Shifter fix

MXOldtimer · Post by **MXOldtimer** » 02:23 pm Oct 02 2007

Did I have a bad shifter or was I just stupid and it took me this long to make it work?

I couldn't rotate my shifter high enough. The shifter was probably an inch & a half below the peg and just made shifting a nightmare. It's hard to see in the photo but you can see how low my shifter was and that was as high as I could put it.

If I rotated it up to peg height the shifter where it tightened onto the tranny shaft would hit a casting on the engine and I couldn't up shift.

So today I pulled it off and took a look and went to the grinder and removed some metal.

And waaaaaaahhhhhhhlllllllaaaaaaaahhhhhh! I'm able to raise the shifter to peg height and it shifts fine.

kawagumby · Post by **kawagumby** » 05:46 pm Oct 02 2007

That puppy looks like it's been bent pretty bad straight down at some time - no wonder you had problems getting it to fit. The one that came on my bike was bent in a similar fashion.

I'm still thinking about getting the clarke tank.. how do you feel the tank works in terms of grabbing it between your legs and also moving forward on over it compared to the stock unit.

I use an 89 KX250 shifter, I think most KX units will work but the early ones fit better.

http://kdxrider.net/forums/modules/albu ... /loop1.jpg

Jeb · Post by **Jeb** » 06:08 pm Oct 02 2007

kawagumby wrote: I use an 89 KX250 shifter, I think most KX units will work but the early ones fit better.

http://kdxrider.net/forums/modules/albu ... /loop1.jpg

Good tip Gumby! I see older-model KX parts fairly frequently on ebay.

Say, you don't know if any of the KX rear brake pedals will fit on a KDX do ya?

MXOldtimer · Post by **MXOldtimer** » 08:11 am Oct 03 2007

kawagumby wrote:That puppy looks like it's been bent pretty bad straight down at some time - no wonder you had problems getting it to fit. The one that came on my bike was bent in a similar fashion.

Nope it's never been bent. I even bought the bike in the crate (avatar) so if it was bent it was done in the factory. I tried to adjust the shifter up even before I rode the bike, I think I got a shifter that was simply made wrong. I'm gonna check into a KX shifter, might try the one from the KXF and see how close it comes to work'n.
The Clarke tank is slightly wider than stock and you really don't notice the height over the stock tank. They did a very good job of adding volume with out the bulk.

GS · Post by GS » 12:00 pm Oct 03 2007

Thanks for the useful comments on the Clarke tank.

Sounds encouraging.

Post by **scheckaet** » 02:28 pm Oct 03 2007

Is it just me or you have the fork saver on the upper part of you usd fork?

MXOldtimer · Post by **MXOldtimer** » 02:41 pm Oct 03 2007

scheckaet wrote:Is it just me or you have the fork saver on the upper part of you usd fork?

Those are the "LONG" ones from Tusk. They go about 1&1/2" over the slider and cover the entire upper tube.

.

Post by **scheckaet** » 03:03 pm Oct 03 2007

Yhea but from the pic, it doesn't seem like it covers much of the lower tube at all...just curious that's all.

MXOldtimer · Post by **MXOldtimer** » 07:26 pm Oct 03 2007

Is this better.

I guess you could run it the other way but I wouldn't want 10+ inches of tight neoprene binding my slider on compression.

IdahoCharley · Post by **IdahoCharley** » 07:49 pm Oct 03 2007

>|QBB<[/url]

MXOldtimer wrote:Is this better.

I guess you could run it the other way but I wouldn't want 10+ inches of tight neoprene binding my slider on compression.

I've run these on a few bikes and I like to buy the long ones and then cut them into two equal length short ones. Ends up giving you 4 short length socks - enough to run on two bikes or put the second long one away until you tear or wear out one of the covers your using.

MXOldtimer · Post by **MXOldtimer** » 08:00 pm Oct 03 2007

My fork upper tubes were pretty faded and need to be recoated. Look'd like someone tried to polish one tube up with a brillo pad or something which only made things look worse. I originally bought the long ones to cover the upper tubes until I got them hard anodized. After I got them on I liked the look and don't need to recoat the tubes now.

A cheap quick fix that ended up look'n good.

canyncarvr · Post by **canyncarvr** » 10:16 pm Oct 08 2007

RE: brake pedals

I have ski's KX250 rear brake pedal on my KDX. Tried to make my own bushing to fit..didn't work. Had one made. Viola. As nice as the O-ring protected KX mount? No. As good as the goofy steel-on-steel of the OEM KDX. Yep.

Seal savers?

They generally look like this:

The point is to protect the inner tube..keep it from nicking, scratching, keeps mud and dust out..and thus protects the seals.

Having an inch hanging over won't do that, but, to each his own. My particular own is to keep the inner tube as clean and damage free as possible. One rock in the wrong spot...and you're screwed if the inner tubes aren't protected.

Cutting them in half for double doody use is OK...if you stake the 'raw' end. Otherwise, they'll split much sooner.

Ha! I didn't even notice them on the upper tube in the pic. I was looking at the shifter!

MXOldtimer · Post by **MXOldtimer** » 12:21 am Oct 09 2007

>|QBB<[/url]

canyncarvr wrote:RE: brake pedals

Seal savers?

They generally look like this:

The point is to protect the inner tube..keep it from nicking, scratching, keeps mud and dust out..and thus protects the seals.

Having an inch hanging over won't do that, but, to each his own. My particular own is to keep the inner tube as clean and damage free as possible. One rock in the wrong spot...and you're screwed if the inner tubes aren't protected.

!

I'll politely disagree.
The Tusk ones I ordered even have the mounting directions for the upper tubes.
Even the seal saver brand has them mounted on the upper tube.

Like I said I wouldn't want 10-11" of tight neoprene binding my forks on compression.

But like you said, to each their own.

krazyinski · Post by **krazyinski** » 08:01 am Oct 09 2007

Does the shifter mod keep it from coming loose ?

Post by **fuzzy** » 09:23 am Oct 09 2007

That's another reason to run conventional forks. Also there seals last longer

Nothing wrong w/ conventional forks...In fact I'm sure a GOOD set would be the best for the woods. The problem is the fact that the KDX stockers are far from 'good.' We wouldn't be talking about all these fork swaps if they came with conventional Showas.

MXOldtimer · Post by **MXOldtimer** » 09:44 am Oct 09 2007

krazyinski wrote:Does the shifter mod keep it from coming loose ?

Of course not.

I even think it says in the Bible. "On the seventh day God rested but, he still carried his 10mm."

.

Post by **scheckaet** » 10:03 am Oct 09 2007

Like I said I wouldn't want 10-11" of tight neoprene binding my forks on compression

I doubt 10" of neoprene would cause any significant binding. I personnaly use 4-5" and don't have any trouble.
To each their own

art5 · Post by **art5** » 07:06 pm Oct 15 2007

you can install either brake lever, grind off the welded pin the factory lever slides over, then drill and tap the hole to match the bolt in pin the kx uses, after you tap the hole and install the kx pin put a nut on the other side this isnsures it stays in place, works quite well,

Post by **Mr. Wibbens** » 08:05 pm Oct 15 2007

>|QBB|QBB<[/url]

I'll politely disagree.
The Tusk ones I ordered even have the mounting directions for the upper tubes.
Even the seal saver brand has them mounted on the upper tube.

Like I said I wouldn't want 10-11" of tight neoprene binding my forks on compression.

But like you said, to each their own.[/quote]

So what's the point?

Protecting your upper tubes ?

Seems kinda funky, donut?

KDXRIDER.NET

KDXRIDER.NET

Shifter fix

Shifter fix