I installed the Rade airbox next. It’s much easier if you loosen both tighteners and leave a lot of slack. You’ll re-use the sensor, coupler, and rubber stack(?) from the stock airbox. I removed the foam filter cage. My sensor location moved from the left side to the right side. You’ll need a tool burlier than an Allen key to set the new screws in. Be sure to have the sensor disconnect clip facing outwards. With the coupler loosened with a lot of slack it was relatively easy to slip the airbox on. I kept the tighteners facing up so that I could easily access them. I mounted it and connected the temp sensor the same way it was in stock form with a ziptie. I waited to cut the hose until I was finished with be entire instal. I ended up with a lot of extra hose.
I installed the tank mounts next. Both are logically placed. The front mount is a bit weird to get to. I have a tiny 1/4 drive than made this part easy. I sandwhiched it into the other mounted parts. I tested the tank fitment a few times before I fully tightened it. The tank came close but I needed to push some of the connectors out of the way. The rear mount uses the supplied nuts and bolts, with the bolt being on the outside of the frame.
I installed the tank connector next. Be sure that you have used ALL of your gas. I made a guesstimated mistake and still had a gallon of gas in there. It drained everywhere and I had quite the hazmat cleanup. I should have removed the bottom tank bolts and folded the tank up to do this part. Trying to work fast is always dumb. You’ll remove the black case from the fuel pump and drill out the holes. BE SURE TO REMOVE THE FUEL FILTER SCREEN THAT IS STUCK INSIDE. I drilled right through mine. I drilled the existing holes bigger and added to other holes on the untapped sides. It took a bit to reinstall the connector as it seemed the bolts weren’t long enough, but they eventually went it. I ran the fuel hose from the tank and ensured it wasn’t touching the engine and routed without any kinks. I installed the on/off valve. I’ll find a way to bolt it in, but couldn’t find a stock location during installation. I ran the hose inside the frame, inside the rear shock area, and down to the tank connector. I used a handful of zipties to keep it in place. The fuel line looks like it has a smooth route without any kinks or major bends that could cause any issues.
Once I had everything installed besides the shrouds it looked as if the seat was WAYY too high, but looked stock as soon as I put the shrouds back on. The seat isn’t sent perfect flat with the rubber mounts resting on the frame, but I’ll see if I can work it a bit with a heat gun. I’m sure it’ll eventually set into place after some seat time. My next plan is to add a quick disconnect near the shutoff vavle so that I can remove the tank when necessary. I’ll also add an inline fuel filter. I’ll update y’all after I fill it up and run a full tank of gas through. So far I’m pleased with the ease of installation and the quality.
I just installed the tank in a 14 690 and am having trouble with leakage from the valve on the bottom of the tank. I need to run the fuel line on the right side of the bike, as per instructions but it also makes the most sense. That valve was pointed to the left side of the bike so I turned it about 1/3rd by tightening it, but the leaks continues. Anyone else have this issue? I may need to disassemble the valve and replace the 0-ring with loctite or something but getting to the brass nut on the inside of the tank seems impossible. I think it's larger than 19mm but larger sockets won't fit through the top cap opening. Any suggestions? Thanks.
My upgrade kit just started leaking fuel at the output fitting on the bottom of the tank too. Grrrrr.... According to Rade a thin 19mm spanner (open end) wrench can adjust the tightness of that fitting. I’ve yet to find such a tool. Mine didn’t leak initially but now that I started actually using it a leak developed. And the fitting was very tight when I checked it during installation.
I ended up removing the rubber grommets on the inside and out, and used Hondabond as a sealer. Rade said the grommets were OK but the metal washers were the problem...
+1 regarding Rade’s advice to only remove the external steel washer. I’m also putting fuel-safe teflon (pte) paste on the threads. I assume fuel leaks around the threads then exits the unsealed steel-brass interface.
Thanks to everyone who has contributed up to this point on the subject. With all the lessons learned it makes it a lot easier to get this done than relying on the published directions which are a little sketchy. At this point I'm down to two items after two weekends of cautious work: 1) The rear bracket is indeed messed up and in the wrong position to support the rear of the tank as has been mentioned many times before. I'm thinking there are two ways to go - lengthen the holes as previously suggested, or maybe add a thin lip to extend the ledge slightly. The second approach might give some more flexibility in the adjusting the height of the rear of the tank. Any thoughts from the assemble audience on what would be the better way to go? 2) A slightly more concerning issue regards the fuel pump. When I removed the stock adapter, the plastic housing came out with barely a pull and left the pump up in the tank, as if the clips were not actually engaged with the pump assembly. Now that its time to reinstall I'm not sure how to proceed. The pump doesn't seem to want to come out - I've given it a bit of a tug but its resisting. I'm a little concerned about giving it a big yank for fear of causing damage to the pump itself. Any suggestions? thanks again to all have contributed to the thread - makes it a lot less intimidating for someone who's OK with this stuff but by no means an expert.
1) If it's enough to just lengthen the holes/drill new ones, that seems like the easier way to go. How much adjustment is needed for the setup to fit your bike? I needed to move the bracket about 10mm. (adjusting the rear height was not needed here, it was pretty much spot on from the beginning) 2) The pump should pop out pretty easily, it does however need a bit of twisting due to the bundled up stiff plastic fuel lines used in the tank. If possible, reattach the plastic housing prior to trying to wiggle the assembly out. The clips used are known for coming undone, drill a couple of holes and secure with zip ties before reinstalling.
Updated..... 1) I chose to open the rear hangar holes into slots and was able to slide the bracket forward enough to BARELY engage the rear of the tank, maybe 1/8". Sliding the bracket forward helps free up space for the airbox to be wiggled into position. 2) Finally finagled the pump out of that hole - there surely is a lot of tubing and connectors jammed up into the tank - no wonder the capacity is so small! I added two zip ties to reinforce the cheesy clips that sorta hold the housing over the pump (thanks for the tip). 3) Commenting on the orientation of breather. There do seem to be multiple variants of the airbox that Rade provides as well as which side the breather connects on the bike. I received the airbox with the vent connector on the left side (looking from the rear of the bike forward). My 690 is an 2011, which has the breather connection on the right side of the bike unlike the pictures of the ABS bike that Rade shows in his instructions that has the breather connection on the left side. As a result I've had to snake the vent tube from left to right over the throttle body. I've added aluminum tape to the entire breather/vent tube but right now its resting on the valve cover - I'll need to figure out how to get clearance, but should I put some silicone tape or some other sleeve over the vent tube as well to further insulate it? 4) Temp probe is in the airbox as demonstrated in Rade's instructions but I ended up having to splice in some extra wire to get it to reach. As I press the airbox assembly into its little cubby hole, the temp probe connector is pressing on the fuel line tool firmly for my comfort and I'm a little concerned I could end up damaging the wires. I'm going to leave it like this for now and monitor to see if its a long term problem. If so, I'll end up zip tieing it externally as others have done and figuring out how to mend the holes in the airbox. I'll follow up with photos in a following post in case it helps anyone else...
I used two pieces of flatbar to move the tank bracket/hanger on my 09 closer to the front of the bike. This is how I routed the vent I did have to splice some extra wire to the temp. probe too and run it in to the air box and zip tie it to the velocity stack. I also had problems with the seat pan sitting on the air filter box "cage", putting pressure on the intake. I cut and rewelded the cage to have a much lower profile.
Works terribly well. Physics at work. Connecting the vent of the stock tank to the drain of the Rade (that is vented) will drain the Rade tank first and then the stock. No messing around with petcocks to drain the Rade. Been working well for me for a year or so.
Here's the status as of today: 1) I'm stuck trying to use the provided TwinAir filter and cage. There just doesn't seem to be enough room on my '11 to get the cage in there. There are two problems - the fuel line on the left side of the frame interferes the with air sensor if its attached to the left side of the new airbox, and the battery cover brackets prevent the airbox from getting all the way seated onto the throttle body. I've even tried it without the air temp sensor installed and I'm unable to get it wedged in there. So I'm bailing out on that whole approach and buying a bunch of Uni filters - 4245AST with Outerwear for the intake and a couple of UP-122's for the breather and sensor. 2) I've added some "bracket extenders" for the rear tank support. I added approx. 1.5" extenders and now the rear of the tank is firmly supported. 3) I'm a little miffed about the instructions and the shipments through Rade. On his website he asks for the year model. I told him that i have an '11 (obviously non-ABS). So what I got was the new package: - the new tank (I think have the Rev 4 as documented earlier) with the vent in the cap which seems good, - but the tank is smaller to make room for the ABS (which I don't have) and it seems it must be shorter to make room for the airbox which is why is doesn't sit on the rear bracket anymore. - the breather connection on the airbox is on the wrong side (should be on the right side for an '11), and in fact a new airbox that doesn't fit. In addition, as you see in his post #368 earlier, Rade suggests buying another intake manifold and clamps for '12 and earlier bikes (another $55) which actually won't work - DON'T DO IT. After I had identified the potential interference issues, he finally got back to me a week ago with this: Hello Russell, I am sorry for late reply and second time sorry that our small airbox dont fit directly to non-ABS models. I have realised it recently. So I have stopped the sales for non-ABS models. I can offer you money back if you want. Or second option you modify it a bit. Let me know please Rade 4) While I appreciate his forthright admission and the offer for a refund, I'm not sure why it had to come to this. Seems like the new tank along with the previous Uni Filter package would be a usable solution for the '12 and earlier bikes (with appropriate rear tank support) instead of paying for and getting a useless airbox/filter combo that requires users to drop another $60 on filters after uselessly spending $60 on the intake manifold and clamps as he had erroneously suggested. Ideally there could be a separate rev 4 tank that restores the volume lost for ABS but understand that it would be costly to have another mold. 5) At this point I'm in for nearly $600 and I've got a trip coming in two weeks where I'll need the range so I'm going to take the next step and spend what is hopefully the last $$. Just hope at this point I don't run into any of the fuel leaking issues or it will certainly have turned into a bad deal....
DirtyDoggy sorry to hear about your issues. Hopefully you can take some solace in the fact that your documentation has helped me and I'm sure others. Just checked Rade's website and it looks like the updated non-ABS airbox will be available in July. Hopefully Rade can post an update on this thread when they are shipping.
Regarding abs vs non-abs tanks, I think the cutout is only about 1.5dl or so. Guess most of the volume difference comes from the cutout in the rear (to give the airfilter enough room, not talking about the later airbox version).
I just installed the latest version of the kit on my 2017 last night. Everything seemed to go well (so far, haven't been on a test ride yet), but I'm not sure what to do / where to install the T-fitting that came with the kit. Perhaps I'm blind, but I haven't seen it mentioned in this thread or in Rade's instructions. Anyone have any advice?
An update regarding the above T-fitting post, in case others ever find themselves in the same boat.... I emailed Rade about the T-fitting, and he replied that it was for the Husky 701 kit and must have made it into my 690 kit by mistake.
After thinking about many options for carrying extra fuel, and almost going the Rade route, but not having time to wait on shipping, I came up with a different solution. Some may be interested. Basically it involves installing a pod filter in place of the stock airbox, then modifying the airbox to become a container that can carry a flexible fuel bag, or anything else that will fit. I cut the end off the stock airbox behind the intake boot, but leaving the stock mounting points in place. I used Kydex and rivets to create a new end to the airbox that allows room for the pod filter. I enlarged the airbox opening around the filter area to allow for easier loading, but I retained the stock air filter cover as a lid for the container. Some thumb screws replace the airbox cover bolts to allow tool-less opening and closing. I think a gallon or so of fuel in a fuel drom bag will fit in the container.
