I agree with duvallgold, I think you washed the greese out of it. I had the same problem on my wifes four wheeler. The bearings in steering and the foot brake lever were dry and starting to rust from too much pressure washing. Its okay to pressure wash it just keep the sensitive areas in mind when doing so.

 

Well first of all while I will gladly accept the award for the cleanest bike, I have never or will never pressure wash my bike. Furthermore when I do wash I usually have the spray on light, and when I get near the gauges and bar controls, I don't stay there to long with a light mist. So I don't think that my washing really had all that much to do with it, I really think they are too cheap on the grease. Now that being said, I will let you know about the swing arm next, but I am going to look into adding grease fittings like the ones on my wife's bike. Yamaha 1 Kawasaki 0

 

Right on Deej, now dont you feel better.

 

Actually ....yes I do

 

it shouldnt be too hard to add a grease fitting to the klx, just take it all apart then drill and tap a hole and screw in a fitting... or so i would guess as long as you have a good spot to do it... i dont have my bike to see if you do...

 

OK, today I did my stearing head bearings and I must say that this job was a lot harder than the swingarm or rocker arm bearings. Mostly because of getting to them you have to remove the front headlamp / instrument area and handlebars and then all that stuff hangs there in your way while you are trying to work. I ended up removing my front tire and both fork tubes to unencumber the lower clamps. After that, it wasn't too bad, but deej is right, what a mess.

BTW, deej, as you suspected you may indeed be overwashing / overwatering - while my bearings didn't have much grease, they didn't show any sign of water penetration like yours did.

Anyway, I have it all mostly back together now, just have to wire everything back up and put my front tire back on.

 

Yeah Deej, when it's all said and done, you might want the headstone to read 'natural causes' and not 'Simple Green.'

 

Wow Deej......I'm impressed, I never saw this thread before. I didn't know you had it in you.......now put that kickstarter on.

 

I know......I know

 

Way to go, Deej! Those bearings don't have much protection and as everyone has said, they don't have much grease from the factory, either. I wasn't as lucky as you were when I tore mine down. The rollers had pits and so did the races. I could have cleaned it all up and let it go, but once those surfaces start to rust, it's hard to get them to stop. I replaced both bearings and races, using plenty of grease on the reassembly. That should keep things good for awhile. Anyone who hasn't done theirs yet should consider doing it before the steering gets knotchy. Once that happens, the job gets a lot harder because of having to drive out the races and cut the bottom bearing off. Plus you have to buy a new bearing set.

The swingarm and shock pivots are a bit easier since there's no wiring to mess with. I did both whilemy suspensionwasat Four Stroke Works being rebuilt. On that note, WOW! Jerry does unreal things to the KLX suspension! Talk about plush!

Bill Dragoo
Norman, Oklahoma