My Weekend To Do List

[drgibson]

Well now that I own a Thumper I have to brush up on my mechanical skills. No more drive shaft, Fuel injection, hydraulic clutch, hydraulic valves, or tubeless tires. Couple that with the fact that I’m spending a lot of time riding off road and the singles penchant for vibration and that means I need to be very proactive about preventive maintenance.
This point was driven home during my morning commute last week when the exhaust came off the bike going down the highway. As it turns out there is a recall notice on the KLR because it seems that the bolts that hold the exhaust on were not torqued properly or missing from the factory. I was close to work so after it cooled off I strapped it to the rack and went to work. One of the building maintenance guys gave me some safety wire and I was able to safety wire it back on for the trip home I opted to go ahead and replace it, this then prompted a whole list of things to do as well.
So I ended up with this for a "To Do" list last weekend.
1.Change oil & filter
2.Clean & charge air filters
3.Adjust rear shock pre-load
4.Adjust headlamps
5.Install Battery tender plug
6.Install new exhaust
7.Do the 22¢ “Smile Maker” mod
8.Do the “L” mod to the air box
9.Install new grips
10.Remove the Clean Air system
Considering I haven't done much wrenching lately, this was quite the task. Oh and I didn't even have a new exhaust system yet.
Well first peel off all the plastics, tank, and seat.

Carefully remove the bailing wire holding the factory exhaust.

Ok what do I tackle first... I guess I better get another pipe, found this at the Kawasaki dealer in Irving so I brought it home. It was actually cheaper the I could get it for online.

Pipe installed


Oh here's what happens when your exhaust falls off, lucky it didn't burn through to the actual brake line. It also melted the edge of the tire.

[drgibson]

Now for that "Clean Air System" removal
What the system is designed to do is to take fresh air and inject it into the exhaust port on the head, the problem with that is it causes the engine to backfire even when the fuel mixture is right. So I removed all of the system, cut the line attached to the head, used contact cement and a clamp to hold the vacuum cap on it.



I had to rush through the rest of the list so not to may photos of the rest of my day.
I’ll offer up an explanation of what is called the .22 smile maker. Essentially you take two #4 stainless steel washers combined they are about half the thickness of a penny. You put these under the needle valve to raise it up, this increases the amount of air and fuel you start out with, on the slide you drill out the vacuum hole to 7/64” thus increasing the amount of vacuum to raise the needle slide. The last step is to adjust the pilot jet from ¾ of a turn to 2 1/8 turns. The throttle response is much improved.
Here are the new grips, a little softer and bigger diameter.

While checking the bike over I noticed a buildup of some kind where the front brake lever met with the plunger on the reservoir.

All clean

[drgibson]

Frontal view, I’d have never put a sticker on “M”.


Everything on the list was completed, the bike is running great, no backfiring at all no need to tweak the carb, the acceleration is much better, and now I have to be careful because it wheelies in a blink of an eye.
Now get this Not A Single Hitch!!!

[KD57]

Looks like it went well Don. Here's another tip if you plan on keeping it very long, and if you wash it w/ a water hose, or ride in water. When you change tires, back out the chain adjuster bolts, and grease them where they screw up into the swingarm. Do this to every bolt that screws into aluminum and you will never have a problem w/ a frozen bolt. After a little water they corrode like crazy, the 2 main areas are swingarm, triple clamps, and pinch bolts on lower fork leg if you have them.

[drgibson]

Thanks I was also told to check the swing arm berrings, seems that they may not have gotten greased at the factory.

[KD57]

Yep. You've been around dirt bikes too, and know as well as I do they don't build them quite as well a pure street bike. Every time I buy a new bike, I tear it down to the frame and re-build it, just to correct mfr. mistakes, as well as do the mods I need. And EVERY nut needs to be checked and torqued.
Kawis aren't too bad, but Honda fails to grease the steering head quite often.
Oh, check your spokes too after first 500 miles.
Your weekend list just got longer...

[drgibson]

Don't forget you have to own stock in Locktite.

[tricker]

yeesh... and i was going to be proud of myself checking and possibly replacing spark plugs and new air filter.. i'm somewhat special when it comes to mechanical things and i'm actually trying hard now to do a lot on my own..

[87gsxrnut]

Yeah, I did a tune-up on the 750 last weekend. Plugs/filter, swapping out a broken panel, lube chain etc. Lotsa funnnnn

- Nut

[Barbarian]

Yup I've got that crud on my brake lever point too. Since I'm putting on new blingy levers today I'll go armed with an old toothbrush

[KD57]

Isn't that crud called grease? I have it on mine, and it looks to be some form of grease like they made back in the 50's. Yucky stuff, not nice clean white grease like I normally see.

[Barbarian]

Well, it wasn't there when I got the bike, so as far as I'm concerned it's crud that's accumulated while riding and the bike's been sitting around.