Dual-sporting a 2010 TE 450, with cheap tricks

I like your resistor mod, I wondered if anyone had done anything like that a while back but didn't see anything about it. Would I be alright to do this, and should I remove my rad flaps?

I have removed my rad flaps and since summer is coming on, I won't need or want them anyway. Now that I have a way to get into my 230 degree lean spot in my fueling, I dont need to boost my actual water temperature. If you put a resistor circuit into your water temp sensor loop, I would suggest using a 200 ohm resistor, and remove your flaps in the summer.
On Saturday, I will do a loop from 3 years ago when I first got the Husky: 50 mile slab to some trails, 20 miles of easy trails, 50 miles slab home. I am going to stay on the 150ohm resistor the entire time. Basically, it will be like running a carb, taking the choke off and running the same jetting all day. Actually, the ECU can still modify the fueling based on the air temp in the throttle body and the air pressure, so there will be minor fueling changes but the primary driver of fueling changes is the water temp and that will be constant.

I cleaned up this area a bunch, it was filthy, so filthy that a buddy of mine said "WTF is wrong here?". The breather "L" got worn down over time and was a loosey-goosey fit at best. I had wrapped it with teflon tape a few times and that was not a good thing. I found a 3/8" x 3/8" brass fitting that actually threaded right into the valve cover, so I hope that cures this filthy spot on the bike. I have more spots to address.

Ok cool, the 200 ohm will make it a little more rich I'm assuming just to be safe right? I might try to find a rocker switch that I can put up on the bars somewhere.

Darn it, I just bought a new plastic elbow to replace the one that went MIA. I'll have to go down to ace and find one of those brass elbows, I hate the side of the engine being covered with oil so that will be sweet!

The 200 ohm will be closer to representing a temperature that won't turn your fan on. My 150 ohm turns my heat light on, since I converted my fan to a manual switch. You probably don't want a resistor that puts you over the temp that will turn your fan on, since you ride mostly street, right? If you do any riding that might make your bike run hot and slow, you would need to switch off the resistor so that the ECU could turn your fan on at the right time.

Thanks to all readers who got us to 30,000 views!!

Ok that makes sense, thanks. Yes I mainly ride on the street but still take it off road fairly often and probably will even more once I get these new Distanzia's on it.

The 150ohm resistor worked great, I got 40mpg on the 50 mile slab down to the trails (I had a tailwind all the way) and I ran the 150ohm even during the trail ride, worked fine, no overheating, no other drama.

The only drama was at a stop to wait on some riders, I went to start the bike, and battery was flat, no start, kicked it to life and it ran fine, but the rest of the ride, it would die at idle RPMs in the slow stuff. Rode it all the way home OK, put the multimeter on the battery: 11.6v. Took the tank off and found one of the 3 phase, yellow wires from the stator rubbed bare and grounding to the frame. Taped that up and started the bike and it was producing current but only 12.8v, in the past, it has consistently produced 13.5+v. I will be changing the oil today and I'll have a look at the stator, see if there's any metal trash I can clean off. The stator has never been looked at on this bike.

Just finished charging the battery up to 13.2v, started the bike, put the meter on it, WOW, 14v charging just like old times.....I don't think I'll be looking at the stator today. Also, I got pics of the rubbed phase wire, but the flash burnt the pics out, and I'm not about to disassemble just to get a pic!!! Real happy at this moment, just 4 weeks until a big ride in New Mexico with some guys who have never ridden there, hope the Husky holds out for 4 more weeks, maybe I need to mothball it for 4 weeks......

18,000 mile report
17,000 mile report was Jan 2014

Didn't think I'd be doing this report TODAY, after yesterday's shorting out the stator, but my western buddy called looking for some help with an electrical problem on his CRF450 (ME? help with electrical?? not smart...) I got out there and he had already fixed the problem and was ready to dualsport! We had an epic ride, the TE450 was mythic, I ran it on the 150 ohm all day, got 30mpg that included some slow, sandy slogging stuff. The bike is un-killable...I think 20,000 miles can be reached.

The last tire I put on, I felt some side to side movement in the swingarm, I had greased the swingarm bearings, probably 2 years ago....too long ago as it turns out. They are rusted dust. Amazing service from Bryon at Bill's, I emailed him last week, like Thursday, and on Monday, I had bearings for the swingarm, an intake manifold, and a water pump seal, that will make this week a busy one, I need new tires put on as well.



After getting the bearings started, I inserted the gold collar and the long sleeve and pressed it all in. The gold collar acts like a depth gauge for how far to press it in. Last pic is the outside bearing. The OEM setup did NOT include a seal, but the Moose set that Bryon sent did have one, I just inset the bearing a little more, and installed the seal.

Freezing the bearings definitely makes things so much easier, but here in the humidity capital of Central Texas, I end up with soaking wet bearings from the condensation on the cold metal. So I wash them down with WD40, let them come to temperature, wash them again, let that dry and then grease them up.

First non-DOT tire on the bike, #18 total, Geomax MX51, might be the last non-DOT tire as well, I almost had a coronary event getting this tire on the rim, I should have gotten a 110/100 instead of a 110/90....live and learn. The tire WILL run 60mph with no noise and no weirdness at all, so I am thinking it has some possibilities as a dual sport tire, it can't get worn down any quicker than the DOT tires I've used...

Dang, here I was messin' around with swingarm bearings and tires, when I had a real live hand grenade right under the tank, ready to blow things up! I had been having mysterious dying, hanging idles, and other weird stuff, I kept blaming my resistor mod, the rubbed wire, since I had patched the intake boot. Damn good thing Bryon had one in stock and I decided to get it before my trip to New Mexico. The METAL inside the intake boot broke! My first intake boot failure was nothing as bad as this one. Looks like I may have sucked some rubber pieces thru the motor. 3rd pic is how the left side bolt has to be screwed in, needle-nosed pliers since an allen wrench has NO chance of fitting in there, with a vise-grip finisher for tightening it. Last pic is next project, water pump seal.....the never ending project bike....

OMG, I thought this bike had lost a few ponies, yeah, it had, from that damn intake leak, I've got my old bike back now, I will be running even with those CRF450s again! Over the last 2 months, I've had so many strange things happening: overheating in situations I've never overheated, having to hold the throttle WFO on sections I've never done that before, 25mpg mileage, sudden dying at stops, long cranking to get started again, all that stuff is gone now! That intake leak was killing me. I am running my 150ohm resistor almost 100% of the time now, just clocked a 35mpg run, water temp hovers around 210-220F with the rads fully open, I turn my fan on if I am going into any slow stuff. The GeoMax MX51 on the rear and MX31 on the front have turned this bike into something in the dirt totally different from the DOT tires, front end sticks like glue now and the rear does not spin so much, really awesome tires, even if I can barely get them on the bike!

Good news OHR happy to see your back on track

Thanks, back on track and LOVIN' it, did another 35 miles of urban dual-sport on Friday, did some water crossings and the bike never died so I am crossing my fingers that I have addressed all the ways that water was killing the bike. At one stop, I was bragging on the Geomax tires I had just put on, how hard they were to get on the rims, how stiff the sidewalls were, how I could probably run them flat.....well, check out the 2nd pic....my front wheel inner tube valve stem is supposed to sticking up out of that hole! I rode half the dirt ride and all the way home on zero air pressure and I was not even really aware of it, I thought the front felt a little slippery, but I just chalked it up to the tall knobs! The last pic show what the MX31 on front looks like with no air in it, can't really tell....oh, and there was no bead broken on the tire, either side...none.

OHR, where did you get that kickstand plate? Did you make it or purchase it?

That's 2 layers of really thin kitchen cutting board, worn down pretty good, I need to cut another couple pieces, it's the same board I made my chain guide out of, here's a top view of the kickstand when I bent my shifter.

I'm impressed with the length of this thread - Dec 2012 to current.

Quite the shifter there as well

Actually, Dec 2010 to current, trying to make it to Dec 2014, 4 years and 20,000 miles dual-sporting the TE450 is the goal.....

I meant 2010, but typoed it.
At the beginning of the thread, I thought this dude hates this bike and will get rid of it soon. Guess I wrong, at least partially.

Just so ya know, this has got to be my favorite thread on the web...thanks...