A little help on rear shock spring 89 E1

[mowerman53]

Hi all,

A little help and opinion please from those that know about suspension.

Standard KYB shock on 89 E1 is what i have and at present the shock is off to the shop for a refurb, change of oil, new seals etc and nitrogen refill

On that shock i have a stock spring (blue colour) which is WAY too soft for my 100+kgs, I also have and have been using a 5.0 spring from a similarly aged RM250 (red colour)

Both those springs measure in at 270mm in length and the RM spring works the best for Timecard Enduro that I compete in (not very good but i enjoy it!)

Now I have managed to get my hands on a new old stock Genuine Kawasaki spring (black colour) for a 1988 KX250 and is rated at 5.2 (much closer to the Race Tech Calculator for my weight and inability!)

On checking the KX springs and shock and the KDX springs and shock on the Race Tech site the dimensions are indeed given as being the same (270mm long) however the genuine and marked KX spring I have managed to get my hands on is 285mm long. So if i use this spring will the ride height (assuming that the static and loaded sag settings are correct) be higher or will this just have no effect? I am not too worried if the rear ride height goes up by 15mm as i dont really expect that to upset the geometry of the front end and the KDX is not a tall bike anyway.

Thanks in advance........

[KDXGarage]

Congratulations on getting it done properly.

Just adjust the spring collar to the different length. I am thinking there will be enough room to adjust to a 15 mm longer spring.

[mowerman53]

Jason
Thanks for the reply and I too believe it will be ok and can't see any problems this may give rise to but there is always someone out there that has tried these things before and can shed a bit more light on mattaers!


. Will fit and try once I get the shock back from the shop.

[bultaco4ever]

I had an H series with a 5.0 stock spring and I replaced it with a 5.4 racetech. Then I sold that bike. Recently got an E series with a 4.8 stock spring...too soft. I put the stock H spring on. The H spring had a smaller end on the top than the bottom. So I only used one of the two collars that came on the stock E spring....same bottom diameter as the top. Plenty of adjustable threads on the shock to make up the collar height difference.

[KDXGarage]

My '94 came with a 5.3 from Race Tech (older odd numbered rating compared to the last 10?? years or so). It fit and worked fine.

Be sure to use the correct springs in front to have a properly balanced KDX.