KDXRIDER.NET

Ok got to ride the bike a little today. I wanted to see how the front felt. Feels superb to what I had prior. Just took it down the road and back.

Got off bike and was walking it down drive. (still ice) and I hear a clunk and bike drops about an inch in rear.

Now granted there is play in the rear and I was already planning on doing rear all over anyway. Linkage looked fine and couldnt really tell bearing wise on swingarm. If anything dry.

Got it back into garage and put it on stand and then noticed the linkage is oblonged and just wore out completely. Seems that is was rusted and with movement put it down into the oblonged part revealing some sunlight in the linkage bearing wall.

Called my brother to help tackle the job of removing the rear. Once able to get the axle out and tire off things got horrible. Dam rear suspension just literally fell apart in my hands. Bearing needles everywhere. Well what was left there was completely dry ..... no grease whatsoever.

So I guess my question is......is there an aftermarket product for kdx linkage wise. Is there a modification from say kx to kdx. I did see the one post and seen the kx is an inch longer.

At this point I can swap a swingarm and linkage in no prob. Pretty much have to redo everything anyway.

At kawasaki I can get the link alone for 160 or so shipped.

On fleabay it looks just like maybe 2 I found and look no better then what I have. One looks like he put the bearings in to hide the oblonged hole. Thats for 50 shipped.

I was just hoping to get the 70 or so swingarm and linkage bearing kit and be done. At this point I dont think I can use the linkage.





didnt start out a beer day but sure ended up one after fighting with everything to get apart. At that point I said ok I can perform bearing floor pickup inebriated.

Now rear shock with spring......should I be able to compress it by leaning into it? I can do this on my 4 wheeler some. However I could only budge it a little. Shock is getting torn down thanks to bufftesters thread. I was wondering if maybe shock is almost damaged since link wasnt working properly.....possible bent?

Thoughts? Thanks in advance.

You could try some jb weld or simular in the hole if the new bearing is loose. That might get you by for a while, or forever. If you fill the hole back in so it is round then file / sand it back out to hold the bearing. If it doesn't work you won't be out much.

I'd at least have a shop TIG and re-bore it. Shouldn't be too much trouble. Barring that, a new used linkage is in order. You could try the JB weld route, sounds like a pain in the arse though, lol.

Tig and rebore would be better no doubt, but would probably cost as much or more then a good used one. That was why the JB weld came to mind. Anyone can do it with little cost.

Cold truth. To do it right, you will have to sit and wait on a good, used one to show up on eBay. I went through this on a buddy's bike (forum member treelimb). There is a picture in the Gallery of the mess.

Take the shock spring off and see how it compresses. With a freshly rebuilt shock, it takes me two hands to get it to fully compress. This is with the compression and rebound adjusters on full soft.

If I had known, I'd have thrown in the link from my 220 when I sent you the other parts. Its yours if you want it. Needs new bearings (I pressed the old ones out), but is in pretty good shape otherwise. I'm headed over to the shop this morning, I can throw it in the mail tomorrow if you want it.

i think Bufftester has the best fix for it.

Oh wow indeed Bufftester! Yea I must of propped the link up when putting into truck to wash and when rode it fell down.

I feel like an idiot but then again by that time mucho inebriated. I just backed the spring off and didnt adjust settings. Will try.

I pulled it out of the pile of dead bike parts and cleaned it off real quick. Will drop it in the mail tomorrow.
Here's a quick pic of it

Awesome Bufftester thats gonna save me a ton of headaches. I was down to grabbin some stock aluminum and if I went to three farms locally here I have access to some machining. You didnt have to clean it up tho at this point you could of shipped it in dog poo and I wouldnt of cared and said thank you

Ok so Im having a bit of confusion here.

When ordering new bearings/seals. Originally I thought the $ 75-100 kit had all bearings to do rear. I guess Im mistakin.

So I would have to buy?

linkage bearing kit
swingarm bearing kit and
or with lower shock bearing.

so three kits then to do rear rebuild? If possible is there a place to get the entire rear bearing kit?

Also shock does not seem damaged I backed the spring off and backed the adjusters to soft and was able to compress it. Do not see any leaks but that doesnt mean theres any oil left. What rebuild kits are there for the shocks did anyone use? Brand of shock oil/ weight?

What Im hoping to do is get a rear tire, wheel bearings, swingarm bearings, linkage bearings, shock bearing, shock rebuild kit, oil. Try to get them all in one shot so I can take a few days to bolt her all up.

BTW Bufftester the part came today and I have to say it will be the shiniest piece on bike lol. I held it up to get a looksey and I came to the realization I have alot more cleaning to do to match your parts Thanks again.

When I did mine, the Linkage bearing kit had the bearings bushings and seals for the 2 large holes on the link and the link connecting point on the swingarm, the swingarm bearing kit had the seals bushings and bearings for the swingarm pivot, and I had to get the upper shock pivot bearing and lower shock pivot bearing separate. Couldn't find one set that had everything (wouldn't that be awesome to be able to do like a complete gasket/seal kit for the engine, but have it be a complete bearing bushing seal kit for the bike...swingarms, linkage, shock, fork, steering, wheels...may have to open an Ebay store).

Glad the part made it to the right doorstep this time I still can't clean parts like EyeCell Devourer of KDX's can, but I try.

When I rebuilt my shock I got a rebuild kit from RaceTech, and used BelRay 7wt and 147psi of nitrogen (it was the KX250 shock for my hybrid).