They're Glued In!!!

[jeffw]

The bar inserts on new KDXs are secured with hot melt glue, not spot welds like many have said they were in the past.

After drilling, pounding, cutting, lag bolting, cussing... on the clutch side, I got out the propane torch and heated the bar end some, black smoke from the melting glue started billowing and the end fell out covered with glue.


If vibration is a problem without the ends, I'll stick some paper towel down the bars and melt in some lead to a point where I can still get my bark busters mounted. This was suggested by somebody else on this forum and sounds like a great idea. A friend of mine said fill it with silicone but I don't know if that would work as well as 4-8 onces of lead on each side.

Four hours on something that should take five minutes
:scream: Hope this helps somebody.

 

[slcyclerace]

Good tip. Thanks!! I did it another way... I put on a nice new set of shiny Alumilite bars.

 

[jeffw]

The thottle side is spot welded, my bad. Just the clutch side is glued in, sorry about the bad info. I just cut a quarter inch off the end and pulled it out yesterday.

For hand guard clearence I cut the top brake hose retainer on the master cylinder and angled the brake hose up a bit and added some washers to the inside end hand guard mount. This lets EE/MSR/Bark Buster guards clear the master cylinder brake line bolt. (you'll need a longer mounting bolt too and you'll need to bend the inside end of the guard a bit straighter) I lost a little fluiid loosening then immediately tightening the hose but the brake didn't get mushy or need bleeding.

Rode 25 miles of woods today and boy do those guards give you an added sense of security in the tight stuff!