Well, on my last dune trip, I smoked my motor. Put a big hole in the LH piston. Also found lots of aluminum in the crankcase. They question: Is my crank now junk? It was so bad, it was jammed up with crap, and I couldn't even kick the engine over. After flushing the lower end out, it seems OK, but I don't know if bearing damage was done. Had the crank replaced about 100 hours of use ago, w/ true and weld service done also. (my maintenance and care have been meticulous) What do all you Banshee guys do when you hole the piston? Have any of you just cleaned out the bottom end and gone with new pistons/bore only? I don't want to put this thing back together only to discover that I cut corners. On the other hand, I'm not crazy about tearing into the lower end of my motor, either. Any help and experiences from all you Banshee experts is greatly appreciated!!!

 

Now would be a good time to buy a RAPTOR! HE HE HE.
no man i realy don't have a clue.But good luck.

 

i admire banshees but ill never own one. what id do in your shoes, get a 400ex.

but if that aint your thing i would go the right way and make sure EVERYTHING is ok. youll regret it if your motor blows up because you havnt checked everything. iv blown my kx100 motor up before, i bored out my cylender and put a weisco piston in it, then i redone the whole bottom end, (off topic) and then i got new brake pads, then a new clutch, and a new front tire, new forks, new fork seals, bigger rear suspention, taper bars because mine were crap and they were loose and always falling off. lesson: dont buy a kx100, get a ktmsx125 or a hondacr125.

 

Rapdaddy, I've already had 2 Raptors. (my currant one is a 2002) I love both machines. The Banshee still rules in the dunes, which is all I use it for. No 400ex's for me....way too boring. Seriously, people...what have your observations been with regard to the cranks on these things after holing the pistons? Do they get damaged that easily? (Or any 2-stroke for that matter) You 250r guys should know about this subject as well.

 

My advice would definitely be to remove the engine and flush the crankcases to remove all traces of the aluminum piston.Then check the rod bearings to make sure that none of the needles are damaged. if you can spin the crank and dont hear any obvious sounds ie. (grinding or rough bearing movment) your main bearings may be ok. Like you said it is hard to tell if the crank is auctally junk if you dont remove it from the crank case halves where you can visually inspect all of the bearings. You could also check the rod bearing by grabing the top of the rod and seeing if there is any up and down play. There will be side to side play but there should be no up and down. I have had a piston get chewed up like you have and I washed out the casehalves and had no problems. Unless money is no object to you I would say go ahead and clean it out and put it back together since a new crank is $550. also did you find out what caused the hole in the piston that type of thing dosent usually hapen for no reason.

 

I would have to agree with the500bansheepilot check all the bearings but I would pull the crank out and check the mains because spining the crank by hand and listening for noise isnt going to cut it the motor spins at a much higher RPM so it doesnt matter if you dont hear it when spinning by hand because the load isnt there. I would also check the carbs to see why it burnt down.. is the left side too lean?? did you change your timing?? how was the fuel??

 

i have not had any thing like that happen to me personaly but a frind of mine had 310 kit on his 250R (he has the stock 250 now) and it blew the bottom of the sleave apart and he had his cases split and had all new berings new in