TX500 oil filter warning!

[ramblerdrver]

There's a seller on eBay that sells filters for the TX500 & XS500 at about $45 for 3 filters. I got them and today decided to change oil and filter on my recently aquired 1974 TX500. THE FILTERS FROM THIS SELLER WON"T FIT!!! On casual observation these filters look like the one I removed from my bike (I don't know how old this filter was, but it was very dificult to remove and install due close clearance to the rear lower corner of left side crankcase cover...you need to position it "just right" to get it to go into the filter area). Closer inspectiuon, tho, showed these eBay filters had a more squared off top surface in relation to the side of the filter, compared to the old one I removed, where the top surface angled down a bit to the sides. This, in effect, made the ebay filters longer then the old one and prevented then from being inserted into the filter area. I had read elsewhere that some filters for the TX/XS500 need to have the top dented in to fit...so I tried that and it worked...BUT doing so can damage the filter media inside (I later cut it open and found I had also bent in the top surface of the media assembly inside). Fortunately I had another filter I got from Speed & Sport Yamaha which fit fine, so I used that.

So these eBay filters are useless...unless I want to cut off the rear lower corner of the left side crankcase cover. Guess that wouldn't actually hurt anything, but it would look rather crude.

So beware of these eBay filters. Also, the oring supplied with them seems a bit to small in cross section diameter, so not sure if it will effectively seal.

[LostCost]

I bought the same filters. The 3 I received are all different lengths, only one of them fit without some coaxing from a hammer.