Kawasaki KRX and KRX4 Starter Replacement Upgrade Kit

These starters are known to go bad on the KRX like most of the cheaper components these manufacturers opt for. We hear from customers about solenoid or starter issues but the OEM replacement is at least $1,000 plus labor. So we heard of a great alternative option from our friend Doug. He found a different starter for a Honda motor that was a little shorter so it needed an adapter. He developed an adapter plate and installed the new starter and began running all sorts of tests to see if he could find any issues. He found no issues with this new starter set up and began telling everyone about the change. He's sold a bunch of these adapters around the country to people having the same success as him. We were very impressed with the solution and asked to try it out. We now sell his adapter kit all together with the Starter, Adapter Plate, new attachment hardware, and installation instructions.

Here's a little back story from Doug himself:

"In late February of 2025 my KRX started struggling to start when it hot out on the trails. By early march it struggled to start with a fully charged battery. I noticed a severe voltage drop from 12.6V to around 8V when trying to start the machine. I could jumper a extra batter and charger in line and it would start. I researched forums and blogs and others were talking about the same issue. Few days later, I pulled the starter and notice it was very very hard to turn by hand, took the starter apart and found ALL the magnets were loose and broken from the housing and stuck to the armature. Thought, OK .. Bad starter, no biggie … little did I know then that a new OEM starter was $900 minimum from Kawasaki. No bolt up aftermarket starters available. There was just no way I could justify in my mind paying 1/5th of what I paid for my entire machine for one part (that is likely to fail again) if Kawasaki outsourced starter my Mitsuba had not resolved their issue of what I believe to be inferior or contaminated bonding agents used to hold (glue) the magnets to the starter housing. There are just too many of these starters failing to be normal. 

So the research began, I read many posts of other riders in the same situation and few were saying a Honda African Twin starter would work, with many others following up saying it would NOT bolt up and Don’t buy the Honda starter it was NOT an exact replacement …. Someone mentioned with an adapter it might work. My frugal light bulb came on. I ordered a used Honda starter from ebay for $50 and broke out my digital caliper, consulted with a journeyman machinist that is a great friend and we started in on a solution. I wanted an adapter that was easy to piece mill together, turned out that a ½ inch aluminum bar stock with a aluminum rising spacer would do the trick, drilled 4 holes, tapped 2 of them to mount the Honda starter to the adapter and installed in on my machine. It worked amazingly well and I was back on the trail. The Honda starter seemed to work as good if not better that my starter ever did. No voltage drop when starting with the Honda starter which indicates no excessive strain or struggle on the slight shorter Honda starters. The only modification to the Honda starter was I cut a slot in the plastic terminal shroud to allow the 12V starter supply wire to install from the 12 o’clock position instead of the 4 o’clock position from the manufacturer (2 minutes with a Dremel). Realizing that I am not the only one out there that was in this situation, I decided to help others out and make some extra for KRX fun money. I am really only trying to reach those that don’t have the time or skill to create the adapter. I know there are a few others who have done the same and just did a one off for their ride. But $900 dollars for a OEM starter just isn’t fair, especially to those that don’t have the skillset to pull something like this together."