little end material: can it be steel?

if i remember correctly, my 1100 ninja motor had no bush or bearing in the little end. at last rebuild, after running it off the redline for 4 years in a dirt track car, the little end looked like new.

From memory, pretty much all the Jap four strokes I have had apart ran the gudgeon straight onto the rod material, but that is quite a few years ago now and they were probably old at the time.

I was under the impression that running it steel on steel could handle higher load than a soft bushing, but the machining and setup when it was put together had to be that much more precise. You have to have just enough clearance to guarantee lubrication, but not so much as to let it start to hammer. I agree with Ned - if they are good when assembled they tend to stay that way. Once they get a rattle up, lurication breaks down & there is a chance they can gall.

Unlike just about every other bearing in an engine, the little end is not running at any significant rotational speed, but that is what you need, with oil of course, to maintain a normal hydrodynamic (non-rolling) bearing.

hi, as far as i know it is correct that all japanese 4 strokes have no bronze bushing in the litlle end.

a friends fe600 had an aftermarket rod also with no bushing many years ago (2000)

a year ago we rebuild the motor and the little end was perfect like new. we changed the pin and voila.