balancer chain break/engine rebuild update

[Krgrife@aol.com]

Last weekend I loaded up my KLR which had been stripped of bodywork and headed south to San Diego. I met Elden Carl at his home at 7AM on Tues and we spent the Fourth of July stripping my bike. With both of us working and Elden giving directions it went surprising quickly and by noon we had the engine out and dismantled right down to splitting the cases and dismantling the tranny and pulling the crankshaft. The bottom end of my motor looks fine as does the tranny. There is one shift fork that has a little wear and will be replaced even though it would probably be ok. Also a couple of bearings but all in all the bottom end was in good shape. My clutch basket was ok with no broken springs but it will be updated to the newer version when the motor goes back together. It appears that my damaged left side engine case is repairable, I have a local friend near where I live who is an engine builder (his motors hold a number of Bonneville records) and he is handling that repair. He will probably also do the head rebuild and on Monday is checking my cylinder and piston to see if I need to have it bored. All in all the process is moving along and I hope to have it all back together in the next 30 days. I spent this morning lubing the Uni-Trak linkage, both the swing arm and suspension cross bolts were corroded and difficult to get out. If you haven't lubed those lately I would highly recommend it. My shock is going to ProAction suspension in San Luis Obispo for rebuild and new Progressive LR Series spring, probably won't do the forks until the bike is back together. All in all a very educational process, I've learned a tremendous amount about the bike. I'll continue to post updates as I continue the project. Kurt Grife Avila Beach, Ca