smashed chain guide?

[steve secrest]

[Richard Ohnstad]

This is about the third or fourth one of these in the last 6 months. Is it possible for each one to be photographed and put on a common site? It would also be good to collect other data, such as year, mileage, frequency of adjustment etc, etc. Seems like Kawasaki should be smacked about the head with this information, and they should make a commitment to a corrective action plan. Rich in Tucson 94 KLR650 86 VFR750

>

coming

> abused > > Pulled left side cover and found the infamous broken adjuster. What a

crummy

> turd this is ... do ya think the new part will last a while or is this

gonna

> be an > ongoing problem. I don't have much trust in this design as it looks like

it

> could > turn into a disaster ... I'm wondering what would have happened had I just > started a long haul and ran it this way for 250 miles without stopping.

[Stuart Mumford]

I think we each may have overtightened the balancer chain adjustment screw. I reckon this is why mine let go. As far as your "250 mile long haul", i rode 800+ miles after I found out mine was broken. I know Kurt's locked up on him, but mine didn't. FWIW my bike has 16,500 miles, is a 99, and I ride "like a rodeo clown". CA Stu -----Original Message----- This is about the third or fourth one of these in the last 6 months. Is it possible for each one to be photographed and put on a common site? It would also be good to collect other data, such as year, mileage, frequency of adjustment etc, etc. Seems like Kawasaki should be smacked about the head with this information, and they should make a commitment to a corrective action plan. Rich in Tucson 94 KLR650 86 VFR750

>

coming

> abused > > Pulled left side cover and found the infamous broken adjuster. What a

crummy

> turd this is ... do ya think the new part will last a while or is this

gonna

> be an > ongoing problem. I don't have much trust in this design as it looks like

it

> could > turn into a disaster ... I'm wondering what would have happened had I just > started a long haul and ran it this way for 250 miles without stopping.

[Bogdan Swider]

> I think we each may have overtightened the balancer chain adjustment > screw. > I reckon this is why mine let go. >

Any sign of stripping or was the evidence missing. Bogdan

[Stuart Mumford]

No evidence of stripping, but the bottom of the broken piece has some scarring on it where it looks like I overtightened the adjustment bolt. I think the best option is to pop off the magneto cover when adjusting this mechanism, so you can see exactly what the heck is going on in there. CA Stu -----Original Message----- From: Bogdan Swider [mailto:BSwider@...] Sent: Wednesday, November 28, 2001 2:59 PM To: DSN_klr650@yahoogroups.com; 's2mumford@...' Subject: RE: [DSN_klr650] Re: Diagnose this UPDATE

> I think we each may have overtightened the balancer chain adjustment > screw. > I reckon this is why mine let go. >

Any sign of stripping or was the evidence missing. Bogdan

[steve secrest]

I can grab some pics of mine saturday if they're needed ... I'll be watching for info on where to send them. Steve in Cincy with KLR 4sale

> > This is about the third or fourth one of these in the last 6 months. Is

it

> possible for each one to be photographed and put on a common site? It

would

> also be good to collect other data, such as year, mileage, frequency of > adjustment etc, etc. Seems like Kawasaki should be smacked about the head > with this information, and they should make a commitment to a corrective > action plan.

[steve secrest]

I'm never going to adjust it again without removing the cover for a look ... but actually I'm looking to sell it to buy another bike (or 2) Steve in Cincy

> No evidence of stripping, but the bottom of the broken piece has some > scarring on it where it looks like I overtightened the adjustment bolt. > > I think the best option is to pop off the magneto cover when adjusting

this

> mechanism, so you can see exactly what the heck is going on in there.

[steve secrest]

When you say you rode it 800 miles after finding the adjuster was broke, didn't you make any temp repairs??? or you say you knew it was broke and rode anyway? I'm going to look closer for signs of overtightening ... Steve in Cincy

> I think we each may have overtightened the balancer chain adjustment

screw.

> I reckon this is why mine let go. > As far as your "250 mile long haul", i rode 800+ miles after I found out > mine was broken. I know Kurt's locked up on him, but mine didn't. > FWIW my bike has 16,500 miles, is a 99, and I ride "like a rodeo clown". > CA Stu

[Stu]

I rigged it with a spring I had off an old carb, but I totally removed the broken tensioner chain idler arm. I looked at the idler gear behind it and figured that the snap ring on the outside would eliminate any lateral movement of the gear on the shaft. There are no parts available on Thanksgiving day, and since I noticed the part was broken on my ride home from work on Wednesday evening and I was really looking forward to LABV, I figured I would rather grab my nuts than be a big sissy, and I rode off into the sunset. I made it all the way there (460 miles+) on dirt and back on the freeway (250 miles + at high speed), so it really isn't a total critical failure, just a PITA. I reckon the KLR is the best all around bike in the world, and if you sell it after one minor problem, I reckon you're making a mistake, Steve. I know it is disheartening and somewhat frustrating to have a failure like this on a relatively new bike, but replace the part, maintain it more carefully, and see what happens. If it fails again, screw it, sell the piece of shit, but don't give up on it so easy. If you do, I'm kicking you out of the cult Just my 2 cents CA Stu

--- In DSN_klr650@y..., "Steve Secrest" wrote: > When you say you rode it 800 miles after finding the adjuster was broke, > didn't you make any temp repairs??? or you say you knew it was broke > and rode anyway? > I'm going to look closer for signs of overtightening ... > > Steve in Cincy > > > I think we each may have overtightened the balancer chain adjustment > screw. > > I reckon this is why mine let go. > > As far as your "250 mile long haul", i rode 800+ miles after I found out > > mine was broken. I know Kurt's locked up on him, but mine didn't. > > FWIW my bike has 16,500 miles, is a 99, and I ride "like a rodeo clown". > > CA Stu

[Richard Ohnstad]

BTW, Elden Carl has come up with a modification to the inner left cover (a blind hole that you use to screw the outer cover into has been drilled out) whereby, if you have good eyes and a flashlight, you can see that the spring is still in place. If your eyes aren't so good, you can use a small Phillips head screwdriver and feel that the spring is still in place. Unless you're fast, this procedure must be done while changing the oil. This doesn't help detect the problem if there is a broken LEVER, IDLER SHAFT, because I believe that this could be broken and the spring could still be in place. However, if this part is broken, the spring would be in constant changing tension which would probably help to fracture or dislocate the spring. When I upgraded my balancer mechanism last winter to the post '96 variety, I installed a new LEVER, IDLER SHAFT because I noted that my overtightening had caused some deformation on the LEVER, IDLER SHAFT. Hope the problem isn't with the newer parts. Although, when I installed Elden's inner cover upgrade recently, I did inspect the LEVER, IDLER SHAFT for deformation caused by overtightening, and it looked good as new. (I have been more careful lately, not that I'm any King Kong) Rich in Tucson 94 KLR650 86 VFR750

> No evidence of stripping, but the bottom of the broken piece has some > scarring on it where it looks like I overtightened the adjustment bolt. > > I think the best option is to pop off the magneto cover when adjusting

this

> mechanism, so you can see exactly what the heck is going on in there. > > CA Stu