[doug4958]

I was out on a ride last Saturday stopped to get gas and pulled away from the pumps. The bike made it up to the highway from the gas pumps fine, I stopped checked traffic and tried to pull out, gave it gas let out the clutch and nothing but a grinding slipping noise that barely moved the bike an inch.
122 miles from home.

My friends and I waited for the tow truck for about 2 hours, we did find some shade to sit and talk so all wasn't lost, we played catch up on what was going on in our lives.
The tow was $170 and I got home just about dark, my insurance payed for the first 60 miles since that's how far the nearest Kawasaki service center is.

Yesterday I tore into the beast to check it out. I started with the front pulley since that's where I thought the problem was. The clutch seemed to be functioning ok. What I found was the pulley nut was loose and the pulley and shaft was missing all the splines, they were sheared off. WTF?

So I took her apart. In order to replace the pulley shaft you have to pull the belt off, pull the gas tank, drain all fluids, off with the outer and inner transmission cover (right side), then drive out the pulley shaft. What a pain in the a**.

Parts now on order $372.00.

Has anyone had this problem? and no I don't race the bike nor am I hard on it off the line.

[IMG

 

[Belrix]

Yup - been other threads about.

A quick search turns up these:
http://www.kawasakimotorcycle.org/forum/kawasaki-cruisers/126923-v2k-coulda-swore-trans.html
http://www.kawasakimotorcycle.org/f...126988-resolution-v2k-coulda-swore-trans.html

I gotta keep an eye out for this on mine, I guess. What year is yours?

 

[bross]

Only thing I can think of is belt tension too high? causing stress on the shaft? but that's just guessing.

 

[Vulcan900]

Known weak spot in the driveline. Should be covered as a recall... but getting Kawi to admit fault is like squeezing Kentucky bourbon from a rock.

 

[doug4958]

Yup - been other threads about.

A quick search turns up these:
http://www.kawasakimotorcycle.org/forum/kawasaki-cruisers/126923-v2k-coulda-swore-trans.html
http://www.kawasakimotorcycle.org/f...126988-resolution-v2k-coulda-swore-trans.html

I gotta keep an eye out for this on mine, I guess. What year is yours?

My bike is a 2008 with 14,000 miles

 

[9511234]

Lol... she bleeds green. It is interesting to see everything like this... kind of moves me away from ever owning a V2k... darnit -- I wanted one so bad.

 

[ophidia]

If mine's gonna do that, I hope it does it before July 2011 when my warranty runs out...

 

[Hogbreath]

does anyone think the cause is the nut loosening? every post has said nut loose. Think thats the 1st problem or the spline gives way & the nut goes loose?? At least its a kinda simple fix compared to case splitting!!!

 

[NewRoadie]

From the wear pattern in the pulley and the shaft, I would lean away from loose nut and lean toward poor heat treatment. I have a hard time that the shaft is that soft with the gear and shaft engaged properly.

I noticed on one of the other related posts that he was running a car tire. Are you running a car tire or mc tire? I still have a hard time that this type of failure occured within 14K miles!! I guess that's why I got the 6 year warranty as I want any major repairs covered. I am fully capable of performing the repairs, but I feel warm and fuzzy with the warranty!

 

[bross]

does anyone think the cause is the nut loosening? every post has said nut loose. Think thats the 1st problem or the spline gives way & the nut goes loose?? At least its a kinda simple fix compared to case splitting!!!

I wouldn't think the nut loosening would cause this failure. Look at many chain driven bikes and the counter shaft sprocket "floats" on the counter shaft splines.

 

[MrClean]

It happens on MC tires and Ct tires. Last guy I read about had his parts on order and had tach welded the old pulley to the old shaft. At least its easy to get to as far as transmission work goes. I think it was around 202 and 138 from Ron Ayers +/- gasket and shipping.

 

[ophidia]

I wonder if this is an inevitability or just poor quality control allowing poorly treated parts through?

 

[Vulcan900]

I wonder if this is an inevitability or just poor quality control allowing poorly treated parts through?

I duno. Consider the number of VN2000s sold, how many are on this forum, and the number of failures that we know about. No real trend jumps out at me.

 

[Lattimer]

I've heard of 4 or 5 failing now. Various circumstances. A few have reported a rattling sound before failure.

I took mine apart and checked it about 2 months ago. No sign of wear, nut was still tight. That was at 14,000 miles.

I think hard launches and loosening of the nut can both contribute to early failure.

If mine does fail, I'm going to weld it on and keep going.

 

[gillyiowa]

my 04 had a pulley recall. I found out about it in 06. My mechanic at the time called Kawasaki and it was covered. When I went to the dealer to pick up my bike, my buddy mechanic told me that when he ordered the part, they had plenty in stock. The distributor where they got the pulley from told them that the pulleys on the shelf, as far as they knew, were the same that was originally on my bike, they were never recalled. The distributer told my buddy the mechanic, they thought Kawasaki didn't care because by the time it wore out again, most bikes would be off warrenty. When he told me this, I thought WTF. AS soon as Myrons front pulleys came out, I bought one of those and never looked back. Makes you wonder if later year bikes had some of the so called recall pulleys installed.

 

[MrClean]

I had a Honda Civic Hatchback, there were a TON of those things on the road when I had mine, but mine was from a batch that had an improperly heat treated front right axle. The only thing different on that situation was that Honda recalled all the axles and I got a new axle, bearing and CV joint out of it. (When I would turn a medium hard right corner there would be a popping sound coming from the axle at about 13,000 miles)

Haven't heard of any recalls on the affected parts of the 2000 though. I don't care, I still want one. When my 900 wears out if I have to I'm scavenging the savings account and buying one. If that part fails I can stand the 400 bucks to fix it for all that bike.

 

[therogue]

I've also had this failure, the guy MrClean said welded his shaft for a quick fix waiting for parts. My nut was tight (BWAHAHAHAHA) so to speak. I kinda like the poor heat treatment diagnosis, but I wonder if it was a mistake or a planned weak spot outside of the case. If that didn't give, what may have broken inside?

Doug4958. You took too much apart. I layed it on its left side after all the left side work was done, then opened the right side, changed the shaft and closed it back up. Minimal coolant loss that I could top up from the reservoir.

 

[ecave]

I've heard of 4 or 5 failing now. Various circumstances. A few have reported a rattling sound before failure.

I took mine apart and checked it about 2 months ago. No sign of wear, nut was still tight. That was at 14,000 miles.

I think hard launches and loosening of the nut can both contribute to early failure.

If mine does fail, I'm going to weld it on and keep going.

Shawn, That is what happend to my 800 and I also welded it on. The weld only lasted about a year and I welded it a couple weeks ago. You have to split the case on the 800.

 

[Lattimer]

Shawn, That is what happend to my 800 and I also welded it on. The weld only lasted about a year and I welded it a couple weeks ago. You have to split the case on the 800.

1 year isn't too bad compared to splitting the cases. I'd take it!

 

[skipsaxe]

I read enough threads on this to make me nervous enough to bring my bike in to have it checked out. Happy to report that at 20,550 miles service man says it still looks like it's in new condition...whew.