'01 501 cam suitable replacement

This bike followed me home a few weeks ago. The engine was partially disassembled and there's no way of knowing why. Bit of a sad story, too, as the original owner lost his life in a vehicle accident in 2011.



The bike was given to a friend of the deceased as he hoped to get it fixed and back on the road. One thing led to another and I was asked to take a look at it. Fastway pegs, under-seat aux tank, H-line skid plate, brand new Metzler Karoo's front and rear, ICO odometer, Pro Moto Billet spark arrester end cap, nearly new plastic and, best of all, a legitimate California license plate!!! So, I bought it for a REALLY good price.

Got it home and took inventory of the parts in the bin that came with the bike. I started to find some new parts - cam chain, cam bearings, auto decomp spring and lever, and other various odds and ends. I inspected the cam, which has a steel sprocket mounted, and one lobe shows a smidgen more wear than the other. I inspected the cam follower bearings and one, likely the one responsible for the lobe wear, is significantly worn.

I want to get this engine running reliably but I understand that the stock cam is hard on the cam follower bearings. There is a chance that this is not the original cam given the material of the sprocket. Evidence that someone's been into this engine before. How do I identify the cam and if it is the original. If it's not, there is a 2005 FE450 cam for sale on ebay and I seem to recall something about the '04-and-up bikes getting different cams. Would this '05 FE450 cam be one of the ones that is easier on the CFB's?

I had originally looked at this bike as just a parts bike but, one I saw how pristine and complete it is, I decided to honor the memory of the original owner by returning it to better than new. Hoping the Husaberg faithful can help.

Thanks Ede. Great info. If it wasn't so smoky here in California, I would have dropped by my storage to grab the bin of parts and examine the cam.

Good point, Bushie. In my research, I've looked at 3 options for valvetrain longevity:
1. Stick with the stock rockers.
Plus - the factory oil supply to the head may help extend the life of the parts if using a mellower cam and dual valve springs.
Plus - Presumably this is the configuration I've already got in this engine (although there is evidence that someone's been into the head before swapping out parts).
Plus - it's usually the exhaust side that goes first because the auto decomp causes impacting to the bearing needles. Well, I'm not going to use the auto decomp as I have no troubles kick starting these things.
Minus - Smaller follower bearing needles.

2. Upgrade to '04 and up or RFS rockers.
Plus - bigger CFB needles.
Plus - due to the popularity of the RFS engines, likely still available.
Minus - no oil supply to the rockers. Maybe this isn't a big deal? I just like the idea despite my affinity for the older engines sans oil pump. With those bikes, I avoid attempting anything longer than a weekend of casual riding and I certainly don't contemplate anything like commuting.

3. '03 rockers. This would be the holy grail.
Plus - bigger CFB needles.
Plus - incorporates pressurized oil supply.
Minus - not available (unless someone has a set laying around that I can purchase).

Basically, I don't want to worry about this engine like I do with my others and if there is a way to obtain an optimum setup, I'll shoot for that.

Does anyone know a way to tell if the rockers in this engine have been updated short of pressing the CFB pins out and measuring them?



I'm suspecting that the previous owner was savvy enough to have performed the upgrade given the other high-end parts that are on the bike.

Planning to take the rockers to work and press them apart to know for sure as I'm definitely going to order new bearings. One of them is VERY loose.

Ok, I pressed the CFB pins out in the hopes that measuring them would make it clear which ones I need to purchase - bearings with 7.6mm pins or bearings with 7.8mm pins. I'm still confused! The pins measure between 7.671mm and 7.715mm where they interface with the arms. So...about 7.7mm. A quick measurement of the pin exhibiting less wear right where the bearing needles ride shows 7.620mm. The worn one measures about the same if not measuring the worn area. It shrinks to about 7.417mm if measuring the wear (in case anyone is interested).

Any help here? Is a 7.7mm (.303") pin a suitable press fit into a 7.6mm (.299") hole. I'm not accustomed to engineering press fits in metric units but a .004" press fit sounds about right for this size.

Does this mean that I have '03 rockers (since they appear to have oil supply holes)?

Well, it appears that the issue of the rockers has sorted its self out. I paid a visit to my friendly local Husaberg parts supplier, who just happens to be Dan of Motoxotica. Dan just happened to have a set of the '03 rocker assemblies on the shelf! They are now mine even though they cost me more than the bike did (which wasn't very much at all).

So, next on the list of parts to purchase is a dual valve spring kit.

However, I still wonder if a swap to a milder cam will result in further improvements to the reliability of the valvetrain.