Hand warmer removal question...

[sleddineinar]

My 96 600xt has a broken left handwarmer. The handwarmer still warms about 3/4 of the way down, but is broken about 1 1/2" from the end. I have a badly bent handlebar with the same type of handwarmers. What is the best way to remove the unbroken handwarmers from the bent bars without ruining them?

 

[JDViper]

I was just going to write this thread. I had to change my throttle and need to get a hand warmer back on. I had to cut the old one off.

 

[Backwoods M Max]

Your not really going to have the best of luck trying to remove them for re-use. I reused my grips and ended up tearing the wires inside them, it gave me an intermittent fault code when you would twist them just right. There is no good way to get all the old glue out of the old ones to get them to stick again. Not sure if I did it wrenching them free the first time, or when they were hot when I wrenched them free the second time while riding and they were hot. Others may have good luck, but being cheap left me frustrated/panicking all the way back to the truck, then pissed having to do new stick on heaters and grip wrap in the middle of the winter.

 

[snowdad4]

heres a trick i have done for years with about a 90+% success rate. common sense and good judgement factor in as does a bit of finesse.

i simply take a battery charger and attach the leads to the grip wires. polarity makes no difference and i actually have an extra bullet connector for the female. heat the grip with the charger. no charger? just make yourself a jumper to a 12 volt battery.

let the grip get good and hot(need a glove, leather is good) and slowly twist it back and forth while pulling back. you will know when that grip is ready to get off. of course you need to have the rivet drilled before heating, dont forget that step. the heat from the grip will break most glue bonds. the trick is not to animal the grip. back to line one with the finesse, judgement, common sense. should also add patience. dont overdo it with the heat and sometimes a few heat cycles repeated are in your favor.

inducing 12v straight into the grip will heat those things like you have never felt. good luck! slow curing 2 part epoxy is a good adhesive for the new grips if youre going back with an oem style grip. you can set the cure with heat as well.

 

[sleddineinar]

Aha! That's why I love this site so much!! Thanks snowdad! After thinking about it a bit I was wondering if heat would work, I thought about heating the bars with a torch, but using the grip itself is much safer. Thanks! I'll try this tomorrow.

 

[JDViper]

Thats exactly what i tried. Guess i didnt give it long enough.

 

[sleddineinar]

I used a battery charger and let warmed the grips up, using a little twisting action and the grips popped right off. Thanks snowdad!

 

[sxr70001]

I used to work in a bike shop when I was a teenager and to get grips off we would put the air nozzle in the hole in one grip and put our finger over the other hole and they would pop right off. Probably using Snowdad trick to warm up the glue and using the air it would pop right off too.

 

[snowdad4]

air wont do you any good in this application. the hot grips are rigid with a plastic type tube that the the coils for heat wrap around. you get no expansion like you do from a bike grip that simply rubber. been there, done that. but, if you had heaters to the bars and aftermarket grips like the dirt bikes than you air theory works. completely different adhesives between the two.

glad that worked for you sleddineiar. like i said, doesnt work all the time, its grip condition dependant, but its free to try with nothing to lose. and the cleanup is much easier than knifing them off. barrel sander on a dremel or die grinder cleans out the insides of any remaining adhesive.