Victim of the K&L Curse.

[John]

Looks like the other post didn,t work. Let's try again. Have you been a victiom of the K&L Curse? Poor quality/ill fitting parts? I have had problems with some carb kits. None of the jets were the right size, or were mismarked. I have read that many of the members here had had problems. maybe we should put out the word that their stuff is no good. What do y'all think? Please take the time to asnwer the poll.
Thanks

[Bill__Woods]

The Pilot jets in my K&L carb kits were the wrong ones for my 81 special, but they were unmarked with no numbers. the rest of the jets & parts were fine, and the other jets were numbered.
I think thier parts are good quality but thier applications are vauge sometimes. Ever consider your options on who else make parts for your XS11. The only other carb kits I have seen for these bikes are much, much worse. Keyster is the only other source (that I know of) to get carb kits & parts for these bikes. If you think K&L Supply parts suck, order some low quality keyster parts from garbage parts sources like Partnmore and other import company's - and you will find K&L makes decent (not Perfect) parts for your bike.
I have also used the K&L petcock rebuild kit on my special. Rebuild both petcocks and the Vacuum assembly for the "octopus". $35.00 for the whole petcock kit , and it works like new.
Other than the day and 1/2 i spent trying to figure out my rich condition due to K&L pilot jets, I cannot complain. I am also satisified with all other K&L parts I have purchased thru the years.

Bottom Line: K&L has all my business for the parts they carry that I need, Until a better suppier opens shop (don't hold you breath waiting).

[ratbyk]

K&L Carb Kits

I have heard that K&L are getting out of the carb kit business. I could be wrong but believe I read in Cycle World or similar mag that K&L were discounting all of their carb kits and getting out. I guess they got tired of taking the heat.
Ken/Sooke

[Shuriken]

Rear master cylinder kit ($35) did not fit. Plunger was way too big to fit inside the cylinder. Never again.

Ben

[Underdog]

I bought the carb & petcock kits. I used the petcock kits but ended up only useing the bowl gaskets and the o-rings for the needles and float valves out of the kits. I figured if it wasn't broke don't fix it. The needles and float valves appeared to be the same but the pilots were definetly different. If you're really bothered by the quality, check with Yamaha. I know the float valves & bowl gaskets are available as well as a complete octopus but be prepared to get your checkbook out I used the genuine Yamaha kits for my brakes since partsnmore had them on BO. With the discount from Zanotti's they weren't too bad. Maybe if people buy stuff from Yamaha, they will keep it available?

[randy]

I'm a K&L pilot jet victim, too. Everything else fit in my 79 XS carbs except the pilots. Well correction, the pilots fit, but they don't work well. I'll be changing back to the stock ones any day now. Good thing I kept them.

Randy

[Underdog]

I don't see any reason to change them in the first place unless they get damaged on removal. I found that the tip cleaner for my acetelene torch had a size small enough to run through the orifices. That and some spray gum cutter and they're good as new. Just be careful not to enlarge the holes.

[randy]

Yeah, got it.

I figure after I go back to the originals, I'll clean the K&L's with a center punch and a lump hammer. That should take care of 'em.

Cheers,

Randy

[KurtG]

My experience was good, K&L's catalogue made it clear that the jets supplied with the kit were not for all applications but I wasn't looking to rejet anyway. A longtime mechanic friend did the rebuild (79 XS1100F) and said the kits were complete and good quality. My bike runs great and the carburation feels as good as any bike I have owned with great throttle response so count me as a happy K&L customer.

[randy]

WOW!

One happy customer out of 1,500. Not bad!

[Jdwags]

Just checked with a dealer .. oem needles and seats $34.00 each... we didn't get into the bowl gaskets..

At this rate, ill buy the kn kit, toss out everything else and still be $ ahead..


(i have a total of 8 carbs to do at some point..)

And i still need a set of tires.. heck, it will run like crap but ill get the tire first..

[John]

Jeff, motorcycle.com gets $16 each for needle and seats. That's what I paid for the ones that I bought for the 78's carbs.

[Underdog]

Originally posted by Jdwags
Just checked with a dealer .. oem needles and seats $34.00 each... we didn't get into the bowl gaskets..

At this rate, ill buy the kn kit, toss out everything else and still be $ ahead..


(i have a total of 8 carbs to do at some point..)

And i still need a set of tires.. heck, it will run like crap but ill get the tire first..

That's probably list. Zonotti gives a discount but I agree it's still not cost effective. Everything in the K&L kits I got looked correct except the pilots. I've had some email contact with a guy thats done a lot of these carbs & he considers the K&Ls the best with the exception of the pilot jets. Bottom line is, you have to expect some of these problems when working on 25YO machines. I've run into the same stuff with old cars. Hey, if it was easy, anyone could do it...and what fun would that be??

[Czekus21]

I bought a set of carb kits from them last year. They seemed to work fine, though I didn't use all the parts, the parts that I did use are still in there and working good. The needle valves didn't fit, I put them in the bin, figured I may have a use for them on another bike some day

[randy]

Here's an update of my K&L curse.

This past weekend I got the chance to swap my old pilot jets back in the carbs. When I removed the K&L pilots, lo an behold, there are NO metering holes in the body of the jets!

The K&L pilots that I got with my kits have the right number stamped on them (42.5) but only have the main hole (at the slotted end) and the tip hole.

As you may know, the correct pilot jets have six or eight metering holes in the body of the jet as well as the main holes.

How the hell was it running at all?!! Probably just on the main jet.

I'm baffled that K&L can get away with this.

Randy