magnetic oil plug, little fillings on it,

Looks OK to me. What are you riding?

shiny silver flakes about 1mm square usually come from the hard surface of failed bearings

everything else is gearbox junk and clutch wear

this is one of sikd's pics



thats the cleanest looking magnet pic ive seen yet

Crank end play seems to be a 650 thing. I have not heard of any crank issues in the new motor.

over here berger its the 550 that has issues, the 628 engine is the strong one

all years of the 550 have had skf mains failures. the crank is heavier, less ridgid with the 32mm pin and revs more,

the crank webs move on the pin easier and it looks like there are a lot of 550s with only aound 0.3mm endfloat from the factory

550 = be careful

sickd said:

oh sorry its a 07 550 berger, best bike i ever ridden

Click to expand...

I got to get my eyes checked...again. I thought for sure I read 09 570.....dohhhh!!!

The crank bearing thing is really strange. In the US I personally have never known of any failing.

mines a 628, I have no idea what the results of that would be on the 550

you have a heavier piston so rebalancing is likely to need to add a lot of weight to the crank.

mine has more vibes below 3000rpm than before. if I were trailriding a lot or commuting this would be no good. its much better above that, smoother power delivery.

aside from dynamics one advantage is you can run a 20mm wide bearing on the drive side reducing the span of the crank

FWIW I would lighten the 550 crank by cutting into a pork chop weld the pin or stroke it to 570 and go to a 35mm big end, find a lighter piston and run the 20mm wide bearing with no CB.

if you can find a mechanic who can do all that i'd say he's worth a go

Gazza recomends ritchie from valley force husaberg over there. zero mechanical failures from the 628s in the aust safari is a good record.

testing uplaods

you might end up with something like this.







[attachment=2:3ifxr8ge]ACFF9E.jpg[/attachment:3ifxr8ge]

[attachment=1:3ifxr8ge]lightened_crank.jpg[/attachment:3ifxr8ge]

[attachment=0:3ifxr8ge]crank1).JPG[/attachment:3ifxr8ge]

Hey Bushy, when are you moving a little closer to Adelaide so you can service my bike?

The closest dealer around here who has any idea about 'bergs is hours away!

both those engines use the same CB unit

when are you guys gonna move over here so I can start working on real bikes

Hey guys,
Just reading your posts...thanks for the informative pics and info...three quick things I've got to ask..

a. I love my 550, it's for me the best trail bike I've owned and I've owned some good ones...but nothing like the Berg. I'd say I'm a confident average rider and can hold a good pace...but I'm not fast enough to need to bomb the Berg to get more, I can't get to 10/10's on it for sustained periods because it wants to kill me and goes at 4000mph....are you guys setting up this type of engine work for more grunt or speed or both...?

b. When you say it's easy to check the mains...can you expand on a basic how to or point me to the doc...I couldn't see anything but would like to be able to keep an eye on them if possible.

c. A mate who knows his way around bike motors quite well seems to have trouble trying to get my motor to TDC...I've looked at the doc but wonder if there's another trick to it that may assist.

Cheers

Pilot

These pics come from ktmtalk bigbore and standard RFS 520 525 engines. they are doing the work to get more life out of the mains

same problem with the same mains maybe to a lesser extent. their favourite setup is ballbearings with a loose fit on the crankshaft, lightened crank with a welded pin.

there are heaps of 550s that never go wrong and run for 30 -40 000km but when a berg blows its mains in WA you can put money on it being a 550. might be the sand.

so with that if you break yours there are a heap of interesting options a hell of a lot smarter and more effective than the head in the sand approach of just rebuilding as stock and perhaps breaking it again. the problem is finding a berg mechanic willing to make the changes. fear of the unknown perhaps, fair enough.

to check endfloat pull the ignition cover and use verniers or a dial guage to measure how far the crank moves from left to right in the bike, 0.3 to 0.5mm is good. i set mine at 0.55. if it changes or goes under 0.3 you know something is moving around and you need to be careful until the motor is stinking hot.

with the cover off and a dial guage you can also check crank run out by putting the foot of the dial guage on one side of the crank centre hole.

the other check is radial play, how far the crank moves up and down thats harder to measure and needs a dial guage. its not that important but id be concerned if it were more than 0.05mm. obviously 0.1 or 0.2 means that main is on the way out.

on your 550 with the full circle crank there is a crank locking bolt hole located near the crankcase split at the front of the LH CCase

when its near tdc if yuo like you can take out the plug and put a longer bolt in til it just touches the crank then jiggle it till it goes into its pocket machined in the crank the stock cam and heavy springs are strong enough to turn the engine over that makes it difficult.

sickd said:

Thanks for goin over all this stuff it's good to know and for us new
guys to Bergson it's very handy, I like the loose fit to crank and tight
in case, is that possible on berg and if so do you need to lighten crank for that?
And weld the pin? That is? What part? Sorry to sound dumb, my dAd is mechanic
and I want all info before I talk to him about it.

Click to expand...

I like the loose fit to crank and tight
in case, is that possible on berg

Click to expand...

yes

if so do you need to lighten crank for that?

Click to expand...

no

And weld the pin? That is? What part?

Click to expand...

don't need to but be silly not to if you're having issues.

weld the end of the big end crankpin to the crankwebs as in pics above.

Bushie,
You fffnnn rock, appreciate your explanation, it makes sense and I can apply it....thanks for taking the time to explain it to those of us less techable.

Cheers

Pilot