03s also need grease

[JCW]

I read the new bike prep tips and numerous threads about grease. I talked to my dealer and the dealer felt that the 03s did not have that problem. I decided to check for myself. First, I took the rear shock lower connecting arm off which has 4 sets of bearings. These were totally dry. The sleeve looked like it had just been cleaned with carb cleaner (shiny chrome with NO grease in the needle bearings). After greasing all 4 sets of bearings that work with the lower connection of the rear shock, I took off the swing arm. It had a little grease, but very little. Same with the steering bearings. For those of you who felt like I did that Kawasaki had surely corrected this in 03, not so. FYI, the rear swing arm bearings (5 sets) took about 1 1/2 hours and it's very easy to do.
Thanks to everyone who kept stressing this until I finally checked mine.

 

[Jeff Sexton]

Believe It! I just replaced all the linkage and swingarm bearings on my son's '02 KX85 after one season. Just purchased a new '02 KX250 and '03 KX65, same thing- no grease. If you don't take the time to put some grease in these bearings, you'll be doing the same thing I just did. I even popped the seals off the wheel bearings and packed some in them too.

While I had my son's KX85 apart, I drilled and tapped between the bearing sets on the Uni-Link and put in a zerk so I can grease at least those bearings without having to take things apart.

 

[Jackpiner57]

NO GREASE? That's unbelievable!
I have one season on my 2002 KDX200 and I am getting ready to check the KIPS,top end, and now I can plan on greasing everything! Thanks for the tip. I hope I have not done damage to the bearings yet.