2009 Super Sherpa

bajasam Been here awhile

Joined:

Feb 14, 2016

Oddometer:

957

Location:

az

Lack of oil wont shatter the bearing cap like that, definately without a doubt valve adjustment, no question about it!!
56,000 km is a pretty good run for a 250 cc dual sport. I thought mine was getting long in the tooth with 20K km.
New 250's like the Yam XT250 and Kawi are only in the $C5-6K range.
Explain to us how valve clearance would cause the cam journal to seize up, and break the cap.

Chillis, PTC and tlrmark like this.
Put the Stockm.... uh, Super Sherpa to work today.
PTC Turd polisher

Some 2009 were recalled due to oil blockage, do some digging, maybe you'll make out?
CharlesH Support those who support you. Supporter

Adjusted my float bowl level to 14.67mm and replaced the 30 pilot jet for a 35. Seems to have finally got rid of the stumble it had!
Added pictures of the harbor freight apache 4800 case on the back.

Attached Files:
In my mind if the valve clearance was bad enough to do that kind of damage it would have just barely ran, I also vote for an oil blockage.
I caused something similar on a 97 XR650L I bought new, on the first oil change and filter replacement I clocked the filter cap wrong and no oil got to the top of the engine.

Cost me 800 bucks.
Well that's interesting! Thanks for the recall info, I'm currently sourcing for parts and am planning to rebuild if I can get the parts for a reasonable price.
CharlesH Support those who support you. Supporter

When I purchased my 09 sherpa I contacted a dealer and they said mine had the recall work done to it already. All they needed was the VIN to look it up.
This would be worthwhile to pursue with Kawasaki, however I think that with 50000 kms on the bike, their argument will be that a blockage problem would have showed up early in the motors lifespan.
They might argue that, but they would be legally wrong. The issue with a certain production run of 2009 Sherpas was that the person installing the oil lines forgot to take off a protective plastic plug, which either A) remained where it was, causing a quick seizure, or B) got partially sucked into the banjo bolt / oil line, causing a restricted flow and resultant failure over a longer period of time.
Once a recall is in effect, it doesn't matter how many miles are on the vehicle, especially one that can cause wheel lockup and possible crash.

I had a 1992 Dodge Stealth with a center transfer case failure; it was replaced under warranty at 100,000 miles. Although no one was killed in any crashes of the 3000GT / Stealth AWD models, there was one documented spectacular failure at speed on a Colorado mountain highway. All four wheels locked, the car could have plunged off the road but luckily for the driver, it spun out on the road surface and hit a guard rail, which kept it from going down the mountainside. I expected the Mitsubishi dealer to try to wiggle out of my case, and they did try, but I had a 2nd document from the very same dealer 5 years earlier, before the recall came out. It clearly stated that I had a failed center transfer case and I was in danger if I kept driving it without having them fix it (at approx $2,000).
I guess they might be wrong if the lack of recall repair caused the problem, And that the motor had the defect in the first place? 56000 on a Super Sherpa is a long ways, many million times of engine rotation. In my experience with recalls, very few bikes actually had the defect that the recall was intended to addresse. In most cases, 1 problem occurred, and the recall was issued to make sure that no other problems occurred that could be attributed to a manufactureing defect. The companies are quite conscious of this issue, and usually go out of their way to cooperate with customers, and yes recalls do not expire with time, however nothing is for sure. It is worth talking to Kawasaki as I said.
56,000 KM ≈ 35,000 miles. A well maintained Super Sherpa can easily hit this milestone. Several people on the Yahoo Super Sherpa list, which I've been active on for 15+ years, have examples with this or higher mileage. In fact, we discussed a few years back that the 25,000 mile mark would be considered "middle aged". Modern bikes, air cooled or not (but especially water cooled) are easily making 50,000 miles and more before showing signs of significant wear. I know several people with ZRX-1100 and 1200s that have more than 100,000 miles on them, and these guys don't baby them.
Anyway, the Kawasaki site where all you need to do to check on recall info is here:

https://www.kawasaki.com/OwnerSupport/SafetyRecall

Just enter your VIN number into the field and it will tell you if your bike is one that was recalled. Kawasaki is notorious for keeping sales records unavailable to everyone - including dealers - but indications are that more than just a few 2009 model year Sherpas were affected. I remember seeing pictures of bikes with failed motors where just a small piece of the plastic plug had restricted flow enough to sieze the cam journals. One of them looked just like AngryHandyman's, but I never saw a broken cam journal cap.
howdy ya'll, listed up my wife's Super Sherpa for sale in the classifieds here. Link: https://advrider.com/f/threads/kawasaki-super-sherpa-kl250.1401813/ Thought drop a note here as well, incase someone is in the market for one, hit me up. There is a craigslist ad link in there as well.
CharlesH Support those who support you. Supporter

Bet it got nuked because of the craigslist ad. It's against advrider rules.
The bike doesn't have any outstanding recalls; the website wasn't able to determine the bike's status, but the local dealer was able to. I appreciate everyone's help and input. Still looking for top end parts, a cylinder head in particular, for a rebuild.
Thanks for pointing that out, I did not know!
Okay fellas, the Super Sherpa ad is posted back up with pictures! Message me your inquiries! :) Cheers!
CharlesH Support those who support you. Supporter

https://advrider.com/f/threads/the-good-karma-free-parts-thread.544935/page-400#post-38229372
I'll be home tomorrow changing out tires on the sherpa. If you want come on by and pick up the unused free tire listed above.