i rode the f800gs yesterday

[Yan]

to do the "doo" I will have to remove the shifter, so before I do that should I leave the bike in gear or in neutral or it doesn't matter? Thanks.

[Jeff Saline]

On Tue, 03 Oct 2006 21:57:39 -0000 "Yan" writes:

> to do the "doo" I will have to remove the shifter, so before I do > that > should I leave the bike in gear or in neutral or it doesn't matter? > > Thanks.

<><><><><><><> <><><><><><><> Yan, I'd put it in neutral so I could turn the engine over as desired without turning the rear wheel or having to hold in the clutch. The rotor holder tool will keep it from turning when you get to removing or replacing the rotor bolt. Leave the footpeg on so you can brace the rotor holder tool against it. Best, Jeff Saline ABC # 4412 South Dakota Airmarshal Airheads Beemer Club www.airheads.org The Beautiful Black Hills of South Dakota 75 R90/6, 03 KLR650, 79 R100RT

[Norm Keller]

Doesn't matter but neutral will avoid the bike moving if you get a bit frisky breaking the flywheel bolt loose. HIH Norm [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[Spike55]

Use a chisel or punch to mark the position of the shifter lever relative to the shaft so it can back together at the same location as before. Don R100, A6F

--- In DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com, "Yan" wrote: > > to do the "doo" I will have to remove the shifter, so before I do that > should I leave the bike in gear or in neutral or it doesn't matter? > > Thanks. >

[Neil Doane]

Okay, now I -know- this has been talked to death, so feel free to ignore this post as it comes from a total KLR newbie and, frankly, may even sound inflamatory to some (though I certainly don't mean it to be that way). I'm just wondering about how many people have -actually- had the doohickey fail. When I asked the guys at Rocky Mountain Kawasaki about it, they referred me to the head mechanic there who told me that he'd been working on Kawis since 1987 on a ton of KLRs that live in the mountains most of their lives and had never seen one fail, _ever_, from natural causes. He said he's seen a couple fail because someone was working on it themselves and tightened down the bolt too tight and split the piece apart, but that he honestly believed it was just an urban myth that they break or are something to be concerned about. I'm curious: I know there are a lot of KLR guys on this list with a lot of KLR experience. So tell me, is he just some weird statistical anomaly that has never seen this part actually fail? How many on this list have actually had the part fail on them in the field? Thanks! Neil

[Scott]

My opinion is the lead mechanic is FOS. I am new as well, about 2 months, so I have very little first hand evidence. I asked the guy at the parts counter at Rocky Mountain Kawasaki and he said he had heard of the doohickey failing. I will go down there and talk to this "lead" mechanic on saturday. Is this the RM Kawasaki in Colorado Springs? Obviously, asking the one "go to" mechanic" about a structural failure that should have been the subject of a recall, or at worst should have been corrected 15 years ago, is a waste of time. I would sooner believe a politician with hundred dollar bills hanging out of his pocket if he was crooked. End as I started, My opinion. Second hand evidence is that I have read here and elsewhere, literally dozens of accounts of the failure with pictures. Either the spring breaks, which seems most common, or the doohickey breaks in two. I plan on replacing mine soon on my `07, unless I can find a service bulletin that says the problem was corrected. Oh ya, welcome Neil and if you are in the Springs I hear that the KLR (and other dual sport) owners get together at Apex Motorsports about 9am every saturday for a ride. I may be able to do it this weekend. Of course with a foot of snow on the ground this morning I had to take the boring cage to work. If the snow pack melts by lunch I will go home and get the bike. --- In DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com, "Neil Doane" wrote:

> > Okay, now I -know- this has been talked to death, so feel free to > ignore this post as it comes from a total KLR newbie and, frankly,

may

> even sound inflamatory to some (though I certainly don't mean it to

be

> that way). > > I'm just wondering about how many people have -actually- had the > doohickey fail. When I asked the guys at Rocky Mountain Kawasaki > about it, they referred me to the head mechanic there who told me

that

> he'd been working on Kawis since 1987 on a ton of KLRs that live in > the mountains most of their lives and had never seen one fail,

_ever_,

> from natural causes. He said he's seen a couple fail because

someone

> was working on it themselves and tightened down the bolt too tight

and

> split the piece apart, but that he honestly believed it was just an > urban myth that they break or are something to be concerned about. > > I'm curious: I know there are a lot of KLR guys on this list with a > lot of KLR experience. So tell me, is he just some weird

statistical

> anomaly that has never seen this part actually fail? How many on

this

> list have actually had the part fail on them in the field? > > Thanks! > > > Neil >

[Dennis Holm]

I posed the same question to Brian of South Valley Yamaha/Kawasaki, who yas worked there for 8 years. I stated he heard of one failure, prior to him coming there, and none since being there. My opinion, better money is spent on suspension upgrades, exhausts, handlebars, tires and maybe be concerned of the "doohickey" question (a term I had to explain to the mechanic) after 20,000 miles or so. Cheers, Bigdroptwo Neil Doane wrote: Okay, now I -know- this has been talked to death, so feel free to ignore this post as it comes from a total KLR newbie and, frankly, may even sound inflamatory to some (though I certainly don't mean it to be that way). I'm just wondering about how many people have -actually- had the doohickey fail. When I asked the guys at Rocky Mountain Kawasaki about it, they referred me to the head mechanic there who told me that he'd been working on Kawis since 1987 on a ton of KLRs that live in the mountains most of their lives and had never seen one fail, _ever_, from natural causes. He said he's seen a couple fail because someone was working on it themselves and tightened down the bolt too tight and split the piece apart, but that he honestly believed it was just an urban myth that they break or are something to be concerned about. I'm curious: I know there are a lot of KLR guys on this list with a lot of KLR experience. So tell me, is he just some weird statistical anomaly that has never seen this part actually fail? How many on this list have actually had the part fail on them in the field? Thanks! Neil --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? Everyone is raving about the all-new Yahoo! Mail. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[Neil Doane]

On 10/18/06, Scott wrote:

> > > My opinion is the lead mechanic is FOS. > > I am new as well, about 2 months, so I have very little first hand > evidence. I asked the guy at the parts counter at Rocky Mountain > Kawasaki and he said he had heard of the doohickey failing. I will go > down there and talk to this "lead" mechanic on saturday. Is this the > RM Kawasaki in Colorado Springs?

No, this guy's name is Grant Mathieu and he's in Longmont, CO.

> Obviously, asking the one "go to" > mechanic" about a structural failure that should have been the > subject of a recall, or at worst should have been corrected 15 years > ago, is a waste of time. I would sooner believe a politician with > hundred dollar bills hanging out of his pocket if he was crooked. > End as I started, My opinion.

On the other hand. I was talking about replacing mine right away and paying them for the work, so they did have something to gain from doing it. Just food for thought. Neil

[Yan]

> I'm just wondering about how many people have -actually- had the > doohickey fail.

Past Saturday we did the 'doo' replacement on two bikes - mine and the buddy of mines. I had both the 'doo' and the srpint intact, while on his bike (around 5,000 miles on the odometer) the 'doo' was fine but the spring was broken. We had a third buddy of ours helping us out - he did his 'doo' last year or so, and he had his 'doo' broken, but the spring was fine. Here is the real life statistics - 2 failures out of 3 bikes. It is possible that the doo gets broken because the owners overtorque the adjusting bolt, but then I question the material it's made of because I don't believe the all those who had their 'doo' broken applied double or triple torque on them. I am not a machinist or mechanical engineer, but I imagine it should be designed not to break from an extra 50% of torque. Ask Eagle Mike - he had done 'doo' replacement on over a 100 bikes, he would have better statistics than most of us.

[Jim Priest]

On 10/18/06, Yan wrote:

> > I'm just wondering about how many people have -actually- had the > > doohickey fail.

I'd guess there are a few variables here: 1) how many actually take the KLR's in for service vs DIY 2) how many people get a new KLR and immediately replace the doo? My KLR will never see a shop if I can help it, and with my recently acquired 04 - I'm just going to go ahead and replace it - cheap insurance. When I did my 98 (around 10k mi) - the doo and spring were both fine - though at the time there was only one spring available and in hindsight I probably could have used a shorter spring. The first time I did it was mainly to get comfortable tearing into the motor... This time I'll probably do the doo and oil screen at the same time - button it up and know I don't have to worry about anything for awhile. Jim