I had to hold a little throttle and brakes in the traffic lights Couldnt find neutral at all while the engine was running. Now just have to hope for the best Page 888 wohoo!
Well, I either found the problem or caused it. I got the basket off w/o problems, and didn't mangle anything up too badly getting the bending lock washer off. I made sure everything was OK with the thrust washers and spacer behind it (yup) and wanted to check out why the shift drum bolt was sitting a little proud. It seemed tight, but I figured the best thing to do would be to pull it, clean it off and reinstall it at the right torque with loctite, in case it didn't have any before. As you probably already suspect if you've read this far I torqued it off trying to get it out. It was either in too tight, cross threaded or I just screwed up. Either way, now I'm working on getting out the stub without messing up the shift drum. I've got the stub center drilled about 1/4" and am working with propane and an EZ out to turn it out. I don't know a more inappropriately named tool than an EZ out, but I do know if I break it off in the stub I may end up looking to buy more than just a shift drum bolt so I'm going slow. [Insert expletive here] At least now I have a good answer to why one should have more than one motorcycle. This one won't be running for a while. - Spad
Looks like you've done this kinda thing before, but just go slow and use larger and larger bits till you get close then if the easy out doesn't work use a tap to get out the last bits. I think it's a 6x1mm. Don't force it, Like you said getting a broken "easy out" or tap out is a real problem. Not impossible, but not easy either. If you can find left hand/reverse twist drill bits, sometimes they catch in the broken part and unscrew it. From Distech's engine rebuild. http://advrider.com/forums/showpost.php?p=12924794&postcount=160 If things really go south, it looks like Kientech makes/sells an 8mm replacement bolt. You'd have to drill and tap the hole, but it might be a solution.
Drif10 has done a wonderful writeup on how to fix the clutch problem. http://www.advrider.com/forums/showpost.php?p=14083286&postcount=21
I just did a short 100 mi. ride on mine this morning and all is back to normal.Spad, from my recent learning experience,torque the clutch hub nut to spec,it could save you some grief. Ever since I have had this bike the clutch has felt weak even after a new clutch kit.When I had the clutch hub nut too tight the clutch hooked up like nobodys buisiness but it would'nt completely disengage.If I could find an inbetween I would be happy. Hope that bolt comes out for you Spad!
Hello all, I just recently got myself a 97' DR350SE and she has been running great. I have mostly only ridden her on the street and some fire-roads and she ran beautifully. Then this last weekend I had the chance to bring her out to the desert and race an enduro. Well... before the enduro I thought I would just go out and play. I hit a string of woops and right at the end the bike bogged down and would not want to run. I limped her back to the camp and started to remove the carb to clean it out and as soon as I pulled the air box boot off the carb a decent amount of gas dribbled out. I have already looked around on this thread for people with the same issue but I have not really come across anyone. I did see something about a T-vent mod, but I am not sure that that would solve the problem (I have the stock CV carb). All help is appreciated.
Sorry spad I can't be much help with the clutch but good luck... I will need to check mine this off season. I have however been able to get out three times in the last week for trail rides on the little beast..what a great bike for trails.. Spent a few hours running mostly tight single track yesterday, lots of fun. This is only my 3rd season of riding off road and I only do about 20hrs a season so my skills are slowly improving. The biggest problem I run into with my DR is not writing checks with my rear wheel that my front can't cash..That 435 kit really gives these bikes a lot of bark for what they have for stock suspension. Between that and my lack of skills I often find myself getting into trouble because of over use of the throttle hand Hopefully this winter I will have time and funds to do some suspension upgrades, other than that just a little general maintenance is all she should need to get ready for next season.
I'm not sure about the gas in your air box boot, but the T-Vent mod should be helpful with the symptoms you describe on the woops. Regards, Gregory Bender
I take it you are not the original "G" man. He was a DR350 guru that had an awesome website (that has since been deleted). "T" vent could help your problem. Another thing to look at is the kick stand saftey. Best to delete it. Gas in the boot though??
According to my Suzuki manual, the '92 DR250S carb is a Mikuni BST33SS. The DR250N has a Mikuni TM31SS. Unknown regarding the airbox & duct similarities. I don't have a 350 to compare it to (yet). I can't find anything in the manual regarding horsepower, although I would agree 29 HP seems pretty optimistic. I have read 250 and 350 CDI's are different in advance curves due to the 250 making it's max power at higher RPM compared to the 350. Stock sprocket size on my '94 was 15/43. Nearly all my riding is on single-track, so I changed it to 13/47.
Carb - BST28 sounds right, but I really don't know. Airbox is the same, but the duct is different. Horsepower - feels like 18; just a guess. CDI is interchangeable. People say the DR250's spark advance is more aggressive, and they are probably right; I've found if you put it on a DR350 with a higher compresison ratio (10.5:1) it will ping below 7000 ft elevation. I never noted what my stock gearing was on the 250. Something to keep in mind is the 250 has a different primary drive ratio than the 350, so you really can't compare final drive ratios with the 350. Most of the time I run 14/47 on my bike which has the 250 primary drive and tranny.
As for the kick stand safety that was one of my first things to remove when I first got the bike. And yes after a short ride through a string of woops, the second I would give just a little throttle she would bog out so I limped it back to camp and started to remove the carb, as soon as I loosened the clamp for the air box side boot it drained out a good stream of gas.
"T" vent the carb, it is quick and easy, before you dig any deeper. The "T" vent is suppose to cure two things, bogging in the woops and starting issues after laying the bike down.
Nothing worked for my "finding neutral when running but at a stop" problem until I scored some NOS OEM steel & fiber plates off eBay. The plates that were in there looked nearly new, though I didn't measure, and appeared to be a Barnett kit judging by the look of the fiber ones. The OEM part number for one of the two (can't remember whether it was the steel or fiber), had been superseded over the years and I bought the old part number, with no problems. Shifts like buttah now and no problems finding neutral. I've got the part numbers of what I bought written in my maintenance records; if anyone is interested let me know and I'll look it up.
I suspect the T-Vent Mod will solve your problems. On rough terrain, woops, or a tip-over, poor venting causes fuel to build up in the vent line and not drain properly, which causes the bogging or difficult restarting. This is a well-known issue with these bikes, typically solved with the T-Vent Mod. Fuel is always sloshing around in the carb and some will enter the vent and needs to be able to drain out. When you removed the boot the fuel that came out may have been excess fuel that was in the vent line trying to get out - it just ran back into the carb. T-Vent Mod is cheap and easy - suggest you do that and go for another ride. Let us know how you make out.
Just a little note regarding all the clutch / finding neutral issues. On my '99 DR350 clutch cable adjustment is critical. And, it has to be adjusted when the bike is warm/hot. If my cable gets a little loose I start getting a little clutch drag, and any little drag makes finding neutral difficult, if not impossible. I keep the cable adjusted so that it seems pretty tight when cold and have no problems at all finding neutral or shifting thru the gears - like buttah as previous poster said.