Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Kawasaki Bayou 250



I have a little two wheel drive 2007 Kawasaki Bayou 250 in the shop today.  I like this simple machine because it reminds me of my first ATV.  Back in the mid 1980s I had a brand new Bayou 185.  That is back when everyone else had 3 wheelers and I had a new 4 wheeler.  The machine seemed great back then, but it is laughable today.  Some of the special features it had were shaft drive, reverse, and electric start.  Some of the things that were missing are front brakes and rear suspension.  It had a solid rear end, I don't mean a solid rear axle like a lot of base models have today.  The rear end was solid, no suspension other than the tires!

The machine that is in the shop today has all the modern features.  It is in the shop because of a loose wheel  It wobbled around when you drove the machine.  I looked at it quickly a few weeks ago and assumed that it had a bad bearing.  I ordered a new bearing and shaft seal for it.  When I actually pulled it in the shop today and took the wheel off I realized that the hub was loose on the shaft. 

For some reason the hub was not seated all the way on the shaft and the shaft seems to have a lot of end play?.  I'm not sure what the problem is yet, I didn't get a chance to pull the shaft out.  As you can see in the photo the splines are a little wore out on the end, I hope I can get the hub back on far enough to engage what's left of the splines. 

C.O.

5 comments:

  1. I have a bayou and I'm trying to remove the front wheels to change the breaks, any ideas
    ?

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  2. It has been a while since I looked at a Bayou, but I believe it should be the same as most machines with disc brakes.

    Remove the 4 lug nuts to take the wheel off. Once the wheel is off the brake caliper is right there. There is two bolts that hold the caliper to the spindle, remove the bolts and the caliper comes right off. The brake pads normally are held in place with some kind of spring clip. Unless the rotor is damaged in some way it normally does not need replacing.

    What kind of brake problem do you have? Why are you changing the brakes?

    C.O.

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  3. The brakes are worn down, normal wear. Drums, removed the spindle bolt but the bearings must be pressed because the wheel wont slide off.

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  4. Did you take the wheel (4 lug nuts) off first? When you take the single large nut off the end of the spindle the drum and hub should come right off. Sometimes if the shoes have worn a long way into the drum you need to release the shoes to allow the drum to slide off them.

    I believe the Bayou has cable operated brakes, loosen the adjuster all the way so that there is a lot of slack in the cable. That should allow the shoes to clear the drum.

    If you go to a sight that sells part you should be able to find a exploded view to give you an idea of what it looks like on the inside.
    BikeBandit is my favorite.

    C.O.

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  5. I have a 2007 bayou 250 and I am needing a wiring diagram so I can fix some wires that were chewed off by one of my dogs any help as to were I can see one or find one free would be great!!!!!

    ReplyDelete