Yamaberg

Hi team!

New member here- I picked up a non-running '08 FE550 with 220hrs on her. She's running mostly great now and I'm excited meet more of you.

I just setup some SUMO wheels and plan to use her 75% for hooliganisms and 25% on dirt when my primary bike is being used as a buddy bike.

Thanks for having me

Yamaberg

Figured I should clarify what I meant by "mostly great". She's got a notable tick that has me worried.

Here's a brief video of the engine sound.

Any thoughts, wisdom, or knowledge is greatly appreciated from you experts. Obviously YouTube debugging is challenging, but I'm keen to prevent a casualty

(FWIW I attempted to post this as a new thread in Mechanical and it did not allow me to post. Cheers!)

Taffy

Note sure what that is? If I guesssed I'd say starter gears chattering. you could remove them and then kickstart it as a test?

check that you have cam chain adjustment left by removing the spring preload first and then carefully remove the unit to measure the clicks left.

check the primary gear nut is VERY tight. 80LB plus.

Taffy

Yamaberg

Hey Taffy- thanks for giving that a listen!

I'm in 12 clicks (of 14) on the CCT- I didn't see any signs of contact on the guide or walls when I was in the top. Timing looked spot on across the timing marks on the cam chain gear with the flywheel tab at the 9 o' clock position. Hard to tell much about chain stretch on SOHC engines though... on DOHC I've seen retarded timing at the exhaust cam with a stretched chain.

Primary Gear Nut I just put up to 100LB. Felt crazy high

I'll investigate the starter gears - I hadn't thought of that one!

Taffy

yeh the needle bearings just get so loose in the end and because they are in blind holes, nobody wants to repalace them but if you do, you need to buy the alloy bushes they sit in and in order to get the old ones out, you drill the shit out of the alloy bushes so that the blind bearings fall out. 3 needle bearings therefore need 3 alloy bushes. you get the picture.

Taffy

twistgrip09

Hello fellow hamster! Excellent purchase on the 550 you won't regret it! I have three Bergs and always looking for somebody ride with. Heading to Saxon this weekend Saturday 10:00 if you'd like to join give a jingle my name is Dan 360-410-0545

Yamaberg

Whelp- ruled out the starter gears (as Taffy suggested). Engine makes the same sound with the starter gears removed

Heres a video of the sound w/o the starter gears.

I had to rip open the clutch side cover twice, first time to do the job of removing the gears and a second time to get the kicker spinning freely (It slid out a mm on re-assembly and locked up the pawl/ sledge.) I also had to open the valve cover because I foolishly removed the cam-chain tensioner and the cam chain slipped a tooth when I removed the clutch basket and gears advanced. It's a slight PITA you have to drain coolant and remove exhaust to get that side cover off

Anyone else got ideas on the sound? Trying to prevent a casualty and everything looked good when I was in there. Bike runs great but has an awful sound. No shavings in the oil but a very distinct metal clack-clack when running. Cheers!

rikschipp

Sounds like clutch rattle to me- pretty normal- does it sound any better with the clutch pulled in?

Yamaberg

Thanks for giving that a listen! Unfortunately it doesn't sound any different with the clutch pulled in or out.

BUT- I pulled her apart again this evening to throw the starter gears BACK IN and started her up with the magic button. Amazingly- the knock was gone! I warmed up the bike and went to take a test spin but my clutch lever was fully stuck, no play. I ripped open the clutch cover and found the first friction plate/steel plate were misaligned so the clutch sleeves were not fully seated. This is why the clutch pressure cap was stuck. I quickly fixed my mistake and re-assembled but unfortunately the bike is back to knocking and I'm out of ideas.

I think you're on to something with clutch rattle but my friction plates and springs are in spec, I just rebuilt my clutch master, and I torqued the primary clutch nut to 120ft/lb. What am I missing?

rikschipp

So did you torque the primary gear nut on the crank, too, like Taffy said? They were a real problem on KTMs of the era, caused guys to rebuild motors for no reason!
Also the clutch basket could be worn- normally that is what makes the noise but it gets better when you pull the clutch, but if it's bad, i.e. clearance between the basket fingers and the projections on the friction plates is more than 1 mm- sorry- 1/16" in American- and looks "saw toothed" along the basket fingers- it will make a noise, more so at idle, which is of no consequence. Does the noise seem better when you raise the revs a bit?