[Dav466]

I'm making some saddle bag brackets and wanting to weld (tack) the brackets whilst attached to the bike. I have disconnected the battery and I was going to disconnect the CDI but couldn't find it under the seat. Is it under the tank? Its a 2013 gen 2 model. Thanks

 

[skypupbob]

As a lifelong welder, I have welded on many vehicles and have never had any electrical problems.
This is not to say that there won't be a problem, just that I haven't had any.
By all means disconnect the battery, but the main thing is to make sure the welder has a GOOD GROUND .Also put the ground clamp right next to where you are welding so the electricity affects less of the bike.
Grind off the paint so you get a GOOD GROUND !!!

 

[Toney]

If you're just tacking, why not tack with gas?

 

[KLR Kool-Aid!]

I had some welding done on my bike (2014.5) and was similarly concerned about frying the KLR's "advanced electronic systems". The welder had worked on KLRs may times before, encouraged me to disconnect the battery leads and did grind off a little paint to get that good local ground (mentioned above), but he didn't think that it was necessary to disconnect the CDI (Igniter). For what it's worth, in this particualr scene, nothing got fried and the bike started fine.

I may be mistaken, but I think that the Igniter unit is located on the right side of the top fairing - it's easy enough to unplug, but such a pain to get to it unless you already have the top fairing off, it might not be worth the effort.

Good luck!

 

[Minter]

It's not so much about 'what to remove' as 'where to place the earth' - by which I mean the earth on the set......keep the earth clamp local to the weld & you'll be okay, attach it to a wheel spoke & watch the bike light up!