crank life?

[jas250r]

I just came back from the silver lake sand dunes in MI. And while i was there i switched quads with a friend, and 10 min the sob is locked up. So i pulled the head off of it andthe plug electrode was bent and there was melted copperish colored metal bead pieces on the top of the piston. kicked it over enough to see the cylinder walls and they apeared not be scratched at all, so i imagine that the copper is probably from the rod bearing. It was a hot rod crank shaft about 2 1/2 years old, I did a leak down test when i went back to the stock cylinder earlier this year. before that it was a 300 resleeve that i dusted a piston or two. Was this hot rod crank a bad idea and i should have bought a plain wesico, Or what do you think? a friend has a used 87 crank that is in good shape, but i don't want a repeat, but i want to ride a few more times before winter :mad:


Almost mad enough to buy a four smoke

[machwon]

I have seen much better reliability from the OEM cranks. Rarely do they have rod issues. My personall preference is the OEM crank, they're only about $40 dollars more new. Also beware of used cranks as these old cranks tend to have worn main bearing journals. Replace the main bearings while you;re at it too.

[jas250r]

do you mean 40 dollars for main bearings? I always set complete cranks new for 220 or more? yeah i will probably put new main bearings in it, not to sure if i will use the used crank, a local guy ( iron dog) will rebuild the crank for i think 75 plus parts and of course gurantees his work, but a friend with a lot more experience with 250r's says just put new in it

[deathman53]

I had a hot rod crank in my 85 motor(88 legnth) and in two years wells, its toast, you can move the rod a good bit. I'll never buy another. the tranny was the end of the motor, but the rod would have been easily if the tranny didn't go. I bought 3 oem cranks recently, rebuilt my 85 motor, next is for a 86 motor my friend sold me(in peices), and the third, when I build another motor(I have to buy a tranny and left case)

[Rich250RRacer]

I had a Hot Rods rod kit and only got about a year out of it. The lower bearing cage started to come apart and made a little bit of a mess. From that point on it has been only OEM Honda cranks.

[jas250r]

so i guess i'am not alone, i never ran it with mix ratio leaner than 40 to 1 with klotz r50 and i ran golden spectro before this for a couple months but always seemed to foul pugs real easy, i was thinking it could be from the oil but maybe not:mad:

[hontrx265r]

I ride silverlake check your filter? see if you sucked in any sand. If that didn't help its shortened life, your bike was probably a little leaner then usual it is like that up there by the water. And if that didn't do it my next guess is HEAT bikes run hot in the sand, especially if your drag racing which is about the most exciting thing at silverlake. Other then that it could have been a fluke but, I've never had bad luck with hot rods, rods or full crank sets. They last awhile if you run good oil and clean your filter.