I know the decompression plug is bad on the 04, but are there any other differences at all between the 2?I found a nice 2004 on cycletrader for 4k and i am going to sell the raptor due to not being able to race it without dumping a ton of money into it.Btw, i could not find a picture of a stock 2004 decompression plug, could you guys send me a picture of one of those if you dont mind? Thanks.



~Mike~

 

~bump~

 

Well the compression plug is right next to the headers. And well most of the YFZ's out of the floor ran a bit lean. You will probaly also hear from YFZ haters about weak cranks, connecting rod's, and the frame. I've haven't been through any of these problems, and I beat the thing every week. Correct me if I'm wrong, but the 05' YFZ's are a true 45o, right? I've been out of this site quit a while that I forgot things. Other than that, you're heading the right way, you'll do better in your racing, trust me being a Raptor and YFZ owner.

 

the 06 is a true 450 now. I think you could go to yamaha-motor dot com and do a compairison between the two models.

 

New decompressoin plug, more comfy seat, softer front suspension, fixed battery charging problem, and billet brake and shift levers. I believe those were the most major upgrades done between the 2004 and 2005 YFZ's.

 

The 06 was the year they got 80+ changes... I'm not 100% sure about 04-05 differences but i'm pretty sure 06 was the year they went to a bigger 449cc, could be wrong.

 

I am thinking about buying a 2004 yfz450 for 4k but I am wondering how easy it is to fix the battery charging problem. Should I save up more and buy a 2005 or just buy the 2004. Are all the problems easy cheap fixable problems? The 04 and 05 are pretty similar except for a few little upgrade right?

 

I dont remeber the location but I read a thread not that long ago and a guy got a leftover 05 yfz for 5k i think. If you could find something like that 1k more for a brand new bike is worth it imo.

 

To fix the charging problem you either 1)leave the lights on while running it, or 2)Add the resistor kit from Yamaha, thus allowing you to remove the headlights. As far as other changes between the 04 and 05, there isn't much. The seat and front shocks are softer, but I have ridden both back to back and couldn't really tell any difference. The 05 got a "gripper" seat cover, big deal. Replacing the decomp plug will not cost you much in time or money, get a nice billet one. They are so close to the same quad, I wouldn't hesitate to jump on a clean 04.

 

So basically the only thing with the battery is you are just going to have to buy new lights more often because they will run out right? I leave my lights on my 400ex anyways just cuz it looks cool so that wont be a problem.