The Fleet

[hadfield4wd]

So instead of posting different threads for each of our toys I'll post one thread with all.



For starters, I'm a kawasaki fan. Been that way since watching Jeff Ward. no good reason actually just loved them and that's that.



So basically, for the most part, I can't go out and buy a perfectly good, "no-issue" bike. They have to be projects or basket cases. 2 exceptions are my BMW and the gasgas. I also really enjoy working on stuff. I used to build rock crawler chassis and jeeps/buggy's.



Anyway I'll do my best here not to jump around too much. I've done a halfway decent job of documenting all the builds.



Here is what I'll be sharing. (BMW will stay off the list because it's boring, nothing ever breaks or fails.) Everysingle one of these has been a basket case, or project. Most mean shoptime with a family member. Wife helped on her Rancher. Son's on their projects.



2003 Honda Rancher

2004 Yamaha Breeze
1986 Kawasaki KL 600

1989 RM125

1998 Kawasaki KLX 340R

1997 Kawasaki KLX 300R

2004 Kawasaki Mojave 250

 

[hadfield4wd]

The '03 Rancher basket case. I got it as a rolling chassis and the parts in 6 rubbermaid containers. We determined 1 of 3 things happened to this. 1) It rolled down a cliff. 2)It fell out of the back of a truck going down the highway. 3) It was in a an Asian mudslide. We're going with mudslide and the rear diff was full of mud (it must have been run that way for a while so we had to replace it.)

My buddy has been working on it tons and I come over when I can. Its now a runner with a .25 overbore. ITP Rims, holeshot fronts and big Bear rears. We call it the Rancher SQ (Sport Quad :dry We're going to go no racks as they were bent to crap. The bars too so we bought new ones. I'm going to put a rear, grab bar/wheelie bar/bumper on.

Right now we have it all working. Except the e shift. The "N" keeps flassing 3 times. So we're cleaning up the angle positioner thing to see if that helps. I can always swap the ecus's to see if that the problem as well.

My wife getting into it.

My buddy

What it looks like on a Wednesday before a weekend at Hatfield McCoy

 

[hadfield4wd]

I picked up this '99 Yamaha Breeze 125 for my 10 year old. $325

Fits in the old manvan

I already have it stripped. Brakes and bearings ordered. Having them delivered next day so I can get it together and test ridden before our Hatfield McCoy ride this weekend.

 

[hadfield4wd]

He's working on his own junk this was 4 years ago.

His needed tires, a foot rest and some other parts. Turns out there was another one on clist with a blown motor. Paid $150 for it. The tires are worth that. Also his is making a loud racket in the transmission area. So I'm working on it today. We are supposed to leave tomorrow AM. I had some parts sent next day from rockymountainatv. They should be here this morning. Hope it's not a failure.

And no I don't have time to take the parts from the new one I bought last night to put in this one.

Last night at 9:30 on the trailer.

And the wife's 350 Rancher SQ

Needs side plastic on the other side so this is the side we take a picture of.

 

[hadfield4wd]

Didn't get the Yamaha running. He was pretty bummed. So was I. I need to split the case. Tranny is bad.

The wifes rancher I think lost a head gasket. It was down on compression and burning oil. But kept running. It's a Honda so what do you expect. I'll get an OEM Gasket for it. she did manage to flip it twice. Bent the new bars a little. And bruised up her elbow pretty good. She's getting more protective gear.

Took the motor apart last night. Bad piston. It was rubbing against the cylinder wall. The rings are basically welded into the piston. So the cylinder goes back to the machine shop today. I hope he can tell us what went wrong. As he just did the machining and rings on the piston and we did the assembly I'm not expecting nor asking for anything from him.

I'll have to get a 1mm overbore this time to get the scoring out of the sleeve.

Lousy cell phone shot

Crank was bad so we sent it out. Motor is apart.

New piston. Pro-x 1.5mm overbore

 

[hadfield4wd]

Before

After

The wifes rancher is all together. I'll get the rings broken in tomorrow.

My youngest's Yamaha is almost together as well. The engine is together and the jug is on with valves adjusted. Just need to reassemble.

So this is what it looked like Friday night.

Then Saturday around 2. (video)



The youngest's first ride.

All loaded up for tomorrow.

 

[hadfield4wd]

Better pictures of the wasted piston.

And I took better pictures of the new rod on the crank as well.

 

[hadfield4wd]

I got a 2004 Mojave for $250. According to owner had a "blown motor". It would run but white smoke. Checked oil and it looked like capacino.

This is for my youngest son for when/if he ever grows. He's 13 weighs 85lbs and is 4'11". Grew 3/4" in the last year.

Getting new:

Rings
Cylinder honed
New clutch springs (3mm too short - this is curious) friction plates are in spec
Engine Gaskets
Water pump gasket
Timing chain (had a slap) so while I'm in it it makes sense to change it and the guides.

That should clear up where ever the water was leaking over to.

Plastics need a good cleaning and refurbishment. Dude tried to paint them black. :MattH:

As it sits.



Piston looks steam cleaned. :mrgreen:



Hopefully I'll have all the parts by the end of the week.

 

[hadfield4wd]

Piss me off. Gasket doesn't line up. This is for one side cover all the rest are good.



Would have been running otherwise. Athena made the gasket situation "right". Great company and very happy with there resolution. They couldn't make there's work so they bought me an OEM gasket.

 

[hadfield4wd]

Here is Elijah's first time with a kickstart and clutch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o16p4jdtKys

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqc929Vd1_I

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVqW7Yi5Oi4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUBNJptwRfM

That's it for now. I'll do the bikes later.

The Breeze got traded for my GG so that was a huge win.

 

[gasgasxc]

Wheres the KX 500!
KDX 200?

Never seen a Kawasaki nut without a KX 500 or a KDX, if not both.

 

[hadfield4wd]

Wheres the KX 500!
KDX 200?

Never seen a Kawasaki nut without a KX 500 or a KDX, if not both.

Haha my friends and I have a KDX "buddy" bike. I'm not really a fan of the chassis. I had considered building a hybrid kx125 with kdx motor. But my GG is a way better bike.

KX500 is on the list to own. I want a SM though!!

 

[hadfield4wd]

Starting with bikes no longer in my stable.

My son's first dirt bike. 1989 RM125

Picked up this 1989 RM 125 to work on with my 14 year old. Motor is in a Rubbermaid.

He also had a cr250 chassis he wanted to unload. Fit in the back of the burban. No motor. This was used for various projects and ideas. It's a whore, everybody gets a turn.

Picture of the garage before I put these 2 bikes in it.

First order of business is strip the frame and get it painted then put it all back together. The motor will need a top and bottom rebuild. We’ll rebuild, fix or replace anything we find that is bad on the rebuild.

He was pretty excited, still had his shin guards on from soccer practice. Lost the rear fender on the ride home which is OK because it wasn’t the right one anyway. He likes the ’92 graphics that are on it so those will stay.

So we got it stripped and off to sand blasting on day 1.

 

[hadfield4wd]

Frame is blasted.

I ordered the Clymers manual as well.

Painted

So we’ve been going through the parts. The big thing is a previous owner has installed a steel sleeve. It needs bored. Which you can do with a steel sleeve within reason. There is no piston in the Rubbermaid that the motor was in so I don’t know what it’s been bored to. It’s been bored to the maximum I can get a piston for. So I was left with a couple of options. New sleeve or have this one Nikasil coated. PowersealUSA comes highly recommended and they claim they can coat a steel sleeve. I think this is the best route so it’s off to them.

Also the rod and crank bearings are shot. I’ve had great luck in the past with MRcrankshaft.com. He did my Rancher crank and also the one on my KDX motor that’s going in the CR. And he is less expensive. I sent him my old crank on Friday. He’s already called to say it’s done. New OEM crank bearings and seals are on the way. I won’t order the piston until I hear from Powerseal. Triples are back on. Fork rebuilt waiting on fork boots so I can put them in.

Also parts on order.
Front tire
Swing arm bearings
Grips
Hand Guards
Handlebar
Carb rebuild kit
8oz flywheel weights

 

[hadfield4wd]

Time for some updates. I split the case and sent the crank to MrCrankshaft.com for a rebuild. I also replaced the crank bearings. Leaving the case in the garage and the bearings an crank in the freezer. Makes it all go together pretty easy. I also replaced the swingarm bearings. I have a new (to me) front tire on. The forks are cleaned out and fluid changed. The seals seem to be in good shape so at this point I’ll leave them. If they start to leak I’ll replace them. New grips, handguards, handlebar, rear fender. Also I have 8ox of flywheel weights installed. Any bearing that hasn’t been replaced has been cleaned and greased. I’m waiting on a spoke for the rear wheel. One is missing and so is the nipple so I can only imagine that it was left off by somebody on purpose. I also need the cylinder back and then order a new piston.

 

[hadfield4wd]

So the bike is done, almost. Got it together and it rode great. My son did pretty good. We rode Pedlar. There were a lot of firsts for him. First time on a dirt bike, let alone a peaky 125 2T. First time on anything with a clutch. First time with foot shift (his quad was e-shift). He did pretty awesome. Started to learn to slip the clutch a little

I flogged it at the end of the day after he was easy on it all day on the “break in”. I was really happy. I know why people like the vibration dampeners on the bars. It’s been about 25 years since I’ve ridden a 2T. The suspension did great. Soaked up the 5’-6’ jumps without bottoming. I did run it pretty quick into the corners downshifting with lots of braking and coming out hard on the throttle. I need to work on my clutch work it was pretty bad. I heated up the front brake enough to boil the fluid and lock it up. I tried making it back to the parking lot slowly as I didn’t have any tools on me. I made it to just before the gate and the left turn in the loose gravel pushed the front tire out and I wrecked. Overall I’m very impressed with this bike. We’ll get years of service out of it. Just going to fix the front brake and replace the bars I bent. And a little post ride maintenance and be good to go.
These are pictures after the ride so it’s a little dirty. It needs a kickstand too.





Calebs first ride.
http://youtu.be/m3pmHa9qauE

 

[hadfield4wd]

So we’ve been doing some riding. We were still having issues with the front brake sticking and locking up. So I rebuilt the caliper. Turns out one of the pistons had a bad o-ring that was jammed between the piston and wall causing it to seize up.

Also it’s got an oil leak. So countershaft seal and shifter seals are on the way.

Fork seals are blown a well those are here. I’ll get all this knocked out shortly.

Got all the leaks taken care of. New fork seals. My son rode it Saturday and Monday this week. He’s getting the hang of it. He’s been short shifting and yet to really stay in the powerband. So on the road that approaches the trail I told him just to stay on it. He finally found it. The smile on his face was great. He’s working on his clutch work as well. He’s still a little nervous to jump it, but on the wide open trails he’s not nervous to open it up. On one trail on Monday he found the power band and traction (it was very muddy) at the same time. Looped the bike right off the trail. Fortunately he bailed off.
In the far left bottom corner you can see the rear fender.






Fortunately it was at a switchback. So I had to move that tree it was wedged under and just push it down to the trail.

 

[hadfield4wd]

So an update.
Shifting in to neutral has always been a pain. Well on the second day of our ride he couldn’t shift at all.
I did put the new clutch plates in. I think I should have looked at everything when I was in there. The shifter pawl has 2 screws that hold it in place. One is missing and the other is loose. This well with the pawl flopping around it hit the clutch basket and took some small chunks out of it. I could probably reuse this, but that is not in my nature. Also these are not available either OEM or aftermarket for this old of a bike. So enter ebay. I saw several for sale, but none that I would put in. Too much geartoothing etc. I ended up finding a very good one in the UK. It’s on the way here.
I still need to try to find the screw, it may have been chewed up by the tranny, but I think it could also still be in the crankcase somewhere. This will go back on with locktite.
Anyway here are the carnage pictures.
Shifter Pawl




Broken clutch basket





Pieces of clutch basket in the crankcase.

 

[hadfield4wd]

Got it all back together and rode it for another top end and sold it. Was still having shifting issues and since there were no parts available I got rid of it. I trading for his current ride a 1997KLX300 (details will come later in this thread.)

Sold his RM. We had fun building it together. And he had lots of fun on it. 2 years worth.

Bye bye



He wanted something he could turn into a dual sport and since I have one and know all the pitfalls we decided on another KLX. So this is project number 2.

This one is a 1997. It’s bone stock (Except for the pipe), dirty, leaks a little and needs some maintenance. After selling the RM and buying this I had cash for the parts.

 

[hadfield4wd]

It's a dual sport. I’ve been looking for a while.

The DRZ’s are great bikes, but not enough power. To do what I would want I'd put a big bore kit one etc. The KLR's (Kawasaki) are more on road than off road for single track. The bigger DR's (Suzuki) are great, but most of the ones I looked at were kickstart only. And quite frankly I didn't want to kickstart a 650 all the time. The Honda 650L's are way overpriced.
So basically I couldn't find exactly what I wanted. So while in Abingdon for a couple meetings I had some time between and went to a used motorcycle store. The guy didn't have any but told me of a guy that may etc, etc. The rest of the story involves a piercing shop (yes that's what I said) and a beer to finish. But basically the guy had a non running motorcycle. So we went and looked at it. Turns out it was a 1986 KL600. Has everything I wanted but a rear disc brake. I can put up with a drum. We haggled. He didn't have a title so I'll have to get that etc. It has a newer top end according to the motorcycle store owner. Electric start was an option for that year and this bike has it, along with the kickstarter. The bike has less than 5000 miles total on the odometer, I have not reason to believe it's not accurate. It's been sitting for 2 years unused. The motor is free and is missing some minor plastics. All available on ebay. The bike will need and entire teardown and rebuild. The suspension needs rebuilt. I'll be putting an adjustable shock on the rear with a heavier spring and putting heavier springs in the front forks and changing the oil in the forks. Then I'll go over every bearing, bushing pivot etc. The best part is the price. $200. These older KLR's are better in the dirt than the newer ones. Better geometry. Lighter. Very similar to the KTM, but less power from the factory. I'll change that. I'll build this exactly like I built the Tow Tool. I'll get it reliable and working properly then work on the performance aspect. Here it is.

When I first saw it.

On the trailer

In the garage.

I need to finish the buggy in my garage before I tear into this, but I'll put a thread up when I do.