Is it normal

[daddio]

to find pieces of aluminum in lower section of motor and in oil pump pick-up in an '05 TRX450r?

All the bearings look good, crank and seals are good, rod bearing is good, and nothing in the cases seem to be damaged, but yet there is a lot of small chunks of aluminum in the lower cavity of the motor. Could this be left over gunk from intial assy?

[mattonln]

i have heard this is usually a sign that your crank is going to go soon. Supposedly there is an aluminum keeper washer on the end of the crank somewhere and when it sheers (and leaves aluminum all over the place), this allows play in the crank and the bearings will go. This is exactly what happened to my motor a couple months ago. I changed the oil and noticed aluminum shavings in the oil and the very next ride the crank went.

[WilRideAnything]

If the cases are split, look at the right side case. The right bearing goes bad and the crank moves over to the right and shaves down the right side case.

[JessetheKid]

I had a couple pieces of aluminum down by my pickup, a little smaller than the size of a dime!!! what looks to have happend the previous owner had skipped time, or bound up the timing chain, bent the timing chain guide and when it bound it broke off a small portion of one of the webs on the case. Luckily it was aluminum or the stator would have picked it up and caused mass problems. But it seems to be fine now after i removed it.

[daddio]

Thanks for the replies........

They don't really look like "shavings" that are caused when steel rubs against aluminum.
They are more like small, cube shaped chunks. A magnet will not stick to them.

[daddio]

It's now completly torn down. The rod feels normal and a .015 feeler is the largest I can get between the rod and crank. The crank bearings look good and tight. The cases have not been rubbed by the crank.
The cam chain doesn't seem to be rubbing on anything. Nothing is broken.
It also looks like this is the first time the motor has been torn down.
I'm stumped. It's almost like the shavings were there from the factory assy.