Project Totaled

[monkeydude36020]

Heres my 05 450r

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t263/monkeydude3602000/20130629_145004.jpg (http://s162.photobucket.com/user/monkeydude3602000/media/20130629_145004.jpg.html)

And here is why its totaled

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t263/monkeydude3602000/20130907_134510.jpg (http://s162.photobucket.com/user/monkeydude3602000/media/20130907_134510.jpg.html)

It didnt take me long to realize that I have a $2500 quad that needs a $2000 engine.

The only thing so far thats good is the head. I stopped after I got the jug off. Im still weighing my options but unless I stumble upon a low hour 04-05 450 engine (which will never happen) Ill be piecing this one back together. Plan is to get the cases on ebay, buy a complete hotrods crank kit and a hinson clutch and hope the transmission parts are good. I have a trusted mechanic that will build the bottom for me then ill finish the top end with a stock jug/piston, fresh valve job/seals, and maybe a S2 cam. Ive considered big bore kits... just no high compression or stroking. This is a trail quad. Since its going to take forever to aquire all these expensive parts for the engine Ive decided to use my time wisely and completely restore this thing. In the mean time I have an 06 LTR450 to ride but for riding trails, nothing beats a TRX450R! So Im pretty motivated to get this thing going again. Im going to start with the frame. Still trying to figure out my color scheme. Id like to go white on black or black on white. It originally had black plastics. This 450 was raced at one time (probably explaining why the stock bottom end exploded.) So the wiring is cut up on it and needs to be fixed. I already got the headlight working when I got it but I still need a taillight and the neutral light piece that goes on the bars and some various parts like heal guards and a sprocket cover. Ill probably also be getting some aftermarket guards for the underside. (I ride it like a 4x4.) And to top it off a pipe. I had a Dasa pro circuit pipe on my race bike that I recently sold and it sounded beautiful. Ill probably go with the Dasa but Im open to suggestions.

[chronicsmoke]

Ouch.. were you riding it when it grenaded?

[2001400exrida]

Any idea what caused the bottom end to explode. These things are made to be raced and that is not something that will cause a bottom end to blow like that, lack or maintenance or poor motor work can cause this. What will cause it, is throwing a rod to having the crank blowout.

[monkeydude36020]

Unfortunately I cant say exactly what caused it. I wasnt riding it. My roommate was. He came rolling down the road on it with a few of my buddys on thiers and it was dead. When I got down there the kickstarter was locked up and there was a oil slick about 100 feet down the road. He was about half drunk and couldnt ever really explain what happened but Im pretty sure he downshifted and popped the clutch too soon on the pavement. Regardless hes paying for it... every penny, or he can find somewhere else to live. The rod was broke into several peices and jammed into the crank. Im assuming this caused the havoc. The bottom end was quiet before this happened. I know it was properly maintianed and it had never been torn down. I personally knew the last 2 owners and there was only one owner before them. I rode this thing 4 years ago when my buddy bought it and I had my 400EX. This was either the result of many many hours or the drunk driver error. Had I not let him ride it this may never have happened. Then again it may have happened the next time I rode it. Whos to say really?

[2001400exrida]

you can literally run the heck out of these and downshift all you want and it won't cause it to blow like that. I go into corners at full 5th gear and bang down into 3rd while i'm on the brakes and use the motor to downshift, haven't seen this happen yet. These machines can handle a beating on the track. It's hard to have rider error unless you just sit there and hold the throttle wide open in neutral.

Sounds like this machine had some other issues that caused this failure. I'm serious when i say that I have downshifted 2 gears and popped the clutch out before entering corners and have never seen results like this. That motor didn't grenade like that from rider error. HOpefully he does fix it though, he must have been at the wrong place at the wrong time and that motor was just ready to blow. did it have a race piston in it?

[monkeydude36020]

Everything was stock in this engine. So I have been told by the last 2 owners who are friends of mine I am the first person to ever tear it down. And I find it hard to believe the previous owner had any work done to it as it had very low hours when my friend bought it.

[CJM]

Possibly lack of oil....

Buy a whole trans, your better off.

[chronicsmoke]

Possibly lack of oil....

Buy a whole trans, your better off.

Better yet buy a complete bottom end.. lol. He'll end up paying nearly the same for a new crank and piston as he will a used bottom end.

By the time you add everything up (cases, trans, bearings, gaskets, seals ect.) it'll be cheaper if you can find a used one imo..

but if you want to rebuild it, there was a crazy deal on HR cranks one guy posted on 450r.org.. I'll PM you the link if I can find it.

[2001400exrida]

i agree. since both cases need replaced and most likely the inside is shot too you might as well look for an entire bottom end. It's hard telling what else is messed up there, but we know the crank and tranny are probably shot.

[blacknblue#2]

8 Years on a stock crank you cant complain a bit. This has been a upcoming problem for awhile. When was the last time the oil filter was actually examined when it was pulled out. I remember seeing this exact picture several times back around 04/05 These quads had a bearing problem and needed the update to be bullet proof. The bearing allowed play in the crank and in return eventually caused this. Most of the time the problem could be caught in time by examining your oil filter every few hours, This aint something that happens instantly. Ive owned these quads since they hit the showroom floor and know that they will tell you whatever you need to know in the oil filter housing.

[monkeydude36020]

It definitely wasnt as lack of oil. This thing has been well maintained. It did use a bit (maybe a quart every 10 hrs) but I always made sure it was topped off. As for the filter, I had it out about 10-15 hours ago changing staters and it was squeaky clean.

[monkeydude36020]

Better yet buy a complete bottom end.. lol. He'll end up paying nearly the same for a new crank and piston as he will a used bottom end.

By the time you add everything up (cases, trans, bearings, gaskets, seals ect.) it'll be cheaper if you can find a used one imo..

but if you want to rebuild it, there was a crazy deal on HR cranks one guy posted on 450r.org.. I'll PM you the link if I can find it.

Any luck finding that link??? Ive already been looking for bottom ends with no luck at all... Thats why I was planning on trying to save this one.

[2001400exrida]

Any luck finding that link??? Ive already been looking for bottom ends with no luck at all... Thats why I was planning on trying to save this one.

There's nothing to save there. I've seen the 04/05's with crank failure and its usually a lock up or starts screeching. I'm not saying this can't happen either but if did that while properly maintained you got unlucky. I've only heard of this happening a few times.

[blacknblue#2]

It definitely wasnt as lack of oil. This thing has been well maintained. It did use a bit (maybe a quart every 10 hrs) but I always made sure it was topped off. As for the filter, I had it out about 10-15 hours ago changing staters and it was squeaky clean.

A quart every 10 hours???? thats insane for a 450R, they dont even hold a full quart in the motor.. And IMO 15 hour filter checks on an 8 year old motor is insane too. My 09 CRF is on all original parts and i pull the filter every 5 hours just to inspect. Id say the signs were there you just missed them which is normal to anyone that dont have the experience. When you have lost as many cranks as me you learn what to watch for haha. I just hate to see a friendship destroyed over something that didnt happen all at once is all.

[CJM]

It definitely wasnt as lack of oil. This thing has been well maintained. It did use a bit (maybe a quart every 10 hrs) but I always made sure it was topped off. As for the filter, I had it out about 10-15 hours ago changing staters and it was squeaky clean.

They hold barely a quart in these things dude. Unless it was totally full and your sure then it easily was lack of oil. Also if the oil was transferring form side to side b/c the seal was bad it mighta been overfull on one side and no oil on the other.

[monkeydude36020]

Lets clear things up. I'm not an amature at owning or maintaining a atv. It wasn't low on oil. I dont ride my atvs low on oil and it was checked every time before startup. Unless it somehow leaked out enough within about 30mins of riding and it didn't ever leak a drop before this happened so thats very doubtful.. It burned oil but not that fast. You could only see smoke on startup and on high rmp deceleration. It wasn't low on oil folks. Based on what I've been told from 2 local mechanics now I'm pretty certain this is simply a result of 8 hard years of riding and racing. Even hondas dont last forever. Me and the roommate came to a settlement of $500. Considering its going to cost way more than that to fix it and he put about as many hours on it as I have since I bought it, we both agreed that to be pretty fair.

I'm making an attemp to get everything stripped down off the frame this week so look for pics! I'm starting to think yellow frame/black plastic. I wanted to go this route with my old 400ex years ago and never kept it long enough to do it...

[d3ktrix]

I wouldn't blame your buddy.

Like everyone else said, these bikes are known for this. Some people replace the cranks on these bikes just as maintenance before they show any signs of going, myself included.

An engine that old with no bottom end service should be considered a grenade IMO.

[K-Dub]

I just rebuilt my 04 engine last winter after 8 years of hard riding, even filled the engine full of creek water once. Specked all the parts on tear down at a machine shop, everything in that engine was still in spec to the service manual except the valves. The engine started to loose some compression and on tear down, one of the valves was starting to burn. This engine only ever was apart enough to change the valves, oil changes was every 6 rides both sides. It never had the crank update either till the rebuild. These engines had crank bearing failures, from the picture that looks different than a bearing failure, unless the bearing actually came apart. He said the rod was in pieces, sounds like something else failed.

[blacknblue#2]

from my experience 9 times out of 10 the crank bearing failure would lead to this. The bad bearing allouded the crank to "waller" or sag on the roller bearing side which put strain on the connecting rod due to it running at an angle. If this was an instant failure like he is explaining then the oil filter should be clean. If this happened instantly then the oil pump had no chance at all of pumping debris into the filter. I almost bet the filter is full of debris. But we will never know.