KLX250S Service

[johnnysneds]

Tweet

Hasn't had much attention lately so thought I would service the old KLX.

Before: not too much different looking until you start stripping her down.


















Swing arm was removed and all joints removed, cleaned and lubed.




Corrosion at lower roller bearings from sitting water that breached the seals








Thoroughly cleaned from old grease and re-lubed.








Re-assembled and ready to be installed.












I use a bucket of warm soapy (washing up liquid) water and a sponge to clean my chain. Leave it in the sun until dry and lube with Motul Offroad Chain Lube. Good stuff you can see it penetrating the o-rings as you spray it on.






A happy, clean and lubed rear end. Onto the front....






Still plenty of grease apparent from the last time I lubed the steering stem up 3,000 Km ago.




Remove all the old grease and put plenty of new stuff on.




Bearing installed with dust cover.


Lower bearing also still plenty grease apparent from last service, nice.


Cleaned and re-greased


Forks re-assembled and all electrics cleaned with WD40.






Front wheel bearing maintenance. Required plenty of cleaning and re-greasing.










Rear rack has been modified to mount a Kolpin 1.5 gal fuel tank, really handy and easy to get on and off. I have two of these and one is used for water. More info can be found here: http://www.kolpinpowersports.com/pro...ack-mount.html









Also the engine oil was replaced with Motul, oil filter replaced, new spark plug (correct gap set) and the No-Toil two stage filter was thoroughly cleaned and re-sprayed with Motul Air filter oil.


Nice and easy to work on the KLX
And here she is all ready to go for some more adventure....

[johngooding]

Tweet

Enjoyed that pictorial walk thro of your very comprehensive service. How long did that take you to do?

[johnnysneds]

Tweet

Oh I started Thursday and finnished yesterday afternoon. Not rushing though taking my time and doing it properly.

[TonyBKK]

Tweet

Awesome Johnny! You are an inspiration!!! Now that you've got the WR will you keep the KLX? Happy Trails! Tony

[johnnysneds]

Tweet

I actually love my KLX, I've pulled it out of ditches, rivers you name it, lift it upright and the thing just fires straight up. It has been my first off-road experience and every minute has been a pleasure on it. Some might say it's a little underpowered, well I suppose that depends on your experience. For me it had bags of power off-road. I've been on rides with guys who have all the Carlos Fandango bikes and she's managed just fine, nothing to be embarrassed about. It also has a good top end which would put some 400+ bikes to shame.
Bang for bucks I don't think anything comes close to it in Thailand, legally.
It's a good back up for the WR. Depending on how the green book goes I may or may not sell.

[jon]

Tweet

Great post and really clear photos. Funny enough, after following all your work on the WR450, I was thinking how good it would be if you did the same with a KLX250, saying as how a lot more people have them.. and you did! Thanks, and I am hoping there might be a few more installments and tips of how to keep them running sweetly and maybe even how to tune them up slightly.

[johnnysneds]

Tweet

The mods I've done to my KLX go something like this:

First thing I did was de-restrict. Re-routed the wire to the ECU which allows the engine to rev to it's limiter in all gears. Most people this is the first thing they do.
I also bought an aftermarket Thai exhaust slip-on but this fell apart several times. On it's final farewell it completely departed the motorcycle and narrowly missed a friends head in Cambodia, oops sorry F. Now there is exhausts kicking about the Kawasaki shops etc but what a price there asking form them. All I did was get a hold of a second hand FMF slip-on took it along with the bike to one of these exhaust places and got them to make a pipe up for it that will mate with the stock header. I was chatting with Ian Bungy about a power bomb header pipe that can be manufactured locally. What these do is exhaust gases passing through the power bomb expand, cool and accelerate increasing flow. He swears it makes a big difference so I will give it a go soon. Moreover this power bomb will act like a pre muffler and hopefully quieten my booming exhaust down a bit.
Now I also have a contraption fitted to my bike called a Memjet Module. It's fitted inline with the air intake signal. It has a manually operated dial of infinite settings which will intercept the signal from the ECU to the butterfly, amplify it to increase the amount it opens. The ECU should sense the increased intake of air and alter the ignition/fueling to suite. This also will give you a wee bit extra power. Too much though and it starts coughing and farting as the mixture becomes too lean. It will drop your mpg quite significantly also.
You can remove your snorkel on the top of your air box to increase flow, however I put mines back on as any dirt/water gets in easily. Not worth the insignificant increase in performance in my opinion.
Now depending on what you use your KLX for this next mod will produce the biggest single noticeable change out of all of them, without going for a big bore kit that is. If you mostly ride on the road I would just leave the gearing as is, however if you spend most of your time off-road and not worried about top speed, change your sprockets. I need to check but I think I went one down on the front and a 48T on the rear. Now you'll probably think the mods previous to this made a difference, combine them with the sprocket change and you won't believe the difference. I run my rear tyre pressure around 18psi and have ripped off two stems. Yes I need to fit a tyre lock, the point is it didn't do it before the gearing change. I want to try a 50 or 52 tooth rear sprocket to see if the front end can come up any easier when riding holes/bumps on tricky trails. This is an area which let's the KLX down for me, but it's not a biggy. I thought it might just be my limited ability but no, I rode some trails on my WR last week and this does it no problem, fantastic, but that's another thread.
I believe you can now buy Power Commanders for them and I'm sure it will smooth out the fuelling, however I think the fuelling is pretty good from the injection system as it is.
Not long ago I was looking into a 350cc big bore kit. It would be a very interesting project and one I still want to have a go at, however my priorities have change for the time being but I'm sure I'll get around to it again at some point. I think there's a thread on here somewhere and a chap from Indonesia has successfully done it with great results, it did however cost him over $3000. Cheaper options will become available as the more people figure it out.
I've personally been very happy with the mods ive done to my KLX. It's kept a smile on my face over the years and still does.

[FrankT]

Tweet

Very interesting Johnny!
I have just bought a KLX and now contemplating various upgrades, I took off the snorkel and can at least hear the difference the air intake opening is now twice as big as with snorkel so I hope it makes a difference and also hope the filter does it's job with keeping the dirt out, note you use a No-Toil filter, where can I get that in Thailand?
I did already order an exhaust with power bomb header from Ian's contact in Chiang Mai, Bht 5500.- and arrived last saturday by EMS at my place in Bkk, have not installed it yet.
At the recent motorshow the Kawa Rama 9 staff told us that some people are working on an better ECU for this engine, in tests people have done 160 km/h they say...supposedly ready for sale in a few months, not surprised as think especially all the D-Tracker kids cant wait to get more power out of this engine so a proper ECU would sell as hot cakes.
The sprocket upgrade is interesting, where did you buy those?
Rgds
Frank

[johnnysneds]

Tweet

Hey FrankT,

Congratulations with your new bike, im pretty sure your going to love it.

Actually the air filter that comes standard with your KLX is pretty good, not sure but i think its a two stage one, will need to double check. Its just I ordered a No-Toil without knowing this. So I just fitted it since I bought it

You can pick-up Renthal sprockets at Dirt Shop, Bangkok, you should also be able to get a two stage filter there also if required. Not sure where you are located, if Pattaya theres a handy dirt bike shop in the East Side of Pattaya I previously used. Its a pain to find. If this is of any interest to you let me know and ill see if I can track it down in google maps and send you the co-ordinates. It has all the good stuff or the really helpful guy who runs it will be able to get you what you want in no time.

My KLX has done a GPS indicated speed of 148km/h (before changing sprockets). Now do you really want to go this fast on one of these, its not comfortable at these speeds. Anything over 130 and it becomes unstable. I would suggest forgetting about top speed (thats for Hayabusas) and gear it down so it max's out at 120, you'll have a wonderful time off-road with it.

Save your money on the magical ECU and put it towards a Scott Radial Damper.

Cant wait to hear how you get on with it, please let us all know.

[Ian Bungy]

Tweet

Buy the Air Box Snorkel from a Kawasaki Boss 175, You need to file a little on each side of Your Air Box Lid but it is very easy to do and once Fitted it increases Airflow considerably without Risking Water entry which is Possible if you just remove the Stock Snorkel or Lid? All the Mods make a Marked Difference when combined as Johnny says they are a Great little Bike once You get them going well and amazing Value for Money!

[Fishenough]

Tweet

Thanks for the motivation Johnny, got off my duff yesterday and went down to Nana Screws and purchased a large quality socket set to fill out the few tools I have.

Asked the Kawasaki Dealer to do the same work at 29,000 km, which they said was unnecessary at that mileage but they did, where we found that dry swing arm bolt and a head bearing in need of replacement (both of course were replaced).

Now at 50,000 I feel the need to have a good inspection of all the moving bits; always stripped down my own MX bikes every winter and your pictures showing that you enjoy this work remind me to get at it.

The Kaw Boss snorkel is another of those phenomenally cheap mods for the KLX's.

Cheers

[FrankT]

Tweet

Hi Johhny,

I live in Bkk and already bought some parts at Dirt Shop, will have a look again for the sprockets.
Agree this bike is not for speed but a bit moreg runt would be nice, steep up-hills can be a bit of a struggle I noticed altough, again, the sprockets could make a big difference.
If I go for new sprockets can I still use the old chain?
What's the Scot Radial Damper?
Hope to get my license plate today and then we are off to Pakse Friday for a 5 day ride around the Bolaven plateau

[FrankT]

Tweet

and oh, the big bore kit they use in Australia and USA only works for the carburretor engines, not for the fuel injected ones we have here...such a shame...

[johnnysneds]

Tweet

Hi Johhny,

I live in Bkk and already bought some parts at Dirt Shop, will have a look again for the sprockets.
Agree this bike is not for speed but a bit moreg runt would be nice, steep up-hills can be a bit of a struggle I noticed altough, again, the sprockets could make a big difference.
If I go for new sprockets can I still use the old chain?
What's the Scot Radial Damper?
Hope to get my license plate today and then we are off to Pakse Friday for a 5 day ride around the Bolaven plateau

You might be able to use your existing chain, depending on what size rear sprocket you go for and how much adjustment is left at your rear axle nut. I put a Renthal o-ring chain on anyways and kept the stocker as a spare if I ever go back to stock sprockets.

Read about Scott steering dampers here: http://www.scottsperformance.com/Sta...S&BI_ID=144233 This is the one for your bike. It provides high and low speed damping to your steering. High speed damping is the important one, if you hit something off-road ie a large rock the damper will control the deflection and hopefully the bike wont go off in an unwanted direction. Ive tried it and it works.

[johnnysneds]

Tweet

and oh, the big bore kit they use in Australia and USA only works for the carburretor engines, not for the fuel injected ones we have here...such a shame...

Yes they do work on the EFi models, its just there hasnt been a lot of success stories so far. Its ever so close to being perfected so watch this space......

Read the last few posts in this link from KLX331CRAZY: http://www.gt-rider.com/thailand-mot...)-Big-Bore-Kit

[johnnysneds]

Tweet

Thanks for the motivation Johnny, got off my duff yesterday and went down to Nana Screws and purchased a large quality socket set to fill out the few tools I have.

Asked the Kawasaki Dealer to do the same work at 29,000 km, which they said was unnecessary at that mileage but they did, where we found that dry swing arm bolt and a head bearing in need of replacement (both of course were replaced).

Now at 50,000 I feel the need to have a good inspection of all the moving bits; always stripped down my own MX bikes every winter and your pictures showing that you enjoy this work remind me to get at it.

The Kaw Boss snorkel is another of those phenomenally cheap mods for the KLX's.

Cheers

Well let us know how you get on.
And thanks for the info on the Boss snorkel Ian, wasn't aware of this. Another chance to get the Dremmel out, awesome.

[FrankT]

Tweet

All clear Johhny, talking about Scott, is that the same people who make those chain oilers? Woudl you recommend that too?

[Aki Anis]

Tweet

Hi Guys,

I'd been following the threads on KLX250 and keen on buying one for off road riding. I'm still searching for KLX 250 with carb which is 2010 model overhere in Malaysia with future big bore upgrade.
Otherwise I had to buy DFI KLX250, I am interested in the modification of rerouting the limiter as Johnnysneds had done on his bike. Would anyone show me how is it done in detail, please?
Please be warned that I am not mechanical/technical inclined.
Thanks.

[johnnysneds]

Tweet

Hi Guys,

I'd been following the threads on KLX250 and keen on buying one for off road riding. I'm still searching for KLX 250 with carb which is 2010 model overhere in Malaysia with future big bore upgrade.
Otherwise I had to buy DFI KLX250, I am interested in the modification of rerouting the limiter as Johnnysneds had done on his bike. Would anyone show me how is it done in detail, please?
Please be warned that I am not mechanical/technical inclined.
Thanks.

Click on this link and it will download a a pictorial procedure for derestricting the KLX

files.me.com/sned111/zhw543


Ignore the Russian writing just follow the numbered steps. If you any difficulty with the pictures send a PM and ill take some clearer photos from my own bike.

[FrankT]

Tweet

Hi Johnny, a few clearer pictures would be much appreciated as I am still a bit puzzled..., tnks, Frank