Creating the thread to share my experience with a complete seal kit I bought to rebuild my EXC125 2004. First of all the shape of the gaskets is not very precise, needing to recut some of the gaskets for them to fit or not interfere with some parts. Of that was the only issue that wouldn't be too bad but turns out the gaskets don't seal whatsoever. I had to tighten my clutch cover to extreme torque values, yet I still have a leak. Both surfaces are fine and never leaked before the rebuild. I started the bike 3 days ago which took a few kicks, went around to block and parked it. Today I found some seeping again and when I went to check the bolts they weren't as tight so I imagine that the first quick heat cycle soften the gasket material allowing me to tighten it again. I also noticed that the oil seeping was gray rather than gold colored like before, I did a quick oil change despite it having a total of 5min max and it seems that there is water in the oil. After than I went to start the bike, to no avail. Brake cleaner allows it to run 1 or 2 seconds and it dies. After trying everything I decided to remove the carb and check my reeds (brand news) and found some coolant drops splattered all over the reed cage. My theory right now is that my brand new bottom end is flooded due to the poor quality of the gasket in ProX rebuild kit. Most likely I will need to split the cases again and change my bearings again as they have been soaking. The lesson from is to always buy KTM seal kit, yes they are more expensive but most likely I would be in the situation right now.
Nowadays, Pro-x can be hit or miss in terms of quality. I look for the country of origin on the box. If it says made in Japan, you have a good product. Anything other than Japan may make you have a bad day. I just rebuilt my son's KTM supermini motor and used some Pro-x parts that I already knew were Japanese. In fact the crank bearing and seal kit were the exact brand and part number of the removed OEM. I Bought a Pro-x piston for his 85 once and it was made in Tiawian so I sent it back for a Vertex.
Sorry about your bad luck.
They’re getting closer to All Balls quality slowly. Used to be such an awesome company for the $$.
Never had an issue with Cometic. I’ve had plenty with Tusk and other aftermarket brands.
Have always prefered O.E.M.
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If possible, absolutely.
ProX had always source the OEM part or equivalent from another high end brand. The old pistons were ART who usually made the OEM pistons. It is my understanding that they were bought by the same company that own Wiseco and All Balls. Now the piston that I mjost recently bought was unbranded and not the same as the ART. Sadly, it seems that the conglomerate has started to chase pennies at the expense of the brand.
Ok so It's not just me it seems. Too bad I already throw away the packaging of the gasket kit it would have been interesting to see where it is manufactured. I avoid All Balls like the plague and picked ProX thinking that Japanese is somewhat better than Italian (could have bought Athena kit also, aside from OEM).
Before splitting my cases again I tried to change the cylinder base gasket with one from Athena I still had from a previous rebuild. So far it seems ok, hopefully the bike will still start in a few days. If it still gives me the same issues I will know that the problem comes from my bottom end ... As for the clutch cover gasket it keeps leaking and I don't want to tighten it more, I am already way above the torque specs so I will need to get some OEM gasket replacement for that one.
https://www.allballsracinggroup.com/ All Balls Racing Group Owns/Distributes All Balls, Hot Rods, Vertex, Hotcams, Pivot works, and SuperSprox.
https://www.racewinningbrands.com/about-us/ Race Winning Brands owns/distributes ProX, Wiseco, JE, and a list of car-oriented parts. ProX was previously under Dover and was obtained by RWB in 2017.
Thanks for the info. I knew that they were purchased but not the exact details. That being said, I feel like they aren't as solid as they were before.
Yeah, I didn't really pay attention to the timeline and how it might have affected the parts they source. Not sure if RWB caused their decline or if it is just a natural consequence of the times. I still use their Made in Japan conrods and main bearing kits but I have not really used their gaskets.
"Sadly, it seems that the conglomerate has started to chase pennies at the expense of the brand."
As they always do, unfortunately. I strongly dislike the practice of brands we all know and have grown to trust being bought up and whored out by moving the manufacturing to China.
All for the big conglomerate to wipe their hands of all the issues that result from cheaping out on quality, to then declare a form of bankruptcy years later, running all of those revived brands into the ground (yet again), leaving the next poor saps to pick up the pieces and rebuild the brand only for it to happen again. Rinse and repeat...
For what it's worth, I did just buy OEM Honda linkage seals, and 6 of the 8 are made in China rather than Japan. Not sure if that's always been a thing.
I used one of the gasket kits and it seemed fine. I did not have new OEM to compare it to but they didn't seem cheap like some of the Ebay stuff. The piston that I bought was visually different. In the end, it is still working. I wish that I would have weighed the two beforehand but I didn't. It's just a bummer that you can't count on them like I use to.
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