KDXRIDER.NET

http://www.rb-designs.com/KDX-KX-Stem-Swap.htm




When I got my KX125 front end last month, I was apprehensive about the stem pressing, spacer and shim stock issues. I dont have access to a press and really didnt know any good machinists around town who I could trust to help me out. After talking with my brother who is a millwright, he suggested contacting Ron to see if he would be willing to take on the task.

I e-mailed Ron, and sure enough he said he would love to help out. I took my KX stem w/ bottom T-clamp along with my KDX stem and T-clamp out to his shop.

Ron initially ran into an issue with fitting the KDX bottom bearing on the KDX stem once pressed into the KX bottom T-clamp. I know others have used heat and cold along with brute force to get it to seat onto the KX T-clamp. Ron, being the perfectionist that he is, decided to mill the stem down for so the bearing would seat. It worked perfectly of course.

Next, came the spacer issue, but since I had 2 KDX stem lock nuts, they worked perfectly to raise the upper T-clamp for bar clearance and the ability to raise the forks in the tubes if needed.
(Ron was willing to machine a spacer for this if needed and would even have made a sleeve with spacer!)

Finally came the issue of using shim stock to fill the space between the KDX stem and upper T-clamp. Ron, suggested there was a much better way than using shim stock and he made me a nice sleeve to take up the space. It also fit perfectly and looks great!

Ron said he would do the same work for other KDX'ers who wanted a custom fit setup!

So, if you are considering doing the fork swap and want your stuff to fit perfectly, contact Ron. Not only will you get top of the line, percision work, but the best customer service around!

Hopefully this can become a sticky for others to use when they are considering doing the fork swap.

Thanks Ron for all of your help!

Here is pic of the stem seated perfectly to the KX bottom T-clamp along with the custom sleeve fitted for the upper T-clamp.



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Will Ron do this with mail service?

Yes! He said that was his plan.

Probably want to contact him first though.

Yes... definately a sleeve is much much better than shim stock!

When I did mine many moons back a certain Canadian made a couple for me. Those Canadians take metal shop in kindergarden ya know!

What do ya think Inda. A sticky for Ron?

Well... I know it is much safer to have the same person doing this that knows what is involved. I had my 03 KX forks done after I gave the shop step by step instructions on how to do it. Later I was converting my brothers forks and just dropped them off thinking they knew what they were doing the second time.... NOPE! Pushed the stem out through the top ... pressed in the new one. Didn't know it until my brother said his forks were moving. I checked it out and realized what they did. Luckily I had another one that was done right so he could swap it out....

I just heard from Ron that he now making a spacer/sleeve combo for the KX fork swap. I have clamps at his shop right now being worked on. Will posts pics once I get the parts back.

Here are photos of RB's work as the original poster's photos are gone. As expected, the work is top notch. Also, the packaging from RB was outstanding, which is nice and shows that he is committed to a quality job.

Spacer/Sleeve combo:



Another shot of the Spacer/Sleeve:



Spacer/Sleeve in the clamp:



Another shot of the Spacer/Sleeve in the clamp:



KDX stem pressed into KX lower clamp:

What is RB charging for the spacer and pressing the stem?

I think about 63 dollars with return shipping.

The ongoing saga.

'01 forks

'03-07 Universal triple clamp.

When tightened almost all the way, the fork bore in the clamps is .01-.02 out of round. This is the last point where you can slide the fork tubes out of the clamp, and the clamp has very little room left before it closes all the way. The guy at universal told me that 5-7 lbs torque on the clamps was enough, but didn't mention them tightening to out of round.

is it acceptable to tighten these to where they need to be (which may require shaving a little between the mating sides of the clamp) and squeezing the tubes slightly out of round, or am I way off base here?

Are you using the correct clamp size for the fork diameter?
Seems like you aren't: 01 with "universal" 03-07 clamp means just that: universal for 03-07, not 01...
If the fork are 46 and the clamp 48 you'll need to shim the clamp, other wise they'll never be tight enough. Use aluminum sheet, that's what I did, works fine.

universal engineering is the company name. I've never been able to figure out if the tube diameter changed after '02, or some other dimension. It seems like '03 and up have a different tube diameter. I can easily go with some shim stock if that's good to go. I just didn't know if that was acceptable.

01: 46 mm
02: 48 mm
for sure.
I believe 03 and up are 48 too.

so some 1 mm shim stock wrapped around there should be G2G. Any reason to use alum. brass or steel?

'03 forks are 48mm. You really ought to use the right clamps.

Just wanted to give another thumbs up for RB. The man is fast, professional, and he will ge getting my crank and head to do next!