Husaberg main bearing rumour!

so whos leading sm1 fiorentino or winstanly??

The main bearing issue has been floating around since 01. In 03 they went from a ball type to a heavier roller type. I believe Dales theory that the problem lies more in case bore alignment then a bearing issue.
I cant recall anyone recently loosing main bearings on the site here. I also believe it is more of a SM issue. My opinion is that dirt bikes in general were never designed to be ridden SM. The chassis and engines will not hold up to the rigors of SM. They never meant for all that horsepower to be hooked up on a consistant basis.
Just my opinion and of course as always....I could be wrong.

I have purchased several 650 Husaberg motors from DCR for development (which is now almost done, more on it from me soon)

I spoke at length with DCR about main bearings, he does indeed replace the roller bearings with ball races. For standard use he uses normal ball races which have 8 balls at that size, he can also get (so can JBSracing) 9 ball and 13 ball high complement bearings. He said to me that they replace the mains because they get variations of as much as 0.5mm in end float on the crank, and that this causes the lip on the inner race that prevents the roller bearing sliding sideways, to break off. This introduces bearing hard steel into the engine which is bad! That is what I was told not my personal opinion, it may well be perfectly correct.

What I think is that 0.5mm end float variation is enormous and I can't see any machined part having that kind of variation.

Do Husaberg cranks have that much variation?? I have only see/stripped 3 OEM cranks and they were all the same to with in less than 0.05mm assembled, and the components are exactly the same size stripped??

I can see how the lip on the roller could fail if it took high axial thrust but I can only see that happening if the crank were to flex a lot. DCR also said that this (flex) happened on ’03 & ’04 cranks hence the change in stroke and especially design of the ’05 crank. Also sustained high SM RPM would tend to fatigue the lip if contact was occurring. Incidentally 10,000 RPM is approaching the recommended RPM limit in oil for 62 x 30 x 16 rollers but is about a third the RPM limit of balls.

Additionally every engine that I have received from DCR has had the mains and some of the gear box bearings packed with grease!! This is bad, when you start the engine for the first time it will slowly warm, the grease melts runs into the oil ways and solidifies out at any restrictions, like oil metering jets and the gun drilling from the case all the way up to the head.

As a side issue – how do you find the split barrel and case design of the current Husaberg?? I have experience of a lot of engines and I personally find the Husaberg a pain to work on. The more I have worked on my current Husaberg Bore/Stroke project the more I have found it a pain having to split the cases and press the crank out of the mains every time I want to look at the piston?? What think yea?

Ben - JBSracing

KTM/Berg do offer shims to correct the crankshaft end play, was this not a viable alternative? A side benefit of the roller bearings is that you don't have to press the crank out of the cases.

Also, KTM's started using the roller bearings before the Berg's and they are not having the same failures, though they also don't have a 650 model.

I had an 05 450 and after only 10 hrs the motor went noisey, dcr stripped the engine and replaced the mains with modified bearings.It made a big difference to the way the engine revved it was as if it gained more horsepower it was like running a non o ring chain.He explained that they replace the bearings from roller to ball and fit a shim in to take out end float,ran lovely after.

Ghost of failures past:

Ghost of failures past:
Topic

Use the "Search" feature for more information:
http://www.husaberg.org/modules.php?nam ... ile=search

Sincerely,
Dale

KTM/Berg do offer shims to correct the crankshaft end play, was this not a viable alternative? A side benefit of the roller bearings is that you don't have to press the crank out of the cases.

Also, KTM's started using the roller bearings before the Berg's and they are not having the same failures, though they also don't have a 650 model

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Yes, but KTM had the 610 crate engine for sale. But this was only for about a year or so. You were given a book with them in which it stated that the main bearing had to be replaced after 5 or 10 hrs. Now KTM stopped supplying these engines as it was giving some problems.

I bought my 04 off clarkey new and heard about the end float probs before I bought it...as a matter of course he did the mod prior to me collecting the bike. It does actually feel as if the motor spins easier and faster as a result. My understanding was that it affected the 550 and 650 more than any other and mainly when the bike was ticking over or at very low revs.
Yes it does still affect the 05 but the mod is done F.O.C for any owner that requests it

FWIW...My bike developed an alarming noise from the clutch case after the recent 3 sisters round. I took it to dave and they confirmed it sounded like the crank end nut had come loose.
I said I would take it home and do it myself but they insisted they would do it the next day...so I left it.
The following day, Alex rang me to tell me all was not well....a metal tab near the kickstart gear had snapped off and worked its way around my clutch casing, damaging various bits on route. They fixed all of this the same day and when I went to collect I was expecting a rather large bill.......When I asked how much..Dave said, no worries its warranty.
Although a road legal bike, it has been raced since day one and Dave knows this, so to get work done like that under warranty is fantastic and has certainly convinced me to pledge my further allegiance to Husaberg. There is absolutely no way this would have happened with any other make. DCR deserve full marks for customer service for this. There are plenty on here willing to slate him at the first oppotunity so I think its only fair events like this are portrayed equally.
Top marks Dave and Co, cheers
Pat

look for christ's sake got off peoples cases will ya gix! nobody is slating DCR at the first opportunity, or the second, or even the third!

i can't speak for any of those that used to come here and moan so i'll speak for myself. i reported what i found and stuck to the facts.

if you simply say what DCR did for you, nobody is going to challenge that or disbelieve you. let the facts speak for themselves-you were doing so well up to the last sentance. infact you just make it hard for some of us to put it behind us because you deny what i and others had happen and know of.

but if you insist on pointing the finger at US you'll get it back. DCR gets lots of good publicity here and he is doing a lot of good stuff so just let it speak for itself next time.

if i sit here sticking it too him when he's doing all this good work I'M going to look silly so it stands to reason that if he continues his good ways that people will put the bad days behind them-whinging when someone is clearly doing a good job would be very foolish. for me? i've owned this bike 40 months and i have a long memory. that'll do me.

now i suppose somewhere in the middle of this post you'll say i've had a pop at him again!

Taffy

kinell man...do you need oxygen to get on that high horse of yours?
Get a grip, who the hell mentioned you? I certainly didn't, nor did you even enter my head as I wrote it. Reality check time..contrary to your beliefs, you are not the only person on this forum

are you blokes saying dave clark takes a motor out of the chassis,strips it down to the crank, replaces the main bearings, puts her back together ,reinstalls the motor in the chassis, and then sells it.this is what he is doing on every bike he sells?what about the bikes sold to other dealers?i dont think you can make enough money on the sale of a motorcycle to do that.i sure could not.dan.

Slating ?

Taffy said:

nobody is slating DCR at the first opportunity

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Hi, sorry to interrupt your pissing match, but could someone please define "slating" for me ? Is it like "throwing under the bus" ?

Thx

Brett Saunders

p.s. - Taffy, contrary to what others believe, you ARE the only person in this forum.

Motoxotica said:

are you blokes saying dave clark takes a motor out of the chassis,strips it down to the crank, replaces the main bearings, puts her back together ,reinstalls the motor in the chassis, and then sells it.this is what he is doing on every bike he sells?what about the bikes sold to other dealers?i dont think you can make enough money on the sale of a motorcycle to do that.i sure could not.dan.

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If it is asked for then yes, if not no, although a lot of the bikes end up coming back to their respective dealers to have it done, either because owners have heard about it or the engine has started to make noises or failed.
From what I can gather its a husaberg warranty issue so surely costs are passed on? You tell me as I do not know or pretend to know how an importer deals with the factory regarding warranty

Gix said:

There are plenty on here willing to slate him at the first oppotunity so I think its only fair events like this are portrayed equally.
Top marks Dave and Co, cheers
Pat

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gix

i don't care whether you meant to infer me or not but seeings there are pretty much only two of us left around that have had a bad word for DCR i'll take it that you knew it or if you didn't YOU SHOULD HAVE FOUND OUT FIRST!

i would like to declare that this is a DCR friendly area. we need a good importer and any good work should be reported. but if you want to let DC put "the bad 'ol days behind him" surely the same is true of we owners as well?

you can't ask other people to forgive/forget when you can't do it now can you fella? so wotchya say, hey?

Taffy

Hmmmm didn't know anything about posts relating to Wally sizes, don't know nuthin about DCR. Need to get out a bit. Anyway...when I rebuilt my Norton Commando it came to my attention that roller bearings don't work because crank flex causes the edges to dig in and destroy the bearing in short order. Ball bearings wouldn't hold the load since Norton tweaked the damn thing from a lowly ancient 500. Was set up with Superblend bearings by a Norton Guru . Rollers are barrel shaped (like the old wooden containers) and hold almost the load of a flat roller but tolerate flex and misalignment almost as good as a ball. Maybe someone with a buddy at a bearing shop could look into this matter to see if these are available in the proper size for a Berg. Dale, you on chummy terms with Ron Woods from your flat track days? Believe Woods ran them in Alex Jorgensons bike way back when. Perhaps he knows of a source. Perhaps they wouldn't help anyway since it is doubtful that a Husaberg crank flexes anything like a Norton stick. While I'm on a British tangent here, I must ask Taffy what they were thinking over there when they built Nortons and the other similar bikes. My theory is that they were to encourage exersize through the push back home. :wink:

dan

having owned a triumph 5TA twice back when i was 18-20 i know all about walking home

i think you have to put yourself back on to the roads of those days and then you have to try and get into their mentality!

they found it more impoortant to do their own maintenance than to say that it didn't go wrong. after all they all did and so did the cars. everything on the roads went wrong!

the brits, because they live on top of each other, network a bit better than the yanks so you always knew 'a man who can'.

nobody thrashed the bikes in the 50's and early 60's. they were used as affordable transport and nobody in the street had a car. it was no wheels or a motorbike!

competition was for the affluent. ever heard john surtees or geoff duke speak? they sound more like charles than charles!

the real problems came in the 60's when like HD they didn't re-invest knowing that nobody else was re-investing! then the japs came along and said ph....ya!

that's my take anyway. a better question might be "how come harley and some other american companies didn't attempt a bike suitable for the american (mid west) market and left it to some rattly old brit stuff?".

i know that they all knew what they were doing and they had their eyes open. they just didn't care! at the AGM's every year they maoaned at any money being spent on R & D.

a great book on the subject, nay a superb book on the subject is called "whatever happened to the british motorcycle industry". it's a superb book! the man worked in the industry from the 1920's to the end in the 70's. with joe craig, with gilbert smith and the legendary doug hele.

to read the chapter where the AGM of AMC(?) is about to pack up is almost tangible!

apparently, they were all about to break up when someone announced "gentlemen, are you aware that honda are to unveil a new 750-four cylinder next week". apparently, they reconvened, and it was written in everyones eyes-they were phuqed this time!!!!!

what a waste!

regards

Taffy

Taffy said:

you can't ask other people to forgive/forget when you can't do it now can you fella? so wotchya say, hey?

Taffy

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I can't forgive or forget ??? What have i got to forgive? I have had nothing but good service off him.
.................................
Now I did actually type some more after this, then deleted it , I realised I was pandering to your argumentative streak.
If you really need to let off your frustrations that much, then go buy a playstation or go choke some chickens.. I cannot be arsed