TOPIC:

I recently acquired a 1981 KZ1300A that's sat for many years indoors, but not climate controlled.  I want to remove the right side engine cover to get at the nut to turn the engine over, but it appears to be spring loaded.  I can pull it out an inch but feel tension as if a spring is drawing it back; the service manual does not address this.  I have not forced it yet; what is the trick to getting this thing off?

The wires might be going under the drive shaft cover. DO NOT FORCE IT.
Steve

According to parts diagrams it looks like that's the generator cover - magnets pulling the cover back in. I'm not familiar with 1300s, maybe there's a different place to turn the engine with?

As long as there aren't any wires attached to the cover you're working with, just pull and it'll come. Watch your fingers. 

There is a set of wires that run from the underbelly of the bike and into the cover and I traced them to a connecter.  There is enough slack for me to remove the cover w/o pulling them out, but I don't know if there are more within.

Yes, I do believe that the generator is right there and I wondered if there was some kind of magnetic draw, but I will wait to see if someone else chimes in.  If there are wires running directly from the cover to the generator, then I have no idea how I am supposed to remove the cover.  All I can see inside is something resembling a bell or cover that would rotate while the engine runs.

Bill will know... 

wrote:

According to parts diagrams it looks like that's the generator cover - magnets pulling the cover back in. I'm not familiar with 1300s, maybe there's a different place to turn the engine with?

As long as there aren't any wires attached to the cover you're working with, just pull and it'll come. Watch your fingers. 
 

^ This is the correct answer.

That was the right answer. I pulled the cover off, turned the engine over, and will sleep better tonight knowing that it is not stuck. I didn’t want to just jerk the cover off without checking with an expert first.

In case anyone is interested, I just got this bike only has 5000 miles on it. I got it in trade for resurrecting the owner’s other motorcycle, a KZ1100, that I have made inquiries about elsewhere on this forum.  When I am done I may post before and after pictures of my near new KZ1300.

check out KZ1300.COM. Everything you want to know right there.