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KTM Thumper Discussion

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greeneggs&ham

greeneggs&ham

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Joined
Dec 18, 2009
Messages
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Location
KYLE, TX
First Name
Sam
Last Name
Crabtree
Well, several months ago Big A and I were talking. It ended with I should start a KTM 690 thread. Well, even though there are several 690's here on TWT, I think it would serve everyone's interest better to lump all the Thumpers together. I own an '09 690r enduro. My wife has an '08 530exc. I do all the maintenance and repairs on both. So, soon I will start showing some of the mods and problems I have encountered with both.

That is what I would like the essence of this thread to be about. To help each one of us, and to spread the information, lessons and vendor contacts to assist us in more fun and less problems.

KTM's are great bikes. The 450, 525 and 530 were primarily dirt bikes that KTM added lights to. So lighting, electrical and maintenance are the things usually concerning most new owners. JasonJ, Coolhand and Mrs. C's 530's have been my ginny pigs. Hopefully, JasonJ has installed his Shorai battery by now. That should be the last of his charging/starting system problems. ;-) Right Jason?

Recently, MedicJeff had a common KTM problem with his chain adjuster bolt. I should have started this back when Big A told me to; maybe he would not be in the pickle he is in now. Hope you have a good ride Jeff, let us know when you get back if you still need help.

Anyway, that's all for now. I plan to start with mods and problems I have had on the 530 first, then I will post up mods & problems for the 690r. Again, if my problem saves anyone else time, then this thread has done it's job. Feel free to post any problems you may have had or are having. Sam
 
Great idea Sam, bike is ready to roll with my temporary fix. Thanks for the suggestions. I'm sure some more questions will come up when get back in town.
 
Count me in :rider:
 
Ordering the orange paint for my KLR.:trust:....this will also be great for us orange dreamers and helping make that future decision........:clap:
 
Don't forget the LC4s.

IMAG0148.jpg


Oh the days before they were orange and had the magic buttons and USD forks. :eek2:
 
All years and all KTM's are welcome. I just have very limited experience with older bikes, or the V-twins. But I have to say, Mr. Fowler, that is a nice bike. I would say '95? In fact my 08 200xcw is now sporting white plastic. I have a 05 525 stroker in my garage right now that I have been trying to work the kinks out for a friend. He purchased it last year from a dealer and it has never been reliable enough for him to ride it. After 3 weeks, I took it on a 100 mile ride last week. It will pull the wheel in 4th. :rider: A Brut! I love them all.
 
Chain adj. frozen?

OK, I'll start the tips.

Are your chain adjusters frozen? Yes, the swinging arm is full of water.

Remove the wheel for access.
Drill an 1/8" drain hole in the bottom of the swinging arm as near the rear weld as possible. Be careful not to let the bit hit the adjuster or you will have another problem. Be ready for water to come out. Let it drain for a while.

Blow air in the hole & squirt WD-40 in the hole. Let it set, more WD-40. Let it set, more WD-40. Let it set, more WD-40. Go to bed. :sleep:

In the morning more WD-40, now try to move the bolt, careful, careful do not break it.

..... more WD-40. Go to bed. :sleep:
Repeat as needed. Be patient. :ponder: It may help to tap the bolt head, but do not :pound:

Once the bolt is out, clean the threads (bolt & hole). Apply a coating of anti-seize. Run the bolt in & out to spread the anti-seize.

If this has not happened to you yet, the drain hole & anti-seize is a good preventive.

Happy :rider:
 
Okay, so here's the story of Mrs. C's '08 530exc. We picked it up used from a rider in Hamilton in January of 2010. He liked his ZRX's more than the KTM. So Mrs. C purchased a lightly used 530 that I told her would be perfect for her. :uhoh: Anyway, while we were there, I noticed how hard it was to crank it with the kick starter. I wasn't worried since I had done some homework and several people had commented on this. However, it started right up with the button. No Worries. :wary: Once we got it home, it would crank, but was very hard to start; once running, it was rich. So I called Dan at Munn's and ordered a JDJet kit. Started looking on the web about how to desmog this thing. At this point, I had to make it right, I had told her it was a great bike. :oops:

Here is the picture of the removal of the emission hoses. The vent hose down to the left case area was full of fuel. The emission tank on the lower frame was full of fuel. No wonder it was so rich, and hard to start.

twt_530_2.jpg


Next is a picture of the hose routing; if you will note, I used a T to vent both the valve cover and the trans to the airbox. I used a restrictor plug at the airbox as several posters had commented that under heavy acceleration, the vacuum created would pull oil from the valve cover. So I used a very small freeze plug with a 1/8 hole drilled in it to lower the effect. I thought if it had too much pressure in the crankcase, I could drill it bigger or remove it completely. But so far it has worked great. No oil residue in the airbox or carb. At this point the JDkit has already been installed.

twt_530_1.jpg


This is a picture of the fuel tank we installed. It is the KTM unit, 3.4 gal, same as the Acerbis, but for the same money, it came with a petcock. You never know when you may need an extra petcock. Especially with today's fuels!

twt_530_3.jpg


Other than lowering the suspension, replacing the seat and the Sicass blinkers, (everyone knows the exhaust to rt. turn signal problem so I won't go there! :angryfire ) that's all the changes I've made. I did not understand why everyone whined about the seat because I have one on my race bike, and it has never bothered me. Believe me, when I tell you if you D/S this bike and sit on that seat for anywhere close to 2 hours, you will want to replace it. This is a good one. We put it on just before we went to the Blue Ridge Parkway. Comfortable up to 4 hours.

twt_530_4.jpg


And it turned out to be the perfect bike! Our first adventure trip was Cloudcroft, N.M., and Shirley commented how it truly would crawl up anything - she calls it her "tractor". :clap:

That's it for now. Later I'll go into new bike prep. and helpful information.

Hope to see ya'll out on the road. Sam
 
Ride and wrench on a 2009 450XCF.....now subscribed.
 
greeneggs&ham said:
So Mrs. C purchased a lightly used 530 that I told her would be perfect for her. :uhoh: Anyway, while we were there, I noticed how hard it was to crank it with the kick starter. I wasn't worried since I had done some homework and several people had commented on this. However, it started right up with the button. No Worries. :wary: Once we got it home, it would crank, but was very hard to start; once running, it was rich. :oops:
Click to expand...


This should have been Sam's first clue about the starting issues: the guy gave us two batteries with the bike! :doh: (But in his defense, he also gave us an extra set of tires, and the originals weren't worn out.) :trust:

I really do enjoy this bike - it's got great power at a low RPM and it's very light and maneuverable. In a word: FUN! :rider: Got Gravel?
 
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The '08 also had the problem of the decompression actuator backwards on the cam. There are several write-ups about it.....making it hard to start with the kickstarter.
 
ekms377 said:
The '08 also had the problem of the decompression actuator backwards on the cam. There are several write-ups about it.....making it hard to start with the kickstarter.
Click to expand...

Yes, Mrs. C's 530 has the backwards decompression. And so does Coolhands 450, if I remember correctly. I am still waiting for a report on how it changed after he replaced it. :deal: We are not going to spend the money to fix it till we have to. Sam
 
I've got a 690 Enduro and a 450 EXC. The 450's been a fantastic bike, the 690 while a hoot to ride has been a real **** at times. In fact, got a leaking fork seal on it as I type this. I hope to fix in the next couple days. I replaced both seals back in May, so I'm just going to replace the leaky one this time.
 
5,000 miles on my 2009 690 enduro r. it's been a great bike so far.
only problem is the bolt holding the kickstand on vibrated off.
just added a renazco seat - which i should have done 5,000 miles ago.
Pete
 
Just replaced a fork seal on the 690 today. I really like the way KTM/WP designed the forks on this bike. They incorporate a catchplate above the nut on the cartridge that allows you to hook a standard open end wrench on it. Don't need any special tools.
 
I can't think of a better guy to instigate this thread then Sam.

This has been a great summer for me on the Orange bike despite a crappy first trip to Big Bend in February. Notice the airbox cover...

1203218981_NXtSr-M.jpg


Crapped out bike, severely messed up ankle, bummer. A few weeks later when I could walk again, Sam helped me remove the (still gas-logged) smog crap.

After moving here in May I went out probably twice a week on it until July when the family showed up. Since then I've been out pretty much every weekend for long rides in the surrounding dirt. It's been a ball.

Over my birthday in late August, from the Kwohl Butte shelter looking south.

IMG0817-M.jpg


This was up in the mountains the weekend before last on a snowmobile track above Sisters.

IMG1025-M.jpg


Last weekend I almost broke my record... sick family, everybody tired, working way too much. I bailed on the usual morning ride but late in the day I saw a quick one hour opportunity. That's the beautiful thing about this place... within 3 miles I was on dirt and running forest service roads that I hadn't even been on yet. I love it. I haven't been on any destination trips to Arkansas, Colorado, or New Mex, but I'm certainly not complaining.

Bike probably hasn't had as much work as it should have with so much riding. I'm pretty good about oil changes and it has been using oil. I'm getting better about air filter cleaning, given how insanely dusty it was here this summer, but I wasn't cleaning it enough and I certainly did some damage :(. I've done a fair bit of experimenting with gearing... right now I'm at 13:48 and it's about perfect for the trails but not for blasting home on tarmac if you're running out of daylight. 14:48 was too high for the trails but nice on the tarmac. Next time I'll go with something in-between. Sam, I did have the local shop put in the correct cam that I bought from Munn. I had one instance where it wouldn't start after getting stuck on a big hill climb and over heating, but since I had it replaced it's been cool enough (or, at least never hot enough) where I can't really tell if it starts better or not. I'm still scared to kick the thing given what it did to me in Big Bend, but I have used the e-start+kick trick.

I really like my Fastaway brush guards and I've used the heck out of them on occasion. They are very strong and leave plenty of room on the bars. I also made the move away from carrying a heavy pack (I still carry a pack, but usually just a dry shirt, snacks, and water) and bought a Giant Loop Mojavi (local guys) that I love. This was made after a day in large whoops with a heavy pack that ruined my neck for a week. I recently installed the Sicass rear sub-fender kit in an attempt to get a little more legal with my license plate install. It's not bad... definitely need to turn my plate 90 deg so the turns signals are visible. Still a Texas plate on there though :lol2:

There are some bigger ticket items I'd love to do to it this winter, but I have to figure out how to budget that with potentially getting re-geared out for skiing. Not to mention my company is talking about consolidating so who knows where I'll be in 6 months. That said, I'd love to do an under-bar damper and possibly a cush-tail rear wheel from Woody's before next season. Heck, my front wheel has a few nasty "features" in it as well...

I've done absolutely zero messing with jetting or pipe. That would be a winter project... I just can't afford to have it not work during the riding season.

I've also made some changes in kit. The Klim Mojavi pants I had were pretty darned chilly for here and I scored a pair of Dakars for my birthday. :trust: I've also gone to a Leatt that I got from a friend and some awesome MSR Reflex knee/shin armor. Most of my gear comes from my buddy Brian at Atomic Moto because he's about 1 mile from my house :) The Leatt was inspired by finding a rider on the trail earlier this year who'd been down for 30 minutes after hitting a huge tree with his head. He wasn't moving, and the helicopter was on the way. :giveup:

Considering all of the above, I'd be interested in any other "must do" maintenance items for a bike that's been ridden pretty hard and is going to be seeing some down time. Thanks in advance and have fun riding through your "winter" :)

J
 
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