250-500cc WR300 maintenance and mods

I figure this is the best way to try and compact all the good info on the WR250/300 model for those riders on the forum who are somewhat new and are looking for the "must do" items.

I wont claim to be an expert and this stuff may have been posted before but Id just like to write down a few things Ive modded/dealt with on my 12 WR300 after owning and racing it for about 62 hours on the clock.
First off, if you just bought a WR or have low hours, do a race-prep on your bike. It is such a big deal in preventative maintenance. Im talking greasing pivot points, loctiting bolts/nuts that will vibrate loose.
Some things to pay attention to:
The ignition mounting tabs on the frame can snap off. Check frequently for cracks etc. I noticed my ignition flopping around while riding after the tab had snapped.

The shock linkage bearings need to be greased and checked for play as with any other bike with linkage. Install a delrin spacer in the pivot point where there is no grease zirk. I guarantee you your needle bearings are seized if they've seen any kind of moisture.

Things to loctite...
-The rear brake master cylinder mounting bolts
-Kicker shaft nut. Check it now! Might be loose.
-Exhaust silencer nuts. Yeah theyre nylock nuts. But my damn silencer fell of during a race, causing me to DNF. Thats no fun when you drive 3 hours to a race, its the last race of the season, and youre in the top ten in your class lol.
Im sure theres other things to loctite but those are the items Ive had issues with.

Check the subframe mounts. The threads on the frame stripped out on one of my lower mounting points. I had to run a longer bolt thru with a nylock nut on the back.

My kickstand mounting tab stripped. Ended up getting rid of the kickstand. There are plenty of trees in the woods here and Thats just another piece of metal adding weight and being a potential issue. If you keep your sidestand, install a KTM stand tether so you dont dink dank your kickstand all over the woods.

Run a breather line out of your stator cover and seal the bottom. All the rectangular vent on the bottom does is let in dirt and water.

If and when you have the left engine cover off, check your primary nut. It came off inside my engine after a few hours and caused some damage. Post-2012 bikes should not be an issue. There were a handful of 2012s with this issue that Im aware of.

If you run a larger tank, be mindful of the center bolt that mounts the tank to the frame. I managed to snap 2 of those while racing with a big tank.

I finally took a look at the jetting after almost 2 years lol. Dropped my pilot down in size and changed to a DEY needle. Starts easier now. Seems to be more crisp on the bottom.

As far as other mods go, get rid of the crappy crowbar for a clutch lever. I went with a shorty lever from ASR and a Motion Pro Terminator clutch cable. "Longitudinally wound" housing. I also added 5mm to my clutch actuator for a slightly lighter pull.

Remove the rubber bushings in the handlebar mounts and go with the BRP billet ones. No more twisted up handlebars after a mild get-off.

Do the suspension! I cant say enough for suspension work if you really want to enjoy your motorcycle and get the most of it.

EBC Red brake pads. Work great and I feel no need for a larger non-floating rear disc. Others may disagree.

I might think of more stuff..
Others will chime in with great info..

Thanks for taking the time to type this. Very useful and much appreciated from new owners like me.

Don't forget to tape/protect the rear brake line from rubbing on back side of the rear brake reservoir bracket.
You can pop your clutch cable out of the frame clip and loosely zip tie it to your steering bump stop bolt which helps loosen it up some.
I also put a stiffer spring on the rear brake peddle to help give me a little more feedback.
And yes to everything the O.P. said! But I have had zero issues with anything falling off on my bikes to date and zero dnfs.

Oh I thought of another thing. Cut the ridges off the backside of your inner mudguard below the airbox before it starts wearing grooves into your swingarm.

I'll add..Drain the crap stock brake fluid and get motul dot4 if you haven't. I was on some mtn singltrack and almost went over a cliff when fronts failed because I boiled them. Haven't had the problem again in threre years since

Just re-bled the old brakes last night with the Motul. Great stuff. If youve ever boiled up your fluid coming into a turn on a supermoto and the brake lever drops to the grip, you will know what the inside of your goggles feels like against your eyeballs haha

Instead of a KTM tether. Cut a 2 inch wide strip of inner tube. Use two zip ties to secure it to your subframe (put your kickstand up to find the location). Then just slip your kick stand in there prior taking off. That way the kick stand is there if you need it, and no worries about it flopping. 140+ hours on one piece of innertube and it's still holding up fine.

Also, on the kick stand, on a 2012 and newer. Take a hack saw and file to the kick stand bolt to remove the auto-folding "feature" on the kick stand. It's really just on there to get you to buy more clutch levers. With the clutch cover so weak and the shift lever in just the spot to punch a hole through it, I think it's the most important thing you can do as soon as you leave the dealer.

The second thing I would do is change the fork oil. I realize this seemed to be a mixed results thing, but my forks had a very very light break in oil in them. This caused extreme and excessive bottoming, with negligible dampening. Changing that out for Belray 5w made a world of difference, and made the clickers actually do something.

I'm surprised there was no mention of the shift bushing. I've had to do this fix on 2 2011 WR300s, 1 2009 WR250 and 1 2012 WR300. There are several threads, this one shows the problem bolt that causes excess play on the bushing.


Where do you get the delrin spacer for the shock? I'd love to do that on mine.

Was shift bushing also fixed for 2013+ model year?

I believe it was Synergy. I will GTS and get back to you.

Not sure but I though my 13' was popping into neutral but I reajusted my shift leaver which helped but every once in awhile I would still find neutral. My 14' now seems like it's a bit tighter and I've not hit neutral yet on it but don't have many hours either.

I have never had an issue with the trans/shifting.
I did the innertube thing with the kickstand but the zip ties holding it on broke. That will leave me with a flopping kickstand again. I am simply trying to eliminate any reasons for a DNF haha

http://www.shop.synergyseals.com/product.sc?productId=41&categoryId=11

I have 11 hours on mine now. No neutral yet unless I'm searching for it.