KLR 650 "Doohickey" balance adjuster lever and spring

VIMike

VIMike

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Dooh, another hi-jacker. Welcome 'Butcher' to our group. I have some friends in Gibsons and Sechelt that I sometimes go visit. I would like to meet you should I bring my bike, maybe even go for a ride. I especially like the strtch of highway up past Pender Harbour out to the Powell River Ferry. Also every time I would pass by the two lakes along the highway I'm tempted to bring my fly rod andcast a few.

Drop me a line, as to where you are, what you ride etc etc.

VIMike/ A19 KLR

Back to the regulary scheduled programming on Doo-Hickeys.
 
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avmechanic

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I have a set of doohicky tools if anyone needs them in the Lower Mainland. I live in Langley but I could ship them Greyhound if anyone needs them elsewhere.

Greg
 
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klrman

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Could you ship the doohickey tools to me!
I just ordered 2 2006 KLR's and I just want
to do the Doohickey thing, basically because I have
dreams of being stuck on a high mountain with my
engine fried and it bugs ne enough that I will change it
as soon as I pick up the bikes this week
 
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klrman

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By the way, can I get the Doohickey parts here in BC?
If I order it from the US, then I don't know how long
the wait will be before it crosses the border and the snow has melted around the mountains here! I need to test the new mountain roads around me as I did not know we had so many until I downloaded Google Earth and saw the satelite shots of my area. If any of you are in doubt where the back mountain trails lead in BC, that free satelite program google earth will give you a pretty good idea about the roads and how long they run through the mountains.
The mountain just behind my house has a road that looks like it goes at leat 40 K up the mountain to 3 lakes I never even knew of and I have lived here 12 years now.
 
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Yak_KLR650

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You may be able to order them through a dealer like Burnaby Kawasaki, but probably simpler to get them from Fred Hink at Arrowhead Motorsports. http://www.angelfire.com/ut/moab/index.html

That's what we did, quick and easy. Just make sure you get them to ship them US Postal Service NOT FedEX or UPS - Customs brokerage fees will kill you.
 
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klrman

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Thanks Yak_KLR650.
If I can't get it through a BC Kawasaki dealer then I will order it in the US as you suggest.
I can't order it through my local Kawasaki dealer as he goes crazy when I mention the word "Doohickey"! He denies the Doohickey problem as if his life depended on it:D
 
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vexorg

Flinger of mud
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Yak_KLR650 wrote:
We changed 2 Doohickeys on the weekend - my '99 with 28,000 km on it and Ray's '04 with only a few thousand km. Had them both done and cleaned up in less than 3 hours. For someone that has never seen the inside of an engine, this was really easy. The instructions on the internet -http://www.klr650.marknet.us/doohickey.html were great.

PM me if you want some more details or info.
Click to expand...

A few of us out here in the Toronto area are getting together on the 22nd to have a tech day (http://www.klr650.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=10309), which of course includes doohickey replacement. Any pointers on things we should watch out for? I can do routine maintenance on a bike, but like you, have never been into the engine.

I know your post says to PM you, but I thought that other listers here might appreciate the info as well.
 
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Yak_KLR650

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The only issue I had was overcoming my fear of opening up a functioning engine :shock:. When undoing the rotor bolt it was useful to have a cheater bar, and a 1/2" drive torque wrench for retorquing it. The instructions at http://www.klr650.marknet.us/doohickey.html are great, follow them and you should have not problems. We did ours upright on a lift, so we drained the oil. I was able to reuse the gasket (careful pulling the cover off).

The doohickey in mine was intact, but showing signs of wear on the shaft. The engine runs smoother now (for a Thumper! :p).

Good Luck
 
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klrman

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I found another website with a step by step guide with great pics to change the Doohickey and a wealth of other KLR info. http://www.multisurfacemotorcycling.com/klrpage/lever/lever_p01.htm

Pretty decent site and goes indepth about what parts to grease etc and torque specs on the Doohickey adjuster bolt not mentioned in the Kawa service manuals etc.

Between these picture and info at http://www.klr650.marknet.us/doohickey.html everyone will feel confident in doing the job properly. This site mentions important stuff about Doohickey replacement that I don't see mentioned anywhere else. :dr::hf:
 
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Norm

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We just did another Doohickey today. There were no broken parts but the lever had a compressed area which would have prevented movement unless the bolt were backed off significantly. In addition, the spring had no tension so we replaced the Doohickey and installed the shorter of the two springs.

If you find a broken spring, look in the oil pump pick-up screen for the broken piece because that's where they usually end up. It's a good excuse to clean the bits of silicone out of the oil pump pick-up screen.

Anyone in the Fraser Valley who needs a hand with a Doohickey, give me a shout. I have the tools and have done several.

Norm
 
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dooveman

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You know it would be great if everyonewho replaced a doohickey, would bag it up and give it back to Kawasaki with the year of their bike and the Km's on their odometer. They won't do anything about it until they start getting data back that shows the issues. I was told by them that a few years ago they made changes like improving the weld that eliminated the problem. But they still offer an after market fix for the paranoid people that hear about it.

So the more doohickey's that get returned, the more valuable data they have to see what should be done and how it fails with use.

Brian
 
04klr

04klr

Well-known member
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another two bits worth, 1)don't ask why, just do the "Doo" and sleep at night.

2) when doing the Doohickey (and spring replacement) ensure that there is enuf clearance between the adjuster and the case, some castings don't leave enuf space for future adjustment, if the adjuster takes up slack at ea. adjustment , then there must be room to travel, mine didn't have enuf room and, though scary I jammed a rag in there thentook a wood chisel and Jokers fav. tool, a hammer, andpersuaded some material off the case(a die grinder could be used, but I felt it would be easier and safer to use the chisel as the little bits are easier to keep track of rather than filings from the grinder), now there's room for future travel of the adjuster. was that more than two cents worth?, so sue me :}
 
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Flyfisher

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A19, 7600 Km

Do the Doo, it is just worth the peace of mind.

Did mine with no problems, the doohickey was a bit warped where the bolt sits, there was an obvious mark from the bolt, had to be done at the factory or stealership because I bought the bike new. Factory spring was 40mm and maybe would have pulled one more time (doubt it though), put in the 35mm spring.

Marknet or Multisurface Motorcyling are both great sites. Register on KLR650.net plenty of help here to. Do a doohickey search and see if you want to do the doo or not, it convinced me.

If you do the job yourself here are a couple of things to keep in mind, when pulling the generator cover don't take the bolts right out, back them out until there is about 1/4 of the threads to go. There is a bit of magnetic attraction here so when you pull the cover the bolts will hold the generator cover in place. you can now carefully go around the case and seperate the gasket. Once the gasket is clear remove the bolts and remove the case. The only other thing is when removing the inner cover, put your thumb on the end of the shaft that holds the doohickey and hold it in place. this shaft can pull out and drop a washer.

If you do not want to wreck your gaskets have new ones ready to do the job, cause if you don't, Murphy will rule.

I used my new ones and now have emergency gaskets.
 
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