oil change difficulty

[Wilbust]

Changed my oil, what a pain in but. the screws on the bottom right side panel stripped out (2 of the 4). Helped a friend do his oil change last weekend and the same story. (3 of 4 stripped.) Anyone else have as good of luck as me. My guess, a little dielectric grease could go a long way in preventing aggervation.
Both sleds were 06.

 

[gitrdun]

I know one thing, I will Not be asking you to help me. My 07 was no problem.

 

[nate007]

Anybody who plans to do their own maintainence should have a small stash of those screws. I stripped mine out removing panels as well, but if you make sure to use the correct sized screwdriver, and push pretty hard on it, they should break loose without stripping.

 

[apexgt4life]

yea i could easiliy c how u could do that one slip with the scredriver and it over. i luckily got mine out with a large scredriver and will definatley be putting something on them but then they will probably fall out on the trail.

 

[ApexerER]

I changed my oil (first time) two weeks ago on a 06 ER that I picked up used and the screws were already stripped from the person before me. The oil is still dripping out from soaking in the foam. This is from a sled that had only been serviced by a dealer.....Now I have to drill them all out and get new ones. I will be putting on never sieze for sure,

 

[yamadog1]

screw

make sure you use #3 bit

 

[**sj**]

use the proper sized phillips bit....tap head of driver with mallet repeatedly....like an impact....then apply force into while turning...will brake loose...apply never seize to threads on return..

 

[SledFreak]

I can't believe they used phillups screws for that piece of the sled. The person that invented that and the flat head should be shot. LOL. Robertson is the way to go, especially if you are going to use a flat screw type head. Hex bolt style should have been used when engineering that piece of the sled. They know it has to be removed, someday.....

 

[mdkuni]

I have had the problem with the bolts on both panels. I know people say use the right bit but I believe you can make things much easier.
I bought eight 10mm stainless steel bolts and eight small bushings that I cut down to size to create a similar gap as there is on the stock bolts. I spray painted the bolts black and now I do not have to worry about stripping the bolts anymore and I think it looks good.

 

[FAMILYMAN]

The right bit with the right screw is very very important! If you have a #3 for those screws you shouldnt have a problem at all!

 

[maxdlx]

Better yet, take an old phillips screw driver, and grind the point off of it so the tip is flat. It will work every time. Thanks Viper Dave for that bit of info. Maxdlx

 

[vmaxcrazy]

I don't take the lower pnl off. I make a trough from a plastic milk container and route the oil stream away onto my oil tray. A little harder to get drain plug out, but no mess, no stripped screws.

 

[sandy8657]

We did our oil changes on our 2006 Apex GT and out 2007 Apex RTX. Went pretty easy, no problems.
Had to look on the internet to find the location of the oil filter, and that wasn't that hard to replace, either. Did the first sled in about 30-45 minutes, and did the second sled in less time. My Yamaha's are worth it.

 

[gsxr]

If was a cat they already would be missing !!!!

 

[Honk]

I use a number 2 phillips with the tip ground down also. 1/16 inch, works great, and havn't had a problem since March of 03, when all these great TYers came up with this tip!