Work to Ride Special: Doohickey Day!
Weather: Rainy today. But it was gorgeous on Doohickey Day.
What every well-dressed KLR is wearing these days…
Okay, if you’re not a technical type, you may want to skip this entry. I’m going to try to describe, as briefly as possible, the yearly ritual that sees Kawasaki KLR riders gather together in large groups at the beginning of every riding season.
Gentle readers, when Springtime comes, and the riding season starts, the KLR-ist’s thoughts turn to his Doohickey. That is, if he has not done The Surgery yet.
Confused? So was I, the first time I heard of this. But let me `splain…
The doohickey is our nickname for the KLR’s counter-balancer adjuster lever. It is a piece of the engine which, if it fails, can cause catastrophic engine failure, usually far from home, and probably even far from the nearest major highway. For we KLR-ists do love to explore.
For the first time in public, I am exposing my doohickey… BOO!
Now, this was my doohickey after only 5,000 miles. It is in good shape, and probably would have never failed me. But the quality of this piece is notoriously inconsistent.
Out of seventeen KLR’s which showed up at last year’s Tech Day (some call it a Doohickey Party…), two newish KLR’s had broken doohickeys, and one of them had a broken doohickey spring.
You have to remove a large portion of the left side of the engine to get at this little critter. Special Tools must be obtained, and they are not cheap. That is why, oftentimes, many local KLR-ists will pool their resources to buy the tools, and then pass them around at their Doohickey Parties.
We all know that some bikers gather to drink beer, listen to loud music, and leer at half-nekkid wimmen.
Paul Streeter hosts Doohickey Day at Casa del Torquewrench.
Very few know that KLR-ist’s gather to perform Doohickey transplants. It is a harmless perversion which sets us apart from the “normal” motorcycle community.
You see, Kawasaki has built the KLR for some nineteen years now. And for many of those years, the doohickey has been recognized as a weak component in an otherwise very robust motorbike. Warrantee claims have been filed, and letter-writing campaigns have failed to convince Kawasaki that this part needs to be redesigned.
That’s why a few machinists around the country have stepped forward to offer beefed-up versions, machined from billet steel, to solve the problem. Some even offer upgraded springs, just to make sure that your doohickey will never go limp and let you down.
For when your doohickey lets you down, the counter-balancer chain is set free to run amok inside your engine. The hardened steel plates and rollers chew up aluminum castings faster than a frat-boy goes after free pizza. That’s not good.
I will probably get whacked by minions of Kawasaki Heavy Industries for exposing this whole affair to the motorcycling public. Why? Because Kawasaki doesn’t want this to be widely known. There is Liability in that, and we all know how giant corporations loathe Liability.
In my nightmares, I have seen a muscular Yakuza type, in a black leather trench-coat with a bright green ‘K’ on the back, waylaying me as I am about to mount Frogwing after work some evening.
Without a word, he draws his priceless, centuries-old katana, and decapitates me with an elegant backhand swoosh! Rush Hour Rambling will suddenly just… end.
Oh wait… Suzuki did the Katana, right? Never mind. I’ve been reading too much Hunter Thompson lately.
May 8th, 2006 at 7:26 pm
so these Doohickey parties invite Hyabusa’s too? or did one of the locals sell the expensive dookickey tool and buy a bling bling ride?
May 8th, 2006 at 7:32 pm
Ya know…that may have been the hitman they sent to whack me! He had a steely gaze and a strong grip when I shook his hand. But there were too many witnesses. Yeah.
Thanks for being there, guys!
Ride well,
=gc=
May 8th, 2006 at 8:56 pm
I missed this event because I was too busy fixing my lawn mower. LOL. What company do you recommend for the after market doohickey, spring and tools? Also if you know of a website with some pointers that would be excellent. I love the riding in N.W Wisconsin, hope you enjoyed. Ciao, Nick
May 8th, 2006 at 9:55 pm
BMW’s have a similar doohickey, it’s called the drive shaft and for some reason, on Monolever and Paralever bikes it has no convenient way to lube the splines. You have to disassemble the driveline and apply the magic grease to avoid catastophic and expensive driveshaft replacement. How hard could it be to engineer a Zerk there? Run in an oil bath? Some kind of access plate?
Now where can I get that sticker? I need one of those.
Rob
May 9th, 2006 at 5:54 am
Nick, that’s just too ironic. I will take some time to get that information together for you during my blunch break today. You should join one of the many email lists out there for KLR-ists. There is one on Yahoo called TC_Dualsport that focuses on local riding and wrenching issues.
Rob, I don’t think the Beemer driveshaft qualifies as a Doohickey, because “driveshaft” is so easy to say. “Counter-balancer adjuster lever”, on the other hand, is the reason we resorted to calling it “doohickey”.
So, with all due respect, I must say…”No sticker for you!”
But I agree that they should have made some provision for easy lubrication maintenance. Maybe Buster Brown could chime in on this. He is president of the Indianhead BMW club, and has a garage full of airheads.
Ride well,
=gc=
May 9th, 2006 at 11:39 am
Nick, here is where I go for all my KLR needs, except tires:
http://www.angelfire.com/ut/moab/parts_frames.html
That is the page with the doohickeys on it.
Arrowhead motorsports is run by an impeccable gentleman named Fred Hink. All of my dealings with him have been very pleasant, and service has been first rate. And no, Fred is not one of my sponsors.
As for the riding in Wisconsin, I don’t think I have ever had a bad ride over there. The whole state is full of great roads and nice people, or else I’ve just been lucky.
Ride well,
=gc=
May 9th, 2006 at 1:59 pm
Nick, Fred Hink is one good source, or you could go straight to the manufacturer, Mike Cowlishaw:
http://www.eagle-m-e.com/motorcycles.htm
As Gary pointed out, some special tools are needed. If you can wait for a tech day, you can get access to the tools and some experienced help. there is plenty of on-line technical lore (larded with perhaps a little less than the usual dose of bullshit) at Yahoo’s DSN_KLR650 list, MADS_KLR650 and http://www.KLR650.net. There are some other KLR forums, but none of them is really worth following. There is an excellent FAQ at:
http://www.bigcee.com/klr650faq.html
The lever swap, valve adjustment, and a number of other procedures are set forth in detail, with illustrations, at:
http://www.klr650.marknet.us/
Just for the record, I am no longer president of anything. In addition to the airheads in the garage, I now have three in the house.
May 9th, 2006 at 10:36 pm
Thanks a lot guys. I now realize I have some maintenance to do on my bike. It does look like fun though and I now wish I attempted this feat with you in Wisonsin or perhaps last winter. Oh well. All the links above will really help and maybe I won’t mess up with the photos that go along the step by step instructions. I’ll join the KLR group on yahoo. The KLR has quite the following, almost like a religion. Again thanks and I owe you one. Nick
May 10th, 2006 at 6:37 am
Nick, the Tech Day was held at Paul Streeter’s house in Shoreview. That pretty centrally located for anyone in the Twin Cities. The Wisconsin part of my day was a ride out to Centuria, which I will write up later. I still have some more research to do on that one.
Ride well,
=gc=
May 10th, 2006 at 8:14 am
I had a John Deere lawn mower with a Kaw engine, guess what when out.
The service guy told me that’s what always fails in them! End of the engine when that happens.
Rubber Down.
May 10th, 2006 at 9:26 am
Harley Davidson has the same do-hicky problem. An idler shoe that puts tension on the cam chain goes out usually at 30K miles or less. Some last forever but most don’t. But if you have warranty, the cost is covered. The solution of course is to put in a little hotter cam (of course) and make the cams gear driven instead of chain driven and now you have an engine that is almost bullet proof. By adding a race kit to this you gain about 12 HP and 11 FP of torque. Nice addition.
May 10th, 2006 at 9:29 am
The Kaw Vulcan had an issue with the gear that drives the oil pump was made of plastic and would wear and fail at inappropriate times. This was changed to a metal gear in 2000. Kawasaki in many cases is fixing the engine damage under warranty even on the older bikes as long as the owner shuts down the engine when the oil light comes and to protect the engine from further damage. Seems like Kaw has these ‘minor’ problems in spades.
May 10th, 2006 at 11:07 am
Since the last three comments are on roughly the same topic, I will answer them all at once.
I don’t think that Kawasaki has any more or less quality issues than the other established motorcycle brands. Honda seems to enjoy a slight edge in the quality department, but even they have had their problems in the past.
The thing that confounds me, and all the other KLR-ists that I know, is this total reluctance to correct, or even admit, the problem.
But of course, that can be seen as a blessing in disguise, because it brings the KLR community closer together, and that leads to group rides on roads that we might not explore by ourselves.
I like that Harley fix, Dave. It’s always nice to add performance while correcting a problem.
Ride well,
=gc=