Wilsons Sandbox

Posted: **Sun Jun 29, 2008 7:37 am**

Hi, New to the list, so glad to make all your acquaintances. I have a couple of KLR's, a 600 '89, and 250 '92. I love the 250 as I can chuck it all over the place, and it sits nicely on the back of my campervan. 600 has been more of a field/project bike, and what i do most of my mechanical practise on. I won't mention my Ducati ST4S day to day ride, as I am sure it will only make the faces here match the kawasaki green... (hehe, only joking). So now I have made enemies of you all, I'd like to ask some advice? Been doing the valve clearances on the 600, and noticed that the rocker gears are not quite aligned. On the rear, with the main shaft at TDC, the arrows point directly forward, and the lines are horizontal, but the front on is slightly advanced at this point, by about a third to half a tooth. This seems to be too much for chain stretch, but not enough for anything to have skipped. There still seems to be plenty of allowance in the chain tensioner too. I am sure that I aligned everything to TDC before starting the clearnace checks, and did not notice anything askew at that time. I replaced all of the shims, as they were all out of, or close to tolerance. Is there anything obvious that can cause this misalignment? What steps should I take to fix it? Thanks, Charlie

Posted: **Sun Jun 29, 2008 7:58 am**

On Sun, 29 Jun 2008 12:37:03 -0000 "charlie.stott" writes:

> Hi, > > New to the list, so glad to make all your acquaintances. I have a > couple of KLR's, a 600 '89, and 250 '92. I love the 250 as I can > chuck it all over the place, and it sits nicely on the back of my > campervan. 600 has been more of a field/project bike, and what i do > most of my mechanical practise on. > > I won't mention my Ducati ST4S day to day ride, as I am sure it > will > only make the faces here match the kawasaki green... (hehe, only > joking). > > So now I have made enemies of you all, I'd like to ask some advice? > > Been doing the valve clearances on the 600, and noticed that the > rocker gears are not quite aligned. > > On the rear, with the main shaft at TDC, the arrows point directly > forward, and the lines are horizontal, but the front on is slightly > advanced at this point, by about a third to half a tooth. > > This seems to be too much for chain stretch, but not enough for > anything to have skipped. > > There still seems to be plenty of allowance in the chain tensioner > too. > > I am sure that I aligned everything to TDC before starting the > clearnace checks, and did not notice anything askew at that time. > > I replaced all of the shims, as they were all out of, or close to > tolerance. > > Is there anything obvious that can cause this misalignment? > > What steps should I take to fix it? > > Thanks, > Charlie

<><><><><><><><><> <><><><><><><><><> Charlie, I've got no experience with the 600 but I'm gonna guess here that you have the crank timing mark off just a tad which is equal to part of a tooth. : ) If that's the case, make sure the timing mark is spot on and that should take care of the front cam timing. Only turn the crank counterclockwise as that's the direction of rotation on that engine. Then I think you'll find the rear cam is off by a tooth. I'm pretty sure you'll have to remove the cam chain tensioner to adjust the chain on the gear by one tooth. Then reset the tensioner, reinstall and then retension the tensioner. Make sure you hear the ratchet mechanism working when you install the spring and cover. 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 ____________________________________________________________ Smart Girls Secret Weapon Read Unbiased Beauty Product Reviews, Get Helpful Tips, Tricks and Sam http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL2141/fc/JKFkuJi7U3xwa0JKULoIxqxm8qWowavxMrHnP6tkLfdvXFu746GnJq/

Posted: **Sun Jun 29, 2008 12:36 pm**

--- In DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com, "charlie.stott" wrote:

> I won't mention my Ducati ST4S day to day ride, as I am sure it will > only make the faces here match the kawasaki green...

Na, I got a Suzuki V-Strom (a poor man's Ducati). Reliable as clockwork. A Ducati is like an Italian hooker, high maintenance and always takin' yer money every time you want a momentary smile on yer face.

> Been doing the valve clearances on the 600, and noticed that the > rocker gears are not quite aligned. > > On the rear, with the main shaft at TDC, the arrows point directly > forward, and the lines are horizontal, but the front on is slightly > advanced at this point, by about a third to half a tooth.

Yeppers, you just ran into the awesome Kawasaki manufacturing tolerances. Mine is the same way. I just shrugged, said "Kawasaki," and forgot about it after verifying that I couldn't get it any closer by jumping the cam a tooth. Nothing wrong, just made that way. This is a KLR, not a Ducati. "close enough" is good 'nuff. Leave that perfectionist sh** to your fine Italian hooker, there's dirt out there waitin' ta be played in

. -E

Posted: **Sun Jun 29, 2008 11:52 pm**

--- In DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com, "E.L. Green" wrote:

> > Na, I got a Suzuki V-Strom (a poor man's Ducati). Reliable as > clockwork. A Ducati is like an Italian hooker, high maintenance and > always takin' yer money every time you want a momentary smile on

yer face.

>

~~~have you ever owned a Ducati Eric? Just wondering. I bought a 900 SS CR new back in 95'. Sent the heads to Pro Italia who in turn sent them to CR Axtel after PI removed the cams. Axtel did his magic, PI installed V2 street/race cams, sent them back to me with higher compression pistons (J&E), larger flat slide roller bearing pumper Mikunis. I was lucky if I got a thousand miles out of a rear Z1 street tire so yeah, it wasn't cheap keping rubber on the back and I put 18 K street miles on it (in the lower Fla. Keys) in a year and a half, then went road racing with it for 3 seasons (ran 7 out of 10 race weekends each season-Fla. region CCS) Never had any trouble with the bottom end. top end had to come off several X's each season when racing to correct woes but I never complained. Sliding both ends in some of the corners and the exhaust note was music to my ears Jake Reddick Fla. Bench Racer

Posted: **Mon Jun 30, 2008 12:59 am**

--- In DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com, "Jake Wilson" wrote:

> --- In DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com, "E.L. Green" wrote: > > Na, I got a Suzuki V-Strom (a poor man's Ducati). Reliable as > > clockwork. A Ducati is like an Italian hooker, high maintenance and > > always takin' yer money every time you want a momentary smile on > yer face. > ~~~have you ever owned a Ducati Eric? Just wondering.

I live in the Silly Cone Valley. They issue Ducatis at the door at most of the "hot" companies 'round here. Someone gets some IPO money, they go out and buy a Ducati. So yeah, I get to see lots of Ducatis 'round here. Some of them are even not on the back of a trailer gettin' hauled back to the dealer to get fixed

. BTW, the usual problems are top end problems, that desmodromic head is super-sensitive to valve adjustment (as you'd imagine, given that camshafts both move the valves down *and* move them back up). A KLR (or a V-Strom) doesn't get its feelings hurt as easily as a Ducati. A Ducati wants constant attention. If it doesn't get it, it sulks and burns valves. A KLR will burn valves if you ignore it enough, but it takes a while. A V-strom will burn valves if you ignore it enough, but it takes even longer due to better metallurgy on the Suzuki.

> pumper Mikunis. I was lucky if I got a thousand miles out of a rear > Z1 street tire so yeah, it wasn't cheap keping rubber on the back and > I put 18 K street miles on it (in the lower Fla. Keys) in a year

And those weren't cheap tires, I bet. Heh. A $45 Kenda 270 they weren't.

> when racing to correct woes but I never complained. Sliding both > ends in some of the corners and the exhaust note was music to my ears

Yeppers. She be an Italian hooker, but a *fun* one, yessiree. And an expensive one. But I like my poor man's Ducati just fine, thank you. She ain't goin' road racing anytime soon, but she has a lot better manners and doesn't empty the pocketbook. -E

Wilsons Sandbox

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