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she cleans up real good! & doohicky question.
Posted: Thu Sep 02, 2004 11:07 pm
by icemanrulz2001
First off Thanks to all the info and help today! I went to check
out the 99 KLR and the dealer had cleaned her up nice. It looked
super good! Looks like it never saw a rain day or mud ever. I could
not pass it up at that price (thanks to help here).
Ok so I asked about the balancer and previous owner up
keep....blank look staring back at me. QUESTION: Should I go ahead
and open her up ASAP and check the balancer and spring? Runs great,
idols real nice. Starts right up cold (no choke). Did not hear any
bad sounding things...but I may not know what to listen for.
This was a Honda dealer...no Kawasaki dealer local... will I need
new gaskets for sure (from your exp.)?
I will click some picks after I pick her up tomorrow.
Thanks
Steve
she cleans up real good! & doohicky question.
Posted: Thu Sep 02, 2004 11:23 pm
by bigfatgreenbike
icemanrulz2001@... wrote:
> Ok so I asked about the balancer and previous owner up
>keep....blank look staring back at me.
>
Kawasaki dealers do this too.
> QUESTION: Should I go ahead
>and open her up ASAP and check the balancer and spring? Runs great,
>idols real nice. Starts right up cold (no choke). Did not hear any
>bad sounding things...but I may not know what to listen for.
>
Doesn't really make any particular noise. Some KLRs have really noisy
balancer chains, some don't. They'll run sometimes thousands of miles
with the doohickey or spring busted. If I were buying the bike I would
check.
> This was a Honda dealer...no Kawasaki dealer local... will I need
>new gaskets for sure (from your exp.)?
>
I've done three myself and sat in on a few more. Never needed a gasket,
but that was because I had a spare sitting on the garage shelf
(according to the Murphy's Law corrollary that states if you have spent
lots of money to prepare for something inevitably going wrong, nothing
will).
Do you feel lucky?
Devon
she cleans up real good! & doohicky question.
Posted: Thu Sep 02, 2004 11:30 pm
by wannabsmooth1
--- In
DSN_klr650@yahoogroups.com, "icemanrulz2001"
wrote:
> First off Thanks to all the info and help today! I went to check
> out the 99 KLR and the dealer had cleaned her up nice. It looked
> super good! Looks like it never saw a rain day or mud ever. I
could
> not pass it up at that price (thanks to help here).
> Ok so I asked about the balancer and previous owner up
> keep....blank look staring back at me. QUESTION: Should I go ahead
> and open her up ASAP and check the balancer and spring? Runs great,
> idols real nice. Starts right up cold (no choke). Did not hear any
> bad sounding things...but I may not know what to listen for.
> This was a Honda dealer...no Kawasaki dealer local... will I need
> new gaskets for sure (from your exp.)?
> I will click some picks after I pick her up tomorrow.
>
> Thanks
> Steve
Steve,
It sure wouldn't hurt, and will put your mind at ease afterwards. A
guy called me today - he had a used bike, 22K on it. Opened it up and
the lever was broken. The broken piece was sucked up against the oil
intake screen. He had asked the dealer about the lever, and got the
usual "deer in the headlights" look. "I don't know what you are
talking about - the is not a problem in there." If the factory parts
have not been changed out, your bike will be a little smoother, and
quiter, especiially at idle.
I used to think the numbers of broken levers was about 5%. Lately,
I've had to revise that upwards.
All the best,
Mike
Eagle Mfg & Eng since 1990
San
she cleans up real good! & doohicky question.
Posted: Fri Sep 03, 2004 7:45 am
by Jim
Friday, September 3, 2004, 12:07:19 AM, icemanrulz2001 wrote:
i> Ok so I asked about the balancer and previous owner up
i> keep....blank look staring back at me. QUESTION: Should I go ahead
i> and open her up ASAP and check the balancer and spring? Runs great,
I'd open her up and check valves first - and while you are in there
might as well do the doohickey. I'd open her up and see if you need
shims, then order them and the doohickey from Fred. You'll have a
little downtime but peace of mind afterwards.
i> This was a Honda dealer...no Kawasaki dealer local... will I need
i> new gaskets for sure (from your exp.)?
Again - I'd take it apart and see if the old gaskets come off or not.
If not - order them with shims and doohickey. Fred is fast so if you
tear it apart one weekend, order stuff Sun/Mon - you'll get parts by
Wed/Thur most likely and can have it buttoned up in a week.
------------------------------------------
jim - A12 - somewhere in central NC
[dsn_klr650] sloppy manufacture???
Posted: Fri Sep 03, 2004 10:56 am
by Rey Odejar
Good grief/. Ur right, BMW? No way. Kawi - cheap and
reliable and fun to ride. My son love it. I'll get
another one once they change the color. Hey! what can
i say, magenta is not for me.
rey a17
--- Mike Peplinski wrote:
> To:
DSN_klr650@yahoogroups.com
> From: "Mike Peplinski"
> Date: Fri, 03 Sep 2004 10:39:36 -0500
> Subject: [DSN_klr650] Sloppy Manufacture???
>
> In a current thread one of the readers refers to the
> KLR (my beloved KLR) as
> sloppy manufacturing" and I've seen other references
> to "cheap" and such. To
> which I say 1/ bullshit 2/ why aren't more of you up
> in arms. If you want to
> see shabby manufacturing methods, look at a Ducati.
> They may look good on
> the surface, but how about repairs? Doesn't honda
> and Yamaha (Suzuki too)
> have a service department to repair things that
> break through no fault of
> the rider? Don't they sell more of some parts than
> others due to quesionable
> design or manuyfacture? Every bike, ot every
> machine, for that matter, has a
> "doohickey" somewhere. The highly revered BMW, icon
> of longevity, has many
> many (many many) sore spot-trust me, I know. Shabby
> manufacture? I'll grant
> you there are a few gaps in places I would not
> expect them, but I've never
> seen a bike on the showroom floor that was
> absolutely perfect. Cheap design?
> From what I"ve read, right here on the list, the KLR
> is damn hear bullet
> proof. Some of you riders beat the living piss out
> of your bike and it comes
> back for more. Many of these KLR's go near 100,000
> miles before wearing out.
> I Harleys did that-well I don't even know what would
> happen. You can go
> through 2 KLR's for the price of an F60, 3 if you
> opt for the GS. True,
> there may be a few corners that have been cut to
> save bucks but buys, thats
> mass manufacturing. How many opf you have bid on
> parts for automobiles.
> Luxury cars are built with the same "lowest bidder"
> practice as must about
> everything else in our world. I"m almost out of rant
> now so those of you who
> refer to the KLR as cheaply made or designed-sell it
> off to someone who
> appreciates it for what it is-one of the best "bang
> for the buck"
> motorcycles out there. Let me ask, if they raised
> the price a few hundred,
> put in a new design chain balance lever and made it
> so the mirrors didn't
> break off so easily, would you like it more? would
> you have a better bike?
> DONE
>
>
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she cleans up real good! & doohicky question.
Posted: Fri Sep 03, 2004 12:05 pm
by James
----- Original Message -----
From: "icemanrulz2001"
To: DSN_klr650@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Friday, September 03, 2004 12:07 AM
Subject: [DSN_klr650] She cleans up real good! & Doohicky question.
>
> First off Thanks to all the info and help today! I went to check
> out the 99 KLR and the dealer had cleaned her up nice. It looked
> super good! Looks like it never saw a rain day or mud ever. I could
> not pass it up at that price (thanks to help here).
> Ok so I asked about the balancer and previous owner up
> keep....blank look staring back at me. QUESTION: Should I go ahead
> and open her up ASAP and check the balancer and spring? Runs great,
> idols real nice. Starts right up cold (no choke). Did not hear any
> bad sounding things...but I may not know what to listen for.
> This was a Honda dealer...no Kawasaki dealer local... will I need
> new gaskets for sure (from your exp.)?
> I will click some picks after I pick her up tomorrow.
>
> Thanks
> Steve
____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________
Ok . What is it about the *doohickey* that MAKES it break?
Is it hard shifting, speedshifting, downshifting when the RPM's are too
high? WHAT?
Reason being is that, some on the list are reporting that at 4000 miles they
are having problems with it while others report that after 30-40-50,000
miles no problems with anything.
At a Kawi dealer yesterday, the sales man and the mechanic I know there
report that the engine is reliable and after all these years, "Kawasaki is
still making them"
So what is going on?
Jim
she cleans up real good! & doohicky question.
Posted: Fri Sep 03, 2004 12:21 pm
by Ron Crandell
--- In
DSN_klr650@yahoogroups.com, Jim wrote:
> Friday, September 3, 2004, 12:07:19 AM, icemanrulz2001 wrote:
> i> Ok so I asked about the balancer and previous owner up
> i> keep....blank look staring back at me. QUESTION: Should I go
ahead
> i> and open her up ASAP and check the balancer and spring? Runs
great,
>
> I'd open her up and check valves first - and while you are in there
> might as well do the doohickey. I'd open her up and see if you need
> shims, then order them and the doohickey from Fred. You'll have a
> little downtime but peace of mind afterwards.
>
> i> This was a Honda dealer...no Kawasaki dealer local... will I
need
> i> new gaskets for sure (from your exp.)?
>
> Again - I'd take it apart and see if the old gaskets come off or
not.
> If not - order them with shims and doohickey. Fred is fast so if you
> tear it apart one weekend, order stuff Sun/Mon - you'll get parts by
> Wed/Thur most likely and can have it buttoned up in a week.
>
> ------------------------------------------
> jim - A12 - somewhere in central NC
OR, order the shim "kit" from Fred, and no more worries. While
ordering, get the "doohickey" parts/tools and order both of the
gaskets then as well. Also, while on the phone, get the gasket for
the right side so you can clean out the oil strainer. Now, you're
ready and you can do it in one sitting..
Ron in MN (long winters here to get most of this stuff done, but I
still seem to do a rush job during the riding season... oh well.)