nklr trip report 5 - from istvan (in sfo area)

[Steve Anderson]

List, My 98 has 10Kmiles of which I put about 7. I did my last valve adjustment at 5Kmiles, and my stock chain is on it s last legs. As I am planning on some tours, I decided to do a 10K PM. I found a broken balancer chain adjuster. I can't say how glad I am that I found this before some real harm was done. There was some issues with the Unitrak and the rear shock. This is a description of my 10Kmile PM. The plan: New chain and sprockets (to replace the stock set) Lube the Unitrak (never been done) Pull the magneto, both side covers, and valve cover for visual inspection and valve check. Found: Unitrak main shaft (not the swingarm shaft) was corroded. A little stubborn, but some coaxing freed it fairly quickly. The bearings in the left side of three-holed suspension arm were all not quite pressed far enough in to allow the seals to seat, and one seal was buggered from a poor installation. Valves were great. I couldn t measure any difference since the last check except the left exhaust had closed up less than .001 . Shock absorber spring was installed poorly causing the spring to rub on the shock body. Balancer chain adjuster was broken. The idler shaft lever , the plate the adjuster screw tightens down on with the crescent shaped hole in it was broken such that the thin part on the lower part was broken and completely loose. The screw was barely holding the adjuster in place. I also just noticed that even though I had mounted the license plate up high; the top right under the plate light with the screws going into the bracket through the lower plate wholes is MIA. Looks like the rear wheel took the license plate, the bracket and the bottom cm or so of plastic of the rear fender. I don t have any idea when this happened =]. Comments: I live in a very dry climate, and now I understand the complaints of other listers concerning the Unitrak corrosion issue. There is a small hole near the bottom of each cavity in the frame that this shaft slides through. There was plenty of water in these cavities. A lot of very waterproof grease all over this shaft, and more frequent checks are in order. I am glad I didn t let this go any further. The broken balancer adjustment plate was very disturbing. I m betting the previous owner over tightened the adjuster, breaking the plate, but who knows. I am so very glad I found this in my garage, rather than having it let go while cruising through Mexico, or anywhere for that matter. This could have led to a catastrophic failure. Oh well, FWIW, it just goes to show you that a little PM can be a very good thing. I realize that this is just my klr, not necessarily representative of anyone else s, but it might make one or two of you consider tearing in just a little further during your next maintenance session. Steve A.

[jenJBphun@cs.com]

Hi - Maybe I should have said something sooner, but my 1998 KLR also had a broken balancer chain adjuster. I didn't fix it myself, but about two months ago i heard a clunking noise when I gave it gas, and so I took it to a friend who said it sounded serious. He is a Harley mechanic but he fixed it after waiting two weeks for the parts. -Jennifer

[Backroad Bandit]

> The road towards Jarbidge was very nice, except that I almost got a > heartattack, when after a hill the pavement continued in gravel and

it was

> turning. An emergency break from 110 km/h helped, but I was very

close

> ending up (I mean down) in the canyon. > > At Elko I thought I'll take the interstate accross the pass towards

Battle

> Mountain, but it was getting dark, so I decided to camp. Bad

mistake! I

> woke up in a collapsed tent under the weight of the snow.

Shivering and

> scared I rode back to Elko. The pass was impassable, so I decided

to go

> east instead of west, then south on hwy 93

Istvan,thanks for the great ride report, all of it. It's too bad you couldn't have hooked up with my friend Brad Young in Elko, he is a KLRist and knows all, I mean all, the roads around there for hundreds of miles, and would have helped you out, he can also ride like the wind and fix anything wrong with your bike in minutes.

> The best ride on this section of my trip was the road up towards

Sequoia

> National Park. Windy, mostly very good road, but because of the

scenary

> there is no point rushing/speeding. Than you reach the big trees.

I mean

> BIG! I stopped in the misty forest, and I was just listening to

the deep

> silence. I cannot explain why, but if you stop for a while the

spirit of

> this place and the spirit of the trees

Those are impressive trees, everybody ought to see them at least once.

> A few minutes later I met Chris, who in 1995 bicycled to Santiago

de Chile

> under the flag of National Geographic.

I read his story, back then wasn't it in two or three parts? Great adventure. Made for some great bathroom time while at the office. Do I have to change the bearings? Why not check 'em? It's not hard, just pull of the front wheel (or block up the bike, but pulling the front wheel is better) and see if they are smooth and tight. Tanks Backroad Bill Lackey Boy Courier from Hell

[David/Diane McMunn]

At 12:58 PM 11/05/2000 -0700, Steve Anderson wrote:

>List, > >My '98 has 10Kmiles of which I put about 7. I did my last valve adjustment >at 5Kmiles, and my stock chain is on it's last legs. As I am planning on >some tours, I decided to do a 10K PM. I found a broken balancer chain >adjuster. I can't say how glad I am that I found this before some real harm >was done. There was some issues with the Unitrak and the rear shock.

Steve: I can relate to that. As I have relayed, the balancer adjuster spring broke on my A13, causing the balancer timing AND the cam timing to jump. Luckily, no other damage was done, and a $3 spring and $50 worth of gaskets fixed it. It seems that this whole mechanism is a weak point with ALL KLRs, not just pre-96s. I'm confident I've figured out all the snafus and will take care to do the PM at regular intervals. In spite of this all, I still like the bike, and plan on keeping it. An observation about the list: My several posts and updates on my serious mechanical problem and any hints to help fix the problem were met with tepid response (maybe 3 or 4 responses). On the other hand, if I wanted to know if its OK to put in 2.6 qts/ltrs of oil instead of 2.5, or what brand of air to put in my tires, I would have started a 3 day discussion. I guess it's a list thing. Dave