I went on vacation with the fam and took my Raptor since my DS is getting a 720 kit, porting and cams over at TVI.


Well I've have nothing but problems with my Raptor out in Silver Lake Michigan. I need some input on what the problems could be.

1- I broke two chains. The old one and I had a spare (which broke also and now has 2 master links). The old one broke on a jump. The 2nd break was from a drag race. I dumped the clutch in 2nd gear off the line and at first I thought it was the tranny that went. Found out it was the chain. I took it easy and did a few more drags only in first gear. I have read of people breaking chains in the past. What I don't get is.. a DS650 has a 530 but a Raptor which is a 660 gets a 520 which I understand isn't rated for that large displacement.


2- Starter. 2nd Day of riding in the sand when it stalled and I hit the starter I can hear it wind up but not engage. Anyone has heard of a similar problem. It would work if I shifted the bike around in gear but it doesn't seem to engage properly. Is this an expensive fix?

3-Idle screw. It seems hard to turn. I had to bring a pair of pliers to turn it to keep the bike running at times. Sometimes it would idle high as well.

4- Final day of riding....the bike didn't have good low end response. I had to to scream it to move and it would stumble constantly. Made riding horrid for the last day and at the point I wanted to drop a match in the gas tank. I was told by a friend of mine that it could be the choke lever that doesn't fully open/close. Is there something out there to replace it something like a 400 EX or DS650 type choke? Perhaps a jet is clogged as well. I just want to collaborate with anyone with a similar problem before I do the daunting task of tearing into the carbs.

Any info anyone can provide me it would be great. I still have a few more days off.. hopefully I can tear into this and resolve all the issues.

Thanks

 

I think your friend is right about the choke, after a while moisture finds its way down the cable to the plunger and eats away the return spring. It will cause the symptoms you are having, especially the stumbling and hard to set idle. You probably will stall alot also which no doubt hurt the oneway starter bearing. I wouldnt replace it with a new stock bearing which is inferior, get the new L&A designs one-way from ripperracing.com

sounds like you are hard on chains, do you have enough slack in them? are your sprockets in good shape. You are right though a 530 chain would be a good option on a raptor

 

1.People broke raptor chains in the past, try a better chain something just aint right there. Worn sprockets can destroy a brand new chain.
2. The oneway bearing is what goes bad, it is an easy task with the right tools check out raptor tranny It should help you out alot for this task, the new after market oneway is about 189.00 but is way better than a stock one.
3. Hard to turn? MAybe your floats are off, choke is sticking, or your valves are tight.
4. to check the choke you'll need a 12mm wrench i think, remove the plastic nut and the assembly should slide right out, check for cracks or worn spring if not lube it and move it in and out of the bore.

 

the part to fix the starter is about $200. There is a large starter clutch with egg shaped bearings that are surposed to engage when you start it. A friend of mine took his raptor a part trying to figure out why his would not start it was doing the same thing as you described.


Anyway we probably spent around 2 to 3 hours replacing it which saved around $120. He asked the dealer about what might have caused this problem, he said that it was caused most of the time to not having enough warm up time before high revs, but I haven't a clue?

 

The one-way bearing and the choke cable problems are trade-mark of this quad, but the chain problem sounds like operator error to me. You either have a trashed chain/sprocket, or your adjusting it wrong. If its adjusted wrong it sounds to me like you don't have enough slack in the chain, or you have your adjustment set up so that your sprockets are out of line. The first two problems are pretty straight forward, but without actually being there, I can't tell you too much about the chain problem. I do know that its not that your "flimsy" 520 chain isn't strong enough to handle that raptor. Those chains are designed to exceed stress placed on them by open class sport bikes!. I doubt seriously that the 37-50 hp that your raptor is putting out is over stressing your chain. Good luck, and hope you find the solution to your problem.

 

I didn't mean to strike a nerve on the 520 chain thing. I did hear a while back when the Raptors first came out some dude broke a hole in his case and found out that the 520 chains are rated for 400 CCs and LESS. That's what I heard. I will look into the choke thing first chance I get tomorrow. The One way bearing sounds like a pain in the **** to work on. I think I will have the dealer do it and get a good aftermarket part for it. The chain was adjusted and there is a 1" slack when rider is on it. I don't know what gave on that. I replaced the front sprocket (smaller teeth cause geared way too tall) and rear sprocket looks fine. I took it out for several rides before this trip and no problems. It did hold up well after that but then again.. I kind of babied it to ensure I can ride.

I'm grateful I didn't hurt myself or make a hole in the case.