A number of the screws on our 1400's (and most Japanese bikes) might LOOK like Phillips heads - but aren't.
Using a Phillips driver will not work well, and can possibly lead to the screw head being stripped.
These screws as actually
JIS type (
Japanese Industrial Standard) and using the correct screwdriver as opposed to the wrong one is like chalk and cheese.
Use the right tool - get the right result.
The screws are usually (but not always) identified with a dot on the screw head, and the 'slots' may be shallower than what you are used to seeing on a Phillips.
Oh and notably JIS will happily drive phillips heads
This article goes into more detail with images etc.
https://revlimiter.net/blog/2014/09/the-japanese-phillips-jis-screwdrivers/If anyone has any better references/links please let me know below, and I'll update this post.
Do you need a set of JIS drivers?
Well, it's an excuse to buy more tools so yes.
Certainly if you are working on a lot of jap bikes and/or machinery it'll pay dividends to invest in a set.
Consider also getting a few JIS impact drivers, if your existing impact driver set doesn't include any.
Alternatively if you only have a few screws to deal with and manage to get them out with a phillips, you could always replace them with a hex head or allen head type. (those have their own problems of course, but that's a whole other discussion)
For those interested in a more detailed look at the evolution of different screw driver systems this is a
very interesting read:
https://www.instructables.com/id/When-a-Phillips-is-not-a-Phillips/see especially 7,8,10 when it comes to the topic at hand.
You'll see that the specific use case for which the phillips head was designed makes it less than ideal for other applications.
