http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...RK%3AMEWA%3AIT

I am gonna offer him a bit les but over all good deal? I am willing to drop up to about 2000-2500 into this quad to make it a kick **** machine . how bad is reliability really and how hard is it to fix issues? I know to check the frame for cracks anything else I should look for? thnx for reading

 

looks like a good deal to me and for reliability just make sure that the updates are done on it and it should be fine, just make sure that he can prove the updates are done I learned that the hard way

 

what are the updates and if they arent done how much do they cost?

 

well I think there are 7 or 8 updates, I can't remeber what they are exactly I will have to get back to you with they are specifically

 

Everything you need to know
TIMBOMOOSE engine updates problems and fixes

Valve train:
Valve cover corrosion:Fixes are using evens coolant or aluminum valve cover.Powder coating slows down dramatically but will always eventually eat through.Distilled water will slow down some.Engine ice will eat through just as fast as antifreeze.

Valves:Misconception that cdale valves are low quality.Actually the valves on all 01 and early 02 are the highest quality valves available.These valves have #'s on the sides of the tips.They were made originally by kibblewhite and have hardened tip and are actually better then the new replacement by kibblewhite.Late 02 and 03 are not as good as the earlier,but are stainless valves,but do not have hardened tips,but still good valves.

Valve inspection:If a vavles were ever under a bad cam lobe or worn bucket.THROW AWAY and replace.Other things to inspect is small dents on the tips or worn where the valves seats.Clean inspect if sign of wear replace.

Dropping valves:Most people think dropping valves is from poor quality valves.It is almost always caused by a worn camshaft,worn buckets,or by a sticking buckets.

valve train part 2
Camshafts. Inspect camshafts.There is no such thing a a little wear on a cam.It is either good or bad.A little wear means replace.Chech for worn lobes,worn buckets,or burrs on cams.If any of the above replace cams and buckets.Causes of cams wearing.Sticking buckets,weak valves springs(valve float),cam or bucket hardness not made to spec.Most 2 common reasons for cams wearing on c'dales are bucket sticking almost always and only the exhuast bucket opposite side decompression.Other reason hardness on most cdale cams is borderline hard enough or not hard enough.Hardness on cams should read 55rc-60+rc on c scale.From recently hardness checking brand new stock cams 2 sets ranged 58 to 60+(excellent),2 more 54-57rc(borderline to decent),5 sets 53-45 rc(junk)So about a 50/50 ratio of getting a good set of cams.Another note on cams is people running the cannibal rev limiter have a much lower % of failure.Rev limiter affects it by the faster it spins the more pressure on the cam and if borderline hardness will wear at higher rpm where it wouldn't at lower from less pressure.On other note if cams were made to hardness spec.Should still hold up at high pms.When assembling ALWAYS make sure to have assemble lube and /or oil.On dry start can wreck a good set of cams and buckets same as all other engine components

Valve train part3
Buckets: A very important note is when removing buckets they must ALWAYS go back into the same pocket they came from or cam and bucket damage can occur.The cam and bucket wearin and get a pattern of wear into them.When putting into a different pocket on a different lobe a different wear pattern can occur causing wear resulting in damage.Another maybe even overkill thing to do is depth mic from the gear to the outside of the head and record the #.When reassembling make sure to put back in same distance as orinally mic'd.Cams have about .03 side to side slop.The closer reassembled as taken apart the better.

Wear:A good rule of thub or should I say finger would be if you can see wear or feel grooves or notches with your fingernail replace. Most wear on a bucket is a result from a worn camshaft and/or a sticking bucket.The sticking bucket is almost never from the bucket itself,but rather from the bucket pocket.Any sticking above where the bucket rides when assembled will not hurt anything,but any below is a problem.The bucket that sticks is almost always opposite the decomp on exuast cams.Springs and valves must be removed to inspect.I have found 9 out of 10 heads develop this problem.Cause of sticking in that pocket is from heatcycling on casting line.

Vavle train part4
Fix to sticking bucket problem. There is casting seam on the outside of the head by the exhaust port.the metal grows in that area from heat cycling and releaving the stress from the casting seam.It is ALWAYS exactly in line with the seam,about the width of a pen,and start about half way down the bucket.Have sean grown in this area .001-.0065 ae about .004.The good thing is if you engine has some time on it once repaired correctly it will never happen again.The only real correct way of fixing is to have the head machined.If fixing by honing it will oblong the bore,because growth is in on one corner,causing premature bucket and cam wear.This area is the BIGGEST cause of cam and bucket wear,and also the BIGGEST cause of DROPPED VALVES.Probably the most important thing to inspect on the head.It is the pocket opposite the decomp on the exhust cam.All other pocket that are border line snug can be opened up with some 500 grit paper.They are ussually only .0002-.0005 tight.New heads will never have this problem until run.Fix for a new head not to ever develop this problem is to have machined with a back taper endill only in the are it develops.

Valve train head part5
When assemling head decabonized and clean.Make sure to always replace valve seals and 2 cam seals by water pump impeller.Make sure to lube seals by impeller as instucted by manual.Dry seals will leave rubber residue on mating part and rubber against rubber as in all like materials will cause fast wear.All others can almost always be reused.Inspect all before reusing.When replacing valves always lap seats with lapping compound and try to replace in same seat the valves came from if reusing.Valve lash set 7-9 on intake and 13-16 on exhuast.The reason for larger gap on c'dale is because our valves are longer.The longer the stem the more the length will grow.If tightening up the valve clearances from stock setting.Can make the valves drag on lobes when running lean or hot causing valves not to close all the way resulting in premature seat and valve wear.Also always to remember to inpect cam bearings for excessive slop,broken cage,or notchey feel if any occur replace.
Cam caps:Cam caps are head and lobe specific.All caps are line bored and must go back where the came from.If damaged and need replaced must be measure and machined to match or damage to cam and bearing can and usually will occur.

Aluminum impeller. The plastic impeller usually does not spin on the atv and can on occasion,but has high occurance on the bike because they run at a higher temp from no fan.Bike necessary update quad good piece of mind.

Motor mount update.Hydro cases necessary,cable cases not but good piece of mind.Alway make sure to only purchase kits that have shims.If not properly shimmed motor mount update is more likely to cause damage than not having at all.To properly shim craddle must be bolted to frame then shimmed as tight as posible.

Oil update.Keeps engine from puking oil out breather.Reroute a in instructions supplied.If have update and still puking oil problem is scavenger pump not working(look in dipstick to check for flow),over filled the oil, or excessive ring blowby.

Stator update[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-tongue.gif[/img]ut shielding around wire so does not rub on case.Not doing so will cause wires to rub through,short out and ground on the case, and damage stator.

Crank updates.
Balancing.A balanced crank will help prevent case cracking,bolts loosening up and falling out,hands going numb, and add longer life on side bearing on crank, but add little to no life to the rod.
All older style cranks are balanced good from the factory and do not need balanced.The way to tell is if you have the h-beam (steel colored)rod not the forged.If you have that style crank and have alot vibration crank is ready to go.

New style hydro cranks.Most need balanced.This is the forged copper color rod.If have purchased an atk crank it has already been balanced,but will have no bearing upgrade.Some but very few c'dale cranks were balanced at the factory.If hole on the bottom side of the larger crank half has been filled in and welded it has been balanced.

Z400 bearing update.Can be used as direct replacement for stock bearing.Same bearing used in kfx400,ad artic cat dvx400.Problem with stock bearing is the design of the cage will eat into the rod putting groves the shape of the cage in the rod and pin and will cause the crankto prematurely fail.Fix is to replace with z400 bearing.Can double crank life with the $45 bearing.

Sign of crank failure:
Excessive vibration that was not there before,metal in oil filter,hard loss of power at high rpms,excessive noise that was not there before.When checking filter for metal look between the seams.If crank is starting to fail ABSOLUTELY STOP RIDING.More riding with a bad crank can damage to many other parts.Piston and sleeve will need replaced,valves can get damaged from piston hittiing,piston can crack from hitting back side of crank,case can crack from excessive vibration,piston blowing up, or hard lock up.If your quad ever dies NEVER EVER pull start.If its not starting there's something wrong.Dragging it down the road can damage many other components.

Why do the older cranks hold up longer than the new forged?but do they really?Yes,but not alot longer.The rumor is it holds up better from balancing.The real reason is because the inside diameter or the race of the big end of the billet rod is heat treated deeper into the metal than the forged rod.When the cage is cutting through it take longer to get to the soft layer before it rips through fast.It has been proven by cutting both style rods apart grinding steps into the layers than hardness checking each step to see which was deeper.The old myth the longer life from better balance proved to be false.

Bolts never fell out of the old cases. Also false.They still did and do but at a much less occurance from better crank balance and stonger case with less flex.Nothing beats a nice bottle of red loctite.

Crank part3
When a crank bearing goes out always replace the 2 side bearings that go in the case and cartridge plate.Once metal enters damage is already done,bearings are damaged and can not be trusted.

Oil update to crank.Waste of money and making new problems.There are no signs in the crank failures from lack of oil.Have had only 3 cranks that came from lack of oil 2 ran there engine out of oil and head damge also occured and one crank was missing oil plug on pin.Complete discoloration and huge 1/2 long burr coming off entire big end of rod.New problem caused by wrecking the oil squirter on cartridge plate by adding oil troth.No squirter damage time.

Gualling on wrist pin end of rod.All stock cranks gual.A chrome wrist pin will reduce gualling.Most cases only gualing will occur in rare cases wristpin can lock up on rod cuasing wrist pin to wear through piston and become detached.Rare but does happen.Same can happen if squirter is pluged on cartridge plate.When rebuilding always make sure passage is open and not plugged with debris along with all other passages.

Decompression mechanism:
Decomps should be treated as a wear item.Whenever pulling motor slop on decomp should be inpected.Most cases of failure are result from excessive slop causing weight to hit head and break.Most decomps can be taken apart and tightened up.New weights are usually only necessary when broken.Riveted weight are know to once in a while come apart.Best decomps are the billet backing plate and weight with the allen screw.

If decomp fails.Pull motor and fing EVERY piece.The head must be disassemble comletely cams,bucket and bearings need be inspected from debris damage.Small pieces usually work there way down through the cartridge plate into the scavenger pump.All passages must be inpected and cleaned.One little piece left in your motor has the potential to wreck everything.

Cases:
Most cases crack from excessive vibration from unbalanced cranks or from flaws in casting and from people dragging their quads when engine is locked up.If you have your engine apart inspect your case for burrs or voids in casting.If area of concern radius sharp corner if applicable.

Fx400 Mx400 case.If you have one these cases you more than likely have the stator side bearing thats prone to failure.Just like the z400 bearing it can be upgraded just not as easy.Case will need to be sleeved and machined.Almost all cases that have this bearing have an allen bolt on the bottom of the case that runs inbetween the crank and counterbalaner refered as the johndeer bolt.

On cases when replacing bearing you can widen the drip feed oil troth on the stator side.A little extra oil doesn't hurt.Only open up if replacing crank bearing metal chip even though only aluminum can cause alot of damage in a bearing.

Crank side play.Alot of cannondale have excessive side play mostly on newer style cases.Preassemble crank with cartride plate tightened down messure side play and shim behing clutch side crank bearing race.Try to keep .001 to .007 side play.The reason to shim on this side is to keep the flywheel from rubbing on the stator.Very little clearance.Most motors flywheel rubs on stator until shimmed.

Flywheel lettering. On the inside of the flywheel that runs over the stator there is letter.Lettering usually rubs on stator.Take a dremel type tool and gring lettering down and can prevent damage to stator.

Clutch
When doing alot of holeshots the bottom plate ussually bend if you have the thinner fiber plate.Replace the bottom fiber plate with the thicker one and will stop from happening.Can also put 2 metals on the bottom to keep plate away from radius on basket to keep from bending.

Clutch basket.Many older cannondale and new atks have the old style brinze bushing basket.When doing alot of holshots they are prone to wearing extreme fast.Fix. Have basket machined to new bearings or replace basket.If not doing holeshots bent fiber plates and bushing in basket are usually not an issue.

Sleeve.
Cannondale sleeve are high quality nickasil aluminum sleeves,but some were made with a deep locating dimple.Problem prone to crack.Dimple should be just the size of the tip of the drill and not actually drilled into.If deep replace.When rotating can still crack.Usually only crack when excessively deep up to the oring groove.If still going to try to use fill dimple in with jbweld.

Magnets
Magnets can be a cannondale's best friend.Be getting magnetic drain plugs or placing some in the sump can prevent damage be catching pieces that would normally go through the motor. Personally saved my motor when a gear tooth chipped from the one way bearing gear.Went to change oil and found a tooth stuck to the $20 kdeal magnet.$20 bucks saved alot of potetial damage.If placing in the sump make sure to clean thoroughly be bonding.Magnets can also save alot of time flushing the frame rails when a crank goes.Anyone who has done this wished they had magnets or more of them when this occured.

Flushing frame rail.
If a crank went its time to flush the frame rails.Alway flush with fuel oil,kerosene,gas or oil.Do not use water.Water will do nothing to get the metal out,because will not penetrate the oil which the metal is stuck to and can damage your motor from water left in the frame.Running motors do not like water especially high reving ones.Always finish flushing by dumping oil in frame for a final flush.This will help remove the kerosene,gas etc, and sometimes pick up more particals.If more comes out,more flushing needed,if you have to ask if this is good enough flush more.This can be one of the most time consuming processes.I have done this 6hrs straight and still got a little metal in the filter when together.If metal was in the frame you should inpect the oil filter after 5min of running.If noticable metal change the oil and repeat every 5-10 min until its gone.The rear filter will also have to be cleaned.Sorry to say the filter will not catchit there is a bypass and what it doesn't catch all your moving parts will.

FUEL LINES
If you haven't changed your fuel lines yet now is a good time.The fuel lines are known to prematurely dryrot and dryrot it a very bad thing when you have pressurized fuel.Change your fuel lines.These machines are getting old enough now where it is a MUST for everyone.Place where dryrot 1st occurs is inbetween the injectors,by the quick disconnects,by regulator and fuel pump. Any dryrot at all REPLACE!

Clean inspect lube.
When motor is apart its a good idea to pop the one way bearing out and clean behind there on the c'balance metal make its way there too. ALL oil passages should be cleaned and inspected.All part,seals, and orings should all be inspected.If damaged or any doubt replace.Make sure to lube all seal before assembling and prelube the wristpin,piston,sleeve,cams,bearings,etc.


Neatral update.
Neautral update is a personal preference and not necessary.If wanting to find neautral easier shifter drum can be sent out to be modified.
Shorter airhorn.Cheapest way to gain hp.


Stage 8
Stage 8 is the best way to guarentee the bolts not to back out.When installing always make sure tabs are butt up against in the loosening direction to something to secure it or will do no good.
Red Loctite. Red loctite should be refered to as cannondale blood.All internal motor bolts including small bolts, big bolts,crank nut, flywheel nut, should be assembled with RED loctite.All bolts and holes MUST be thoroughly cleaned before using or will do absolutely no good.Must be oil free.Only bolts not needed are cam cap bolts and clutch basket bolts.The small bolts back out too.

Rev limiter.Its a good idea to keep the rev limiter below 11000.Eliminates many problems.Longer cam life piston life,crank life,chain guide breakage,etc.Gear higher not rev higher.Another thing to consider is when going to stroker cranks falicon or mine makes no difference,piston speed goes up and so does wear factor at same rpm.On a stroker 11000 should be max.Piston speed goes past the danger zone 5000 by the formula where all kind of damage can occur.


Lastly do not use full synthetic oil on breakin time.Have a chance of makeing the ring never seat.For breakin just use a good grad of regular oil and change after an hour.If any doubt motor not broken in next change run semi synthetic than full.
Make sure to do reg oil changes and keep the air filter clean.And enjoy.I'm sure I missed something,but I hope this will help out.

just remeber not all of these have to be done