Clay Campbell
Well-Known Member
Finally got a chance to do a little work on my old 84' Kawasaki KZ550 LTD shafty in the last two days. We also got some work done on our old 1995 Seadoo GTX. The bike was running well but had a seeping leak between the block and the head, it appeared that the rear hub was leaking, and the front brakes are pretty weak. The seadoo has a cylinder that has lost compression. Any way here are some pics and descriptions of what went down. Just thought ya'll would like to see some good pics.
Here is the jet ski after we got the engine out, its still hanging from our makeshift and very cumbersome cherry picker. we got all but one hose undone to the engine and the one we missed spilled oil everywhere once we pulled it out.
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Here is what the bike looked like yesterday before I started tearing it down.
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Things are about to get serious, I got the seat off and was trying to figure out the best way to tackle this job.
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Starting to reminder me of a horse skeleton. All the tins plus the shocks removed. Started to realize then that the leak we thought was coming from the rear hub may have come from the shocks. I believe they are the originals from 1984 so they are due to be replaced.
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Pulled the rear hub and everything in the shaft drive looks great. The fluid in there was way to thick to be what was leaking out onto the side of the tire, plus it was leaking out on the right side of the bike. That side only has the drum break on the rear and that has no fluid in it so that means it almost has to be the shocks. The shaft drive parts look almost brand new
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Got the rear wheel off and most of the motor unbolted. But I couldn't get the drive shaft out so that I could pull the engine. Had to take the rear swing arm off to get at the shaft.
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Once that happened it was time to battle the engine out of the frame. It really didn't want to come out. After much struggle with my dad and I both giving it hell we threw a bag of shredded paper that we were using to soak up the oil from the jet ski under the motor and laid the bike over on to it. Then we just moved the frame around until we could just lift it up off of the motor. For being only a 550 this joker is no featherweight.
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Finally got it out and I have to say the bike looks pretty sad. Got a lot of plans for it over the next couple of months. I wanna fix all the maintenance issues, put on some drag bars, get a new seat and fabricate a more cafe racer style rear fairing, and hopefully get it painted. I plan on cleaning up the engine and paint it flat black then sand the fins to give it some contrast. I'm probably gonna sand the exhaust down and paint it flat black for now. I may replace it in the future. Then hopefully be able to get it back together. I'd like to get it looking pretty close to new condition before I put it back together. I may have more pics to add over the next few days.
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:smile0002: That was a long post. Hope ya'll enjoy the pics
Here is the jet ski after we got the engine out, its still hanging from our makeshift and very cumbersome cherry picker. we got all but one hose undone to the engine and the one we missed spilled oil everywhere once we pulled it out.
[Broken External Image]:
Here is what the bike looked like yesterday before I started tearing it down.
[Broken External Image]:
Things are about to get serious, I got the seat off and was trying to figure out the best way to tackle this job.
[Broken External Image]:
Starting to reminder me of a horse skeleton. All the tins plus the shocks removed. Started to realize then that the leak we thought was coming from the rear hub may have come from the shocks. I believe they are the originals from 1984 so they are due to be replaced.
[Broken External Image]:
Pulled the rear hub and everything in the shaft drive looks great. The fluid in there was way to thick to be what was leaking out onto the side of the tire, plus it was leaking out on the right side of the bike. That side only has the drum break on the rear and that has no fluid in it so that means it almost has to be the shocks. The shaft drive parts look almost brand new
[Broken External Image]:
Got the rear wheel off and most of the motor unbolted. But I couldn't get the drive shaft out so that I could pull the engine. Had to take the rear swing arm off to get at the shaft.
[Broken External Image]:
Once that happened it was time to battle the engine out of the frame. It really didn't want to come out. After much struggle with my dad and I both giving it hell we threw a bag of shredded paper that we were using to soak up the oil from the jet ski under the motor and laid the bike over on to it. Then we just moved the frame around until we could just lift it up off of the motor. For being only a 550 this joker is no featherweight.
[Broken External Image]:
Finally got it out and I have to say the bike looks pretty sad. Got a lot of plans for it over the next couple of months. I wanna fix all the maintenance issues, put on some drag bars, get a new seat and fabricate a more cafe racer style rear fairing, and hopefully get it painted. I plan on cleaning up the engine and paint it flat black then sand the fins to give it some contrast. I'm probably gonna sand the exhaust down and paint it flat black for now. I may replace it in the future. Then hopefully be able to get it back together. I'd like to get it looking pretty close to new condition before I put it back together. I may have more pics to add over the next few days.
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:smile0002: That was a long post. Hope ya'll enjoy the pics
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