I've followed some of Eagle Mike's vids and have communicated with him. I specifically asked him last week (today is August 13, 2024) what the exact wear order is of parts, aside from the actual doohickey failure, and he said he was going to try and make a video addressing this. What I do know from his vids is that there is no guide for the balancer chain, rather the chain rides on four sprockets: in order, being viewed from the left side case, and with the engine rotating counter-clockwise in normal running rotation, the chain will go under the crank gear, then to the rear balancer gear, then loop around and down to the doohickey tensioner gear, and then up and to the left to the front balancer gear, and then around and back down to the crank gear. Except for the crank gear the other three gears all have the rubber dampers that the chain plates are supposed to ride on. So in terms of what actually wears it would likely be the rubber dampers on the three gears, potentially the chain, and Eagle Mike talks about the front balancer weight sometimes getting loose on its shaft. There is also the likelihood as things wear the tensioner gear on its eccentric shaft will rotate (when the doohickey adjustment is done) enough such that the chain will contact the very bottom of the case. If the chain gets loose enough it could potentially sling off that lower balancer gear to do this on its own, or if there's enough free play in the chain system it would happen when the doohickey is loosened during adjustment, and the gear rotates enough in its attempt to take out the slack. In the later case if the chain hadn't been hitting the case before, but upon adjustment the gear rotates enough to have the chain now start hitting the case you will indeed hear the change in dramatic fashion and should immediately stop everything and pull the left side covers to verify what is going on. Very sorry to hear about the initial failure and then the subsequent bum engine off Ebay. I experienced similar when I had a DR650 and ordered a lower engine assembly off Ebay. It came from a wrecking company and it seems they had taken pics of the engine and THEN left it in some field before shipping it to me some time later when I purchased it. In the interim there were several bolt holes that had become filled with mud wasps laying their eggs in the cavities. It was further clear that the engine hadn't even been covered, as there was significant rust formation on the con-rod and crank assembly. The thing literally was left in an open field at the complete mercy of the elements. The seller didn't respond to a single message of mine, so I disputed the transaction with Ebay, and while I had to ship the engine back it was done on a pre-paid shipping label. The shipping container was a plastic tote, which worked very well and which I hadn't seen, before. I got my full refund and left negative feedback for the seller. I also had further negative experiences with other dismantlers, such as getting a crankshaft (for the same DR650 that I was rebuilding) that had been obviously hammered out from the right side, such that the right end was boogererd with smushed threads and was slightly mushroomed. On that engine the right end goes into a seal as it gets pressurized oil fed through the crank from that side, so that was a big no-no. I complained and the seller just refunded my money. The crank was given away on Craigslist, presumable to someone to make a doorstop out of or some modern art, I never found out. Lots of mega bone-headed wreckers out there who are just ripping parts off bikes and selling them with nary a care for the actual ability of the parts to be reused, I don't get it.
I F'd up big. Once I did the dohicky upgrade I did not do any periodically adjustments. I just rebuilt another Gen 1 and used alot parts off this 1st Gen 1. They look exactly the same. I am doing the Dohicky and sub frame bolts next week. I will be doing videos for that. In August I'm riding from Riverside Ca to the Artic Circle via the AlCan Hwy and Dalton Hwy.
I know this is old by now, but I don't think you did anything wrong other than possibly missed hearing the extra noise as the upper balance shaft bearing (shown around 2:33) was going bad. The doo has been replaced and looks fine. The cam chain is loose because the upper chain tensioning guide is now broken. The big culpret is that all the ball bearings in the upper balance shaft bearing are gone , the shaft is flopping around, and the sprocket had come off the shaft. The other gear you show is just one of the starter gears which can fall out when you take off the stator cover. The stator actually looks pretty normal. The inner cover is broken and crank case is a bit chewed up. If there's no other damage beyond what is seen here, the engine may be salvageable, but it's probably cheaper to get another engine.
Hate to say it, but I believe your doohickey-fix caused your problem. If the tension was able to get so rigid that it snapped your shaft. It's either that or you had a faulty from the factory shaft. Either way, sorry that happened and I hope you get a replacement motor soon.
Great video thank you. 2 big lessons. I wonder if ultimately it was an overtorqued doohickey adjustment bolt because thats the Eagle Mike doo-hickey and spring in there.
I did this video on Feb 8th. The engine in the crate was sent back a few hours after the video. I'm going to sit on this for a few weeks before I commit to a plan moving forward
I read somewhere that the doohickey is a bandaid for a problem that lies in the balancer chain guide material being too soft. The chain cuts away at the material over time causing excess slack in the chain which stretches (and eventually breaks) the stock balancer tensioner spring. Em Doohickey fixes the spring/lever breakage but doesn't account for the chain guide being eaten away. So if you still end up having a bunch of slack in that chain I imagine it could just start eating into the engine case and eventually seize up and cause a similar issue to this. Not an expert by any means, just repeating things I've read but it does seem plausible.
I've followed some of Eagle Mike's vids and have communicated with him. I specifically asked him last week (today is August 13, 2024) what the exact wear order is of parts, aside from the actual doohickey failure, and he said he was going to try and make a video addressing this. What I do know from his vids is that there is no guide for the balancer chain, rather the chain rides on four sprockets: in order, being viewed from the left side case, and with the engine rotating counter-clockwise in normal running rotation, the chain will go under the crank gear, then to the rear balancer gear, then loop around and down to the doohickey tensioner gear, and then up and to the left to the front balancer gear, and then around and back down to the crank gear. Except for the crank gear the other three gears all have the rubber dampers that the chain plates are supposed to ride on. So in terms of what actually wears it would likely be the rubber dampers on the three gears, potentially the chain, and Eagle Mike talks about the front balancer weight sometimes getting loose on its shaft. There is also the likelihood as things wear the tensioner gear on its eccentric shaft will rotate (when the doohickey adjustment is done) enough such that the chain will contact the very bottom of the case. If the chain gets loose enough it could potentially sling off that lower balancer gear to do this on its own, or if there's enough free play in the chain system it would happen when the doohickey is loosened during adjustment, and the gear rotates enough in its attempt to take out the slack. In the later case if the chain hadn't been hitting the case before, but upon adjustment the gear rotates enough to have the chain now start hitting the case you will indeed hear the change in dramatic fashion and should immediately stop everything and pull the left side covers to verify what is going on. I'm going to double-post this as a general reply to the video, here, but I did want to point out that there is no guide for the balancer chain, only the four sprockets with three of them having the rubber dampers.
I would probably purchase a new Gen 3 then part out the Gen 1 to help cover part of the cost of new bike. Until the end of March, Kawasaki is giving $1000.00 off of the KLR, plus an additional $250.00 if you are a veteran.
@BigDave Congrats on your purchase! I just bought a 2023 base model last Friday at a similar price using the $1000.00 promo and a $500.00 Kawi Kash coupon that I had.
This is why it must be done, all you nay sayers. Mine crapped out at 7000 miles. Luckily no balancer system problems like he has. Just put in the Eagle Mike doohickey and save yourselves this heartbreak and headache.
I was in Europe for three months. I just got back on Sep 1st. My Europe clips on on my other channel, Euro Vin 2023. I was only home for a week in California now in Ohio for a friend's Air Force retirement. I was able to put a viable plan (KLR Re-build) in place in the few days I was in California. After Ohio, I fly to Washington to get my daughters settled in college. I will be back home on Sep 21st and put out a detailed video on my next move with my KLR.
Yes, it is. But I think back to just 7 years ago and I didn't even know how to ride a motorcycle. Since then I did a round trip on Route 66 and a round trip U.S. West Coast from Mexico to Canada. I did put almost 30,000 miles on that KLR and learned many maintenance and repair skills. I'm still considering getting another engine because I like the Gen 1.
From what I'm understanding in this video is that the failure happened because you didn't periodically adjust the doohickey? You just installed it and forgot about it? Or was it because it was overtightened? Also about the timing chain tensioner, isn't it an automatic adjuster? I don't think we have to periodically adjust it, it should do it on it's own because it's a spring loaded system that tensions the chain as it stretches overtime. Or maybe you meant something else? I just would like to get clarity on exactly what went wrong, sorry if I sound a bit confused.
I think it was because I installed the dohicky but never adjusted it. I have seen other youtube videos where the adjust the Dohickey with each oil change. I never did that. I bought the motorcycle with 1000 miles on it. I put on about 8K before I did the dohicky and then another 18K before the engine busted. It has 29K on the engine now.
@@adventurevin7600 Makes sense now. I adjust my doohickey every oil change which has been anywhere between 1500-2000 miles. I also torque the bolt down to 78 inch pounds with a proper torque wrench. What most like happened is the balancer chain got so sloppy overtime that it kinked causing a stoppage and took some of the gears with it; just my guess. Was there excessive engine noise and vibrations that developed overtime before this happened?
I know I'm responding to a 3-month-old post but maybe my comment will be useful. The doohickey spring does adjust the cam chain tension but ONLY when the lock bolt is released. The adjustment you need to perform is to simply loosen the lock bolt a half turn and then re-tighten it. When you loosen the bolt, the spring tightens the chain. This is true of the factory stock tensioner as well as the doohickey. There are a bunch of youtube vids that cover this. czcams.com/video/3ItkeJqcCtg/video.html
Your bike already has an Eagle Mike doohickey and spring….I’m in the process of doing mine…..cam chain and valve shims too….just put your bike back together properly…it’ll be fine……
who ever did you doohickey did not put the engine back together correctly or the chains are way over tightened. Alot of times people do their own engine work they dont realize how to put the gears back together correctly. so you have timing chain failures, shafts sheared completely off due to friction and strain on the chains.
I've followed some of Eagle Mike's vids and have communicated with him. I specifically asked him last week (today is August 13, 2024) what the exact wear order is of parts, aside from the actual doohickey failure, and he said he was going to try and make a video addressing this. What I do know from his vids is that there is no guide for the balancer chain, rather the chain rides on four sprockets: in order, being viewed from the left side case, and with the engine rotating counter-clockwise in normal running rotation, the chain will go under the crank gear, then to the rear balancer gear, then loop around and down to the doohickey tensioner gear, and then up and to the left to the front balancer gear, and then around and back down to the crank gear. Except for the crank gear the other three gears all have the rubber dampers that the chain plates are supposed to ride on. So in terms of what actually wears it would likely be the rubber dampers on the three gears, potentially the chain, and Eagle Mike talks about the front balancer weight sometimes getting loose on its shaft. There is also the likelihood as things wear the tensioner gear on its eccentric shaft will rotate (when the doohickey adjustment is done) enough such that the chain will contact the very bottom of the case. If the chain gets loose enough it could potentially sling off that lower balancer gear to do this on its own, or if there's enough free play in the chain system it would happen when the doohickey is loosened during adjustment, and the gear rotates enough in its attempt to take out the slack. In the later case if the chain hadn't been hitting the case before, but upon adjustment the gear rotates enough to have the chain now start hitting the case you will indeed hear the change in dramatic fashion and should immediately stop everything and pull the left side covers to verify what is going on.
Very sorry to hear about the initial failure and then the subsequent bum engine off Ebay. I experienced similar when I had a DR650 and ordered a lower engine assembly off Ebay. It came from a wrecking company and it seems they had taken pics of the engine and THEN left it in some field before shipping it to me some time later when I purchased it. In the interim there were several bolt holes that had become filled with mud wasps laying their eggs in the cavities. It was further clear that the engine hadn't even been covered, as there was significant rust formation on the con-rod and crank assembly. The thing literally was left in an open field at the complete mercy of the elements. The seller didn't respond to a single message of mine, so I disputed the transaction with Ebay, and while I had to ship the engine back it was done on a pre-paid shipping label. The shipping container was a plastic tote, which worked very well and which I hadn't seen, before. I got my full refund and left negative feedback for the seller. I also had further negative experiences with other dismantlers, such as getting a crankshaft (for the same DR650 that I was rebuilding) that had been obviously hammered out from the right side, such that the right end was boogererd with smushed threads and was slightly mushroomed. On that engine the right end goes into a seal as it gets pressurized oil fed through the crank from that side, so that was a big no-no. I complained and the seller just refunded my money. The crank was given away on Craigslist, presumable to someone to make a doorstop out of or some modern art, I never found out. Lots of mega bone-headed wreckers out there who are just ripping parts off bikes and selling them with nary a care for the actual ability of the parts to be reused, I don't get it.
My question is did do the adjustments on a regular basis, I totally agree with you, I’m replacing mine.
I F'd up big. Once I did the dohicky upgrade I did not do any periodically adjustments. I just rebuilt another Gen 1 and used alot parts off this 1st Gen 1. They look exactly the same. I am doing the Dohicky and sub frame bolts next week. I will be doing videos for that. In August I'm riding from Riverside Ca to the Artic Circle via the AlCan Hwy and Dalton Hwy.
I know this is old by now, but I don't think you did anything wrong other than possibly missed hearing the extra noise as the upper balance shaft bearing (shown around 2:33) was going bad. The doo has been replaced and looks fine. The cam chain is loose because the upper chain tensioning guide is now broken. The big culpret is that all the ball bearings in the upper balance shaft bearing are gone , the shaft is flopping around, and the sprocket had come off the shaft. The other gear you show is just one of the starter gears which can fall out when you take off the stator cover. The stator actually looks pretty normal. The inner cover is broken and crank case is a bit chewed up. If there's no other damage beyond what is seen here, the engine may be salvageable, but it's probably cheaper to get another engine.
I ended up getting another KLR 650, exact year, and color (Twins). It has 14,000. I bought it last month and will start swaping parts soon
Hate to say it, but I believe your doohickey-fix caused your problem. If the tension was able to get so rigid that it snapped your shaft. It's either that or you had a faulty from the factory shaft. Either way, sorry that happened and I hope you get a replacement motor soon.
Great video thank you. 2 big lessons. I wonder if ultimately it was an overtorqued doohickey adjustment bolt because thats the Eagle Mike doo-hickey and spring in there.
Might be. After I put in the Eagle Mike doohickey, I put on another 15K mikes
I did this video on Feb 8th. The engine in the crate was sent back a few hours after the video. I'm going to sit on this for a few weeks before I commit to a plan moving forward
I read somewhere that the doohickey is a bandaid for a problem that lies in the balancer chain guide material being too soft. The chain cuts away at the material over time causing excess slack in the chain which stretches (and eventually breaks) the stock balancer tensioner spring. Em Doohickey fixes the spring/lever breakage but doesn't account for the chain guide being eaten away. So if you still end up having a bunch of slack in that chain I imagine it could just start eating into the engine case and eventually seize up and cause a similar issue to this.
Not an expert by any means, just repeating things I've read but it does seem plausible.
Very good info. I just got another KLR same year and I will keep this in mind
I've followed some of Eagle Mike's vids and have communicated with him. I specifically asked him last week (today is August 13, 2024) what the exact wear order is of parts, aside from the actual doohickey failure, and he said he was going to try and make a video addressing this. What I do know from his vids is that there is no guide for the balancer chain, rather the chain rides on four sprockets: in order, being viewed from the left side case, and with the engine rotating counter-clockwise in normal running rotation, the chain will go under the crank gear, then to the rear balancer gear, then loop around and down to the doohickey tensioner gear, and then up and to the left to the front balancer gear, and then around and back down to the crank gear. Except for the crank gear the other three gears all have the rubber dampers that the chain plates are supposed to ride on. So in terms of what actually wears it would likely be the rubber dampers on the three gears, potentially the chain, and Eagle Mike talks about the front balancer weight sometimes getting loose on its shaft. There is also the likelihood as things wear the tensioner gear on its eccentric shaft will rotate (when the doohickey adjustment is done) enough such that the chain will contact the very bottom of the case. If the chain gets loose enough it could potentially sling off that lower balancer gear to do this on its own, or if there's enough free play in the chain system it would happen when the doohickey is loosened during adjustment, and the gear rotates enough in its attempt to take out the slack. In the later case if the chain hadn't been hitting the case before, but upon adjustment the gear rotates enough to have the chain now start hitting the case you will indeed hear the change in dramatic fashion and should immediately stop everything and pull the left side covers to verify what is going on. I'm going to double-post this as a general reply to the video, here, but I did want to point out that there is no guide for the balancer chain, only the four sprockets with three of them having the rubber dampers.
I would probably purchase a new Gen 3 then part out the Gen 1 to help cover part of the cost of new bike. Until the end of March, Kawasaki is giving $1000.00 off of the KLR, plus an additional $250.00 if you are a veteran.
Yep 3 weeks ago I bought a brand new 2023 S model out the door for a little over 6k. Almost 2200 than a KLR was for the 22 model when it came out
@BigDave
Congrats on your purchase! I just bought a 2023 base model last Friday at a similar price using the $1000.00 promo and a $500.00 Kawi Kash coupon that I had.
This is why it must be done, all you nay sayers. Mine crapped out at 7000 miles. Luckily no balancer system problems like he has. Just put in the Eagle Mike doohickey and save yourselves this heartbreak and headache.
Well it’s been 6 months, what did you end up doing?
I was in Europe for three months. I just got back on Sep 1st. My Europe clips on on my other channel, Euro Vin 2023. I was only home for a week in California now in Ohio for a friend's Air Force retirement. I was able to put a viable plan (KLR Re-build) in place in the few days I was in California. After Ohio, I fly to Washington to get my daughters settled in college. I will be back home on Sep 21st and put out a detailed video on my next move with my KLR.
Those gears are starter gears.
You’re basically a doctor.
Great info!
Total Bummer, so sorry bro!
Yes, it is. But I think back to just 7 years ago and I didn't even know how to ride a motorcycle. Since then I did a round trip on Route 66 and a round trip U.S. West Coast from Mexico to Canada. I did put almost 30,000 miles on that KLR and learned many maintenance and repair skills. I'm still considering getting another engine because I like the Gen 1.
My 2023 KLR doohicky failed with only 1300 miles. Dealer fixed it under warranty. 😮
Cool deal. My Gen 1 is 16 years old with 30K miles
I have had four KLR'S over the years and the first three no problems. I think Kawasaki is getting lazy with quality conctrol.
Noooo…. Good luck fixing the bike!
It's been frustrating. At least when it happened I was close to home and didn't wreck
Gen2 !
I already rebuilt another Gen 1. Looks just like my original.
From what I'm understanding in this video is that the failure happened because you didn't periodically adjust the doohickey? You just installed it and forgot about it? Or was it because it was overtightened? Also about the timing chain tensioner, isn't it an automatic adjuster? I don't think we have to periodically adjust it, it should do it on it's own because it's a spring loaded system that tensions the chain as it stretches overtime. Or maybe you meant something else? I just would like to get clarity on exactly what went wrong, sorry if I sound a bit confused.
I think it was because I installed the dohicky but never adjusted it. I have seen other youtube videos where the adjust the Dohickey with each oil change. I never did that. I bought the motorcycle with 1000 miles on it. I put on about 8K before I did the dohicky and then another 18K before the engine busted. It has 29K on the engine now.
@@adventurevin7600 Makes sense now. I adjust my doohickey every oil change which has been anywhere between 1500-2000 miles. I also torque the bolt down to 78 inch pounds with a proper torque wrench. What most like happened is the balancer chain got so sloppy overtime that it kinked causing a stoppage and took some of the gears with it; just my guess. Was there excessive engine noise and vibrations that developed overtime before this happened?
No engine noise or odd feel. In fact when it happened it just shut down. It wasn't dramatic at all
@@reubenreports2904 every other oil change is all you need to do.
I know I'm responding to a 3-month-old post but maybe my comment will be useful.
The doohickey spring does adjust the cam chain tension but ONLY when the lock bolt is released. The adjustment you need to perform is to simply loosen the lock bolt a half turn and then re-tighten it. When you loosen the bolt, the spring tightens the chain. This is true of the factory stock tensioner as well as the doohickey.
There are a bunch of youtube vids that cover this.
czcams.com/video/3ItkeJqcCtg/video.html
Your bike already has an Eagle Mike doohickey and spring….I’m in the process of doing mine…..cam chain and valve shims too….just put your bike back together properly…it’ll be fine……
I'm my best and worst enemy fixing this thing. But I value all the lessons learned
Gen one !!
who ever did you doohickey did not put the engine back together correctly or the chains are way over tightened. Alot of times people do their own engine work they dont realize how to put the gears back together correctly. so you have timing chain failures, shafts sheared completely off due to friction and strain on the chains.
Thanks for the insight. I did the dohicky with the help of a friend. I put about 15K miles on it after. This failure was 100% my fault.
Where are you located? I can easily swap your cases and rebuild it for you. I have a good set of cases. Located in Michigan. Check my vid of my KLR.
Riverside, Ca