Spent quite a bit of time in the mud a couple of weeks in a row, so I decided to grease the suspension linkage on my '99 KX250.
I've only had the bike a few months, and it looks like I should have done this right away. The shock/linkage bearing where the shock is bolted to the linkage was toast, and has pretty much destroyed the linkage. Okay. I gotta buy a new one. I can live with that. I got a great deal on the bike.
The big problem is how do I get the linkage to come off of the frame? The bolt that holds the linkage to the frame is actually between the point where the footpegs attach to the frame, so there's no straight shot at the bolt. Normally, this wouldn't be a problem except the bolt absolutely will not come out. I have beaten on it and beaten on it. The linkage moves freely, as well as the bolt turning pretty smoothly inside the linkage. According to the inspection and the service manual, the bolt does not have any circlips or any other thing keeping the bolt in.
Is the bolt severly bent? Is the bolt seized to the sleeve in between the bearings? How the hell do I get it out? I spent a couple of hours yesterday trying to get the bolt out to no avail. Any ideas? I really don't want to take it to the dealer as it will be there forever...
The second part of the question. I'm pretty new to this whole dirt bike thing. Where can I get OEM parts (or a replacement linkage) for a reasonable price? I'm sure that hunk of cast aluminum is going to run at least $150 from Kawasaki. I wouldn't be surprised to see $250. I've seen ads for Pivot Works. Are they competitively priced? Any other recommended retailers/suppliers?
I've only had the bike a few months, and it looks like I should have done this right away. The shock/linkage bearing where the shock is bolted to the linkage was toast, and has pretty much destroyed the linkage. Okay. I gotta buy a new one. I can live with that. I got a great deal on the bike.
The big problem is how do I get the linkage to come off of the frame? The bolt that holds the linkage to the frame is actually between the point where the footpegs attach to the frame, so there's no straight shot at the bolt. Normally, this wouldn't be a problem except the bolt absolutely will not come out. I have beaten on it and beaten on it. The linkage moves freely, as well as the bolt turning pretty smoothly inside the linkage. According to the inspection and the service manual, the bolt does not have any circlips or any other thing keeping the bolt in.
Is the bolt severly bent? Is the bolt seized to the sleeve in between the bearings? How the hell do I get it out? I spent a couple of hours yesterday trying to get the bolt out to no avail. Any ideas? I really don't want to take it to the dealer as it will be there forever...
The second part of the question. I'm pretty new to this whole dirt bike thing. Where can I get OEM parts (or a replacement linkage) for a reasonable price? I'm sure that hunk of cast aluminum is going to run at least $150 from Kawasaki. I wouldn't be surprised to see $250. I've seen ads for Pivot Works. Are they competitively priced? Any other recommended retailers/suppliers?
