KDXRIDER.NET

Hey everyone it’s been a while since I’ve been on here or even had a bike. I think I sold my last KDX about 5 years ago. My son is 13 now and riding a TTR-125LE. I’ve been looking around for a bike so I can take him riding. Long story short, a distant relative heard I was looking and just happened to have an 03 KDX220 that’s been sitting up for a while. He told me something was wrong with the clutch but the bike will run. I got it for really cheap and brought it home last night. I was thinking maybe the cable was broken or the plates were worn out or something. He said something about hydraulics but I wasn’t sure what he was talking about. Well it turns out the tab where the cable mounts on the inner clutch cover is broken off.
I think I can probably rig something up for now but we’ll see. It turns out the bike has a Magura hydraulic clutch setup on it. I’m thinking I may go back to a cable because it looks like the original hose may have broken or something. Other than that the bike needs a good cleaning and some fresh gas. It’s got some decent parts on it, Fredette shorty kick start lever, Devol rad guards, hand guards, full FMF exhaust, aluminum skid plate and some renthal fat bars. I’m about to pull the carb off and check it and then see if she will fire up. I’m unsure what piston is in it so I’ll be replacing that potential grenade with a wiseco very soon.

I’d appreciate any input on what I should try with the clutch cable bracket.

Thanks,
Joey

Following, THATS a nightmare of mine those cable holders.

I'm not scared, I could maybe re weld that. I'd give it a go.

Bad thing is don’t have the piece that came off or I’d let someone weld it. If it were steel I could weld it up real nice but I’ve never tried aluminum. I’m thinking about trying to use some washers with the nuts on the clutch cable and safety wiring it to hold it down.

If that doesn’t work maybe I can make a bracket to hold it in place like some other bikes.

On a positive note I went through the carb and cleaned it up and the bike fired up 3rd kick and ran great.

A good aluminum welder won't need the old piece and will just build off of what is there. Take the cover off, clean the area to be be welded extremely well, and it'll be ready. Once welded, just grind it somewhat flat, center punch it, and drill a new hole for the threaded portion of the cable.

Oh, since you'll have the cover off for welding, I would add the '92-'93 KX125 clutch actuator arm while you're in there. It really makes the clutch as nice as a hydraulic setup.

Had that happen on mine. Built it up with the TIG, shaped it back down. Not too terrible of a repair, can't even tell it was ever broken.

Thanks for the replies, I’m gonna try and rig it temporarily just to get it going and run it through the gears to make sure I don’t have any problems. I think after that I’m either going to have it welded or make a bracket to come off the clutch cover bolts or somewhere to hold it.

A competent welder can rebuild that pretty easily.

bufftester wrote: ↑10:20 pm Jan 09 2023 A competent welder can rebuild that pretty easily.

Yes, could probably do it in-situ as well. Once the expansion chamber is removed shouldn't be too bad to get in there. I did mine with the inner clutch cover off of the bike though, so can't say for certain.

I finally had some time to work on the bike today. I got a new clutch cable and lever installed. The broken cable mounting tab actually has enough meat left to hold the cable in place, but I am going to drill a small hole and safety wire it down for now until I can get it TIG’d.

I was pretty sure I had another problem because I could easily move the clutch actuator rod by hand, and the spring wouldn’t return it either. I pulled the clutch cover off and found that the actuator rod was slightly bent. I straightened it out and it is working ok now but the the clutch still won’t disengage. I pulled the cover back off and found the clutch pusher holder is broken. The entire out edge is gone.

The circled part is what is broken on mine-
I ordered a new one, but I’m just wondering if this is just a bad part or could something else have caused this to break? I’m trying to figure out how that broke and the clutch cable bracket.

Here’s mine to show better what I’m talking about.

Wow, never seen one fail that way. Likely the cause of the bent actuator rod too, probably from an incorrect assembly at some point.

I got the new parts in and reassembled everything. The clutch will not move. It feels like if I pull the lever any harder something will break, likely the same clutch release bearing holder I just replaced.

When I assemble the clutch pack it looks like the clutch springs are coil binding and I believe that’s why I can’t disengage it. I have no idea if the clutch discs and springs are stock or aftermarket but they looks like they are in good shape. I’ve got 8 frictions and 7 steels. I’ve looked at the diagrams and watched the videos and I believe I’ve got everything in the correct order. The only other thing I can think to do is remove a friction and steel from the pack and see if that gives me the travel left in the springs to have room to move and disengage.

I wouldn't remove any plates, I would order new springs, OEM ones, there cheaper than you think.

They’re probably EBC clutch springs. Known issue. Chuck them in the trash.

Thanks guys. I’m thinking the clutch was slipping and the previous owner must have bought a new clutch kit and squeezed the lever so hard they broke parts. I’ll get some springs on the way. I just pulled it apart and put it back together and just to make sure I wasn’t missing something but it seems to be assembled correctly.

How bad is the basket? If it’s notched you will want to replace it.

The basket looks great no notches or anything.

Also, the stack up of the washers is extremely important, get it wrong and nothing works.

Good news, I had a chance to put the new springs in. As you can see the spring on the left is wrong and won’t compress nearly enough to release the clutch. I got it all back together and this thing rips pretty nice!!! I’m gonna spend the day tomorrow going over some other stuff and I’m hoping next weekend my son and I can go for a ride somewhere. Thanks for all of your help!