A clymer service manual my best bet ??

Hey guys ,I'm not a skilled mechanical person, but I'm trying to do all I can do wrenching on my 1980 1000 b....as a guide a clymer service manual my best bet or do you guys have a different source I can buy help me in any way...thx for any input... Pat

A factory service manual is the go to source.
For someone starting out with limited abilities a Clymer will do just fine. Or Haynes.


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No eBay APP ID and/or Cert ID defined in Kunena configurationNo eBay APP ID and/or Cert ID defined in Kunena configurationNo, Clymer and Haynes manuals are definitely NOT your best bet!

Your best bet is a genuine Kawasaki Service Manual (sometimes referred to here as the FSM - factory service manual). Think about it; who would know more about the bike than the folks who engineered and manufactured them?

You usually can find the Kawasaki Service Manual for your bike on eBay. Just be sure you get the one that covers your bike's EXACT year and model. The models the manual includes are usually listed on the back cover of the manual. Assuming that your bike is a 1980 KZ1000 LTD the model is a KZ1000-B4. You will find that the manuals for the KZ1000-B (LTD) models consist of the basic KZ1000 manual for your bike's year plus a KZ1000-B (LTD) supplement that covers the things unique to the LTD. The 1st link below shows a KZ1000-B4 supplement available on eBay. I'm not positive, so someone else should verify, but I believe the manual in the 2nd link is the base manual for the 1980 KZ1000. Ed

Ordered the law service manual.. Thx ed

Tirefire Pat wrote: Ordered the law service manual.. Thx ed

??? Please explain Pat, I don't understand...

I think it was a type-oh for KAW service manual...

Hey Pat, Definitely, you want the FSM for your bike. I got mine as used books but they're perfectly fine. However, if you happen to find a Clymer and it's cheap enough, I'd get it too. I don't trust the Clymer anymore due to inconsistencies they had in their KZ550 manual BUT I have found Clymer sometimes uses different photographs or discusses a particular procedure differently and when combined with the FSM it helped give me a clearer idea of what I was about to do on the bench.
Again, it's just a second reference but I've learned the hard way to trust only the FSM for technical specifications.

A Clymer manual is a great investment. You never know , they may stop making toilet paper some day

I mentioned kaw... Damn auto correct

See. ! Ment kaw.....

In addition to the manual you should also get a couple of good torque wrenches --- one in INCH-lbs & the other in ft-lbs.

Manual stuff. The Kawasaki service manual assumes that the user has some training already, so it may not have much detail in some cases. The clymer or haynes will have helpful hints & how-tos for doing some repairs, such as how to bleed brakes. A couple of problems with the aftermarket manuals is that they sometimes use the same instructions that may not be applicable between models & sometimes the model data is incorrect. A Kaw manual can have errors, but they usually aren't the type that get you into trouble. I think there is one case in which the cam cap torque is wrong in one of the 1000 Kaw manuals, so before following the manual precisely, you might want to spend a couple of minutes to become familiar with the basic torque values for the different sized fasteners. easy.

You have to use some common sense before cranking down a small bolt. The Kaw manuals I've seen have a table that serves as a guide when the specific torque isn't listed. An M6 bolt doesn't require much torque --- in some cases you kinda have to do it by feel if a torque wrench can't be used, such as at some of the exhaust holder nuts.

anecdote. Jamie Oliver had a pasta sauce recipe that called for 13 lemons, so a bunch of people used the specified number of lemons & couldn't understand why the sauce tasted so terrible. It should have said 1 lemon --- 13 was a typo. I'm not much of a cook, but even I know 13 lemons is a lot of lemons.

No eBay APP ID and/or Cert ID defined in Kunena configurationI have this manual, it's great because the covers are laminated to protect from grease, dirt or other contaminants
Its also spiral bound, so it stays flat open on the page you're on
but they really nail you on shipping charges, but it was worth it to me, so I also got one for my 76 LTD 900

P.S. when I ordered mine many yrs. ago, shipping charges were about !/2 as much, but still seemed high at the time
Pete

Hey Pete is that eBay post a new one or from long ago???thx Pat