Alright I was wrong about 12 and 13 teeth on first gear. They are all 12 teeth on the drive gear for 1st. The height of those teeth are different however to accommodate the correct driven gear. Early models have 29 teeth and later models have 30. Straight from rockymountainatvmc. 1990 dr350 1999 dr350 I put the 12/30 combo in my 441 wide ratio. The lower first gear makes my entire tranny wide. I put the dr250s gears on the late model 350 shafts. The 12 tooth drive gear is machined on the shaft. It has shorter teeth to fit the 30 gear than the 12 made for the 29 gear. If you attempt this with the wrong 12 gear your bike is likely to wear that gear out fast.....
Thanks for all the info guys! Sure is confusing stuff, especially the two different 12T shafts. Good job figuring it out brownvv
I bought another DR! It's a 1998 DR350 off-road. Runs well, has new tires, brake discs, and a new FMF4 exhaust. It also has a "GUTS" seat that feels great, I'm swapping it onto my main DR. First-kick starter. Leaky petcock, heavily worn thrust washers, and I have to replace the rear shock with a spare I have, but that stuff is easy to fix. It was a great price and the seller is a cool guy too. He only sold it due to leaving Alaska. I had zero plans at all to buy a second one, but motorcycles are super cheap in the winter so I had to make an offer! It's a 98 and has the black gunmetal frame, but the front shocks don't look like the 98-99 cartridge ones people like? How do I tell?
You're right. Switcharoo, those are the older forks. Probably was a donor bike that someone swapped the forks with his pre-98 SE on. Is it a dirt shock or did they switch that out as well?
My new DR350 off-road is almost certainly a 96 or 97, not a 1998. I looked up the stamped engine number, and it fell between the (K404-) 145xxx of plugeye's 1996 and the 151xxx of tatt2mike's 1997. Mine is a 147xxx, meaning it was probably made in one of those two years. I don't have the upgraded forks, or the protection from pin failure that the 1998 both has It's fine, the DR was really cheap at about 550$, and I can finally bring a friend or my brother to trail ride. I'm not a racer, so the front forks being the normal ones doesn't really bother me. The story of the bike was that an old guy bought it new and used it for awhile, and then he died and it sat in storage and was passed down to his (grand?)son after. It sat for 5-10 years as he didn't ride, and then was sold to his roommate who liked the DR, likely as rent money I'd guess. That's probably why he didn't know the exact year. The new owner guy said he rode it pretty hard but didn't abuse it, except for one river sinking in Jim Creek followed by an oil change and a day of riding hahaha! It came with new tires, brake discs, an extended GUTS seat and an almost new, great FMF4 exhaust! The recent owner did keep it outside, uncovered, in the Alaskan winter, but he only had it a few years and we don't get enough sun up here to worry about UV damage to plastic+rubber due to the sun! Not bad honestly, but it does need a new front brake-line as it looks weathered/sunburnt enough to replace. Looks good to me!
The first 11 of the VIN number is JS1DK41A0T2, and entering that into the dmv vin decoder says it is a 1996. The original owner died and left it a long time in a garage before his son went thru his willed stuff, and he wasn't a moto guy, so he sold it to his roommate, and then him to me. Explains why nobody knew the year, the only guy who ever knew it's year died! Bummer, as I was hoping it really was a 98, as that year doesn't seem to have any counter-pin failures :\ The clear-ish front brake line plastic looks quite weathered. An owner clearly parked it outside for a while. I had to stare at a colored patch on the seat for ten whole seconds for the word "GUTS" seat to appear! A little more fading, and I wouldn't have been able to read it. GUTS makes a good seat, it's nice and has no rips or weathered look, even after years of rain and snow. It's going on my main DR, that thing is comfortable! The DR has some rust, which isn't bad, but I'll have to go thru it all and grease the moving parts, axles, clean the wiring connectors, ect. The headlight plastic thing also has two broken straps I'll need to replace somehow. I'm thinking milk jug plastic strips, and small bolts :) The top end gasket color (ALWAYS check this when buying a DR!) is the stock light grey, so 95% chance it has not had it's top end taken off. This means I can tell the "miles" based on the cam chain tensioner, which maxes out at about 15-25K miles. Simple math to calculate a percentage left, and then I'll have a fair guess on miles, such as 5-10K or 10-15K, ect.
I'm going for a don't-hit-me-at-night orange theme on my DR. I prefer this over spray/paint/wrap, which chips and flakes off when branches are brushed aside while riding fast on trails. Police can be strict about extra lighting up here for some reason, or I'd just do that instead of the reflective orange.
This is my 1000th post! Time flies when you're having fun! I'm going to sell my 2nd DR to my brother. He can learn how to do mechanical stuff and learn to ride as well. I'll help him with the tricky stuff, but he can do the rest of it!
Very cool. My brother just expressed some interest in riding yesterday. I'm a little exited about sharing these mountains with him.
My rear brake was screechy and weak, and was getting weaker quickly, so I replaced the disc and brake "pads". I use parentheses for the "pads", as they looked like this! New disc+pads at 9000 miles. Chain stretch of 0.9%, so 45% of the way to my stretch limit of 2%
I bought a dial indicator tool and compared my DR350SE camshaft to an Eiger camshaft. They appear identical, but... DR350 Intake lobe = 0.220 inches of lift DR350 Exhaust lobe = 0.220 inches of lift Eiger Intake lobe = 0.205 inches of lift Eiger Exhaust lobe = 0.205 inches of lift (Accurate to 0.002 inches) This means an Eiger camshaft lifts the valves 93.2% as far as the DR350 cam does. The DR350 cam lifts the valves 7.3% higher than the Eiger cam. Not a big difference at all, but it is noticeable to my dial. Is there an advantage or trade-off to lifting the valves to a lower height? Torque vs. HP or something like that? It's cool to get some solid info on camshaft options for our DR's!
Notes to self. I measured a thrust washer. It's 35.5mm OD, 20mm ID and 2mm thick. Make sure I have at least 2 pairs with at least 1 new side. Also, a guy said the 250SE CDI and 350SE CDI have different timing profiles. Yet, I've also heard the only difference is the 250 CDI has a higher rev-limiter. Hmm... I need to figure this out, so I know if my 250SE CDI is a good spare for my 350SE... Find a little throw-out bearing for 2nd DR in parts box. It likely needs replacing. That clutch is dangerously metal-on-metal, hopefully the little bearing didn't explode! It wouldn't surprise me if it has exploded and it's just metal-on-metal. He actually said he didn't use the clutch and just, and I quote, "slammed it into gear". Something is really wrong with the clutch. I have a new basket and everything, so I can just swap a new clutch in and see if that helps, if I can't see any visible problem. Except for that, 2nd DR runs great. It has beastly power when compared to my highway-geared DR, it was trying to wheelie in 3rd! 2nd DR is now covered in strange blue dots the size of a nickel. Bro does like to do art things!
I found out today that my DR can go 85 MPH with a lady on the back, with neither of us tucking in. Yay!
I was off-roading my DR and crashed while going about 25 MPH up on the trails of Wasilla. Off-roading with an 80/20 front tire plus a deep mud tire track equals crash! It was fine for an hour of trails before the crash, and then I slipped up. Nothing bad, just broken turn signals type of stuff and dirt + scratches. However, I tweaked the front forks. The handlebars and front fender, speedo cluster, ect. are all 100% fine, but one of the front shocks is out of alignment I think. I am basically "turning" about 5 to 10 degrees to the right as I ride straight. I don't mind really as it doesn't matter in a mechanical sense, but having a moto with a front tire and fender/headlights facing different directions looks pretty terrible and is a bit annoying to ride. Also, the mudflap is attached to the frame on a DR, so I'm getting mud on the left side of my helmet+body when I'm off-roading now (why stop off-roading after a crash, even when you need to highway cruise home afterwards?). I had no problem cruising home for an hour at 75 MPH and I shook the wheel hard back and forth to see if there was a wobble, different feel, ect. and it feels the same. If anything, this right turn has moved the throttle closer to my right hand for an easier cruising position I got the crash on helmet cam too, but I haven't seen it yet. I had a lady on the back at the time (1st date, whooo!). We are both fine, my shin is a bit scratched, ect. She was grabbing me hard the whole time we rode, so as we fell I just twisted so I took the fall and she stayed "up". She barely got dirty when we crashed in the dirt. She wants to go riding with me again ASAP! I'm such a gentleman The forks do not look bent at all. I did some research and I think I should loosen the bolts that hold the forks to the fork holder tree and kind of twist the wheel+forks straight and tighten the bolts again. Is is a good idea? What do you guys think? I have zero experience with front end stuff in any way. Also, I crashed and slid on my right side, yet the wheel is now pointing to the left. Does that make sense? I would have thought a right side crash would push the right fork backwards, making my DR wheel point right??? Maybe I should loosen and adjust the crash-side (right) fork first or something? Any help or tips would be cool, because I have no idea what I'm doing. Thanks guys :)
A buddy did the same thing on his KLR. As we were loosening the triple clamp bolts the front end kinda "sprung" back into place. we tightened everything down, took the bike off the jack & it was straight!
I got my twisted forks straightened out easily - took 3 minutes! Also, I hit a new record low MPG - 48.4 zooming around and doing top speed runs. The lower the number, the more fun that has been had! :) My rear tire is bald and has had a solid strip of smoothness in the center for at least 300 miles. I bought a K761 for it, I'll have to swap it on soon. Note to self - secure front brake cable better and add tape. Also add helmet battery charger and a battery carrier and a bear mace holster and a water bottle thing. I'll check the cam chain click # on both DR's soon - mine passed 10,000 miles a few days ago, which is a good time to check it. Hopefully I have enough clicks left to ride to the top of Alaska - I don't want to rip the top off before that ride. Also when I do take the top end off, I have the options of a 350cc, 400cc, and 435cc big bore kits available in my parts boxes. I'm not sure which one I want to do, or even the compression ratios of the 400cc or the 435cc. I'll have to measure the 400cc with oil, it is apparently a "Hi-Comp" piston, but it is impossible to find what the CR number actually is. Likely 10.5.... I might catch the Need For Speed and go up to a 10.5 and move the hi-speed pickup coil over using a custom setup. Without doing this, the pre-ignition is dangerous/bad for the engine. A guy rode a DR385 10.5CR a long way across the Baja desert once - it ran great but made a bad knocking sound the whole way. I'd rather be safe than sorry, so I'll only take a power upgrade if I feel it is reliable.
