Safety-Boy's Bike Repairs

Okay, this is not one I did myself. The headlight has taken a real beating over the years, and it appears that someone used a wood screw to go through the metal face and into the (possibly) wood electrical mount inside.

How do I fix this..? Buy a new headlight, most likely!

The dangers of a too-tight belt. Lost a tooth after adjusting my drive belt to alleviate belt squeak. Not a good thing.

I found I was leaking quite a bit of oil from my right-side near the crank case. I friend had one mentioned a seal being bad on a new Suzuki he purchased, and when I remembered that, I knew just what to do. The seal is easy to replace, and about $6.50 from Kawasaki. It is the same part as on the EX500, and easily available. They are highly delicate, and easy to screw up. I am leaking oil again in the region, so next time I order one, I will order four or five!

The Fix:

  1. Disconnect clutch cable (A)
  2. Remove the bolt below the arm (B).
  3. Retract clutch arm as far as possible (C).
  4. Remove old seal (D). I used a pair of needle-nose pliers to extract it, grabbing by the brass portion.
  5. Clean out the opening carefully. Try not to allow debris to fall into the gearbox.
  6. Now the tricky part. Insert the replacement seal. It is a tight fit, and may not go in with finger pressure alone. I tapped with a small rubber mallet, very lightly, until the seal was flush (as in the picture).
  7. Reinsert the clutch arm, and turn it back to it's normal position.
  8. Reinsert bolt (B) and tighten.
  9. Replace clutch cable.

Probably my weirdest repair. I broke the right footpeg the first week I had the bike. $45 for the replacement - metal only! Broken footpeg was lost, but bolt and spring remained. Replaced with metal only peg. Was in a "fender bender", so to speak, and the same peg broke!

Now, not being too interested in giving Kawa another $45, especially since I was having so much luck with footpegs, I decided to scavenge one. My in-laws had a bike of their son's sinking into the ground behind their house. I could only get the left foot peg. It was a bit too small, and the bolt hole was the size of the pillion pegs on my bike, so I bored it out, and put it on upside down! Weird looking, but it has lasted. Maybe I'll get the courage to get a real replacement soon!

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