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BALANCER LEVER PHOTO

9K views 22 replies 16 participants last post by  josbek 
#1 ·
Thought I would post this for those interested in the procedure. Most have probably already been in there. Found this while browsing through some older shots. This shot shows the original lever being removed at 30K miles. The spring was still intact. Lucky because there were no broken parts to fish out. :h0159

 
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#3 ·
great for you guys ! I wished I'd been that lucky, took me over an hour to fish the parts out of the oil sump. Both the spring and doo were broken on mine, and I only have 14k on mine.
 
#5 ·
ya know, from seeing all the broken doo's, it appears that they all break pretty much in the same place right next to the end of the welds. I noticed on mine when looking at it under a magnifying glass, that the metal looksm very cyrtalized, meaning it was hardened way to much, making it very brittle. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to understand they need to do something about the issue {Kaw} I think we need to take pictures and send them all to Kaw and ask them what they plan on doing. This is just BS that they won't make it right. I just wonder how many engines have been destroyed by a broken do, anyone have a statistic on that ?
 
#6 ·
Eaglemike and I both agreed on this very same observation during tech weekend... KAWA could at least stress relieve it.. or heat treat it.. heck even shot peening it would help,,,,

but then they would have to admit there was a problem on a bike whose model life is about to go bye bye,,, isnt going to happen,, but this has been said a million times :evil:
 
#7 ·
Get the Doo out!!

I think that it sucks to have an engine messed up by a doo, but what IS cool about having this bad doo in yer bike is wanting to get it out of there asap!! (before it explodes!!) then lerning what exactly is going in there behind the side covers as you take the bike apart, you ALSO become more confident in you wrenching abilities, some guy's lifes even change as it instantly gives them more self esteem knowing that they faced their fears and dove in and attacked the damn doo to come out victorious!! It also has been documented that people who HAVE done their OWN Doo have gotten better jobs, made more friends, learned to fly airplanes, bought lots of real estate and married supermodels, they can now run out of the garage holding their head up high and fists in the air extaticly screaming "I conquered The Doo" a phrase only understood by fellow KLRists so don't do this chant in the driveway or your neighbors might look at you with a raised eyebrow and say "Good for you!! keep your DOO on your own lawn" besides.... its good practice!! I just wonder if we could get Kawi. to reimburse all of us for the upgraded doos :!:
 
#9 ·
Hey Dude,
Did it adjust after the picture?
When ever I do one I always try to do the adjustment while the cover is off.
Most times it wont adjust because it's krimped to the inner case. Yea, it looks good, but as soon as you push with your finger
it jumps and does actually "adjust". But, the spring has sprung all it's going to. thus ending the adjustments for life.
And most times I was able to push the lever even farther, making a "Proper" adjustment.
Then the spring is actually loose and waiting to fall off.
anyway. Even though the lever is'nt broke and the spring is still in one piece too ( Which, dont get me wrong... is GREAT! )
it probley is not or ever again, going to "WORK" like it should. and is still going to be a ticking timebomb. :sad:
 
#10 ·
I can't remember if it moved after i loosened the bolt, but the OEM lever didn't have any crimps or indentations. i just took it off and installed the Eagle spring and lever. I'm assuming i shouldn't have to worry about the lever crimping or sticking now, should I? The engine did seem to run a little quieter with the new parts though, but that could a result of my "selective" hearing...
 
#12 ·
Daddyjoe helped me change mine at Tour de Pisgah. My 99 had about 5000 miles on it. The lever was in one piece. The spring had absolutely no tension on it. When we installed Eaglemike's parts, I couldn't believe how much quieter it ran. It was like a different bike.
 
#13 ·
Changed mine at 14k and it and the spring were broken, couldn't believe the difference when I started it back up. Mine had to have been broken for quite some time.
 
#14 ·
Gentlemen--

Pardon me for being ignorant, are you all talking about the doo hicky repair in this thread? I am new to the KLR just buying a used '06 in Oct. It has 1500 miles on it and I really like this bike. I am a fairly good DIY mechanic having challenged many jobs on my cars over the years. The fellow I bought from told me I wouldn't need to worry about the doo hicky since my new KLR has the extended *Good Times Warrenty* till 10/2010. I could only assume this repair would be covered if it were necessary?

Any additional info is apprecited. Thanks
 
#15 ·
HA! They will deny there's even a problem with the Doo. If it breaks on you while you are riding, you could lock up your engine. Don't be fooled into thinking the Good Times Warranty is going to cover preventative maintenance costs.

Take a look at the pics I posted of what happened to my engine with an errant piece of Doo floating around in there:
http://www.klrforum.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=441&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=15
 
#16 ·
BikerScott--

What are you saying? The warrenty will NOT cover this repair? Or will they cover the repair of the doo hickey but not additional damges caused by the broken balancer? Somewhat confused why an extended warrenty wouldn't cover internal engine damage. Can you elaborate?
 
#17 ·
If in fact the doo is broken and you know it is... then by all means make them do the repair work if you don't have to pay anything. But they will replace it with the same inferior part. Some shops have been known to replace the old one with the upgraded part that you provide ahead of time. But those places are far and few between. You'll have to play that by ear. Because the warranty repair usually stipulates replacing with OEM parts. But it's really their call.

As far as the rest of us, it's just better to do it yourself. You save money and learn how to do minor surgery on your machine. There's plenty of step-by-step photo walk throughs between all of the KLR boards. If you aren't brave enough, chances are that there will be a Tech Day near by you coming up. It's always good to go to those, because there will always be someone there who knows how to do something that maybe you don't... and they are free. (Unlike the Dealership)
 
#18 ·
cap, the doo has been a point of contention since the first KLR's. The doos, when they break, appear to break in the very same places pretty much without exception. Damage from a broken do can range from just a minor annoyance, to catastrophic engine failure at speed. My doo was broken and so had the spring, I found both parts in the sump under the tranny, doesn't take a lot of thought to realize what "could" of happened. I was lucky. On another board, one guy had his doo break on a bike that was under warranty, long story short, KHI didn't foot the bill for the repairs, now whether that was from mistakes made by the dealer I don't know, all I know is they didn't pay. Bike that have had 70k+ have had the stock balancer adjuster last just fine, then again, bikes with only 1000 miles have had broken ones. Do yourself a favor, buy the doo kit, it's only $40, you could find the money just picking up soda bottles over the weekend, the point is, it's cheap, it's permanent and it just works. Get the doo from eagle mike, or one of the other vendors like Fred at arrowhead or klr650.com and put it in yourself , you will sleep better at night and ride with more piece of mind on the trail. Good luck and welcome to the nut house.
:mrgreen:
 
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