[readingracer]

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A friend of mine came by last night and gave me a belly pan for my 1500. Mine does not have one on it . What is the purpose of the pan? :stumped:

 

[sandiegobrass]

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Provide additiona protection to the engine case and the oil filter (true to some extent), provide improved aerodynamics under the bike (questionable?), decrease heat loss from the cankcase (true, but probably not a big deal), add weight to the bike (less if aluminum), lighten your wallet (unless it was a gift)... did I get them all..

Belly pans are like oil, car tires, and maybe even deer allerts... they toutbenefits, often exaggerated.. andoften people either love or hate them and these same people will forever cling to their opion irrespective of fact or reason...

I'm sure you will get a better answer than mine..

 

[readingracer]

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this is analumnium one

 

[satan]

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sandiegobrass wrote:

Belly pans are like oil, car tires, and maybe even deer allerts... they toutbenefits, often exaggerated.. andoften people either love or hate them and these same people will forever cling to their opion irrespective of fact or reason...

I'm sure you will get a better answer than mine..

Damned good answer, Sir!



(I'm in the "exaggerated love for the improvement to cross-wind-gusts and truck-suck aerodynamics" myself. Works for me, but your mileage will vary as stated above.)

 

[GreatWhiteNorth]

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I ran a car tire for a week on my GL1500. It lowered the back end about 1 1/2". I bottomed the belly out a few times on speedbumps (going dead slow too). Didn't do any damage, but made me think it wouldn't hurt to have a belly pan to help protect the sump. Am installing a modded triple tree (I want to say raked out - but that's not correct terminology) in spring which will lower the front too. Am thinking a belly pan will become a smart investment. Anyone actually damage their engine sump hitting something?

 

[lordbradley71]

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Does the belly pan have to be removed for an oil change?

 

[tnoort]

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Hmmm...............lets see.............my belly pan has all sorts of dents and several significant, long, drawn scrapes down it. Have bottomed out a few times.

Personally, I prefer the damage to the relatively cheap belly pan than my engine case.

And yes, I do have to remove mine to do an oil change. Not a big deal, really. I stand to be corrected (happens all the time!) but I do think there is a particular pan which does not have to be removed.

Having or not having one is mostly a matter of personal preference, I suspect.

T.

 

[djoyner]

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lordbradley71 wrote:

Does the belly pan have to be removed for an oil change?

My belly pan is a two-piece design and there is a cutout for the drain plug.



However, I do have to remove the front piece of the belly plan in order to get to the filter. It's just three screws and takes 30 seconds to remove.

 

[Rudy]

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Daryl Martel wrote:

I ran a car tire for a week on my GL1500. It lowered the back end about 1 1/2".

An inch and a half? That means the car tire diameter was 3" smaller than the stock tire?
What tire and size were you using?

The Federal is about 5/8" lower sitting but I have had no scraping or rubbing as a result of use and I run about 550 lbs + cargo riding two up.

 

[readingracer]

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mine has holes in it for the oil drain. I am going to polish it this weekend then put it on.:action:

 

[GreatWhiteNorth]

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Hi Rudy - Bridgestone Turanza 175/60R-16. I bought a spare rim & had the car tire installed on it. I had the presence of mind at the time to take a picture of the two wheel assemblies side by side, tires inflated to about 42 PSI. dramatic difference. The mc tire is a Dunlop K177. I am hanging a sidecar on my bike in spring (why I'm installing a Steerite modded triple tree), and intend to reinstall the car tire same time. Bike is definitely going to sit quite a bit lower. I think I'll opt for that belly pan - cheap insurance.

 

[Rudy]

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Wow! Huge difference! That K77 must be a monster.

Here is my Federal same size as the Bridgestone against my Michelin Pilot GT.

 

[GreatWhiteNorth]

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Definitely big difference in overall height! With a sidecar, although the reduction in ground clearance isn't necessarily a good thing from a potential damage perspective, lowering the center of gravity (mass) is. Anything a guy can do to help keep that sidecar planted on RH turns is a good thing. I've got a pic here of a GL1500sidecar rig with a modded front end... moving thataxleforwardmust drop the front end an inch or twoI'd think.I've seen some trike pics that show the front end kicked out a little more.

 

[Greyghost]

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I used to ride northern cal from Tahoe to the coast fighting the north to south santa anna winds.Frightening!I put he bellypan on when Tulsa first came out. At LEAST a 40% change for the better!!! I would no more take it off than I would install deer whistles again.:applause:

 

[tnoort]

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Greyghost wrote:

! I would no more take it off than I would install deer whistles again.:applause:

Are you intimating that when you whistled the deer wouldn't come?

T.

 

[Huck]

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Totally agree w/all. Some of it may be my imagination but to me it works as advertized.

I had mine on over in Japan and Korea... Japan raods were not a porblem.. Hokaido pretty much not a speed limit either. I lived there for 6 years and put my aluminum pan on only in the lastthree years... It did stop quite a bit of the tugging and sheeringathigh speed (usually70-110 mph).

When I moved toKorea the roads were totally different than Japan. Quite rough and unpredictable... Speed bumbs everywhere you rode. The really scary ones were the 6ft longspeed humpsthatthe paint was wornoff and they'd ultimately be in the middle of a sweeping turn I'd be taking at about 50mph in the night.:shock: Anyways theTulsa pan was pretty darn bashed and gouged up by the time I moved back here to the US. Even though it was aluminum it was still hanging in theredoing whatever it didand I cant help but believe theengine was protected from all the road hazards. Gotta love these 1500's!!! Pretty dang bullet proof just maybe not so Huckleberry proof. Too bad there's nota miracle product to protect a GL engine from my aggressive driving though. I'm on my second engine now because of my aggressive driving. I'll say the first engine had no damage the bottom though.


Now that I'm on my first 3 months or so riding here in Tampa, Fl I did get rid of the belly pan because of the heatat idle... The fan kicks in a littlequicker with it on. I think the engine may need the updraft of airflow for more coolingin traffic. I'll probably put it back on for the winter though.Maybe it'll keep me a bit warmer so I don't haveto resort to heavy winter riding gear like I did in other areas. Since you're in Kanasas maybe yours would be to place it on and see. You may even totally forget you have it on until oil change time...

P.S. I did drill a bunch of vetilation holes in the front little piece of mine when Ilived in Korea which was a moderate to warmclimate (only had two snows that would be melted by the next day). Depending on which one he dropped offsome of these were designedwith vent holes in the front.

Huck

 

[Huck]

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! I would no more take it off than I would install deer whistles again.:applause:

HUH??? You actually smacked Bambiwhen you had the whistlers on :stumped: