[DPelletier]

I did the drill through on my 2001. the kit is great like all things Eaglemike makes and it is extremely strong; there are no downsides other than the cost, mess and potential for screwing up the install. All that said, after doing it on my 2001, I decided to just upgrade the bolts with EM's upgrade bolts and some loctite on my 2000 as I realized that I do not have paniers or a top box and almost never ride 2 up.
The factory bolts are weak and my buddy broke his carrying his wife but if you are riding solo and without luggage, I think the simple bolt upgrade is sufficient; I've not had any issues.

regards,
Dave

 

[DPelletier]

Well, the drill through is certainly much stronger, my WAG would be twice as strong. As far as drilling goes; use a pilot bit, lots of cutting oil and a proper low speed drill.....take your time and try to stay as straight as possible. I was a little off but it still works fine.

Also, if my feeble memory serves, there are some differences in frames in that area over the years - mine was solid but I think some are partially hollow.

Dave

 

[DPelletier]

One could more simply up-grade the Gen 1 UPPER sub-frame 8mm bolts to the Gen 2 10mm Upper sub-frame bolts.
A lot less drilling.
EM even sells stronger Gen 2 upper sub-bolts, IIRC. 90% of the gain for 10% of the effort.

Sort of like doing 4 of my simplest oil flow mods vs all 9 of my oil flow mods.

He also sells stronger 8mm Gen1 bolts for the really lazy (like me!)

Dave

 

[DPelletier]

Are these stronger bolts actually needed in a 2016 gen 2. I bought the klr because i heard they are bombproof and now i need thermabob, doohickie, and now subframe bolts. Hmmm

The Gen2 uses larger bolts as Paul said; much less of an issue. There are a thousand mods you CAN do to a KLR.....NONE of them are absolutely necessary, with the possible exception of the Doohickey and even that is far more important on a Gen1


Dave

 

[DPelletier]

@pdwestman's right, you know. I will spare the assembled multitude my usual rant on the drill-through mod.

Awww.... I was looking forward to it.




Dave

 

[DPelletier]

Not arguing..... like most things Mike makes, he saw a need because people were breaking those bolts.....maybe they were all loose first, who knows. The drill through, once done, completely eliminates the concern of breaking those bolts forever.....but yeah, it's overkill. When the Gen2 came along, Kawi had increased the size of those bolts, presumably because they too figured out they were too weak. EM made better quality Gen2 bolts because, well better is better. I agree that a Gen2 is fine as is and as long as you keep the bolts tight you shouldn't have anything to worry about. For the minor expense upgrading the factory bolts is an easy upgrade for those of you that carry a ton of crap on the subframe.

On a Gen1, the bolts are weak enough that it's a good idea to upgrade them to the higher quality bolts and again; cheap and easy. IF I was going to go to the effort of drilling and tapping the frame to install the larger Gen2 bolts, I'd probably just go ahead with the drill through myself. .....but as I've said, given that I don't have panniers, top boxes nor carry passengers, I have no real need.

2 cents,


Dave

 

[DPelletier]

Why don’t y’all just buy the gen 3….that way you won’t need to worry about the subframe bolt topic anymore.

True, then we can talk about the best ways to cut and weld on a new subframe if you bend the stocker badly!

 

[DPelletier]

I'd rather enlarge two 30mm deep / 8mm holes to accept 10mm threads than continue to drill another 30mm of Solid Steel bar to 10mm ID hole, if not Totally necessary.

I know you would.

 

[DPelletier]

@pdwestman's right, you know.

I was hoping to provoke the rant after all but .... 🤷‍♂️

First no "Freakers" anymore now this...... 😢


😆