POST EDITED TO ADD IMGUR PHOTOS (I was 'Photobucketed'):

I have been tinkering around with trying to break the bead on the rear tire of a C-14 on the bike, then push one side of the tire over enough to get the TPS sensor out without removing the tire / wheel ass'y from the bike. I have not been successful as I do not have anything large enough in the way of a clamp or any way to deliver enough pressure to the bead.

We really wanted to see if this could be done before tech day as it will save a considerable amount of time replacing the batteries in the TPS sensors if we do not have to R&R the wheels, and get each tire and wheel into the tire machine.

This is also useful for anyone who wants to remove his / her own TPS sensor and replace the battery or send the sensor out to have someone else replace the battery but does NOT have a tire mounting machine. This method is done with wheels on the bike and nothing but the centerstand (although a small jack would be needed to do the front wheel of course).

Working with Pat Mulloy on Sat., we found a method that does work though using very conventional hand tools: he had a beam clamp large enough that it would reach around the tire. This is a very conventional one- hand clamp found at Home Depot, Lowes or similar, for use as a woodworking clamp. The key to the method that Pat came up with is using tire irons in combination with the clamp. So this is how we did it:

You will need at least one beam clamp, able to open at least 8" or more. Also at least two tire irons and three pieces of wood about 1 1/2" or so thick to hold the bead in the wheel's well.

1) remove the valve stem Schrader valve
2) put the clamp over the tire at about a 15 or so degree angle (to the axle) so that one jaw firmly grabs the wheel rim and the other jaw just misses the wheel and pushes only on the tire bead. Make sure the position of the clamp is at least 90 degrees away from the tire valve stem so there is no risk of damaging the sensor.
3) compress the clamp as far as it will go- this was not far enough to actually break the bead but it did leave a gap between the tire wall and the wheel rim; at this point, use the tire irons alternately above and below the clamp to further push the tire away from the rim. As the tire is forced toward the center of the wheel with the iron, take up any slack with the clamp. Pretty soon the bead will be clear of the rim; at this point just move the tire away from the wheel enough to jam a piece of wood in the gap and then release the clamp. Rotate the wheel 90 degrees, further away from the valve stem, again use the clamp and if needed a tire iron to open a gap between the tire and the wheel and stick another piece of wood in the gap. Do this in three places about 90 degrees apart and finally rotate the tire so that the valve stem (where there are no wood blocks) is facing the back of the bike.
4) Again position the clamp around the tire / wheel and begin to move the tire sidewall toward the middle of the wheel. It will move easily now that the bead is fully broken; you only need to basically squeeze the sidewall of the tire. Be careful as the tire bead approaches the center as it will move right across the TPS sensor and may actually touch it. If it does touch it, slip a tire iron between the wheel center and the tire bead to gently lift it away from the sensor and keep squeezing the clamp; the tire bead will move to the far side of the sensor.
5) The sensor will be fully exposed at this point (easy boys!) so just reach in with a hex wrench, remove the valve stem body (from the inside) and take out the sensor.

This is what it looked like when everything was in position to get to the sensor:

I have been tinkering around with trying to break the bead on the rear tire of a C-14 on the bike, then push one side of the tire over enough to get the TPS sensor out without removing the tire / wheel a**'y from the bike. I have not been successful as I do not have anything large enough in the way of a clamp or any way to deliver enough pressure to the bead.

We really wanted to see if this could be done before tech day as it will save a considerable amount of time replacing the batteries in the TPS sensors if we do not have to R&R the wheels, and get each tire and wheel into the tire machine.

This is also useful for anyone who wants to remove his / her own TPS sensor and replace the battery or send the sensor out to have someone else replace the battery but does NOT have a tire mounting machine. This method is done with wheels on the bike and nothing but the centerstand (although a small jack would be needed to do the front wheel of course).

Working with Pat Mulloy on Sat., we found a method that does work though using very conventional hand tools: he had a beam clamp large enough that it would reach around the tire. This is a very conventional one- hand clamp found at Home Depot, Lowes or similar, for use as a woodworking clamp. The key to the method that Pat came up with is using tire irons in combination with the clamp. So this is how we did it:

You will need at least one beam clamp, able to open at least 8" or more. Also at least two tire irons and three pieces of wood about 1 1/2" or so thick to hold the bead in the wheel's well.

1) remove the valve stem Schrader valve
2) put the clamp over the tire at about a 15 or so degree angle (to the axle) so that one jaw firmly grabs the wheel rim and the other jaw just misses the wheel and pushes only on the tire bead. Make sure the position of the clamp is at least 90 degrees away from the tire valve stem so there is no risk of damaging the sensor.
3) compress the clamp as far as it will go- this was not far enough to actually break the bead but it did leave a gap between the tire wall and the wheel rim; at this point, use the tire irons alternately above and below the clamp to further push the tire away from the rim. As the tire is forced toward the center of the wheel with the iron, take up any slack with the clamp. Pretty soon the bead will be clear of the rim; at this point just move the tire away from the wheel enough to jam a piece of wood in the gap and then release the clamp. Rotate the wheel 90 degrees, further away from the valve stem, again use the clamp and if needed a tire iron to open a gap between the tire and the wheel and stick another piece of wood in the gap. Do this in three places about 90 degrees apart and finally rotate the tire so that the valve stem (where there are no wood blocks) is facing the back of the bike.
4) Again position the clamp around the tire / wheel and begin to move the tire sidewall toward the middle of the wheel. It will move easily now that the bead is fully broken; you only need to basically squeeze the sidewall of the tire. Be careful as the tire bead approaches the center as it will move right across the TPS sensor and may actually touch it. If it does touch it, slip a tire iron between the wheel center and the tire bead to gently lift it away from the sensor and keep squeezing the clamp; the tire bead will move to the far side of the sensor.
5) The sensor will be fully exposed at this point (easy boys!) so just reach in with a hex wrench, remove the valve stem body (from the inside) and take out the sensor.

These are the clamps I use:



Bead broken on one side only:



On the far side, catch the wheel edge so as not to break that bead:



Put blocks in to hold the bead away from the rim as you go





This is what it looked like when everything was in position to get to the sensor: Be careful because just pushing the tire sideways WILL hit the sensor and break it if pushed hard enough: a tire iron is needed to coax the tire bead over the sensor.



Once the tire bead is pushed over and past the sensor, it is easy to remove it.

When finished, just remove the clamp (being careful to allow the tire bead to slide over the sensor without damaging it), then remove all the wooden blocks, apply some bead lube to the entire tire bead and inflate the tire to re- seat the bead. Install the valve stem valve, inflate the tire to the pressure you want and the bike is ready to go- no need to re- balance anything as the tire / wheel did not move (the far bead was not broken).

I think the whole thing would go faster and easier with two clamps but we did not have access to another one large enough. But using two clamps, I think the tire irons would not be needed at all and the whole thing would go considerably faster. I will give this a try if I get a chance before Tech. day.

Brian

Excellant Brian, thanks. When you get the other clamp you should do the front.

Excellant Brian, thanks. When you get the other clamp you should do the front.

And he needs a second elk hoof

Nicely done BDF.

Thank you.

Picked up two clamps similar to what is shown in the photo: they are both rated at 600 lbs. and I am <hoping> between the two of them I can break the bead w/out using irons at all. That would be the slickest, fastest and easiest way to do it. Give me a couple of days to fiddle with the bike and see. And yep, I will do the front wheel also to make sure that one  does not hold any surprises but I think (or is that hope?) the front will be the easier of the two.

Brian

Excellant Brian, thanks. When you get the other clamp you should do the front.

  Brian, thanks.

Are those clamps sold at Harbor Freight, I wonder? Hmmm.....

This is great news.  Too late for me, now, since they are installing the newer "tamper proof" ones under warranty right now.  But I am probably not handy enough to do this stuff anyway.

Well done Brian! Nice write up too.   

Excellent! I was able to get to the sensor by breaking the bead on my Nomar tire machine. I never thought of trying to do it on the bike and my tire machine is 1000 miles away. I need to get to my front sensor and this looks like a good solution.

FINALLY got my bike back from the dealer tonight from the TPS replacement and new tires.  Ironically, completely unprompted, the service manager said "you know, I have been able to replace the TPS without unmounting the tires using clamps, but it is not easy and I don't show my staff how to do that... at least not yet anyway."

Strange timing....

Did you get credit for tire labor so we can use this as a precedent when we get our TPS and tires replaced? Do tell..

Precedent means nothing to MC dealers.  They do what they want.  Find a good dealer and stick with them.

Did you get credit for tire labor so we can use this as a precedent when we get our TPS and tires replaced? Do tell..

No, but they would probably charge Kawasaki for that non-existent labor, then pocket the extra money/time.

No, but they would probably charge Kawasaki for that non-existent labor, then pocket the extra money/time.

Yep, with no one being the wiser.

Yep, with no one being the wiser.

I probably shouldn't make it sound so negative.  I am fairly sure Kawasaki does what [most?] all manufacturers do- they have a book with labor times in it.  They pay according to the book and could care less how long it actually takes.  If you are good/fast, you can make a LOT of money.  If you are poor/slow, you will lose your shirt.  So finding better/faster ways to fix things is really not a bad thing, as long as the quality of workmanship is still there... Kawasaki probably doesn't care.

The system is called 'flat rate' and it generally works very well. You got all the points except one: the workmanship factor is built into the system as well; if the work / repair is not right or the customer is not happy, the technician gets to do it again or make it acceptable on his / her dime, plus the company (the dealer) loses money by having work done under their roof without any incoming money on any re- work.

My experience with the system was a long time ago with GM and as I said, it worked well for everyone involved in my opinion. The labor times were set by Motor and most of them were pretty reasonable. Kawasaki is skewing the system by undervaluing the labor far too  much, again IMO. For example, they call for 3.2 hours on a valve lash / check and we all know that is just not going to happen, at least using Earth hours. They do this so they can cut down what they pay dealers for warranty work but it ends up tilting the whole system.

But still, the basic idea of flat rate is pure capitalism and can, and often does, work very well for all parties.

Brian

I probably shouldn't make it sound so negative.  I am fairly sure Kawasaki does what [most?] all manufacturers do- they have a book with labor times in it.  They pay according to the book and could care less how long it actually takes.  If you are good/fast, you can make a LOT of money.  If you are poor/slow, you will lose your shirt.  So finding better/faster ways to fix things is really not a bad thing, as long as the quality of workmanship is still there... Kawasaki probably doesn't care.

Kawasaki is skewing the system by undervaluing the labor far too  much, again IMO. For example, they call for 3.2 hours on a valve lash / check and we all know that is just not going to happen, at least using Earth hours. They do this so they can cut down what they pay dealers for warranty work but it ends up tilting the whole system.

Yep, that is the huge, major potential flaw with flat rates- if they don't list reasonable times, then it doesn't work well for the mechanic/shop who will then do one of the following:

* Complain to the manufacturer (takes time)
* Avoid doing warranty work by throwing in delays and "inconveniences" (hurts shop rep and inconveniences customers)
* Rush the job and make mistakes or just do it all poorly (hurts shop rep and hurts customers)
* Try to gouge the customer by making up other stuff that NOT covered and bill the customer (hurts shop rep and hurts customers)

I tried the video thingy and it just did not work out. So I went through the process and took a bunch of photos: think of this is a photo essay :-) 

First of all, I used these 12" long clamps. They come with a plastic jaw protector that I found got in the way and made the clamp slippery- they worked much better with the jaw covers removed.


Remove the valve stem and turn the wheel so the stem is facing down (more or less)- then put the first clamp on the back of the tire so that the moving jaw just touches the rim on the way by and put a little pressure on it:


In this position, the far jaw will firmly catch the wheel edge:


Put the second clamp about 3" or 4" away from the first clamp and put some pressure on that one too.


Alternate between the clamps moving the bead in until it is broken from the wheel:


Slip a block of wood in-between the wheel rim and the tire, between the clamps. I used a piece of 2X4:


Remove both clamps:


Rotate the tire about 70 or 75 degrees AWAY from the valve stem and again use the two clamps about 4" apart to squeeze the tire and place another block of wood between the tire and wheel- this time will be much easier because the bead has already been broken. Continue to do this until only the area immediately around the valve stem is left with the tire bead seated on the rim:


At this point, put both clamps on the tire again, about 5" apart and centered around the sensor and begin to squeeze the tire down but do NOT move the tire all the way to the center of the wheel because it will catch and break the sensor- this is the first part of this process that takes some care and fiddling. The sensor cannot be seen in this photo but it is immediately behind the tire bead; it is easy to tell where the sensor is because it is mounted to the valve stem:


With the tire held up near but not against the sensor, reach in with a tire iron or long, flat blade screwdriver and gently move the tire away from the wheel as you continue to squeeze just one clamp. The tire bead will slide over the sensor. It may and probably will drag on the sensor so be careful to go slowly here and not let anything bang or move suddenly. Once one edge of the tire bead is over the sensor, move the tire iron to the tire at the other end of the sensor and then squeeze the opposite clamp so that the entire tire bead is over the sensor:


Once the bead is over the sensor, carefully squeeze both clamps, a bit at at time, and watch the tire slide over the sensor body until it is on the other side. Again, go easy here because the sensor is plastic and if the tire catches it and lots of pressure is used on the clamps, it will break. Finally, the entire bead will be on the far side of the sensor and the sensor itself can be removed using a hex wrench:


Once the new battery is in the sensor and the sensor reinstalled in the wheel, again use a tire iron to help get the tire bead over and past the sensor as the clamps are released a little bit at a time. Once the entire sensor is 'behind' the tire bead, release the clamps, remove all wood blocks, check to make sure the wheel and tire bead are clean (clean them if needed), apply a bit of rubber lube to the entire bead and inflate the tire to again seat the bead. Then install the valve stem and inflate the tire to the final pressure.

The rear sensor can be tested by putting the bike on the centerstand, starting the bike and running the rear wheel up to ~20 MPH (any gear although 4th or 5th is quieter and less jerky on the centerstand) for about a minute. Before doing this, put the bike's LCD readout on the tire pressure screen and once the rear TPS has turned on, a reading will show on the screen if the battery replacement worked.

There is no easy way to test the front sensor without riding the bike that I know of. There are several difficult ways but the most fun ones would involve an electric drill and a large sanding drum to spin the front tire up. 

Edited to add 27 April 2015:   You can test the front sensor by tieing a string to the stem and swinging it around in a large circle, about 5' in diameter. Turn the ignition on, turn the display to tire pressure and swing the sensor pretty fast for at least 60 seconds: the display should read: 0 PSI (which is correct when the sensor is not inside a tire) and the display will flash the 'Low tire pressure' warning.

Brian and then Brian again.

I tried the video thingy and it just did not work out. So I went through the process and took a bunch of photos: think of this is a photo essay :-) 

Excellent