On Christmas Eve, the needed parts finally arrived. As the entire family was in the midst of holiday madness, I postponed working on the bike until after Christmas. Sunday morning, despite the frigid temperature, I gather up all the parts, put on some gloves, and got to work.
After replacing the bad oil gear and installing new oil seal, mechanical seal, and O-ring, I was ready to put it all back together. I installed new gaskets on both the clutch cover and the water pump, installed the impeller, and bolted everything back together. So far so good. While the tank was still off, I checked and lubed all cables, and then installed the tank and the seat.
When I poured gas in the tank I was a bit nervous since the last time the petcock leaked. My fear, however, proved not necessary as my homemade petcock fix worked and no gas leaked out.
Everything, except side covers was on and ready, so I tried starting the bike. Nothing, zero, zip, nada. I kicked and kicked for almost an hour. Fuel - check...air - check...spark - check. A mystery.
It was getting late, so I gave up.
This morning, I went back to the garage, determined and ready to hit the bike with a sledgehammer if needed to be.
After checking all connections (again) and not finding anything wrong, I tried starting it. Nothing again. Well, with nothing seemingly wrong, I took out the spark plug and replaced it with a new one. I then sprayed some ether down the airbox and the bike started on the third kick. I let it run long enough for the thermostat to open, then added some coolant, and shut her off. Later on, I checked the oil level and added as necessary.
An hour later, the bike started on the second kick and I went for a test run up the hill (through snow). Except for slipping on the ice, the bike revved up just fine and handled well. Shut it off, tried starting again -- first kick this time. Tried again half an hour later and the same thing happened. The only thing left was to adjust the clutch cable and ride back in to the garage.
Project is done!! (for now)
A few pics of the completed bike on its maiden voyage and in the garage next to my G650GS.
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| Front |
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| Left side in the snow |
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| Right side in the snow |
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| Looks like a toy next to the GS (excuse the messy floor) |
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| Next to the GS, reversed color scheme (the GS is red with black seat, etc, while the KLR is black with red seat, etc) |
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| A little tribute to ADV Rider (a great community!) |
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