The KTM300 Thread

There is a guy in the UK selling them which works out a bit cheaper.
It's probably a negligible savings but I also didn't care for Tokyo's pricing/shipping.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/KTM-250-30...ronze-Bushes-Reliability-Upgrade/373011387227

These don't have a flattened top/bottom edge like Tokyo's which may make less room to get the starter bendix back in place. You could easily grind these to have a flat top but I had already pressed in with bearing retainer when I noticed so I ended up grinding about half a mm off the starter shaft to fit it back in.

Whether the upgrade is worth it, I couldn't really say, but I noticed the stock bushings were so loose they just fell out of the housing, which doesn't seem great.

same experience i had with the fatty, great in the nasty stuff but washes out in corners, m59 it is

I have tried both, hammer and press, and other things, never fully got it out, might have got some of it out but not as much as i wanted

They are probably good but for $2 a piece, the stock one are fine for me.
I change them out between 50 and 100 hours

I clamped the shock body with a clamp i bought off of Amazon and heated up the shock body with a propane torch until the thread locker loosened. Prob took between 4 and 5 minutes of heating.
Then I reinstalled the new body with a strap wrench and blue thread locker.

As the bodies I've removed had wear damage, I've been drilling cross holes and using a length of hardened rod. I like the clamp idea, I'll scare one up on Scamazon.

I gave the wrong size of the clamp. I'll double check the one I bought and get back to you

Here's what I ordered

FWIW on the RMATV video they also used heat (a heat gun) and strap wrench with the body in soft jaws in a bench vise. (Their soft jaws appear to be aluminum alloy which doesn't seem very soft)

6:50 into


I am going to get one of those bladder conversion kits so I can fill it myself with the fork air pump, instead of sending out for nitrogen.

I think you'll be there a while with a heat gun.

As far as air vs nitrogen...id stick with nitrogen personally. Those shocks get so hot and I think you'll get a big temp change with air vs nitrogen.

In reading this thread I got convinced the only problem with air is the humidity, which is very low here in NM.

https://thumpertalk.com/forums/topic/1178168-alternative-for-nitrogen-in-rear-shock/

And I'm thinking, my AER fork is filled with air, my MTB shock and fork are filled with air... (and none of these even use a coil spring like the MX shock).

I think what I will do is get the conversion kit, then check the shock PSI before and after some hard riding. If there is a big fluctuation, I can go looking for somebody with a nitrogen tank.

We do put the shock thru its paces on all the big whoops out here, be interesting to check the temp on the shock sometime.

Thanks KJ

I can't see using a heat gun or a strap clamp for the shock body. Not sure about reservoir but I used a torch for ~5 minutes and it was still not easy to remove.

Also noticed that lots of RMATV videos are done with parts previously dissembled.

What do the JD instructions indicate?

Most likely that reservoir had been previously removed.

For the first disassembly of the reservoir and the shock body you need a fair bit of heat.

You can't compare the fork heat and shock heat. It's not even close. First off, look at the volumn. Forks are much larger and are open to the air.
On your next ride, once you get off your bike grab your forks and they will be ambient air temp.
Now don't just go grabbing your shock cause it will be HOT but quickly touch it to feel the difference.
Not saying you can't use air but it needs to be from a clean (no moisture) air source.
Over time nitrogen will be more consistent over air.
You don't need a nitrogen tank but you can pick up nitrogen cartridges that can be used in a small handheld dispensers (like the co2 ones out there).

Interested to see your results, my only thought is corrosion. I have a two air dryer set up for my plasma cutter. If you know anyone with a cutter you should be able to get dry air.

They indicate settings for 3-6k and 6k-8.5k. I generally ride right smack in the middle at 5500 to 6500 so it puts me at a weird spot, with temperatures varying. I was running Blue 2, 162, 38, and 1/4 turn out on the AS but it felt sort of flat on the bottom and would act lean if I took the AS screw out.

I picked up a 40 pilot to get the AS back into a normal range but I just feel as though it's weird that I would need an even fatter pilot at my elevation but it's possible with the cooler weather? I'm not opposed to picking up a suzuki needle, but lost on which one. Thanks guys!

I would experiment with the bigger pilot. Also try a half clip richer on the needle.

Suzuki Needle is called a NECJ. I like it for where I ride

Granted I ride mostly at about 1000' asl, but my favorite needle on my 14 300 with a 36mm keihin was the N3CH. It was clean but strong and pulled nicely through the entire range. I also used the red pv spring.
My jetting was 170 main, N3CH clip #3 and 38 pilot. And when the cooler/ cold winter temps came, i moved to clip #4.