Dual-sporting a 2010 TE 450, with cheap tricks

I am pretty sure I'm gonna make it to 3 years and 20,000 miles in 2014, after that, I'm thinking about donating it to a high school shop class...

In the pic below, both my buddies have already gotten rid of their 500 EXC and 450RR, and I still have my TE450, there's just something about a Husky, when it's right, it's sweet...

what did your buddies move on to OHR?

The 500EXC guy never could get the EFI to work very good on that KTM, even with the JD Tuner, so he sold it and hasn't gotten anything to replace it yet, he doesnt like to ride when it's 100F...

The 450RR guy had the main jet fall out of the venturi (pic below, we found it and fixed it easily enough), and then he had an intake valve get tight on him and when I explained he was gonna have to pull the cams to change the shim, he sold the bike and got an RFS engined KTM 450, which he slammed into a tree after doing a flying W on a dirt road doing 60mph, busted the water pump cover, bent the front rim, cracked a bone or 2 in his hand. Not really any pics of that but the 2nd pic below shows him at an MX track on the first day he had the bike, landing a jump a little far, he's pretty aggressive on a bike...

^^I didn't want to but I lol'd...^^ excellent write up and as always you bring the photo documentation to the table. Love it.

What a great thread. Thanks for taking the time to document all this good stuff. Makes me glad I went with the used te450 over a new 449!

I tallied it up, and I think I may have spent more on tires for the Husky than any motorcycle I've ever owned....about $1400, here's the 16th rear tire going on at 15,500 miles, getting about 800 miles out of the Pirelli XCMHs.

Next pic is a segment of the rear rim, it ain't pretty, I don't spend any time trying to keep 'em nice, when it's 100F, I just want to get the tire on and get in the house!

Third pic is my Slime pump, gave up the ghost today when my buddy on a DRZ flatted, looks like I'll be able to repair this $10 pump. Good thing we had a back-up bicycle pump today.

I posted this on another thread, thought I better get it put here, in case someone wants to beat me about the head and shoulders:

I got curious and looked up the torque value and, in fact, it is 102 ft/lbs for the rear axle. To me, just massive overkill. I have ridden and wrenched on motorcycles since 1969, worked in 3 motorcycle shops, and generally don't use a torque wrench except for head bolts.

I have changed my rear wheel out about 30 times (15 new tires, maybe 15 flats), I tighten the axle bolt about the same amount every time, i.e. a large wrench and a good, muscled pull. I got my torque wrench out today and measured 55 ft/lbs on the rear axle nut.

I have 15,000 miles on the bike and am running the original rear wheel bearings.
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RE: the slime pump (the pic above shows how the gear pin slipped out of the bracket), the pic below shows how I fixed it the first time, just slid the gear up and onto the bracket, but I failed to press the pin into the bracket as far as it would go! Dumb me, when I plugged it in, it failed within seconds. The second time, I realized my mistake and pressed the pin (shown below) as far into the bracket as I could press it. Now it works as good as ever.

agreed! +2

Aside from the added stress to bearings as suggested... I'll offer this.
you know those backpack axle wrenches- well have you ever bent one "TRYING" to get your buddies rear wheel axle loosed up in the woods. I HAVE. I would suggest that they are not made for 100 ft lbs- and REAL WORLD scenario: don't expect me to carry a 2 foot torque wrench to fix your tire in the woods. IF it doesn't come off with that tool and I have to stand on it and it doesn't move... your riding it out or waiting for a truck.

I'd say I use about 50-55 ft/lbs as well. Never had an issue- and yes I have the stock bearings (though they've been re-greased).

I have one of those as well,. came in real handy for a guy on a DRZ whose chain was so tight, I thought he was gonna pull his countershaft right out of the case. Mine is probably over 20 years old and pretty cheap construction, but it'll fit alot of different sizes.

!5,500 miles, had to get a new fender, I just can't keep from hitting rocks and fenceposts and whatever else it's possible to hit, new fender makes the rest of the bike look old...almost had a charging feral hog take me out, he missed me, but I ruined my underwear! Been on 6 rides now with no flats and no mechanicals.

OHR, just read this entire thread. Great read! Makes me want a 450 now. Love your common sense fixes.

OHR- ever changed your brake rotors? Mine developed lips at the outer edges where the pads apparently are not touching. The rotors were also grooved following the diameter. They are straight. This is just wear from use. This weekend while prepping my bike I 'turned them' like you would for a car (effect not process) I took them off and hit them with a 4 1/2 inch grinder with a sanding wheel. (second time I've done this since ownership/ 2009). Doing this wrong could obviously make things worse. But doing this right- resurfaces the rotors and takes out the high points/low points from pad wear. Sorry no pictures. Posting this is an afterthought and it is not an original maintenance idea (others have done this/but you don't often hear of it). Next time maybe I'll buy some new ones from Mike from motosportz.

Thanks man, might be coming to the end of the road tho, stay tuned.....

Lips on the rotors, yeah, I got 'em, big ones! Both my rotors are bent from rock hits, your "turning" idea sounds good, but I will probably just replace mine if I hit any trouble, probably get the rigid mounted one for the rear as well. I am looking forward to your write-up on the new clutch MC, you should start a new thread on that.....

WHAAAAAA?

What was the issue with the MC? My 08 ran dry this past weekend on the trail . Friend had mineral oil (I've heard that in a pinch even vegetable oil will work). Bled, burped, tightened the bleeder and rode on.

Is there any way the clutch MC can run dry without there being a leak somewhere? truth be told I have not serviced or replaced stock fluid. On an 08...that's 7 or 8 years lol...

Several of us have small imperfections in our MC bore, allows small amounts of fluid to escape, just enough to be a pain in the ass,

Good on ya, riding it out, carry a small bottle or mineral (baby) oil, you're gonna need it.

Sounds like your seal at the slave is letting fluid pass into the motor, no leaking, no mess, it just disappears!

I was thinking the same thing about the seal OHR. I'm not that worried about it....

Put a new 140 tire on here at 15,800 miles, getting ready for my annual trip to southern New Mexico, sprung a leak in my other fork leg (non-brake side), I'm wondering if it was just heat and pressure or a piece of dirt, don't know, both legs have done it now on separate occasions. Also, ever so often, it won't e-start, just cranks, pull out the kickstart and it fires right away. Thinking about a new battery tomorrow, small price for insurance on a big trip for me.

Fantastic thread! Nice to know all of this information is here, though I hope I don't need to use much of it, lol. I have an 09 TE 450 with a whopping 890 miles so far...a bunch of other bikes so it occupies its own small niche.

Fork seals- could very well be dirt/gunk. Pull the dust seal down and run film (or purpose made MotionPro seal scraper) around to clean the seal. Pump the forks/wipe clean- repeat. See if it continues.
Recently, I spent about an hour doing that... still weeped. Put in new seals- solved, (could see the trapped dirt/gunk on the seal when disassembled) but putting in new seals only took me 30 minutes.

Thanks for the kudos, if you ever want to sell your TE450, let me know.

I did do the film negative clean out trick on the other leg that dripped on my brake, it is holding up OK, I just finshed doing this leg and it's looking good, there was very little dirt under the cap.