Kwacker KLX250 Thread

[norton73]

I haven't seen anyone post that they own one recently, so let's see who else has one and can share advice.


Since I sold the XT350 I had been half assed looking for it's replacement. I wanted something similar in power and weight, but e-start, better suspension, and more available farkles. I was tossing around the CRF250F, the Rally version, WR250R or the KLX.

When Kawasaki announced the KLX was coming back for 2018 with EFI, I decided it would be at the top of my list and I would check it out.

It the mean time, I had been watching ads in various places to see what used ones were going for and what condition. One of the bikes I was watching on AdvRider was in NM and someone replied to the thread asking if the seller was getting much interest because he was gauging how much to ask for his when he went to sell it. The guy replying had a Alabama location, so I sent him a PM asking him to tell me about his bike.

Turns out the bike was up in Boaz, 09, 4000 miles, 351 big bore kit, FMF pipe, air box and carb mods, 3 gallon (up from 2) IMS tank, new tires, new battery, and a few other mods. His asking price was only a few bucks more than what people were asking for higher mileage stock bikes, so he had a deal.

Rode it around his pasture and up the road in front of his house, them loaded it on the trailer and brought it home.

[springer]

 Sweet!  :)

[norton73]

Once it was home, I removed the numbers and a few other stickers, and the Pelican case. Checked it over again and took it for a ride.

above 55 MPH, the front end was hopping up and down, the front wheel was way out of balance. Then, on any sort of incline in 5th or 6th gear, the clutch was slippng. I brought it home after 5 miles or so and finally found time yesterday to throw it up on the lift.

Balanced the front wheel first, I guess no one did it when the new tires were mounted.





Took a crapload of weight to offset the rim lock. Also, who ever remounted the front wheel tightened the little 6mm pinch bolts down so tight, I was afraid they were gonna strip when I reassembled it.



I tried to adjust the clutch, but the cable was too tight. The PO had put risers on and the cable was so tight there was no free play to be had. Looking on AdvRider, I saw someone else recommended a KLR650 cable to use with risers, so I ordered up. Turns out that cable doesn't have enough freeplay either, and it's so long that it had to be kinked to fit.

Decided I'll just remove the risers and make sure the clutch hadn't been slipping enough to require replacement and then go from there.

[Fencejumper09]

Gotta love a new to you bike!!

[kylepeterson]

gotta say, those green bikes sure are appealing :-)

what kind of mpg do you get out of the 351 ?

[Nice Goat]

About to put risers on the DR650.  Hoping I don't have to replace the cables.

[terryrussell1]

Subscribed.

Now post a video of the 351 running.

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[norton73]

gotta say, those green bikes sure are appealing :-)

what kind of mpg do you get out of the 351 ?

No idea yet. I've only ridden it around the block with a slipping clutch.

Took the risers off and rerouted the cable tonight. Installed Radiator guards and fixed the oil leak (I hope).

Test ride tomorrow and pics of the work done.

[norton73]

Further work on the KLX reveled it had an oil leak.  I thought only my Norton was supposed to leak...



Pulled the valve cover and discovered the gasket had been installed incorrectly.





hard to see in the pics, but the gasket hadn't been fitted into the groove on the head cover correctly and wasn't sealing.


The radiators looked like they could be damaged easily, so I went for some Moose guards.

[Gam]

I have a 2006, bought it new.

Good call on the radiator guards.  Didn't hurt the radiator, but the guard snapped off.


The 2006's are notoriously hard to start in cold weather, I did this after a guy did it and rode the bike for a year, got another one and did the same the to his new one..wave runner primer, it fires right up when cold. Mine sits in an unheated shed and it fired up at 20 degrees. Before that I was afraid to camp on it serious cold, I ran the battery down more than once trying to crank it. You have that 351 jug, is the jetting changed? I'm curious to see how yours cranks when it is really cold.



On the 2006, the hole for the fork lock goes all the way through the head, my head bearings were shot, rusted at 6000 miles, be careful where you stick the hose.

I put a manual cam chain tensioner on mine,  people were complaining about the tensioner sticking, mine got pretty loud and it didn't do any good to take it off and reset it, so I put the manual tensioner on and the noise went away.

Other than that I've just adjusted the valves a couple of times.

[norton73]

The guy I got it from says the jetting has been changed. That said, it took longer than I thought to fire it up this afternoon.


Test ride reveled the clutch is still slipping, and now that I balanced the front wheel and could hold onto the bars, the rear wheel is out of balance.

I guess the PO never rode it over 45mph, the clutch slips when you try to accelerate in 5th and 6th at 55 mph, and the wheels were bouncing up and down at 50.

[kylepeterson]

did ya change the oil yet ? wouldn't surprise me if the po used some of that janky "energy conserving" crap in it.... causing it to slip still.

good old rotella should cure it in a change or two.

fixes everything except broken hearts and something about maidens.

[norton73]

Not yet.

The PO told me he only used Kawasaki 10w-40  and also gave me a couple quarts with the bike.

Clutch is on the way, I was waiting to resolve the clutch problem before changing it.

I did wonder, the PO being a BMW guy, if he had added additives, some of those guys swear by 'em and as most BMWs have separate gearboxes and clutches, an additive won't affect a dry clutch on a BMW, but can be a disaster on a bike with a wet clutch.

[DonJuan]

Rotella, nectar of the Gods.


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[kylepeterson]

I thought it was made from unicorn hoofs ?

either way, it does taste wonderful in clutches.