fe550 2005 main bearing failure

Re: ridiculous!!

I think it's only a small part of bad luck that comes in to it here, it's not just Husabergs you here these horror stories but other manufactures as well, it's how it's looked after thats the key. I owned a Ducati 748SPS for four years it had 800 miles on the clock when I bought it and 26000 when I sold it and took in three track days plus some hard road miles and it's last journey was from here Alicante to Bradford west Yorks UK in two days 1400 miles never missed a beat unlike my back side did, and this model peaked out at 12000 rpm, and in all that time it had six cambelt changes four sets of plugs and numerous oils changes, never had to adujst the valve clearances once and this is usually a done thing on Ducatis. It was run on Silkolene Pro 4 and never turned a wheel until I sew 60C on the temp gauge, and there has been herendous horror stories about Ducatis. So hearing these tales of woe about the Husaberg wouldn't put me off buying a new go for it.

Sparks.

RE: Re: ridiculous!!

Replacing main bearings after 60 hours of "racing" doesnt sound too bad to me. I would imagine 200-250 hrs of casual riding would be a good number for a routine tear down to freshin her up.
Cheeseberger is busy thrashing some bikes down in Baja right now. It will be interesting to see how he fairs. I just sent him some new sprockets. He wants to be geared for 115-120mph.

RE: Re: ridiculous!!

i put this thread up regarding two mates who race huseys. the first is on the old 501-an '03 but the other is on an '04 FE450e that had the whole of 2005 off. it snapped the crank and i've seen it tonight. right down one edge....it was very, very close to the balancer double row bearing(s). infact you could see where the edge of the balancer bearing had been running vor ages 'BLUE HOT'!!!!

something doesn't stack up as to how it happened. the crank went last i reckon.

i hate tp say it lads but i'm afraid this has got to enter as a 'common fault'. it could be though that we aren't getting to the truth of why it all happens in the first place. it goes in the black book....

regards

Taffy

Taffy,

Any chance of getting a few high quality pictures of the fracture?

Regards,

Joe

joe

missed my chance i guess. tell you what, from now on i take my camera everywhere with me in the car. i know that lineaweaver has some photos and i think the crack went through the oil gallery. you have to find metal fatigue and not to say: "the oil gallery is the weakest point".

could be that some of these bearings are dodgy.

LET ME TELL YOU A STORY!
years ago i roadraced a ducati pantah. one season i fitted a cam that gave more power and i was invited to rev 500 revs higher with a further 500 as an emergency. i used some crap oil from castrol called product 351 which was a mineral oil i believe and meant to be the 'future'.

i had collapsed cranks, rods, cam bearings, gearbox THE LOT!!!! turned out that those extra revs were taking the bearings into an amber area where they couldn't cope. yet well within the manufacturers tolerance. the problem is that an engine can have dirty oil, with detergents and abrasive properties meant for the clutch. also a crank rotating IS NOT a balanced shaft etc.

it's incredibly expensive everytime.

regards

Taffy

So guys what exactly are we trying to say...

aussiehussa, once fixed has it been ok. What was the reason given for the failure. I have always considered husabergs were like women, ever so nice when they are good, beautiful to look at, perform well when looked after, cant do without, but well you know.... sometimes no matter how much you spend at look after these husabergs they may not be happy.

I understand that they have been working to improve the problem and it should not happen in 07, but I have heard stories about other things like this. I also heard that 08 may hold something, but don't know what it is.

I recall some owners on this web last year talked about removing the counter balancer and this took the problem away...have a got it right. I have also heard that the 650 does not have the bearing problem since it is not reved as much. Is this normal bike problems like honda gearbox, and husky valves, and yamaha clutches, and so on......what about this electric start 380 two stroke ktm, does it all mean people are getting sick of four strokes accept those in the states that have the air pollution issue that forces them to not go back to two strokes??? After riding husqvarna and husaberg for many years there is a rumble that it may be safer and quicker to ride 2 strokes. Four strokes are better for trail riding and some competetion, but as the modern four strokes don't like to do the distance you may as well have a 2 stroke and find an xr400 for trail. The two bikes may be less cost than one four stroke after repair bills are taken into account. any comment? It is natural to post the bike failures, can someone post a long term success with the new motor design....???

05 FE650 so far 4000kms trouble free.

I have ran since new 16/45 Gearing and ride alot of open and tight sandy desert.
I mean sandy too :twisted:



Convert Kilometers to Miles
http://www.calculateme.com/Length/Kilometers/ToMiles.htm

1981 miles on mine so far, no problems. Just got back from Jawbone Canyon, hillclimbing, etc. This thing is a climber!

i was planning to buy the 07 model

after much consideration i have decided not to buy another husaberg :cry:

when ktm decides to sort out the issues i will be first in line .

these bikes are awesome to ride and it's a real shame that i don't have the confidence to purchase the product .

Is it really that bad whosahberg......?



As you only posted to this thread like a month ago...

05 FE650E Vs 525EXC
Whosahberg Posted: Oct 06, 2006 - 06:11 PM

my FE650E is 2 years old 200 hours of neck snapping fun

the 650 is the way to go



So what would you be buying instead? KTM 300 ?

yes i posted that and i stand by it 100% MY bike is awesome and so it should be .

looks like i have to spell it out for you , i do not have the confidence to take the chance and buy a new berg . from what i have seen in my dealers w/shop and read on here too many people are having problems which still keep occurring .the company wont address the issues that need to be fixed .why should i pay for their slackness .[ again ]

as for my FE650E , it is rock solid reliable and the reason why is because i have spent an absolute fortune on it , and a good friend of mine is an ex husaberg aust technician , and he has dialled it in to perfection . $$$ constantly spent ,too much money invested to part with it .

as for what i get next that is none of your business .

a good day to you sir .

It is a lot of money an to have the fear of having to fix a fairly common fault is concerning. Ongoing costly maintenace is also required. I ride with some guys on yamaha's - all they do is jump on them and ride. I have had to do oil changes more often, get rollers checked due to metal in oil and worry about stator . When I get back from a ride I have to take my stator cover off and pray it is not too corroded. Add to this $350 for a replacement gearwheel/balancer and you start to think - other bikes - cheaper to buy and cheaper to run and, less maintenance. Now if I was in the top 1% of competition riders then husaberg would be hard to go past.

Whosahberg I am unsure of why you have so much hostility towards me and in no means did I mean any malice to you at all. Sorry for upsetting you I clearly did not know your circumstances and thats why I was asking was it really that bad. I had assumed you had done 8000kms to 10000kms (200 hours) on your Berg trouble free (which was wrong). As for your new bike purchase I was interested in what people may class as a suitable replacement as I myself thought alot about a KTM 300. Again I apologise and am still unaware of what it is exactly that I done wrong.

We got a lot of tension with upset husaberg owners in Australia I think Whosaberg and Faktor both raise the conflict that is in husaberg owner's minds. One is the thrill of riding a husaberg and the other is the cost and reliability issue. The question is whether the extra performance is worth the risk and cost.

My uncle once said a V8 can pass anything except a gas station and that always stuck in my mind for some reason so, to draw some sort of weak comparison - a potentially better/faster bike can't go faster than other bikes if it is in pieces in a workshop a lot of the time !!!

I consider if i can get 8000kms out of my Berg and spend $400 on rocker arms and cam bearings before i need a major rebuild then i will be a happy man as I am riding the lightest fastest fourstroke on the market.

It is a sure smile on your dial machine.

Only time will tell and as I have said to many of my mates my 05 650 will be a good guage on where Husaberg stands with reliablity. I ride alot of kms in a season 3500 to 4000kms, varying terrain from deep open sand to tight deep sand to High Country Mountain woods and climbs.

My last berg 02 FE400e at 3500kms i had to do the rocker arms andcam bearings then another 1000kms later I had to do the 2 intake valves. This did leave a sour taste in my mouth.

That said my 05 650 has been a dream with no issues yet and so far has a better track record than my 02 ever had.

However I havent made it to 8000kms yet on my 05 but hoping all will be well.
I change my oil, oil filters and airfilters regular and more often then my KTM mates.
So I can only hope I am on a winner. Only time will tell.

I do have a question is Australia the only one to experience these failures of main bearings if so why would that be?

faktor

no need for any apologie mate , as i said before the decision i have come to is based on evidence that i have .if someone asks me what berg to buy , i would say the 650 .

that post that you mentioned was from the question '' do i buy a 450' 550'650 ''


i had hoped that the 07 models whould be much improved , as i was going to get one . i have since found out that they are not much improved .so now i will not get one untill things change .

:wink:

just a couple of observations. the first is that australia always used to get the new bikes absolutely first. also that pound for pound australia was effectively outselling the rest of the world. as i understood it, about three years ago it 700 to australia, 700 europe, 500 uk and 500 north america. given the spread of australia i'd say it was doing well. they did that fantastic offer a couple of years ago when you were given free akropovic and other stuff.

sales have gone backwards slightly despite the bikes having no 'common faults'. that doesn't mean that they don't have problems though that could be anything from the tip to the tail.....

we have about 6 active aussie members yet 500 bikes per year are sold there so that tells you.... here in east anglia, only three of us ride bergs and they are all in bits on three benches with two broken and one knackered engine.

i wonder just how many swingarms snapped that we don't hear about?

mid west a bike shop in the uk are telling my mate to go ball race mains and no need to shim the crank whilst if he wants to go roller mains again he'll have to shim the crank. funny? it should be checked either way....?

regards

Taffy

whow!!!!

We all like the bergs and are owners that is why we are all on the web site, but I think some real concerns have been flagged here, although as pointed out where are all the other 500 or so owners.

It used to be with the old engines the 400 was sold and never seen again as it never had problems. I have heard recently- and it confirms what is said above- the 650 is the reliable one with the new engine since 05. I think that points to the revs being the problem ot the bearing and valves not the load? I have heard that 08 has something for this problem but I have ridden bergs since 92 and have heard that sort of thing about the sprag starter clutch every year. Although I never had problems with it I heard all the stories.

I hope to see the results of berg finishes next week at the isde, and if I get a chance talk to Rolan, or at least have a good look at the factory bikes that may have a hint of next year.

I would like to get an 07 berg, I have had the big motor before, but wanted to get fired up serious this coming year and go the 450. My experience with bergs has been to ride and ride and change oil and filter regularly without a problem, but I ride with momentum not high revs whether this means I can have trouble free on the new 07 model pehaps it does.

I did speak to one dealer who refused to sell the 04s, sold the 05s and said everyone came back with some sort of problem, and then gave it away to someone else.

Will I buy another berg. Of course I will unless it becomes absolutely clear that would be foolish (although from some of those posts above it is getting close, very close). Why will I buy one....well because I think the handling and balance when set up is good and they have saved me from serious crashes were others have crashed on other bikes going through the same stuff. I think I have got through creeks and through stuff beyond my ability and I have confidence with the berg. The only thing that may tempt me away and I think the trend is starting to grow is back to a two stroke....ktm. American "dirt bike magazine" comparing the suzuki two and four strokes I thought was interesting. I also rode a ktm two stroke that was useless for trail riding, but reminded me of my motocross speed when I hit the enduro track.

Will I buy another husaberg,yes, I still am not convinced they are time bombs. Will I want to do maintenance more than change the oil and filter and check the rockers....at any time under 10,000km enduro use (not cross country, not super motos)....no. If I had a bearing problem would I ever buy another berg....no.

If I had bearing problems under 6,000km would I admit being an ***** for buying one...yes.

I would like to hear some more good stories around the $10,000 km no problems mark before I shall out any money...yes?

I desparately want to hear some good stories before I get order the 07!!!!!!!