Minor Paladin Assembly issues

[Thumper]

As usual, there are minor assembly issues.

So the kickstand is a nice cast aluminum piece with a foot that is retained with a bolt (looks like a 10mm bolt, maybe 8mm on quick glance). This means it should be possible to cut the thing shorter after lowering the bike, drill a new hole and cut threads, and reinstall the foot. We will see.

BUT, the spring is tooo long, so the kickstand is floppy. It took no effort to pull the spring over the upper position with the kickstand up, so it bounces!

I will fab a shorter metal piece (z-shaped) for the bottom spring mount position on the kickstand to tension it a little. Should be enough to tighten the spring sufficiently. I greased the kickstand mounting bolt where it contacts the kickstand, threadloc on the mounting threads and locking nut behind there. That's all good.




There were two m6-1.0 bolt mounts -misaligned brass inserts on the right, and left side rear tail assembly mounts (see them on each side of the battery retaining bracket bolt in the photo below). I will deal with that shortly, but they give you 4 ~10mm SS M6 allen bolts to mount that back tail section that seem a little short (but nice wire handling on this bike there).

The real problem is that the battery mounting brass insert was buggered, broken loose. I think the bolt was misthreaded and overtightened, or just overtightened. I cannot get the battery bracket off, so will have to take off the inner wheel well plastic and get to it from behind there. Not sure what I will replace it with-probably just a nut/bolt and washers-threadlocked. I can cut a hole in the wheel well so I can get to a nut back there to remove the battery, then just duct tape it between battery removal(s). I might find a plug instead of tape. Time to go fishing in the parts bin. This is manageable.

[Thumper]

There was just no way to get the battery retaining bracket loose. The threaded brass insert in the plastic was turning, seized threads (M6-1.0).
Here is the offending brass insert, after removing the right left plastic, muffler, and finally, the wheel well/fender came off.


I had to cut the head off to remove it


I could not push it out, compress it out with pliers and a socket, or anything so I drilled it out. It heated up, seized on the bit and twisted, pushed through. The battery retaining bracket is free now. The starter relay is mounted on the bracket. It is nice to have the relay out of the way here just behind the EFI module under the seat. Also, it is a nice lightweight Li-ion battery. It is a Skyrich HJTX4L-FPZ-B (just under 4.5" wide, 3-3/8" tall, 2-3/4" depth).



For now, I will just use an allen bolt from behind the battery cradle that I can easily fish through a 3/8" port in the wheel well. I will put duct tape over it. Maybe a permanent fix.

Now I can start putting it all back together. Headsup! The headpipe was wobbly loose when I pulled the muffler off. I hope the crush gasket will seal up. I think I will pull that out and measure it while it's cold and the muffler is off.

Dealing with those misaligned rear fender mounts is the next head-scratcher. The allow rear stays are rigid, so I guess the plastic under there needs to be realigned, if it can be. Otherwise, I may have to remove it and widen the slots in the rear frame stays with a dremel.

[Mumen Rider]

I went and checked mine after reading your post, thankfully the bolt came out without any issue but now I am going to make sure to use some anti seize on it.


Going to fiddle with the kickstand now, I have had the bike on a center lift as I assemble it.

[Aussie_in_MO]

Living vicariously through everyone else is driving me nuts already!
I'm planning on picking up a Paladin early next year, assuming they're still available by the time I've got the funds together.
From the pics I've seen the build quality looks pretty good, I'm seeing passable welds, decent paint, and a lot of rivnuts.
Kickstand looks to be a better design than the Templar X, to bad about the spring sizing though!

[Mumen Rider]

Originally Posted by Thumper

As usual, there are minor assembly issues.

So the kickstand is a nice cast aluminum piece with a foot that is retained with a bolt (looks like a 10mm bolt, maybe 8mm on quick glance). This means it should be possible to cut the thing shorter after lowering the bike, drill a new hole and cut threads, and reinstall the foot. We will see.

BUT, the spring is tooo long, so the kickstand is floppy. It took no effort to pull the spring over the upper position with the kickstand up, so it bounces!

I will fab a shorter metal piece (z-shaped) for the bottom spring mount position on the kickstand to tension it a little. Should be enough to tighten the spring sufficiently. I greased the kickstand mounting bolt where it contacts the kickstand, threadloc on the mounting threads and locking nut behind there. That's all good.

Attachment 32167

Behind your rear fender there should be a rubber strap to keep the kick stand in the up position. It still doesn't solve the spring issue, it is too long. Looking at other S8 models they seem to use a shorter spring and or location the upper spring mount on the inside of the frame instead of the outside like ours.

Looks like we have gotten the wrong spring for some reason.

[Thumper]

I noticed that loop while taking the tail apart, but it is not long enough on mine. Maybe you can get it there, but stretching it that much, the rubber will crack up soon. A much shorter metal lower spring connector, Z-shaped to clear the upper stop post (allen bolt and bushing in the parts package) might do it. Those springs seem to get hard to pull quick as you pull them out and the OEM connector is pretty long.

[zero_dgz]

Looks like it's just a plain old extension spring. It hasn't even got any proprietary loops or bends in the ends. Any competent hardware store should be able to fix you up with a slightly shorter one if that's the way you want to go.


It looks like getting the spring on and off should be significantly easier than e.g. on my Orion.

[Mumen Rider]

Changing the spark plug is a huge pain in the ass.

[tknj99]

I'm sure valve check/adjustment wont be as fun either.. looks the same like my Beta

[Mumen Rider]

You have to pull the cams to do that but it really is a simple process considering this engine(klx) is like 30 years old or more.

[zero_dgz]

So wait, is this mechanically actually a KLX clone? That means it must have shim-and-bucket valves and at the very least once you get it dialed in you won't have to touch the adjustment for quite a while... Theoretically. IIRC the spec (for the genuine article, I should say) is supposed to be every 7500 miles which is not much worse than my KLR.

[Mumen Rider]

Yes, mechanically it is a KLX clone.

[zero_dgz]

Okay, that's rad as hell. I may really have to pick one of these up now.

[Mikd]

So very curious how these will compare with the Templar X model. Obviously an upgrade in power but how is the throttle response, where in the rpm range is the power etc.

[Mumen Rider]

@Thumper

Did you change your OEM oil filter? I just changed mine out for an HF112(aftermarket KLX300) filter. The OEM oil filter's bypass diameter is larger than the spring pressing on the rear of the filter which causes the bypass to be opened all the time. The HF112 is exactly like the OEM Kawasaki Element oil filter which doesn't do that.