By Rob Hancill
Videos
12 Comments

How to remove battery and motor from Levo SL

[MEDIA=youtube]SiuRrQ1aX7I[/MEDIA]

This is how you remove the Specialized Turbo Levo SL 1.1 motor and internal battery. Useful if you ever want to just use the 160Wh Range Extender only, saving 800g weight, or want to be able to put the bike on an aeroplane where you may be restricted by the 320Wh internal battery.

I’ve had a few rides on just the range extender only and it works really well. As it reaches the last 20% power does drop off considerably, but thats understandably as it the battery voltage drops.

Please note, that riding without the main battery could risk water ingress in the main battery connector if not correctly sealed. With 2 open battery holes located on the down tube I’d recommend that you exercise caution in wet weather. Although the battery connector can be sealed with plastic wrap / tape, there is still a chance of water ingress as it is no longer connected directly to the battery with the water tight plug. The motor is water tight. Marine-grade seals mean the motor is dust and waterproof to IP66 & IP67 standards,

Tags
Rob Hancill
Creator of EMTB Forums. Owner of many cameras, computers and a couple of EMTB's. I also make YouTube videos on bikes and stuff.

12 Comments

  1. Excellent video.

    Is the whole crank and chaining set-up proprietary to the Levo SL?

    No crank extractor needed! Chain ring isn’t attached to the crank, and is nipped on with one bolt! Mind. Blown.

  2. Nice one Rob… good to see how simple it is.

    I had my motor pivoting on the 2 rear bolts when I had an issue with the routing of my brake cable – and never had to remove the cranks or chain ring. I wasn’t trying to remove the battery, but assume I could have taken it out when the motor was loose?

    What is the crank lock ring tool? I’m going to be swapping my cranks soon, and will need to buy one in preparation!

  3. [QUOTE=”p3eps, post: 174537, member: 7193″]
    I had my motor pivoting on the 2 rear bolts when I had an issue with the routing of my brake cable – and never had to remove the cranks or chain ring. I wasn’t trying to remove the battery, but assume I could have taken it out when the motor was loose?
    [/QUOTE]
    I’m not sure you’d be able to angle the motor back enough without removing the chain ring – swing arm will likely get in the way, the chain ring coming into contact with it:

  4. [QUOTE=”p3eps, post: 174537, member: 7193″]
    What is the crank lock ring tool? I’m going to be swapping my cranks soon, and will need to buy one in preparation!
    [/QUOTE]
    It’s just a Lock ring cassette tool.

  5. FYI – guy on Facebook says you can actually remove it without taking crank off, you just need to drop the whole motor out, so take out all 6 bolts, motor will drop down instead of pivot back. Another option for you.

  6. [QUOTE=”Rob Hancill, post: 174690, member: 1″]
    FYI – guy on Facebook says you can actually remove it without taking crank off, you just need to drop the whole motor out, so take out all 6 bolts, motor will drop down instead of pivot back. Another option for you.
    [/QUOTE]

    That would be me ..

    I only did it as my sensor cable was pulled out to far due to planet3 needing the sensor cable to be extra slack but i pulled to much out and would not go back into the frame and so i had to pull it back through the main motor bay with motor out .

    John

  7. [QUOTE=”p3eps, post: 174537, member: 7193″]

    What is the crank lock ring tool? I’m going to be swapping my cranks soon, and will need to buy one in preparation!
    [/QUOTE]

    From emailing Praxis the lock ring is what the extractor pushes on and it is not to be removed. I removed the right side crank using only the 8 mm bolt, as Praxis recommended.

  8. Great video again Rob.

    Is it just me, or does anyone else see the irony that after almost every manufacturer has spent the last 18 months changing from external to internal batteries we’re now modding the only company who always did internals to externals? 🙂

    Gordon

  9. [QUOTE=”boBE, post: 174893, member: 8831″]
    From emailing Praxis the lock ring is what the extractor pushes on and it is not to be removed. I removed the right side crank using only the 8 mm bolt, as Praxis recommended.
    [/QUOTE]

    Do I not even need to slacken the lock ring before removing the 8mm bolt?

  10. Dont you need to cover up the battery bolt holes in the frame to prevent water/dirt ingress?

  11. [QUOTE=”R120, post: 175008, member: 291″]
    Dont you need to cover up the battery bolt holes in the frame to prevent water/dirt ingress?
    [/QUOTE]

    Was thinking the same. If it’s a standard M4 or M5 bolt hole, I expect you can get a rubber plug to pop in. £5 for a bag of 200, probably…

  12. [QUOTE=”p3eps, post: 175007, member: 7193″]
    Do I not even need to slacken the lock ring before removing the 8mm bolt?
    [/QUOTE]
    I didn’t, here is what Praxis wrote to me: “Use an 8mm allen wrench and turn the bolt counter clock wise. That’s it. Don’t touch the cap surrounding the 8mm allen bolt. ”

    I rotated the crank until it was horizontal and put blocks of wood underneath to support it while using a breaker bar with a 8mm Allen socket to remove it and to reinstall it (and torque wrench to finish tightening).

Copyright 2022 EMTB Forums