02 KX250 Winter Maintenance

[Nickbob43]

Help me out guys.

My 02 KX250 is bone stock. I love it, bike runs awesome. All I do is trail ride it. I'm getting a heavier flywheel, putting a new chain and sprockets on it, changing the coolant, and I change the oil all of the time.

Any other suggestions?

Should I put new reeds in it? How do I know if these are going bad?

Thanks

Nick

 

[4thGearAndPinned]

The reeds are simple. Just pull off the reed block assembly, take a look at them and if they're not cracked or bent, you're set. A $30 set of boyesen power reeds will give you a moderate power gain, if you re-jet.

 

[griffbones]

If it is running good, the reeds are probably ok. If you are really concerned pull them out and look for any hair line cracks or chips along the edges and make sure they set flat in the reed cage.

Some maintenance items I like to do but are often times over looked by novice riders and mechanics are: Remove tripple clamps and re-lube the neck bearings. Pull the swingarm pin and lube it. Lube all suspension pivot points. Check the lower shock bearing. Check the wheel bearings. Look for signs of suspension fluid leakage around the fork seals and the seal head on the shock. Change the fork oil. Lube the cables.
I could go on forever, but I am a total maintenance junkie and probably more than a little anal. :nod:

 

[MX86]

If it is running good, the reeds are probably ok. If you are really concerned pull them out and look for any hair line cracks or chips along the edges and make sure they set flat in the reed cage.

Some maintenance items I like to do but are often times over looked by novice riders and mechanics are: Remove tripple clamps and re-lube the neck bearings. Pull the swingarm pin and lube it. Lube all suspension pivot points. Check the lower shock bearing. Check the wheel bearings. Look for signs of suspension fluid leakage around the fork seals and the seal head on the shock. Change the fork oil. Lube the cables.
I could go on forever, but I am a total maintenance junkie and probably more than a little anal. :nod:

your anal... i take my bike down the the bare frame. and compleatly rebuild it from the ground up :nener: only way to insure there are no underlying problems

 

[griffbones]

your anal... i take my bike down the the bare frame. and compleatly rebuild it from the ground up :nener: only way to insure there are no underlying problems

COOL, a complete gearhead! So it is true, there are still others out there. :cool:

 

[MX86]

it's 1 of 3 full time jobs lol!!

with my father and i combined we have:

7 Dirtbikes
4 Snowmobiles
and 3 4 wheelers.

in the winter we re-build all the summer toys and in the summer we rebuild all the winter toys. as well as work the shop. on an average day we have about 5 customers vehicles in with ours.. so i get home from work and go to work lol. and i do graphic design on the side lol

 

[KXtrailrider]

Lower shock bearing for sure, a weak point on the KX. Repack the muffler also, runs better and quieter. Change the brake fluid and check the brake pads. For trailriding also you should put a sparkarester on. Keep the air filter clean and check the air pressure in the tires. Great bike have fun. Ed

 

[kkencr250]

Gearhead for sure, love to tear my bike apart after every season and get her ready for the next. Half the fun of owning a bike is working on it, in my opinion at least. Try and learn EVERYTHING you can. I always laugh at one of my dumb a** friends who over pays some stranger, who may or may not know what he's doing, to "fix" his bike. Simple maintance saves $$$$

 

[griffbones]

<Quote>"Simple maintance saves $$$$"</Quote>
Amen!

 

[MX86]

it's nice catching the problems a head of time, and then watching your buddies bike break down on the trail. ruins the ride but a lot of fun to rag on him that is dealer maintained bike broke down before yours lol

 

[76GMC1500]

If I had a lot of down time to work on my bike, I would focus on bearings. After seening first hand the damage a failed wheel bearing can do, I try to stay on top of these things. In fact, I just revitalized one that seized up on me tonight so I can go riding tomorrow (and not be going through mud puddles this time). I take an o-ring pick and pop the outer seal off. Then, I use compressed air to blow what remains of the grease out (not much, usually). I pack the bearing with fresh grease and reassemble. Afterwards, they're good as new. I caught the bad bearing while changing my tire. I check the wheel bearings every time the wheel is off. Swingarm bearings are another one to look at. Most of mine had no grease in them and were corroding badly. I caught the problem before any damage was done. I'll be checking those more often.

 

[berlinetta]

can bearings be gresed without removing the wheels and such? And what type of grease should be used? Will white-lithium do the trick?

 

[kkencr250]

Yeah that will work, i'm pretty sure thats what the manual recommends for certain bearings. You should check your chain slider on the swing arm. On the bottom part of the swingarm, where the chain slides against the bottom part of the slider, right at the pivot point where the bolt goes through, check to make sure the chain hasn't worn through that slider. If it it has it will wear out that part of the swing arm causing your bearings to break inside there. This happened to mine shortly after I got it and it was starting to happen to my buddies 97 until he replaced the slider. Don't know if you've checked that or not but it was something I over looked when I was starting out.