valve cover removal

[klroost]

Hello Everyone, well, yesterday i got the feeling that i HAD to physically inspect the balancer mechanism. Good thing! probably saved me thousands! Sure enough the idler shaft lever is apparently broken(havent removed the magneto flywheel yet), it moves through its alloted travel with no effort. The tension spring seems to be connected at both ends(i pulled on it with a hooked tool and its got "spring" to it) I will attempt to get the flywheel removed tommorow. A little background info; this is my second KLR, its a 2001 with 12,000 on the clock. My first KLR was an 87 that i got with 25,000 on the clock, i replaced the balancer spring(it was broken)at 50,0000, rode it for another 20,000 or so and sold it. I ride with the person i sold it to, he has had no probs with the balancer mech...hmmmm. Has anyone made any correlations between year of manufacture and frequency of breakage? my observation of this is that this part is too hard from the factory(anyone ever check the brinnell # on a new factory part?), perhaps an anneal or a temper would reduce the possibility of this part shattering and the resultant catastrophic failure.(i would rather have a malleable part that i know i have to replace) after reading some of the archives i noticed some ppl referring to a "special one time use only" bolt(the magneto flywheel bolt). I can find no reference to this bolt being "special" in my factory manuals, nor on the factory microfiche? and my base manual spec's 87ft-lbs for the bolt while the supplement spec's 130ft-lbs??? any info would be greatly appreciated. thanks everyone B. Jr.

[Mark St.Hilaire, Sr]

> Hello all! I'm in the midst of adjusting my valves > and cannot seem to get the valve cover off no matter > which way I pull on it. Is there some secret way to > remove it that I should know about? Anyone out there > who can fill in a first time valve adjuster with the > down low? Thanks in advance David Beyea

Hi David, see if the steps outlined here help you out: http://klr6500.tripod.com/valves.htm Mark = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = "There's too much talk and not enough walk" - Petra: Beyond Belief = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Mark St.Hilaire, Sr HomePage: http://home.adelphia.net/~msaint/index.html KLR650 Motorcycle Pages: http://klr6500.tripod.com/ My Adelphia Email can be "iffy." If you don't get a response, please try: KLR6500@...