Breather tube on Norge airbox - replace when cracked

[PJPR01]

10 years of fantastic rides and ownership have gone by with my 2008 Norge, after a nice sunny ride and visit to MPH earlier in the week, I found a small puddle of oil on the garage floor the next morning. 

I traced it back to a hardened, cracked and completely brittle and broken breather tube which had disconnected itself from the bottom nipple of the airbox where any excess oil blowby gathers and drains down. 

What a bitch to get to and replace...all good now, but the clear plastic tube had yellowed and hardened and become extremely brittle until it just broke. 

Check your tubes for aging and cracking!

[guzzisteve]

Easiest if airbox is removed.

[PJPR01]

Easiest if airbox is removed.

Yup, I'd agree, but getting the airbox out seems to be a major PITA requiring as far as I could tell disconnecting all of the hoses up front, the throttle bodies etc...or is there some trick I should know?

Thanks!

[guzzisteve]

Airbox is easy, the breather box in the front disconnects and stays put. Unclamp rubber on back of throttle bodies to box & pull up a bit, take each clamp off & pull up as you push rubbers in towards box to sneak on inside of frame. Only 2 hoses, both on bottom. Drain & stepper air. You have to take top & filter out 1st to start the operation.
This is just from memory.

[PJPR01]

Airbox is easy, the breather box in the front disconnects and stays put. Unclamp rubber on back of throttle bodies to box & pull up a bit, take each clamp off & pull up as you push rubbers in towards box to sneak on inside of frame. Only 2 hoses, both on bottom. Drain & stepper air. You have to take top & filter out 1st to start the operation.
This is just from memory.

I think I get what you are saying...will try that next time...thank you!!

[Brian UK]

Yes, it is that easy. Still a squeeze, and getting the throttle body rubbers back in place when putting it back is fiddly.

[Huzo]

Yes, it is that easy. Still a squeeze, and getting the throttle body rubbers back in place when putting it back is fiddly.

Also you’ve to be careful not to dislodge the TB snorkels from the air box upon reassembly, it’s possible to do so and not know you have..
I usually replace the air box with the clamps removed, replacing them independently. Some rubber grease on the snorkels where they slide onto the TB’s is prudent.
The tit on my air box broke off so I sealed the hole. I just wipe it out at each service.

[guzzisteve]

I do this every 10K mi to clean TB's for customers. Silicone spray is your friend for rubbers. If you don't take off clamps before box comes up, they get bent up.

[kingoffleece]

Even better.  Hamlin runs the tube out the rear of the Norge and it exits into a stainless breather.  No gunk recycled into the motor.  You should see the brown sludge that exist after 100's of rain miles.  Very glad it doesn't end up back in my airbox.

[Brian UK]

The tit on my air box broke off so I sealed the hole. I just wipe it out at each service.

So did mine, glued a bit of brass tube in there.

[PJPR01]

Ok...next time I’ll try the tricks on the air box removal...thanks guys!  I do like having a tube connected rather than sealed up as a possible indicator of any overfill on the oil...just a redundant indicator...re-routing to where exactly does the stainless breather sit?  Any pics of that device?

Thanks..Happy New Year fellas!

[PJPR01]

Well...almost exactly a year to the date, I got to revisit this process again.

Wanted to replace the inner plugs, replaced both fuel injectors (one had a bent plastic connector which shrouds the wires, so decided to replace both), and unplugged and cleaned every electrical connector I could find while the airbox was out.  Was algo going to put the Beemer Boneyard metal connector in place, but the plastic tubes I have feeding the fuel are pretty well hardened, so I'm going to get fresh tubes first and then put the metal connector in place next time I lift the tank.  Took advantage of this to clean all the throttle bodies, linkages and checked again the throttle wires (still ok, but may change them next time as well just due to aging).

Thanks to everyone's tips above, this time airbox removal was not hard at all, putting it back required a fair amount of effort.  I found that seating the right hand one first, then the left hand one was the easiest for access and reseating.   I did use some light grease on the rubbers on the airbox to make them more pliable to put back in and ease "rotation" for refitting...good trick indeed!

Now that I've done this again, I can't help but think about getting rid of the airbox completely considering the PITA design, and just replace them with some good quality air filter pods.  Seems like this would be a much easier setup, and then re-route the crankcase air breather tube coupled to a "drain tube" and route it down.

Anyone here done this, any suggestions on good quality air pod filters that would attach to the throttle bodies w/o a lot of modifications to the rubber?

P.D.  One interesting by product of this tune up...no more backfiring...I presume it's the fresh inner plugs, but is it possible it's also due to cleaning every electrical connection or perhaps cleaning the throttle bodies, or perhaps all of the above?  :)

Thanks!

[Scott of the Sahara]

I took off my air box to replace the inner plugs. When it was all done, I had left off the drain tube.
I was able to buy some really long needle nosed pliers and was able to get the tube back up.

[lucky phil]

Well...almost exactly a year to the date, I got to revisit this process again.

Wanted to replace the inner plugs, replaced both fuel injectors (one had a bent plastic connector which shrouds the wires, so decided to replace both), and unplugged and cleaned every electrical connector I could find while the airbox was out.  Was algo going to put the Beemer Boneyard metal connector in place, but the plastic tubes I have feeding the fuel are pretty well hardened, so I'm going to get fresh tubes first and then put the metal connector in place next time I lift the tank.  Took advantage of this to clean all the throttle bodies, linkages and checked again the throttle wires (still ok, but may change them next time as well just due to aging).

Thanks to everyone's tips above, this time airbox removal was not hard at all, putting it back required a fair amount of effort.  I found that seating the right hand one first, then the left hand one was the easiest for access and reseating.   I did use some light grease on the rubbers on the airbox to make them more pliable to put back in and ease "rotation" for refitting...good trick indeed!

Now that I've done this again, I can't help but think about getting rid of the airbox completely considering the PITA design, and just replace them with some good quality air filter pods.  Seems like this would be a much easier setup, and then re-route the crankcase air breather tube coupled to a "drain tube" and route it down.

Anyone here done this, any suggestions on good quality air pod filters that would attach to the throttle bodies w/o a lot of modifications to the rubber?

P.D.  One interesting by product of this tune up...no more backfiring...I presume it's the fresh inner plugs, but is it possible it's also due to cleaning every electrical connection or perhaps cleaning the throttle bodies, or perhaps all of the above?  :)

Thanks!

Silliest move ever. Airboxes these days are part of the engine tuning package and removing them to install pods is a retrograde step. Plenty do it but its dumb. It's not the 1970's anymore. There isn't for example a modern race bike that doesn't use an airbox, and for good reason.  The same benefits exist for road bikes. When I did my Daytona/V11 engine mod keeping the airbox was a must. It would have been far easier to use silly pods but that just wasn't an option for me. Wouldn't have done the swap if I'd had to use pod filters.

Ciao

[PJPR01]

Ok thanks Phil...appreciate the advice.