All of you who own a Bigbear 350cc that is around 97 year model need ta know somethin......if your bear breaks down and it turns out that the crankcase has suffered severe internal damage Yamaha should eat the cost....turns out that they know of the problem and have a fix for it...after it breaks of course...the problem is with the one way bearing that is inside the crank...when u kill it it cant spin back and relieve the pressure...i just got mine out of the shop recently because of this and Yamaha footed the bill....I do have an extended warrenty but the shop said even if it isnt under warrenty yamaha covers it....when i saw the old crank he showed me where a gear was shearn off and thrown around inside the crank doin lots of damage....I did have it at another shop at first and was told it was going to be an Expensive job but they didnt even have the tools to do it..so i took it to the other shop and that is where they said yamaha will foot tha bill....hopefully..yall just wont have to deal with it since that would just be easiest

 

BigBear4X4, A friend just got his 2000 BigBear back from the shop. His brother rolled it December 2nd with only 30 miles on it. It took almost 5 months to get a balljoint! To Yamaha's credit, they gave him back his 6 month warranty since the part was backordered for so long. They didn't hesitate to give him the warranty back, but in my opinion they should done something to get his bike back sooner. They could have taken the part right off the assembly line if necessary. Five months is ridiculous for any part from any manufacturer. The total bill was $2930. A pretty expensive ride for his brother.
Thanks for the information, we need to know all that we can when dealing with them.

 

BigBear,
Did you get the oil leak fixed?.. How long did it end up taking them?..
There was a re-call on the head casting on some of the late 97 early 98 BigBear 350's.. My 2wd was one of the ones that was affected. Come to find out, they knew of it too, just didn't do anything about it unless one came in under warranty.
Glad to hear you got it fixed.... Gonna break it in at Fun Wheeler or wait for River Rat Run?

 

Is this problem also in the '99's? I got an '99 big bear 4X4, I haven't had a problem yet except for the front bearing and brakes. They seem to wear out faster than I do. Seeya later.

 

Hi I have a big bear 350 1998 ?? as of yesterday traded my 1985 yamaha 1000 virago even for it.
Whereis the seSN # LOCATED so I can see if it is really a 1998.
Thanks

 

Hi I have a big bear 350 1998 ?? as of yesterday traded my 1985 yamaha 1000 virago even for it.
Whereis the seSN # LOCATED so I can see if it is really a 1998.
Thanks

 

Hi I have a big bear 350 1998 ?? as of yesterday traded my 1985 yamaha 1000 virago even for it.
Whereis the seSN # LOCATED so I can see if it is really a 1998.
Thanks

 

Hi I have a big bear 350 1998 ?? as of yesterday traded my 1985 yamaha 1000 virago even for it.
Whereis the seSN # LOCATED so I can see if it is really a 1998.
Thanks