Novice question about removing grips

[MDA]

Hello everyone in KDX land.

I recently bought a pair of aluminum reinforced bark busters to releive the strain on my levers from my constant falling off the bike and bouncing off trees. I still have the stock bars (yes I know they are crap and even gravity tends to bend them down). I am in the process of buying my wife a bike and gear, so to save money they will have to do for now. I'd rather share my passion for this sprot with my wife than have a set of Renthals, I'm just funny that way.

I know I have to cut a half inch off the end of the bars to get the welded washer/plug out of the bars before I can install the guards. What has me stumped (and this is how you can tell I am a novice at this) is how to remove the grips without damaging anything. I can see how on the clutch side a bit of heat applied to the grip might help things along, but what about the throttle side? How do you remove the throttle assembly? Does it just slide off? Does it need heat to remove any glue or anything?

When removing grips, can you re-use them? Should I just run out and get a new set of grips before starting this? Any help you can give me specific to removeing grips/throttle assembly would be greatly, greatly appreciated since I am thinking of riding in my first hare scramble this coming weekend and I do not like the idea of a DNF because of something preventable like a broken lever.

Thanks in advance....

-Mark-

 

[G. Gearloose]

Dish Soap

 

[wibby]

The throttle side is easy just unbolt it and it slides right off.
On the clutch side, any kinda lube like WD-40 or dish soap oughta do the trick.

 

[paul6585]

Compressed air works very well if you have access to a compressor or air hose.

 

[Smit-Dog]

1) If the grips are worn even a little, save yourself some time and effort and just cut the existing grips off and get a decent set of new ones. They're pretty cheap at ~$10. I just installed a set of ProGrip dual compound grips to help dampen vibration. Note: There is a throttle sized grip, and clutch side grip in a set. Different inner diameters.

2) I used to use grip glue to keep the grips on, but they always twisted due to my frequent death grips on the bike. Now I safety wire them, and they stay put perfectly. Another big benefit is that by safety wiring them, you don't have to deal with messy glue, and swapping grips out is a piece of cake. No more dried up glue to scrape and deal with. You can buy just the safety wire and use regular pliers, or get the fancy safety wire pliers that are a little pricey, but are really trick to use. Make sure your grips have grooves / channels in them for the safety wire.

4) If you're so inclined, now would be the time to replace the cheap and flimsy throttle tube with an aluminum one. I use cable lube or a really light silicone grease on the throttle end of the handlebar so it slides/twists easily.

5) I recommend bark busters from Enduro Engineering (www.enduroeng.com), along with the brush guards. Make sure the throttle side doesn't stick due to the grip end rubbing on the inside of the bark buster. Leave a good 1/8" clearance. Make sure you keep the throttle tube clean, and if dirt does get in there, clean it out well - sticky throttles are exciting but dangerous!

6) I think you have to cut more than a 1/2" off the ends to get those plugs out. You could drill and tap them to the size of the bolts that secure the bark busters to the ends of the bars for a really secure fit, and save you from busting those plugs out. I worked on mine for about 15 minutes, then said screw it and went and bought a Renthal bar instead.

Hope this helps...

 

[canyncarvr]

re: 'The throttle side is easy just unbolt it and it slides right off'

Wow. My grips don't even bolt on in the first place! The newer kdx must be cheaper that way. ;)

I do use adhesive, and yes it's a pain. I have yet to get a pair of grips off without ruining them. I have tried. I have some that are inside out, but none that came off and were reuseable.

I did the 'drill and tap' method when I put guards on my oem bars. As smitdog says, I don't think 1/2" will get the job done.

Good luck!

 

[wibby]

I missread it I thought he wanted to get the assembly off the bar ;)

I was still rattled by the pm I received from CC :worship:

Hey it was a novice question so I thought I'd give a novice answer :confused:

Hey again, Do those guards work pretty good? I put brand new levers on my bike and after one day of falling over all over the place, they resemble pretzels!

 

[MDA]

Thanks for the feedback so far guys...

Actually I do want to take the whole throttle assembly off since I need to get in there and figure out what to do with the plugs/washers.

I poked around last night and I could not see any bolts or anything on the throttle assembly. The housing appeared to be a solid piece. Is there anything hiding these bolts on the throttle assembly? Where should I be looking? The only bolt I can see when I look is the one holding on the switch for my lights.

Oh and I forgot to mention that its a 2002 KDX220R. I'm not sure if the throttle assembly has changed over the years.

I don't mind buying a new set of grips if it appears to be hopeless when removing the old ones, but I'll see what I can do about preserving them nonetheless.


Thanks,
-Mark-

 

[Brian]

There should be a rubber formed cover around the throttle assembly. Pull it back (towards the crossbar pad). There is a small L-shaped plate with two screws on it on the front, or top, depending on how th throttle is mounted. You don't need to remove these, however ther is one screw on the back, or bottom that you need to loosen. The throttle assembly should then slide off the bars. But BE CAREFUL!! The throttle assy. will only slide all the way off the bars if you thurn them a certain way. Don't stretch or kink you're throttle cable.

 

[Smit-Dog]

I have the exact same bike.

Pull/slide off the rubber boot that covers throttle housing. On the underside of throttle housing, you will see 2 screws. Loosen the screws and the entire throttle tube and housing will slide off. Turn the handlebars all the way to the left to give you slack in the cable to slide it off the end of the handlebar.

And once the pot metal screws holding the throttle housing are stripped, replace them with a hex or allen type head. Nothing worse than having a stripped head out on the trail.

Good luck removing the stock grips. Mine were vulcanized on, and I actually had to sand off the remaining rubber that was left behind after tearing off the grips.

For a complete parts diagram, check out: http://www.buykawasaki.com/Default....VIChooseVehicle.asp?intCatalogID=2&intParts=1

Or better yet order a shop manual. I think it will come in very handy for you!

:thumb:

 

[canyncarvr]

re: 'And once the pot metal screws holding the throttle housing are stripped, replace them with a hex or allen type head.'

Ha! That's a fact!!

Whatever you do in the way of guard install, throttle tube modification, make sure on re-assy that you have NO interference with throttle ops. You will have to cut the end of the throttle tube off to insert the guard bolts. Make sure the tube is deburred..that the grip doesn't touch the guard.

Because you open the throttle tube to dirt once you install guards, keep an eye on it. When you dump the RH side in the dirt, take a second or two to wipe the crud off the 'joint' of bar/guard/tube to help keep it from working between the tube and the bar.

 

[Smit-Dog]

I made the mistake of lubing up the throttle tube for the first time with some marine-grade Penzoil grease I had laying around. Great for stem/linkage bearings, bad for throttle tube.

Twisted fine during the hot summer months, but once the weather cooled, it got tacky like molasses! Kinda like cruise control...

 

[wibby]

Tri-Flo works very well for me, works good on cables too

 

[23jayhawk]

Originally posted by Smit-Dog
I made the mistake of lubing up the throttle tube for the first time with some marine-grade Penzoil grease I had laying around. Great for stem/linkage bearings, bad for throttle tube.

Twisted fine during the hot summer months, but once the weather cooled, it got tacky like molasses! Kinda like cruise control...

That's funny - I got the same result with white lithium grease. :) 

I've found the best thing to use is graphite powder from a tube. Found some leftover in the bottom drawer of the rollaway from my son's pinewood derby days. Works great, and no worries about grease mixing with dirt to form some kind of glue under the throttle tube.  :thumb:

 

[MDA]

Ah, that's the info I was looking for.

Thanks a million guys....

-Mark-

 

[Jackpiner57]

MDA,
I would not remove the plug. I drilled and tapped the plug for the install of the barkbusters. I still have the dampening effects of the plug and a real strong mount for the busters.

I did have to get 2 new flathead screws with full threads. I got them at the hardware store. They call them stove bolts.

For me, this is the only way to go!