Throttle Spring Relief

[smthng]

Hey all... I've been toying around with the idea of disconnecting my main throttle return spring. I've done some research, read some posts, irritated pilots via email, etc. Still got a couple of questions though...

Some wrenches have stated that when they've pulled the spring off the metal tang, they've "let it unwind a bit". How do you let it unwind a bit? I'd imagine one you let go of that puppy, it's gonna unwind all the way in less than the blink of an eye.

Others have mentioned using a wire or cable or something to "tie the spring down". I assume this means running a wire or smthng to smthng else on the throttle body and latching the spring end on this wire. My question is... what did you attach the cable/wire to? I can see lots of places I could attach one, but no where that I should attach it. I want to do this because we have state safety inspections here in Virginny and I can see someone getting bent out of shape because of the spring return not being in place. If you ran the wire/cable to another screw or something, which one was it? I don't want to go unscrewing stuff that I don't understand if I can help it (not that I'm above such tactics, I just prefer to do it one someone else's bike first).

 

[FJRocket]

I don't know what you would safety wire to, but do you really think if you took one spring completely out that they would catch that on inspection? Are they that anal? Is that one of the things they look for? SHEESH!

 

[radman]

There are 3 return springs in total. Detach the stiff center one. Still plenty of return tension left, even with Vista Cruise Lock.

 

[Groo]

Regarding "unwind it a bit"... when I released mine, it unwound one revolution and recaught... effectively loosening the spring force, but still providing some lower amount of resistance.

 

[sparky3008]

Inspection on the bike in VA will most likely just obvious stuff like the steering head, lights, brakes, tires, possibly throttle slack and return. They have never opened the hood on any of my bikes. The throttle will still return and it now feels like all the other bikes. I highly doubt they will catch this one spring.

 

[gasman]

I'm with Groo on this, except when I did mine I held a large flat bladed screwdriver against the spring to make sure it caught when it came around. JB

 

[sparky3008]

If you are determined to tie it off I would just tie it to the bracket where the throttle cables connect to or something like that.

 

[sparky3008]

Mine is no longer connected at all and the single best thing I have done to my bike for riding enjoyment and best of all "FREE".

 

[professor]

sparky-- got to agree with you on your "best thing I've done to my bike" remark. Did mine about 35,000 miles ago to solve my numb right hand problem. Wonder who came up with this remarkable mod?? Must have been one smart sucker!

 

[FJR03]

Ditto with Groo, mine spun around and recaught by chance and I said "hey, this might be kewl". It is much better, but I'm going to take it the rest of the way off, my hand still gets numb after a bit. Its easy to shake it off with a VistaCruise. I also have a Kuryakin style throttlerocker thingie. i found that mounting it so the tab hits the base of my thumb rather than the heel of my hand is better for me.

Always mount it so it is a bit lower than intuition might indicate. As the MSF course says, "wrist down" to keep from accidentally goosing the throttle too much.

The safety wire thing is simply (by my understanding) just a way to keep track of the spring in case you want to reconnect it. (You won't) Just tie off the safety wire end anywhere, its just a locator, it won't be holding anything.

 

[smthng]

Cool... that's what I needed to know. I'll give the screwdriver trick a try.

As for the VA inspections... they can sometimes be real jerks. I just didn't know how much spring I would lose after the mod. If it was close to "freewheeling", they might fail it.

 

[bikerschim]

Well, talk about anal! Here goes. I released the center spring and unfortunately there was insufficient return strength to overcome even the lightest setting on my Throttlemeister so I had to roll the spring back to the original numbing position. This was not good, however, because even with the Throttlemeister in the tightest setting it would not hold the throttle in a set position. My solution was to release the spring (again) a full revolution and cut off a short section of the end, :moil: reinstall and test the Throttlemeister. It was better but still lackluster when the Throttlemeister was at its lightest or "off" position. I dug into the underbelly again and cut off more of the spring, fashioned another loop on the end :construction: and reattached it. This time it worked. Enough spring return tension to snap the throttle back on the lowest "off" position of the Throttlemeister, but not so much so that it causes numbing. :coolio: When the Throttlemeister is activated it can hold the throttle in any set position, something it could not do with the full tension of this spring originally. Mind you this is a very difficult procedure, not at all for those just learning to wrench, tackle putting air in the tires or changing the oil first.

:cownoy:

 

[Stray Bullet]

@bikerschim

I was going to take out my spring soon and I have a Throttlemeister that works well. I hope it still does after the operation. :blink: Has anyone else had this problem?

Rog

 

[smthng]

Thanks for the input guys, It's a done deal! I let the spring do one unwind last night and it's now perfect. While sitting in the garage, I didn't think it made that much difference. But as soon as I pulled out, it was an amazing difference! Just right.

I too have a Throttlemeister and before the spring mod, it wouldn't lock the throttle for more than 30 seconds or so without jogging loose again. Now, it's perfect at all speeds. I'll post up a couple pics of the spring and how to catch it when I get them off the camera for anyone who REALLY needs it.

 

[sparky3008]

Cool... that's what I needed to know. I'll give the screwdriver trick a try.
As for the VA inspections... they can sometimes be real jerks. I just didn't know how much spring I would lose after the mod. If it was close to "freewheeling", they might fail it.

No doubt if there was no return it would fail.

I also would not have done it if that were the case.

It still returns and very affective but more like a dirt bike or something the way it should be I think. No need for this extra spring. There are still return springs left to do the job...

 

[Downer]

I pulled the center spring off the tang with a little screw driver. Just let er rip. It went around 1 turn & stopped, well out of the way of everything. No safety wire, just stays out of the way.

 

[JimLor]

Hate to ask, but where is the return spring? There are 3 and the best is to work on the center spring? Been following this hoping someone would pinpoint the location. Thanks.

 

[sparky3008]

Pop the hood "gas tank" follow the throttle cables down to where the are connected to the TB. Right there is a spring. This is your main return spring, take a screw drive and pop the end of it off of where it sits and let it spin. Close and latch hood, ride on...

 

[JimLor]

Thanks Sparky, I'll do that as soon as I burn some gas.