KLR riders out there

**Moki** · 9th June 2009, 07:45

Been blowing some time on the net last weekend and followed a couple of threads on the (in)famous Doohickey setup for (>) 2008. Apparently, the doo has been improved somehat but the spring is shit and can lose tension or break altogether when the bike's young. One example showed a complete lack of tension at full adjustment at 5000 miles; the other was similar at just under 10K miles.

Anyway, I've decided to sort this using the new torsion spring, but before I order one I was wondering if anyone has the rotor puller and funky wrench I can borrow? I'd like to try not to buy if I can avoid it as I'm a tightwad at the moment.

Cheers
Moki

**Padmei** · 9th June 2009, 07:55

went for my 12k service the other week & the spring was shot. Luckily Woodman had an Eagle mike one he lent me. The dealer did it under warantee. The doo loks pretty good compared to earlier one. I think a torsion spring is all that is needed.

BTW Woodman your doo should arrive sometime this year... It has cleared customs - Australia!! Cos as you know New Zealand is a part of New South Wales

**Moki** · 9th June 2009, 08:22

Originally Posted by Padmei

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went for my 12k service the other week & the spring was shot. Luckily Woodman had an Eagle mike one he lent me. The dealer did it under warantee. The doo loks pretty good compared to earlier one. I think a torsion spring is all that is needed.

BTW Woodman your doo should arrive sometime this year... It has cleared customs - Australia!! Cos as you know New Zealand is a part of New South Wales

Shit! I'm at 12k now....

How did you know the spring was shot without tearing the case apart? No spring tension to pickup the slack when trying to adjust it - or was it chain clatter after "adjusting" it?

**Padmei** · 9th June 2009, 18:05

shit load of noise coming from that area. Mech at the serrvice said it was prob gone. one of the sales guys has one too so has a vested interest in issues of mine as mine has higher K's.

My front pads were worn too but KawaNZ had no front pads in stock so I bought some from the States.

BTW Woodman the eagle mike with torsion spring turned up today so we'll have to catch up & compare my old one with the new one.

**Padmei** · 9th June 2009, 18:49

Originally Posted by dozerwayne

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Well, It is a good question.

Which one?

**Woodman** · 9th June 2009, 20:31

Originally Posted by Padmei

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shit load of noise coming from that area. Mech at the serrvice said it was prob gone. one of the sales guys has one too so has a vested interest in issues of mine as mine has higher K's.

My front pads were worn too but KawaNZ had no front pads in stock so I bought some from the States.

BTW Woodman the eagle mike with torsion spring turned up today so we'll have to catch up & compare my old one with the new one.

Cool would be interesting to see the two doos. will have to get motivated and do the doo now, so if anyone does have the puller etc like Moki says i would be interested in maybe borrowing it too to do the doo.
Cannot believe Kawa nz had no front pads in the country.

**pete376403** · 9th June 2009, 21:20

Originally Posted by Padmei

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shit load of noise coming from that area. Mech at the serrvice said it was prob gone. one of the sales guys has one too so has a vested interest in issues of mine as mine has higher K's.

My front pads were worn too but KawaNZ had no front pads in stock so I bought some from the States.

BTW Woodman the eagle mike with torsion spring turned up today so we'll have to catch up & compare my old one with the new one.

The front pads of my KLR were gone at 12k - I bought replacements at Supercheap. They didn't list KLR on the pack but just took one of the old pads in and eyeballed them. IIRC they might have been for Yamaha XT750?

After the Brass it's up to 15k5 and used about 4 litres of oil for the trip - 've been back to Motorad to advise that there is another warranty claim coming up. Warranty expires next month. The alternative will be get the 685 piston kit like MarkS has

Also I wonder about if applying too much tension to the doo does more harm than good - I understand the sprocket has rubber inserts that the chain side plates run against. Too much tension might destroy that rubber and lead to the chain getting loose and noisy again. I can't see the reason for a great deal of tension on the chain, it's only driving the balancer after all.

**Woodman** · 9th June 2009, 21:41

Wonder if anyone has removed / disconnected the balance shaft on a klr.

What else does it drive?

Have modified heaps of mitsis to run without balance shafts and they went fine. I know they are 4 versus 1 cylinder, but a 4 still has all pistons stop at the top and bottom of each stroke and therefore the crank quickly speeding up then slowing down same as a single, and the balance shafts are there to remove that shock effect.

HHmmm just rambling and don't know the klr internals real well, and anyway it might get that cool KTM vibratery thing going on that makes the front wheel jump around at idle.

**Moki** · 9th June 2009, 21:53

I think I'll just go ahead and order in the complete kit (with tools). Probably good to have anyway.

Anyone in the Lower N. Island feel like getting together and having a "Doo" day? It'd be interesting to have a few to do and see what's found.

**pete376403** · 9th June 2009, 22:55

Originally Posted by Woodman

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Wonder if anyone has removed / disconnected the balance shaft on a klr.

What else does it drive?

Have modified heaps of mitsis to run without balance shafts and they went fine. I know they are 4 versus 1 cylinder, but a 4 still has all pistons stop at the top and bottom of each stroke and therefore the crank quickly speeding up then slowing down same as a single, and the balance shafts are there to remove that shock effect.

HHmmm just rambling and don't know the klr internals real well, and anyway it might get that cool KTM vibratery thing going on that makes the front wheel jump around at idle.

I think the KLR would shake like a dog shitting a length of chain with the balancer disconnected. At least a four cyl has a pair of pistons going down to help offset the pair going up. Also the balancer shafts in a four compensate for the different piston speed as a crank rotates, ie when the crank big end is half way between top and bottom dead centres (ie at 90 and 270 degrees), the piston is NOT exactly half way through its stroke. Therefore the piston has to travel faster when the crank goes from 270 - TDC - 90 degrees, than when it goes from 90 - BDC - 270. More noticable with long rods. The only way to avoid this would be to have rods exactly the same lenth as the stroke, which is impossible if you want to attach a piston to something

**Moki** · 10th June 2009, 07:24

Righto. Managed to locate a rotor puller and wrench from the same person I sold mine to a while ago (don't ask, it's a long story...) - thanks Stu (RedKLR650.)

Eagle Milke is pretty hard to contact at the moment so may have to order his kit elswhere. Anyone else need a torsion spring?

**Padmei** · 10th June 2009, 07:43

I don't think you can order one direct from Eagle mIke at least I couldn't find how to. I ended up getting one from TPI which is one of his recommended retailers.

The doo cost $39.95, torsion spring $13.95 & the shipping a f..ing $30.00. All those prices are in US. They could have fit into half an envelope but had to come in a box -priority mail via Australia!!

At least the dealer replaced the doo for me for nothing.

Woodman I'm sure if you talked to Filco they would lend you a puller etc for the weekend ( tell them I sent you

)

**Moki** · 10th June 2009, 07:58

Originally Posted by Padmei

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I don't think you can order one direct from Eagle mIke at least I couldn't find how to. I ended up getting one from TPI which is one of his recommended retailers.

The doo cost $39.95, torsion spring $13.95 & the shipping a f..ing $30.00. All those prices are in US. They could have fit into half an envelope but had to come in a box -priority mail via Australia!!

At least the dealer replaced the doo for me for nothing.

Woodman I'm sure if you talked to Filco they would lend you a puller etc for the weekend ( tell them I sent you

)

I bribe family in the states to forward stuff cheaply.

Probably costs me more keeping them stocked up with pineapple lumps when I visit, but somehow it it feels like everyone gains...except for UPS and USPS.

**marks** · 10th June 2009, 08:17

Originally Posted by pete376403

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The front pads of my KLR were gone at 12k

After the Brass it's up to 15k5 and used about 4 litres of oil for the trip - 've been back to Motorad to advise that there is another warranty claim coming up. Warranty expires next month. The alternative will be get the 685 piston kit like MarkS has

you bastards must be hard on your brakes - at 17k my front pads have about 2mm left on them

sorry to hear about your oil consumption Pete - high speed (above 5k) runs certainley made 'ol greeney' drink oil like a 2 stroke.

I've done 6k since I got my black one and used about 200ml-400ml oil -
685 certainly solves the problem

**MXNUT** · 10th June 2009, 11:38

Originally Posted by Woodman

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Have modified heaps of mitsis to run without balance shafts and they went fine. I know they are 4 versus 1 cylinder, but a 4 still has all pistons stop at the top and bottom of each stroke and therefore the crank quickly speeding up then slowing down same as a single, and the balance shafts are there to remove that shock effect.

Worked for Mitsi dealer for 15 years and have seen 2 different lancer EVO engines that had the balance shafts removed, both of them sheared all the flywheel bolts off in the end of the crank due to excessive primary vibration

- so not a good idea to remove any factory fitted balancer system