DR650’S BUILD FOR RTW – PART 2

Holes drilled in allen screws for the NSU, grab your safety wire, thread it thru them

secure the safety, it’s just to stop the screws from the unlikely event of undoing themselves, I use specific safety wire pliers but a set of grips/ channel locks would work as good.

While you are this point you may as well pull the starter motor, one bike had a small amount of ‘squark’ so I pulled it, there are two options here. Take off the end cap and grease the bronze bushing, refit and be done with it until it gets more moisture in there and starts again and then do it again ad infinitum…or fix it once and for all with a Warp 9 starter end cap.

Like I said earlier I’ll be using a bunch of Warp 9 parts because Kevin that owns the company has had three DR’s and when he found an issue he sat down and made a part to replace the basic stock part. He tells me all parts were made originally out of necessity and one of the first ones was the starter end cap because his bushing had worn out, so he sat down and designed a solution using a bearing instead of a bushing.

Because I know either someone is thinking or will ask the question – “Why don’t the factory do that?” Well in a word they are cheap and I’ll show how cheap with a little search, let’s say the starter shaft is 8mm (it’s a guess I forgot to measure)

I can buy two oil impregnated bronze bushings for $3.61 or $1.80 each

but a bearing will cost me $2.88, just $1.08 more the factory could make the part right and just add $1 to the price of the bike, but they buy components on mass so what are we really talking here 5 cents, the mind boggles

it boggles even more if you haven’t touched this part, so you have no idea what’s inside and I tell you this, they used two bearings already for the shaft to run on, red arrows, but decided on a bushing on the cap – Thanks, Warp 9 you’ve earned my business

to get the starter out it’s very simple, remove stuff that’s in the way, oil lines, clutch cable mount and cam chain tensioner. the two 8mm bolts that hold the cable bracket in place also hold the starter in place…but first, unhook the battery and then remove the lead from the top of the starter.

Once you have done that pull it towards you and lift and it’ll be in your hand. MAKE SURE AT THIS POINT YOU DO NOT MOVE THE BIKE IN ANY WAY!!!

you’ll need a 7mm to take off the two bolts that hold the end cap on

Now do everything in reverse and put it back together.

You want to know about the cam chain tensioner, don’t you? Two photos above you can see it in place, remove the bolt in the end and get a small flat blade screwdriver and unscrew the inside until you feel it stop then a fraction of a turn more and it will hold in place, take the two bolts out that hold it in place and pull it out, it’s that easy.

when you put it back, it needs to still be all the way in – it’s a one-way ratchet and spring loaded with a pressured retainer so it can hold in place as shown below

bolt it in place and once again with your little flat blade screwdriver slowly let it go back towards the cam chain (slide) to create pressure. DO NOT LET IT SPRING BACK WITH FORCE, just in case it makes your cam chain jump, then you’ll have a lot more work to do…you are warned

When you put the outer cover back on make sure the clutch push rod has its groves facing forward, in the photo they are facing upwards.

See that oil line at the front hanging free, when you reinstall it make sure that the rubber O ring is still there

more tomorrow…

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