[2cati]

Great post !!! I’ll have to do this enhancement soon before my radiator fails....

 

[2cati]

This is an awesome post - I had some time today and inspected my radiator - looks to be fine - me seeing the deformation. That said, I enlarged the holes on the plastic mounts (elongated them vertically) and used loctite but didn’t snug them down all the way so the “wings” can move without pushing on the rad. I didn’t know WP made radiators

 

[2cati]

All this radiator leak talk has ended my procrastination so I decided to start looking at this as I have been doing some long day rides.

I should note that I have an evotech rad guard on the bike.
So took off the side panels and inspected the radiator for deformation and wasn’t able to see any comparing it to a straight edge - a good sign.

The next thing I noticed that I wasn’t aware of is the shoulder screws have Somme sort of plastic washer built in - I never noticed this before.

it’s almost like a low friction washer?

The next thing I noticed is the side panels seem to already have enlarged holes - as if to allow movement however, tightening these down lock the side panel in my opinion. If the side panel material was thinner or the shoulder height higher, it would alow the panel to float.

Now this is the top hole. Interestingly the lower hole has a horizontal slot.

My preference is to add some washer shims that will effectively raise the shoulder but I don’t have time to source them. I may just temporarily remove these plastic washers allowing more clearance for the panels. I will use loctite and not torque them down.
I’ll also elongate the holes to allow for more vertical movement if required….

It’s almost like KTM knew they needed to make the panels float without putting pressure on the radiator…..perhaps I’m giving them too much credit

 

[2cati]

I removed the washer and I suspect this deforms and wedges itself in the side panel hole making it rigidly attached to the radiator.

I test fit the shoulder screw without the plastic washer in the panel and it should allow the panel to float …and secure my radiator guard.

I’m going to try this for now (remove the plastic washers) and see how it works (floats) - hopefully no secondary issues.

All this makes sense based on the videos however the only caveat is if KTMs intent was for the panels to also support the radiator as the top radiator mounts were not enough….I’ll try it - it cant make things worse…

 

[2cati]

Put the panels back on and they definitely float without moving the radiator and my radiator guard is solidly mounted. I’ll try this for now.

I’ll see how it goes and in the winter when I check my valve clearances - tank will be removed - I’ll beef up the rubber pads/mounts….and likely Mish’s method with he 5mm*30mm screws/grommets/washers.

 

[2cati]

2cati, summarizing what you did here... You just simply removed the plastic washer and then didn't "snug" down the bolts but instead used loktite to keep them from falling back out on you?

That was my initial intent but once I removed the plastic washers, there is enough clearance for the plastic side panels to float while tightened properly - I still use loctite. You can see in the photo below the shoulder of the screw extends past the plastic, so when tightened down, the plastic will float. Hope this helps.

 

[2cati]

All points of contact from the fairings would exert pressure on the radiator according to the video - why don’t you just leave out the top 2 and move your tank downward and see if the radiator moves…

 

[2cati]

My tank was off for my 30kkm Maintenance 2018 SDR) and when I put it back I was shocked how much movement there was - as others have mentioned those round rubber mounts are so loose in the tank “cups”…so I decided to build them up with tape (for hockey equipment) - made a huge difference in reducing the movement..