ATTN: 450r Owners

[ShiftFMX]

How many of you guys have had motor problems with your quad?? I am about to buy a 450r and all these stories about them "locking up" are pretty scary. What kind of things cause it to happen??

Ive only heard of one, fandland or w/e. but chit happens sooner or later. new or used

[firefighterjosh]

My friend blew his up 4 times in 2 years. I would buy the extended Warranty:devil: Thats what he did. Otherwise the quad was awesome!

[Architects]

Some of the 04/05's have crank bearing issues. I havent had any problems as of yet. *Knock on wood*

[440exnacsracer]

yea, the crank bearings like he said and also one of the starter gears, cant remember which one...maybe starter clutch. that was on early models though, get an 06 or 07 and youll be safe.

[gbcap]

well over 200 hours on my 05 and no problems yet.

i am putting new crank bearings in it this winter either way.

then i have a friend that bought a SLIGHTLY used one...ie no wear on the frame or the side cases...and he lost a crank bearing after 6 hours. so an estimated 20 hours on the quad. so its kinda a game of chance.

[quadwanter]

i havnt had any problems on my '05 and im the 3rd owner....knock on wood also...i just change the oil very frequently probably after every 2-3 rides at about 6 hours a ride and clean the filter after 2 rides of after each one if its real dusty. I think will just regular maintance they wont lockup but what do i kno :scary:

[440exnacsracer]

well, maintanence is a key part in reliability, but i believe most of the cases you will see are just a design flaw. most seem fine, just a select few go bad. another thing some people do is continue to ride them after the bearing starts going out. this ruins the cases resulting in a much higher repair bill.

[MR.BIG]

I have an 04 and haven't had any problems knock on wood. LOL
Keep the oil and air filter clean and do regular maintenance and you should be fine. I finally rebuilt mine after 2years of hard riding and it didn't even need it but I wanted more power.

[ny300exrider]

05 here,bought new in winter of 05, never one problem.

[DieselBoy]

Seen a fair share on the forums, apparently they had crank problems... and in general just too much over revving and abuse from previous owner.....

be careful when buying a 450. chances are its been ridden really, really hard.

Oh, and dont expect to buy a 450 and get alot of trouble free hours out of it -- it's not a reality.

[A A R O N]

When buying a 450, ask as many questions as possible. Try to find out what it's been through without getting lied to. I knew mine was raced, and probably hard, but it supposedly had the motor just freshened up. Based on how it rode when I got there I believed the guy. By saying this, I am, without a doubt, reserving a place for myself in the club of owners with crank issues....and probably sometime soon:p

Put simply, all the 450 motors are designed for performance. Better performance demands better and more frequent maintainence. I change my oil every other ride, or every race and change my filter every 2 oil changes. I also clean and oil my filter whenever I see it's necessary...which is often. The 450s do not do well under the care of somebody who just bought it to cruise around on the trails and never performs any routine checks on it.

However, even though I baby my 450, I can say with 100% certainty that I will have to freshen up the crank and keep an eye on the wrist pin far more than on any other quad. They are high output motors, and are designed that way, requiring rebuilds very often for maximum performance. When neglected for too long, the situation will turn ugly and you will be buying a whole new motor due to case and cylinder head damage.

Just try to find an obviously slightly used one, and make sure the owner knew their stuff, or at least paid the dealer to keep the quad it good running shape.

[DieselBoy]

Originally posted by A A R O N
When buying a 450, ask as many questions as possible. Try to find out what it's been through without getting lied to. I knew mine was raced, and probably hard, but it supposedly had the motor just freshened up. Based on how it rode when I got there I believed the guy. By saying this, I am, without a doubt, reserving a place for myself in the club of owners with crank issues....and probably sometime soon:p

Put simply, all the 450 motors are designed for performance. Better performance demands better and more frequent maintainence. I change my oil every other ride, or every race and change my filter every 2 oil changes. I also clean and oil my filter whenever I see it's necessary...which is often. The 450s do not do well under the care of somebody who just bought it to cruise around on the trails and never performs any routine checks on it.

However, even though I baby my 450, I can say with 100% certainty that I will have to freshen up the crank and keep an eye on the wrist pin far more than on any other quad. They are high output motors, and are designed that way, requiring rebuilds very often for maximum performance. When neglected for too long, the situation will turn ugly and you will be buying a whole new motor due to case and cylinder head damage.

Just try to find an obviously slightly used one, and make sure the owner knew their stuff, or at least paid the dealer to keep the quad it good running shape.

Well said.

[Mean250r]

what happened to the 250r? shift fmx?