To replace the battery do you have to remove the middle right panel?

[fcnorton]

I have to replace my battery and wondered whether I could just remove the lower right panel to get access or if the whole right side needed to come off?

Thanks for your help!

[DuckMan]

I do. It may be a pain but it's better than breaking some very expensive plastic.

[fcnorton]

The answer is NO...just removing/loosing the lower right panel does not give sufficient access to replace the battery.

As you can see from my signature, I have the 2007 ST3. I loosened the lower and then removed the middle right panel after loosing up all the top dash/windshield bolts. Removal was really easy...HOWEVER.

It took some "manipulating" to get the middle right panel back on...things in my favor...it was WARM, low to mid 70's AND I took my time and didn't force anything. I wish I could tell you the "trick" but I worked with it until it just fit.

Bottom line is that it is DOABLE...even for a mechanical "spaz" like me.

Good luck!

PS: Thanks for all the hints in the Sticky section on battery replacement. I made DAMN sure that it was facing the right direction before hooking everything up in the order outlined. No problems...back to my daily commute!

[Mad Dog]

was able to do it on my 2004 ST4 by just removing the lower fairing a loosening up some of the top screws and the big on on the middle fairing.

[Ken]

Caution: Refer to Sticky above on properly connecting the battery. Its very easy to hook up the battery backwards in this battery box (positive to negative, negative to positive), especially when using the Yuasa battery.

I just finished a valve adjustment on my ST3 and did just that. It fried my ST3s ECU. Luckily, the good folks at Ducati Omaha are re-flashing a used ECU for about $400. A new one would have cost well over $1000. A very costly mistake.

[Stick]

I've owned ST# 's for about 10 years now. If/when I need to get into the battery area, I've ALWAYS removed the entire right side skin (starting at the dashboard, mirrors, front fairing, then right side. Never in my 10 years have I even separated the lower from the mid. I can't see any reason to (xcept for damage, maybe?).

FWIW, I actually R+R'd the huge wet-cell batt. from my ST2 one time, without removing any fairing pieces. Just to 2 belly bolts, the big side bolt, and flexed the fairing out, proped w/ ductape roll. Oh, I cheated a bit ahead of time and had access to the + terminal (modified the right air-conveyer). But the rest was done "by feel".