WR450 of unknown year

[OzriderNT]

Gday fellas,

Ive looked through your forum in the past as a guest and found some useful info, now im in need of more specific answers, so thought i should at least join.

Been spinning spanners for myself a few years now and Ive been given a WR450 as payment for a job that the owner couldnt afford.

 

Its a head scratcher for me, as I needed to split the box to find out why it was stuck in gear.

Dropped the clutch and spark plug out to trouble shoot...very very hard to turn over via kick starter. trying to get it on TDC was a mission.

Cracked the stator off and found a wadded up "shim" of thin metal that had lodged against the rotor and was causing the hard turnover. When that was cleared, the crask assy turned nicely.

Split the case and found all sorts of amazing things. firstly the oil pickup was clogged solid with bits of hard rubber and topping it all off was a three inch length of bike inner tube. The gearbox is a mess with number three pinion gear with a sheared tooth which jammed against number three primary, and number 2 welded solid to the output shaft. various bearings feeling notchy and myself wondering how far into this im willing to get.

My troubles are starting when trying to establish the age of the bike so that I can start putting a shopping list together for the gears and bearings and shaft required.

The headstock has been damaged in the past, with the VIN stamp now illegible bar the last three digits. No other stickers are anywhere to be found and Ive gone over every square inch of the frame just in case it has been restamped.

Nothing.

My question is, how do I accurately order quite a few hundred dollars worth of parts, when I have no idea of year model.

Ive asked my local stealership if they could work backwards from the engine number but they are as unhelpful as ever.

Any of you gents have any ideas?

Edited January 29, 2016 by OzriderNT

[GuyGraham]

Steel or alloy frame?

External oil pipes to the head or not?

[FORMA MOTO]

Yamaha's website will allow you to decode the vin to determine the year

[OzriderNT]

Steel or alloy frame?

External oil pipes to the head or not?

steel frame, apart from the oil system returning to the frame from the crankcase, it only has the "Y" pipe.

 

Yamaha's website will allow you to decode the vin to determine the year

did you not read the bit where there is no VIN?

[Dualsportwr450]

Oil to the frame is 2005 and lower maybe 06

Are you sure it's not a 426

[foggy3061]

It could be aged from the engine number or the model sticker on the subframe, under the seat.

It could be 2003 to 2006 if it's steel frame.

46mm forks will be 2003 or 2004.

48mm forks will be 2005 or 2006.

Put a photo of the bike up, if it's pretty original it can be dated from that.

[Just_a_trail_rider]

Gday fellas,

Ive looked through your forum in the past as a guest and found some useful info, now im in need of more specific answers, so thought i should at least join.

Been spinning spanners for myself a few years now and Ive been given a WR450 as payment for a job that the owner couldnt afford.

 

Its a head scratcher for me, as I needed to split the box to find out why it was stuck in gear.

Dropped the clutch and spark plug out to trouble shoot...very very hard to turn over via kick starter. trying to get it on TDC was a mission.

Cracked the stator off and found a wadded up "shim" of thin metal that had lodged against the rotor and was causing the hard turnover. When that was cleared, the crask assy turned nicely.

Split the case and found all sorts of amazing things. firstly the oil pickup was clogged solid with bits of hard rubber and topping it all off was a three inch length of bike inner tube. The gearbox is a mess with number three pinion gear with a sheared tooth which jammed against number three primary, and number 2 welded solid to the output shaft. various bearings feeling notchy and myself wondering how far into this im willing to get.

My troubles are starting when trying to establish the age of the bike so that I can start putting a shopping list together for the gears and bearings and shaft required.

The headstock has been damaged in the past, with the VIN stamp now illegible bar the last three digits. No other stickers are anywhere to be found and Ive gone over every square inch of the frame just in case it has been restamped.

Nothing.

My question is, how do I accurately order quite a few hundred dollars worth of parts, when I have no idea of year model.

Ive asked my local stealership if they could work backwards from the engine number but they are as unhelpful as ever.

Any of you gents have any ideas?

A single picture of the bike with 4 simple words... "What year is this?"   is really all you needed to post.

[OzriderNT]

A single picture of the bike with 4 simple words... "What year is this?"   is really all you needed to post.

sorry mate, Ive been a part of forums before for road bikes and I didnt want to bombard the post with pics that would be irrelevant anyway. The bike is in a million pieces so its not the easiest subject to take a pic of.

[OzriderNT]

Oil to the frame is 2005 and lower maybe 06

Are you sure it's not a 426

This is my first thumper, so im only going on heresay. I was told it was a 450 but im open to opinions. No decals, no stickers, no vin...just a blue bike with a stuffed motor to go on. suare headlight if that helps

[OzriderNT]

It could be aged from the engine number or the model sticker on the subframe, under the seat.

It could be 2003 to 2006 if it's steel frame.

46mm forks will be 2003 or 2004.

48mm forks will be 2005 or 2006.

Put a photo of the bike up, if it's pretty original it can be dated from that.

48mm forks, thanks mate

[matt71]

Digital speedo was bought out in 2006 . dial speedo for 2005 .

[RockerYZWR]

I bet there's a number somewhere, maybe buried under some shit or obscured by rust or something.

[OzriderNT]

I bet there's a number somewhere, maybe buried under some shit or obscured by rust or something.

i thought so too, so I stripped the frame back, all parts pressure cleaned and nothing. its been destickered and with the damaged VIN, all I have to go on is the fork size. Oh, its been converted to purely off road so no gauges either.

[Bass Mechanic]

With a damaged vin sounds like a stolen bike, I would have run!

[foggy3061]

48mm forks, thanks mate

That narrows it down.

As mentioned above, if it has a mechanical speedo with a speedo cable clamp on the front of the right hand fork guard then it's an 05.

If it has an electric speedo with the wire clamped in a guide behind the right hand fork guard, then it's an 06.

That's if the bike is all original......

Edited January 30, 2016 by foggy3061

[RockerYZWR]

Sounds a bit like a basket case, mate.

[ftl900]

Sounds like quite the project bike.

Edited February 1, 2016 by ftl900

[OzriderNT]

so as a general question, where would you recommend I go shopping for parts, now that I know what year it is?