dam out of clay to keep the liquid in place (degrease the head first).
The aluminum won't be harmed at all.

It does take time. Several days at least.

 

Thanks! That method looks way easier than anything I'd come to so far.

 

You can remove the rear grab bar without affecting the shock mounting or stability. Once you pull the bar and shocks off you'll see the stud and it will make sense.

Would love to see you trip write up and pics, feel free to post it up. I love seeing/reading about others long trips.