Drz400 Thread

[Stazi64]

Was that a ONE HORSEPOWER DRZ-400-H posted on the page before??? The one with the KTM fork-gurard mod???

lol

[Narsisco Lopez]

Trifeca of Misalignment

I just picked up a 2003 DRZ400E and it's got an IMS 4 gallon tank, a Corbin seat, and a ProMoto billet tail rack. I also just took off the seat (and the tank) to run power back to the battery for my Zumo cradle.... and experienced a "trifeca of misalignment" that occurs when trying to get the ProMoto billet seat spacers back in WHILE trying to keep the holes all aligned WHILE trying to get the seat bolts back in. What a PITA!

Doesn't help that the spot welds on the threaded seat mount nuts are cracked and loose... the right one totally broke free while I was trying to align the whole shebang back up. (Now, I've gotta find an inmate in the Denver area with a TIG welder and a heart of gold to re-weld the mounts).

From what I can see, the misalignment starts with the poor match up between the front of Corbin seat and the IMS tank... the front edge of the seat just doesn't seat properly with the tank and it prevents the seat's ass from lining up smoothly with the stock mount points. To make matters worse, the ProMoto rack's spacers are way bigger than they need to be and that also makes you wish you had four hands to hold it all in place while a fifth set of hands slides in the seat bolts. Of course, the stock plastics aren't in the best shape and they simply get in the way of the whole messed up operation.

If the rack wasn't so over-built and handy to have, I'd sell the damned thing and eliminate one problem from the equation, but it IS handy to have and I want to keep it. It looks like some seat surgery is also in my future... will probably take the whole mess down to Dan at Bitch'n Stitch'n in Lakewood and have him mod the Corbin's seat pan to make it fit better in front on the tank... that might help a bit.

Once I get the seat mount thread re-welded and solid, I'll probably grind down the ProMoto spacers so they pop in better. Also looking around for some new rear plastics, so hopefully, that'll help things a bit, too.

I guess I was just posting for general commiseration and to see if anyone has had this sort of seat alignment issue and what you did to make putting the seat back on a bit easier in your case.

[rjsurfer]

The problem is the Corbin seat, I have a similar problem and that's with a Clarke 3.9 and a different different tail rack. I hate taking the tank, seat and plastics off to do wiring. If I do anymore wiring I'm just going to run the wires outside and tape the wires to the plastics

One thing I did, was take off the top clip on the Clarke tank completely, wasn't a very well engineered piece anyway and it kept everything from aligning, not sure if IMS had a similar floating metal tab.

Ron W.

[HellSickle]

Originally Posted by Narsisco Lopez

Trifeca of Misalignment

I just picked up a 2003 DRZ400E and it's got an IMS 4 gallon tank, a Corbin seat, and a ProMoto billet tail rack. I also just took off the seat (and the tank) to run power back to the battery for my Zumo cradle.... and experienced a "trifeca of misalignment" that occurs when trying to get the ProMoto billet seat spacers back in WHILE trying to keep the holes all aligned WHILE trying to get the seat bolts back in. What a PITA!

Doesn't help that the spot welds on the threaded seat mount nuts are cracked and loose... the right one totally broke free while I was trying to align the whole shebang back up. (Now, I've gotta find an inmate in the Denver area with a TIG welder and a heart of gold to re-weld the mounts).

From what I can see, the misalignment starts with the poor match up between the front of Corbin seat and the IMS tank... the front edge of the seat just doesn't seat properly with the tank and it prevents the seat's ass from lining up smoothly with the stock mount points. To make matters worse, the ProMoto rack's spacers are way bigger than they need to be and that also makes you wish you had four hands to hold it all in place while a fifth set of hands slides in the seat bolts. Of course, the stock plastics aren't in the best shape and they simply get in the way of the whole messed up operation.

If the rack wasn't so over-built and handy to have, I'd sell the damned thing and eliminate one problem from the equation, but it IS handy to have and I want to keep it. It looks like some seat surgery is also in my future... will probably take the whole mess down to Dan at Bitch'n Stitch'n in Lakewood and have him mod the Corbin's seat pan to make it fit better in front on the tank... that might help a bit.

Once I get the seat mount thread re-welded and solid, I'll probably grind down the ProMoto spacers so they pop in better. Also looking around for some new rear plastics, so hopefully, that'll help things a bit, too.

I guess I was just posting for general commiseration and to see if anyone has had this sort of seat alignment issue and what you did to make putting the seat back on a bit easier in your case.

Loosen up all the screws holding the deck on the rack. Keep all fasteners loose until you can get all bolts started on their threads.

If the seat is the issue, you might consider grinding the holes out on the mounting tabs. Fix it now, and you'll save yourself hours of grief over the next couple of years.

[Narsisco Lopez]

Originally Posted by rjsurfer

I hate taking the tank, seat and plastics off to do wiring. If I do anymore wiring I'm just going to run the wires outside and tape the wires to the plastics

Originally Posted by HellSickle

Loosen up all the screws holding the deck on the rack. Keep all fasteners loose until you can get all bolts started on their threads.

If the seat is the issue, you might consider grinding the holes out on the mounting tabs. Fix it now, and you'll save yourself hours of grief over the next couple of years.

Thanks HS... not my first rodeo, so loosening up the rack was the very first thing I tried. I also loosened the seat tab on the IMS tank. The broken weld on the right mount thread is the real bitch now... used some high-quality cyanoacrylate (super glue, to you unwashed masses ) to hold the damned thing in place as I reassembled. Still, those ProMoto spacers were the real problem and I need to grind off a few CHs to help matters. I was able to reassemble WITHOUT the spacers (just to clean up my garage to make room for our new cabinets that were arriving today.)

Gotta find a welder to repair those spot-welds and then I'll find a more permanent solution.

HS... as I recall, it was YOU who first mentioned the seat removal issue over in Rocky Mountain Regional, wasn't it. Good call. I'm a stubborn SOB though, so, one way or another, I'll come up with a fix that works.

Thanks for the feedback, all.

[The Recycled Teenager]

Originally Posted by HellSickle

OTOH, yellow really is the slowest color. Black is Best.

Of course its not , it shows the dirt to quickly

[955616846]

Meh... Fast is a relative term for a slow bike and there are certainly no bragging rights around the DR-Z.

The yellow ones around here are real E's and even though Suzuki turns out a few E's in other colours (this year it is black) the one thing that remains constant are the yellow bikes.

Mine is white btw... Colour selection for me is more often about not making it stand out. It is hiding in plain sight... people see the bike (and me), but there is nothing that warrants more than a cursory look and nothing to make them want to remember what they see.

[955616846]

Originally Posted by jaumev

Agree!!
When I sold the Tenere I bought my first DRZ-E and I didn't miss at all the Yam, much more fun!!.
The next bike was a GSA for long distance trips but the DRZ was always there.
When I realized it was the last opportunity to have a new DRZ I bought the bike I have now. Last January I replace the GSA for a Super Tenere 1200. But the DRZ still there. This bike has something special.
Yesterday I did an enduro morning with some friends and their brand new KTM 530 but the old fashioned DRZ was always in front of them!! what a incredible and versatile bike!!

Not quite what I meant, but I'll roll with that...

[SKINZ]

This is my first time posting and I hope someone can point me in the right direction. I have just bought an 03 KLX400RS, (DRZ400S) and was shocked when I had to switch to reserve at 95km (60 miles). I know the machine is running right(ish) and that I'm not leaving a trail of gas behind me, so I started to investigate my speedo/odometer. After resetting my trip and comparing the milage to the trips on three other bikes and three GPSs, I have discovered that after riding 100km, my trip is only registering 65Km. After doing some research, I went through the settings on my stock speedo. My first thought was that the speedo was still in MPH because the math almost works out, but it is definitely set to Km/h. After doing some more reading I found out that I can adjust the correction coefficients on both of my trips between from 70% - 130%. (Have I mentioned that I love all the functions of my the stock speedo?) Both trips were still set to a correction coefficient of 100% (so no correction) But I would need to be able to set a correction coefficient of ~160% to be anywhere close to the right mileage, a little extreme and impossible because I can only adjust it to a max of 130%

After convincing myself that the instrument cluster was not the issue, I started to wonder if my speedo drive on my front wheel is off of an SM. This would help explain the differences in my recorded mileage. Because I don't know the history of the bike or how many owners it has had, I have no way of telling if it was ever motarded and had a SM speedo drive or not. So my question to you is:
Is there anyone here that knows the gear ratio differences in the S and SM speedo drives? or how many splines are on the worm or main gear in the speedo drive?

Or should I be looking in a different direction? (keeping in mind my front tire size is stock and that I do like the functions of my instrument cluster and I don't want to spend money on a Trail Tech anytime soon.)

Cheers

[achile]

Originally Posted by jaumev

The same I had!! wonderful bike

:)) Have a look a this baby... My S10



This was my first 4 stroke




I also had a 01 Yamaha TTR 600... bullshit of an auto-decompression sistem and also kicked back....

and...this is my beauty




Also had this damn thing... Hated it's nuts, bolts and everything in it! I'm not saying the DRZ is shit...but this one was!!! Hard to work on, complicated electricity...fukin hated it! (IT WAS MY GIRLFRIEND'S AND SHE WAS A NAGGING BSC BITCH!!!)

[Mike_drz]

you come here to advertise first interrupted my karma

[Mike_drz]

[955616846]

Originally Posted by SKINZ

This is my first time posting and I hope someone can point me in the right direction. I have just bought an 03 KLX400RS, (DRZ400S) and was shocked when I had to switch to reserve at 95km (60 miles). I know the machine is running right(ish) and that I'm not leaving a trail of gas behind me, so I started to investigate my speedo/odometer. After resetting my trip and comparing the milage to the trips on three other bikes and three GPSs, I have discovered that after riding 100km, my trip is only registering 65Km. After doing some research, I went through the settings on my stock speedo. My first thought was that the speedo was still in MPH because the math almost works out, but it is definitely set to Km/h. After doing some more reading I found out that I can adjust the correction coefficients on both of my trips between from 70% - 130%. (Have I mentioned that I love all the functions of my the stock speedo?) Both trips were still set to a correction coefficient of 100% (so no correction) But I would need to be able to set a correction coefficient of ~160% to be anywhere close to the right mileage, a little extreme and impossible because I can only adjust it to a max of 130%

After convincing myself that the instrument cluster was not the issue, I started to wonder if my speedo drive on my front wheel is off of an SM. This would help explain the differences in my recorded mileage. Because I don't know the history of the bike or how many owners it has had, I have no way of telling if it was ever motarded and had a SM speedo drive or not. So my question to you is:
Is there anyone here that knows the gear ratio differences in the S and SM speedo drives? or how many splines are on the worm or main gear in the speedo drive?

Or should I be looking in a different direction? (keeping in mind my front tire size is stock and that I do like the functions of my instrument cluster and I don't want to spend money on a Trail Tech anytime soon.)

Cheers

Is it reading the correct speed? Is this problem with the main ODO or the trip meters or both?

[Mike_drz]

come on, my classical honda speedo is cable mechical driven free from porgraming falses

[955616846]

Originally Posted by Mike_drz

come on, my classical honda speedo is cable mechical driven free from porgraming falses

Just noise... When was the last time you actually typed something useful... or even humorous to which someone responded to in anything but a negative fashion?