Rebuild on a 1983 XC 250

The bearings only fail to years of neglect. I would think cleaning and lubrication should occur twice a year for muddy or silty runs and once a year for dryer normal service.

Hi Surprize, yes interesting about the springs and rates, bit of a black art 30 yrs ago. But these days knowledge counts for a bit and I have not seen any data on spring rates at all on this site.
I had the modern husky (WR 165) all set up correctly and it is a beautiful bike to ride. As a result of that I always use a firmer front spring (0.44kg/mm) and stiffer rears.

I am hoping that now it is listed at least it will be a source for others.

Front forks springs are also being replaced as well on the husky with some Racetech FRSP 3452 in the 0.44kg/mm rate, which suits riders around 95-105kg and this is the softest spring available but can be mated with the standard spring for a slightly softer ride. The racetech site is a very hand tool for this.
Spent part of the day doing more fibreglass repairs on the air cleaner (clamp arrangement this time), and straightening the DLS reverse thread adjusting shaft which was bent. According to the racetech site the standard springs (probably when new) were rated at 0.38kg/mm.

nice to know all this stuff..make sure you get that brake rod spot on, it makes all the difference btw a crappy no feel brake and sharp front stopper

I might be missing something here but how can you mate the Racetech springs with the standard spring? Do you mean standard rear spring?

match?

Hi Action Jonny,
It might just be the language I am using, so here goes.

They are not meant as a match.

Fork springs are generally individually rated based on bike, type of work, speed, experience of rider and more than anything the weight of the rider.

Standard OEM fork springs were rated by racetech as being 0.38kg/mm on their site. Unsure what spring or year but sounds plausible to me. OEM springs from KDX and KTM of the day were around this.

Current available after market springs that fit the Husqvarna 40mm forks circa 82 - 87 from racetech have a spring rate of 0.44kg/mm and also heavier rates are available, but not lighter rates between 0.38 - 0.44kg/mm.

When I stated "mated", this is what I meant. left fork leg has a 0.44kg/mm spring rate. Right fork leg has a fork spring rate of 0.38kg/mm.
Overall result is 0.41kg/mm or slightly softer ride.

I would prefer a PM if this does not make sense, to not hijack the original thread.
thanks
Down under XC

Hi Surprize,
re front brakes.
Well I sat and looked at rod and reverse thread and pondered, how do you set this up. then went looking on site and found an article on DLS arcing. Thought I might be able to disable one brake shoe, spin wheel until just chattering, then do same with other brake shoe but alas you can't . This will take some learning.

The alternate is a disc brake front end from an 84 CR that I have, which uses the single brembo.

I don't know what to make of the akron rims and date stamps. My rear wheel on 83XC says 2/84 this was the original wheel and the disc brake wheel has 10/83. I suppose there is a valid explanation.

I have two legs with caliper attachment and also two non disc DLS fork legs. Thought process was to have both brake set ups available, but prefer disc for wet events. It is a safety issue as far as I am concerned after riding moderns. But recognise the DLS is probably a fall back position if caliper/ master cylinder failure.
DLS is non grooved as well. Do you have grooved and presume they are available??

the trick with DLS is to have the shoes set at zero so both are flat on the cams. norm at bendigo brake and clutch can reline your shoes with good liner and lathe the shoes to your hub. he did my back brake and it is so much better than the std shoes. about to get my fronts done. EBC make grooved shoes but unless your racing, easy to put a centre groove with a hacksaw and then some angle grooves to channel water out.

I like the brighter color white looks awesome.

Hi guys, just an observation after spending a lot of time trying to get air box and filter clamp in right position. What I discovered is that to position air cleaner on rubber boot the best and easiest way was to invert filter and insert with mouth to the rear and once within box rotate thru 90 degrees and fit to rubber boot. This way the shape of cage and filter follows the basic shape of lid and drops in relatively easy.
Hope this makes sense.

ill try it nxt time...the sides of the airbox have shrunk in...makes it tight to get into the abx

Nice job. I'm going to modify my chain guides with the wear inserts. good tip! keep up the good work. mikedi

That's the fork spring I use in the 40mm forks, installed with 3-5mm preload.

Hey DownUnder, as I am stripping my 83 XC 250 it appears that the front downtube is bent. At first I thought "oh no" but after studying on it a bit, it may be designed that way to provide clearance for the exhaust pipe. The tube has a slight S bend and doesn't seem to affect the alignment of the frame. Hard to tell from your pics but is the bend part of the design or am I just screwed? Your build is coming along nicely, by the way.

it's not bent, that's the design to clear the exhaust port..

That's a relief. It did look to be something other than a random bend. Wanted to be sure before putting $$ into powdercoating.

Yeah it's a shocker,,, that's the old "dude your frame's bent" head rush!!

Yep, that's it. Nice build in progress there!

thanks, it's a fun project for sure... always wanted one of these since back in the day.

dont feel bad...weve all been there at some point. i dont think you could bend that tube riding if you tried.