cam chain guide sprocket

has anyone taken the cam chain guide sprocket sprocket shaft from a kz with mkII heads and replaced them with the old style shaft that has the rubber dampers?i have a kz with mkII heads and i have an old kz i was looking at the shaft and it is round on the mkII but, on the old style it has an indention and rubber dampers. is it ok to swap these out? i have looked and looked and i have not seen any difference in length or o.d. if someone has done this let me know so i do not make a mistake by doing it. thanks.

you might try looking at www.kzzone.com (APE's site) they have a section where they explain some differences in the 1000's, and what parts swap
Scott

There is only one sprocket shaft used on the MK II and earlier models. All of them use the rubber dampeners. The shaft is Kaw P/N 12052-005 and used not only on the MK II but all the 903 and 1015cc engines as well as the 650 and 1300... it was even used on the 6 cylinder Voyager. There ARE differences in the 1015cc cam chain bits in that the later, smog head bikes used a different idler assembly. The early works just as well as the one originally used on the bike but the smog head idler assembly can't be used with the earlier engines as the earlier valve covers won't fit with this idler installed. The two sprocket wheels, are the same on all the various 903/1015 models as well but are DIFFERENT than those used on the 650 or 1300. These are
12057-002. The major difference in the MK II engine cam chain stuff is that it uses a 124 link bicyle type chain rather than a 122 link as on all the other 903/1015cc models. The cam sprockets have more teeth I think or the sprocket on the crank or both... can't recall off the top of my head but I am pretty sure the cam shaft sprockets have more teeth.

well, not to be an a-hole or anything but, when i opened my kz650 today the cam chain roller shafts were solid without the cutout for the rubber damper. maybe someone made something weird but, i measured and it is exactly the same length and outside diameter as my 1000ltd shaft. kinda weird.

Suggest you go to kawasaki.com and find the parts diagram for your bike. Look up the part number for the part and then at the top of the page, there is a tab marked "PARTS". Click on it and enter the part number and look at the varioius bikes this part has application for.

thanks i appreciate everyone's help. i think i got it all worked out.

Not that it's important to the conversation here, but 1977 KZ650 did have solid shafts, at least the early ones did. I don't know when they switched to the half shafts with damper rubber. May have been somewhere in the later 1977s or 1978. So you're not imagining things if you have solid shafts as early ones did.

1977 KZ650 engines KZ650BE019150 and earlier had the solid shafts. (Kawasaki service bulletin May 6, 1977), so less than half of the 77s used the solids.

sweet thanks for clarifying things for me.