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Upgrades - What are they?

J

jmumme

Joined Oct 2004
187 Posts | 0+
Boonies north of Reno, Nevada
I found what I thought would be a good bike for my son (02 FE400). And then Tjettim says I need to do a whole list of upgrades.

I'm a little new to this upgrade business.
Does this mean when I go buy the new parts that they will give me the upgraded parts automatically?
Or, do I have to buy some sort of Kit?
Or, do I just drop off the motor at my local Berg dealer and say "perform all of the upgrades" and he'll not only know what to do but have a list of defects (defects sounds harsh) how about "mods" and know what to replace?

Thanks

Soon to be owner of 04 or 05 FE550 depending on how far I can open my hand :)
 
Do you have problem? Will you keep the bike when you have the other?

The up grades is new cam followers and double bearings in the counter balancer. The first one is easy to do your self, the other, you need to divide the engine. The early -02 have single bearing. Should be a mark somewhere if you have double bearings.

In the beginning of this part of the forum, General. There is a document made by Taffy. Read that and you get some ideas of what to do.
 
No Problem here..
Looking to possibly buy two bikes.. One for me and one for my son.

So the new parts are the upgrades?

I'll look for the article..
Thanks
 
Okay. If you will keep the bike you need to do a lot.
Depending on hours, you should divide the engine or at least check the
timing chain.
 
Ask the previos owner what has been done to the bike, maybe some of the upgrades have been done. Also, the 400's are the most reliable. Notable upgrades are the double balancer bearing and the updated rockers like stated, but you should also upgrade the Cam chain with the Older pre-2001 600 style(Quoted as a Regina and needs to be cut shorter) and the steel cam sprocket.

Another option for the rockers is to use the Husky rollers on the old rockers, they are stronger than stock and can usually be had for about $45 for the pair. You may also want to pull the ignition cover off and check to see if it has been kept dry and is not cracked badly. If it is negotiate the price accordingly.
 
Hi John

Since the bike will be new or close to new I would ride it a little bit before I tore the motor apart. Most people seem to get at least 40 hours on them before they have problems.

My 02 FE650 has about 95 hours and at 50hours the rockers wear replace according to the Husaberg manual. I keep a constant eye open for any excessive metal flakes in the oil, which I change all the time. that would indicate something is getting ready to let go.
Adam
 
Parts Upgrades

So, just to clarify, the over the counter replacement parts will be the upgraded parts? Or ???
 
I would read Taffy's article and double check NMS to be sure. Mistakes can be made the best way to be sure is to do a couple searches and figure out which parts are the upgrades. Like 03 rollers and double bearing counter balancers etc..
 
Upgrade Costs

If you had to guess what the cost of theses upgrades would be, what are we talking??
 
Personally and in my humble opinion, the idea that the 400 "needs" a load of upgrades is totally over sold.

The 400 is a lovely little bike that will purr on quite happily for a long time with a reasonable amount of care - basically normal maintenance.

The upgrades are there for when you might need a replacement part and any competent dealer will offer you the upgrade over the counter at that point in time.

The most likely upgrade you will need over time are the rocker arms and revised roller. I don't think I have heard of the counterbalancer bearing failing prematurely in the 400, but again this can be replaced when the time is right. Being an 02 I suspect it may already have the updated c/b bearing anyhow.

If you were planning to race a 650, now that would be a totally different matter :wink:

The 400 is the best of the bunch in terms of longevity because it is in a fairly low state of tune - go and enjoy it :)

Have fun,
Simon
 
i pretty much agree with simon. 400s seem to be the bike that we sell very few parts to fix a catastrophic failure.just buy it and ride it and maintain it and have fun!dan.
 
Well. I certainly agree with Dan, to pull apart an engine which is running well to upgrade it might not be insurance against future failure, and I don't think any of them increase power output. But reality bites so if you ride a high performance dirt bike you should set aside a portion of you pay for that fateful day. Why, you can start your ebay search for a Kiehin 39 FCR now... And with a "new old stock(01-02)" Husaberg the sky will be the limit on your rebuild charges! Note that there is also some "upgrade related info on the "buying an FE400e" thread.
Let me make one more point. My '02 FX470e was perfectly reliable for almost two years, besides some e-starter troubles. Then the main bearing went and the "party" was oficially over. So in an attempt to improve my finishes at local enduros and starting reliability I bought a CRF250X (hey, HBG doesn't make a small bore!) Well, I bought it in May and I'm on my third set of intake valves! This last set came from Pro-Circuit and cost $340 the pair. There truly is no insurance against engine failure. Eric
 
Eric, words so eloquently written almost bring tears to my eyes.sorry to hear the honder has not had the maytag durability that you were hoping for.perhaps you are just riding it toooo hard!see you at the WFO as I plan on returning to the enduro scene after a short retirement.Dan.
 
Most of the upgrade aren't to badly priced, but the counter balancer can be a bit pricey. I spoken with my dealer on upgrading the stock balancer to double bearing like the upgraded one. the bearing seems to come out of it easy enough. now to see if he can get the bearing's and the correct shim? The 400 has a very good history of being very reliable.
 
Correct me if I am wrong but don't you need to change the balancer and the driving shaft both?

I noticed in my bike that there were two tracks, I don't know the real name in English, in my balancer as there have been two clips. Isn't there two clips in the single bearing balancer? If so, there could be a possibility to do a track in the middle to fit a clip and then assemble two bearings. This is the only balancer I have seen.
 
Read your manual, the replacement interval for the auxillary (driving)shaft is 25 hrs. As far as the CB bearing goes, it seems prudent to me to remove the CB and balance the crank like Dale says. That's what I am leaning towards. FYI, I have my engine apart right now looking things over.
 
The -03 manual tells you 100 hours. The single bearing didn't lasted 100 hours for the -01. Some damage due to that. I assume they changed that to 50 hours for the -02 due to that reason. The late -02 and the -03 and up have double bearings. In the workshop manual 01-03 I think it is 100 hours too. The -04 has something like 45-90 hours with similar parts.

I have 130 hours and the bearings looks okay but I will replace them. The mechanical at Husaberg told me that the problem is the counter balancer shaft bearing. It seems that that one break down before the double bearings in the balancer.
 

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