stock spring possible replacement question
 

I am about 215 lbs.. the guy I bought the bike off of was shorter and maybe weighted about 170 if that. He was the 2nd person to own the bike and said the guy before him custom adjusted the shock but he did not know what was done. I think he put a light weight spring in. I dont have a real reason for thinking that other then nothing really looks custom for the rear shock. and the spring does not look like it is cut or anything. I was thinking of buying a little heavier duty spring to replace the one that is there..
I was wondering what thoughts you guys might have on that and possibly any ideas about which one would be the right one for my weight?

If you ride off road, I would be looking at respringing the fork too. Stock klx's are under sprung. I'm below your wt class and up'd the front spring and living with the stock shock spring.

The front seems to be ok.. The trails I was on where very rocky and rooted wood riding. The front handled fine but, the rear was eh.. I was reading and found this :
Or maybe the shock is fine and just need to get a more heavy duty spring. If I were to go with a heavy duty sprint which one?

Also, read a few other items that the shock should have 150psi in the tub next to the shock? I am knew to shock mods.. eng mods np, shock mods meh. I am assuming you can just attach a pressure measuring tool like one for your tire?

For a spring I was thinking something like this

I did the race tech springs and gold valve kits, directly through them.
They have a spring rate calculator on their web site.

Check the FAQs (link in my sig line) for more on suspension. It's fairly easy to check your rear spring sag settings to find out if you need a different spring.

Bruce's is good: kb1

Thanks great FAQ. I read through it and a lot of GREAT info. After reading the shock part, I think my sprint needs to be upgraded to the pleasantly plumb guy spring.

Here is a pic with me just sitting on it keep in mind I have a lot of layers on because it was like 28 degrees. You can how the back fender almost looks like it is just above the tire. I didn't bottom out at all

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.kaw...f56ec1b689.jpg

KLX250 Springs
 

Cogent Dynamics is a great place for suspension upgrades
They can recommend springs and valving based on your weight and riding style
https://www.motocd.com/

There's lot's of KLX information in the web site I maintain
KLX250S Home Page

Cogent is an excellent suggestion.
At 225 lbs., I bought a Racetech spring based on their calculator. It works very well.
From your photo, it appears that something is wrong. Perhaps your sag is set incorrectly through the preload ring on the spring. I would also suggest having a shop check the nitrogen charge. The volume is too small to check it yourself as you will lose a good amount of pressure just checking.

Thanks. I agree something deff feels off with it. I was checking out the spring cal and looks like I need a 7 kg for a spring. I might wait to grab it until I reset the shock this week end.
@fzrcraig I'll start with setting bottom and top clicker to factory default and then moving it from there. Since we are around the same weight, what did you setup yours to?

Hopefully I will be able to bring the bike to a shop as well and have them check the nitrogen, maybe a seal in the shock is bad and nothing left in it.

When I installed the spring, I set both adjustments to the middle of their range. Since that time, I have backed off the compression two or three clicks and it seems to work well.
In terms of quality, the shock itself isn't too bad. It's just a matter of setting it up properly. Can you take a close-up photo of the shock, ideally with you on the bike?

@fzrcraig Sure can. I will try to take the pic tonight. If not then definitely tomorrow morning'ish.

I may have a 6.6 available shortly... just received a 7.0. I'm 235 on a good day. (today is probably a 240 day... maybe a 241...lol) I started with a 6.2 and it was a bit light for my weight... the 6.6 is pretty close (I can't remember my actual sag numbers). Once I get the 7.0 installed I'll check my sag and see where I'm at then give her a spin. If I like the 7.0, I'll let the 6.6 find a new home at a nice discount.


Edit: 7.0 installed, without gear (237 lbs) I was right around 80mm sag, with 25mm static sag. Works for me.. I'll give it a ride tomorrow.

(I know I should measure geared up... but I'm too lazy right now. I added about a quarter turn of preload and now static is 20mm, so I should be good geared up)

Here is a pic of the spring
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.kaw...6da7e9082f.jpg

yes please let me know about the spring

Stock spring on my '09 was white...so that is probably it. It will be a little light for 215 lbs, but you shouldn't be low-riding. It also looks like you have plenty of threads left for preload, I bet it is not even screwed down to stock specs.

If you measure from the center of the upper mount bolt, to the top of the spring surface: stock is 107mm, range in the manual is something like 101mm-123mm

You might also have some lowering links installed... measure from center to center on the linkage dog bones. I think the '06 model uses 117mm links, and the '09 might be 119mm... I'd have to look it up. I believe Longer = lower seat height. The length is often stamped on the bones.

I'm actually running 117 on my '09.

Edit: I'll let you know about the spring once I get a ride in.... was too busy to ride today.

I am taking the shock off the bike tomorrow. I tried to adjust the collar but it's a pita while on the bike. I have to build a stand to get the rear tire off the ground first. Then will take off the shock completely. Plus the top collar is stuck.
The hight of the bike is good. I think just need to compress the spring to give it more strength.
never taken off a shock before on a bike so this will be the first. Kind of a week end worrier Mechanic so this will be interesting.

It's cake, good project to cut your teeth on... (Shock bolts are 14mm, linkage bolt is 14mm on the bolt and 17mm on the nut)

-Raise the bike on your stand so the rear wheel hangs free (HF has a dirtbike stand you can get for $19 with a coupon)
-Pull the seat and left side cover
-Remove one of the bolts holding the dog bones, I did the front, but I don't reckon it matters. You may need to jack the rear wheel up a bit to get the bolt free... let the dog bones swing down (swingarm is hanging free at this point).
-Remove the bolt holding the bottom of the shock to the linkage
-Raise the rear wheel as high as it will go, I used a floor jack. I've also used ratchet straps in the past.. there's no spring pressure, just weight of the wheel.
-Remove the top bolt holding the shock to the frame
-You should have room to jockey the shock out of the left side of the frame... it takes some patience, it will come out when you turn everything just right. (If you don't raise the rear wheel, the swingarm will trap the shock.)

Reverse to put it back together. You will most likely have to move the rear wheel up and down a bit to get the dog bone holes to line up so you can insert the bolt.

Dog bone bolt is 61 ft-lb, Shock mounting bolts are both 29 ft-lb. I like to lightly grease the bolts and a little anti-seize on the threads.

PS: I'm sure there are some pdf manuals floating around (assuming you don't already have one) and hard copies can be had for $40-$60... the manual is easy to follow and worth the money :)

@Abramsgunner Thank you so much for the details.. it really is not that bad (I can un-clinch now hehe) I started it yesterday evening. I thought I was going to drop a ball trying to loosen those dog bone bolts. finally had to use a breaker bar to add some extra muscle. Shock is completely disconnected but, ran into some trouble trying to get it out of the frame. My jack will not go up high enough. so tonight I am going to use straps.
BTW thanks for the tip of I went to HF and picked up the bike stand.
Tonight I will continue and hopefully get the shock out and then work on the rest.

Fun project though. I love doing stuff like this.

You're welcome brother, was fresh in my mind from swapping out springs. I didn't raise the wheel all the way up the first couple times I pulled my shock and I remember it being a bear. Raising it all the way to the top gives the bottom of the shock room to move toward the swingarm and get untangled from the linkage so you can tilt it enough to pull it out of the frame.

I put a wood screw into a rafter of the garage and use an adj strap to connect to the frame near the seat and strap the bike from the rafter as it is on the bike stand. Things on higher places have a thing about falling over around me, and it will fall into my van.. or me. Also, depending on where the strap hits the bike you can keep the front, rear or both wheels off the ground and do some serious wrenching without the bike falling off the stand.
Use marine grease on everything when you put it back together.

@Abramsgunner Last night I used the straps and boom the shock came right out. Nice and smooth lol. Thanks again for the help and thanks to all those adding to the thread.
I posted two pics below. One for preadjust and the 2nd for post adjust. Wondering if I should lower the spring more or that might be good? I'll post a few more pics once I get her back together.
@@durielk I might give that a try next time using the rafters

Before:

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.kaw...63ced18d0a.jpg




After adjusting:
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.kaw...88d91c129a.jpg

Only way to know for sure is to measure sag (ride height with you on the bike). You already know your spring is really too light.... but you should be able to add enough preload to get your initial ride height pretty close.

You'll have to do final adjustment with the shock on the bike.

Note: I swapped out my rear spring to the 7.0 a few nights ago. When putting it back together, I left the lock collar about a half inch above the adjusting collar, and when I went to tighten it... it would not move. Turns out it was high enough to get hung on the band-clamp that holds the carb boot to the airbox. I reached in from the top with a long screwdriver and levered the rubber boot away from the shock a bit and then turned the lock ring by hand. You initially said you couldn't turn the collars with the shock installed... maybe you had the same problem.

Did you have a chance to ride on the 7.0 spring? If so, do you like it a lot better then the 6.7 (or was it 6.4) spring you had on it before?

Yes, I got to go on a short ride... and for my weight (235ish), I like the 7.0 better, so I'm now running .48 forks and 7.0 shock.

Most of the forum information was based on the '06-'07 model and most folks were lighter than I am. Many of the forum guys were running springs around .44/6.0

Racetech's recommendations seemed much higher than what most people were running... I believe it had me at .50 forks and 7.2 shock

So I went conservative and jumped from stock to .46/6.2 combo and also did Gold Valves in the forks. Major improvement, but not quite right.

I then jumped to .48 fork springs, and liked them better... followed shortly by the 6.6 and Gold Valve upgrade for the shock. Another big improvement.

Finally, I was on Cogent's site and noticed they recommended and sold the 7.0 (along with .48 forks) for those over 220lbs, So I decided to give it a try. 7.0 = More better (but the 6.6 wasn't bad).


I think I'm done now as far as suspension is concerned. Huge improvement over stock, and I don't have the skills to take advantage of anything better (and more expensive).

331 Kit will be here tomorrow!

PS: Shock springs for fat guys are not that easy to find. Racetech lists their shock springs up to 6.4, and then links to alternative for higher... but finding a stronger spring that is sure to fit is a pain.
On Ebay, DSP has springs listed for an older KX model that goes up to a 6.6 and fits perfectly.
Cogent sells the 7.0 which is also a perfect fit.
Otherwise, you can get springs made to your specs at Cannon Racecraft

@Abramsgunner I finally was able to install the shock. Not that bad at all. The only trouble I had was with the dogbone seals falling to the ground each time I tried to slide the bolt through. I have not had a chance to take it for a real ride yet but, the bike feels so much better. Feels firm and also adjusted the dampening which helped. Sitting on her man what a difference. I do feel a little back high now as if i was getting ready for a holeshot (well maybe not that bad ) but, that have to give a real ride to see and also do some more fine tuning.
I did some other mods as well and will post some before and after pics.

Thanks again brother for all the information BIG BIG help. Thanks!

Outstanding! Glad to help