2008 Husaberg FE550 engine noise

Hey guys, having a little trouble getting much feedback around my friend group with the 'Berg and figured I'd try the forum.


Just finished putting the bike back together after I broke the first gear pin off the shift drum. I've followed the repair manual closely to repair but I am still getting some sort of noise coming from the engine (maybe from the valvetrain?)

The noise/symptoms can be heard here:

I will note a few things:

-I wasn't entirely confident setting the tension on the timing chain per the instructions in the book (says push to slight resistance then one more click)... how much is "slight resistance?"

-I did find the #1 shift drum pin floating around at the bottom of the side cover, it looked as though it got chewed up a little bit.

-I don't see anything visibly wrong with any of the gears in the side cover, nor is there any apparent damage to the valves.

-IIRC the bike DID make this noise after it had lost 1st gear and before I started the repair. I shut the bike down the instant it started to make this noise and walked a good couple miles haha...

-bike is relatively low mileage

-spark plug looks fowled right now (although that kinda makes sense)


I just got done checking the valve clearance and I took the valve cover back off for another inspection. The valves appear to be properly adjusted and I've removed the cam tensioner for another inspection which looks good to me personally. Moves back and forth and the gears look fine and lock in nicely. I did install the tensioner with a vert soft push on the toothed rod against the chain guide, and then put the spring in to press on the toothed rod. Didn't hear any additional clicking at this point from the spring pressure.


I would really appreciate it if someone could give me an idea of what they would look into more thoroughly. Perhaps I'm overlooking something simple that could have been damaged by the broken shift drum pin causing the noise in the first place.

Thank you.

Husabutt and Taffy, Thank you for the recommendations. I have ordered a stethoscope (might be a couple days) as I think you are both correct that I need to better locate where the sound is coming from. In the meantime I will try taking the oval-shaped adjustment covers off the top of the valve cover and try running the bike like you suggested. Although the bike does have a hard time running as well.

Husaberg 644, You're speaking of the drum-shaped individual pins inside the timing chain, correct? So I would likely need to pull back off the timing chain and inspect the individual links for cracks or wear?

Ok I've had a bit of time to mess with the 'berg again.

I double checked the kick-start mechanism and actually reset it following the video above although this does not seem to be causing the issue.

Using the new stethoscope, Noise sounds like it's coming from the back portion of the engine rather than the head, crank, and timing-related stuff.

The first gear shift pin on the shift drum was broken off and had been sheared (pressed?) in half length-wise like it was pressed between two gears.. It for certain was caught in something. I've looked over all the gears on the clutch side of the engine and can't seem to find anything that looks damaged. I found the damaged pin under the clutch cover originally. Furthermore, the bike had been put down hard at a high rate of speed.

Any input is appreciated.

https://imgur.com/a/23y0EKn

I've attached a link to an album full of case photos with a couple notes (hopefully it works?)

Taffy, thank you for that recommendation. I'm actually seeing visible scratching around that area as seen in the photograph. Although I don't recall visibly seeing any damage to the needle bearings you speak of I'm going to likely replace when I go to put the bike back together.

I did find a small bit of wear on the primary pinion gear. I dont know if the small deformation of the gear seen in the photo would cause any sort of noise like this? I've been told I should replace the gear, but have been having a very hard time sourcing one. The part number is 80032000029. I've done a fair bit of looking online and it appears to be no longer sold. Have also spoken with a someone about the issue.

If anyone has a spare 29 tooth primary gear I would be willing to paypal you to ship it to Maine.

Any further advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.