So this past Saturday a local KLR rider hosted a tech day. My friend Earl Thomas was there with his camera as usual. Check it out here; http://thevampireduck.blogspot.com/2009/05/tech-day.html
I ride a 2002 KLR 650 and for the most part it is one of the most reliable motorcycles available and has pretty much been the same bike from 1987 until 2007. Says a lot for the design and capability of the machine. I read an old Cycle World article recently from I believe 1991 that said the KLR was good at everything but not great at one particular thing. Basically an all around good bike. I really can't disagree as I have challenged myself on the thing and it still leaves me grinning from ear to ear.
The one downfall that the Kawi has is the cam chain tension adjuster. AKA the Doohickey. For some reason Kawasaki used two pieces welded together to make this adjuster and a really weak spring to retain tension. For some reason the doohickey "also referred to as the Doo" tends to break and can cause severe damage to the cam chain and other parts. When this tech day came about I figured it would be a good day to get this done and make sure everything was ok on the bike. Needless to say when I open up the left side of the stator housing and got to the Doo it was broken.
If you look at the picture and see the cam shaped adjuster at the bottom of the case you can see where it is supposed to be a whole piece that goes around the shaft. Not good in my book. We used a magnet and searched and dug all over the case looking for the broken piece but was not able to locate it. The spring for the tensioner had descent tension still but I replaced it and the Doo with a very high quality part from Eagle Mike. (Thanks Mike) Got the bike back together and fired it up to immediately notice a little less noise from the cam chain. Good day all in all and even got a little over a hundred miles logged by days end. Thanks to all who helped!
My broken Doohickey
-Charlie-
Charlie:
ReplyDeleteSuch a bullet-proof bike, with an achilles heel. What were they thinking ? I wonder where that broken piece went ? If it is not in there, then I would suspect that when it was last serviced, it was "taken" out and the 'doo wasn't replaced.
Now you've got me wondering what this new upgraded, stronger piece looks like. You conveniently didn't post a picture of the replacement. Is it still made of "pressed" sheet, or is it a billet type ? or forged ? or cast ?
bob
bobskoot: wet coast scootin
Well my best guess was the last time I changed the oilt the piece came out in the oil and I did not see it fall through. AS far as what the replacement looks like it is a billet piece that is machined. Very solid piece and the spring that rerplaces the old one is a bit better as well. Keeps the tension correct on the cam chain. This blogging deal is fairly new and I am learning each time how to make a complete post.
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