TOPIC:

Something I am truly confused about....

The crank case is 1981. The gears are 1980. According to Partzilla, all compatible.

The bearing is all the way in the housing, and all the way into the crank case. There will be a paper gasket going in between, but the gap is way wider than that and there is no way to tighten the bolts. As far as I know there are no spacers going in there.

Can anyone tell me what is going on?

A. The original gasket, I believe, is thick cork. There are NOS ones available on eBay, or you could cut one from cork.

B. A shim from the Diff may (MAY) fit in there if needed. They come in different sizes, one is 92025-1027

Weird. But I can think of several explanations. Unfortunately my own 1980 crankcase is in one piece again so I can't measure it. It is possible Kawasakis bearing supplyer in 1981 altered this particular bearing to a narrower outer race , or Kawasaki went over to a new bearing manufacturer, which only made the narrow bearing . Then Kawasaki simply machined 1/16" or so from the crankcases to make it fit.
But maybe it's more likely that the bearing is not the original one.
I think I would make up a shim from either steel plate or aluminium. A thick cork gasket will not do in my opinion, it is too soft, so the bearing cap will possibly be distorted when the bolts are torqued

Yes, the gaskets are readily available. I'll see if local Kawasaki dealership will have them, or I'll buy a piece of cork and make one. This one is very easy.

I agree Vilhelm, and that has been my concern. Cork is soft so it would leave the whole thing 'floating', and hard to control applying evenly the torque?

All gears came as a set from a bike, so I am sure the bearing is original.The gears engage fine so the shims are correct. But who knows, maybe that's how they designed it? Stranger things happen..