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How to put Baja lights on your yz

By gdbarr1976,
in YZ400F/426F/450F/450FX

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gdbarr1976

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For anyone that has ever asked how to put real lighting on your yz, I have your answer. I am talking 06 and latter.

I am going to do the baja 1000 in November. I have a yz450f. Not a wr. I don't want a wr. But I need a real lighting system which meant a stator that could put out at least 100w.

My first plan was to use a electrex 50w stator and run a 35w hid 8" light from trail tech. It won't work. The stator might put out 50w wide open but at any normal riding it is probably 40w then you loose some throught the regulator. Won't keep up.

So this is what I did and it works.

Split the cases and put a wr crank end on the crank. Perfect fit. Put it back together and put on a wr flywheel. Perfect fit. Get a wr side cover, put a freeze plug in the hole for the starter and a screw in the hole for the wiring. Install a stator in the wr side cover. I used a trail tech unit but I think the stock wr would be just as good. Put the side cover on. Perfect fit. You will need a wr shifter.

Now you are done with the bottom end. All I needed to do now was connect the wires and all was good. That is when it got interesting. I could not get the wr ignition to work with my yz cdi. I think someone smarter then me could do it but I could not make it happen. After talking with the trail tech guys I concluded that the only anwer was to us a wr cdi and wiring harness.

I was also told I was going to need a battery. So, I got a small battery from trail tech, a cdi and wiring harness off ebay, hooked it up with my trail tech regulator and it works!

Couple issues. I mounted the battery in the filter box. No problem. The first time I rode it while I was riding I put my hand on the frame of the headlight and got shocked. Running a groud from the headlight frame to the motorcycle frame curred that. My Dad told me to do that and I can't tell you why it worked but it did.

The motor will not run right without the battery. Since the ignition draws a little current when off I hade to rig up a off switch and I hope I can remember to use it.

I was running a 8oz flywheel before and with the wr flywheel and ignition I can't tell any difference in performance.

This is what it cost.

Crank end $152

side cover 161

stator 140

regulator 50

flywheel 172

shifter 40

headlight 550

cdi 79 off ebay 200 retail

wiring harn 9 off ebay 125 retail

total $1346 (I hope my wife doesn't see this!)

If I was going to do it again I would try to get allmost everything off ebay. From 03 both a wr 250 and 450 use most of the same electrical stuff. You sure don't need a hid light but I wanted the best lighting system possible.

Why did I not just get a wr? Well for one I had a 08 yz. I offered a guy with a 08 wr $1500 plus my bike but he would not take it. Glad he did'nt. I would still have had to upgrade suspension and I don't think even then I would have been happy. The dealers would not ever talk to me and has anyone tried to sell a used dirt bike right now? I have three 450's for sale now.I can't give them away.

All in all I am happy with the way it turned out. I was not sure it could be done but it can. Two gncc's, a local hs and a National enduro then November 20th the Baja 1000. I am sure it will be the only late model yz450f entered. Can't wait!

Gary Barr

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yzmoto124

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Gary, you mentioned in another post that you had a 50watt moose stator and a 35watt headlight powered off of it. I am not wanting a full blown Baja bike, but I was wondering if the moose setup that you had would be enough power to make a barely street legal 08 yz450f that had enough juice to power a headlight,LED taillight,LED brake lights and possibly LED turn signals? I won't be riding the street that much, more the desert and in the daytime. I would rather have a motocrosser than a street bike but at least with street legal status I would be able to ride it in my neighborhood legally.Everywhere else I have looked, no one makes a lighting stator more powerful than 50 watts for the 08 yz450f, and I don't know if that will get the job done, if not I guess I will buy a WR450, buy I think that they only have 35-50 watts of power too. If a person owned a CRF450r they can find wattage up to 200 watts reasonably (but I would not want to deal with the valve problems), I don't understand why no stator available. Could you tell me from your experience if the 50 watt stator will work for what I want to do.Thanks

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gdbarr1976

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Gary, you mentioned in another post that you had a 50watt moose stator and a 35watt headlight powered off of it. I am not wanting a full blown Baja bike, but I was wondering if the moose setup that you had would be enough power to make a barely street legal 08 yz450f that had enough juice to power a headlight,LED taillight,LED brake lights and possibly LED turn signals? I won't be riding the street that much, more the desert and in the daytime. I would rather have a motocrosser than a street bike but at least with street legal status I would be able to ride it in my neighborhood legally.Everywhere else I have looked, no one makes a lighting stator more powerful than 50 watts for the 08 yz450f, and I don't know if that will get the job done, if not I guess I will buy a WR450, buy I think that they only have 35-50 watts of power too. If a person owned a CRF450r they can find wattage up to 200 watts reasonably (but I would not want to deal with the valve problems), I don't understand why no stator available. Could you tell me from your experience if the 50 watt stator will work for what I want to do.Thanks

Yes, the 50w moose stator will work for what you are doing. In fact, pm me, I will hook you up with the one I tried. For anyone that is thinking of getting a electrex/moose stator I got mime throught dennis kirk. It was good because I had to send the first one back and they sent a nice return evenlope with the packaging. I understand this not uncommon with this stator. The first one I got rain for about 10min then no spark. They also had some wires crossed at the plug. Had to call tech support to figure it out. Pretty sad really.

The reason nobody makes one with more power that is a bolt on is that the shaft on the yz crank is to small. It is signiicantly smaller then the wr crank end. I was hoping I could just bolt on the wr flywheel then use the wr side conver with wr or trail tech rotor. It was not even close.

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grayracer513

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Nice job, Gary.

I think you will find that the bike will kick start with a dead battery, and then run OK as it recharges it. It has to be there to make things work electrically, but isn't entirely needed from the standpoint of being a power source. At least that's the impression I get from talking with WR guys.

Were you able to use the YZ clutch cable with the WR case cover?

BTW, this thread is listed under Electrical in Common Threads :lame:

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gdbarr1976

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Nice job, Gary.

I think you will find that the bike will kick start with a dead battery, and then run OK as it recharges it. It has to be there to make things work electrically, but isn't entirely needed from the standpoint of being a power source. At least that's the impression I get from talking with WR guys.

Were you able to use the YZ clutch cable with the WR case cover?

BTW, this thread is listed under Electrical in Common Threads :lame:

I left the ignition on intentionally and ran the battery dead. It started kinda reluctantly but it did start. Ran ok allmost from the start after that so I feel a little better now. I do have a bit of a miss mid range. I am going to drop the needle a notch and see if that cures it.

I run a standard rekluse without a cable. With just a little grinding on the stock yz clutch arm it worked just fine. To run a cable you will have to get a wr arm, cable and the bracket to mount it coming from the rear. The mounts are there so no problem.

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gdbarr1976

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do u think u could make the electric start work? it looks like the bosses are there for where the starter would mount too on the right side case. jw wondering if u might know i plan on doint this to my 06. and im hoping i can adapt fuel injection to it when it comes available. thanks

I am pretty sure I can. When I was on e bay shopping for a cdi and wiring harness I picked up a wr250 side cover that had the gears and a stator that is the same one that is used on all the wr's, I think, for $20. I also got a starter for $9 and all the switches for another $9. So I think I have all the parts except for the clutch that goes behind the flywheel. I might try it one day.

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gdbarr1976

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I hate to do this but:

TTIWWP.gif

BTW...I cant wait to see this at the 1000:applause:

You are right. I took pics and will try to figure out how to post them. Look me up at the 1k. Will be staying at Estero beach. Small white motorhome with the yamaha insignia on the front Will be in class 50 solo.

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  • 1 month later...
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gdbarr1976

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Thought I would throw a little up date out their on this project.

Firts of all I did not get to do the Baja 1000 due to breaking my collarbone and 4 ribs a week before I was to leave. Major bummed but will be there next year.

I did thought get to race test my set up at two gncc's, one local hs and 1 1/2miles of a enduro(before I crashed). Found out a couple of interesting things.

First the realiability of this set up is 100% so far. Once I got it working it has been perfect and I was very confident in taking it to Baja.

The biggest surprise has been that I can not stall this thing. I run a rekluse clutch and for thoughs of you that run one on a yz you know that you can stall them. Tight woods, crank the throttle when it is hot, it stalls.

With the wr ignition I seem to have elliminated this problem. I can't stall it. I can not tell you if it is the the battery supplies a stronger sparks at low rpm, if the ignition mapping is different, if the flywheel is heavier( I don't think that is it since I was running a heavier flywheel before) or what. But it doesnt stall and it is easier to start. It may be a combination of all thoughs things but if I had to guess I think the battery supplying the spark is the biggee.

Is this all worth it? If you are mechanically inclined, can get most of the stuff off e bay and have to have a 100plus watt electrical system then the answer is yes. If you answer no to any of the above then get a wr or a 450x.

I can tell you this. The end result is I have a kick ass Baja ready yz450f. Can't wait till Nov 28,2009!!

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gdbarr1976

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One more update. I used a small battery I got from trail tech that I mounted on the fender in the airbox. I decided to move it to the bottom right of the air box to make it easier to service the airfilter. DON"T DO THAT! The bottom right side of the air box is right against the exhaust. It gets REAL hot down their. In fact it gets so hot that during a 24hr race the battery would shut off. It has a thermal overload protector and it will work! The battery will shut down and not fire your hid light till it cools off. So, moved it back up to the fender and problem solved.

One other thing I was worried about was the battery overcharging. You are suppose to run the blue wire per the trail tech instructions to the neg on the battery and that will keep it from over charging. Problem is it won't charge it at all. Not sure why. The only way to make it work is to run the black wire from the reg/rec to the neg on the battery which is the way to do it for a larger battery per trail tech. So I have been worried about my small battery over charging and the thermal over load kicking in or somehow just damaging the small battery. What I have done is put a small tail light, one from a Honda xr, on the fender and wired it up so when I turn on the ignition it comes on and will draw just enough juice to keep me from worring about overcharging and still be able to keep my small battery which will also let me change my air filter easy without having to remove the battery. That plus the trophy trucks will be able to see me at night. All good!

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mcnaughb

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Crank end $152

side cover 161

stator 140

regulator 50

flywheel 172

shifter 40

headlight 550

cdi 79 off ebay 200 retail

wiring harn 9 off ebay 125 retail

Since we are mixing and matching models here...what year WR parts will work on an 06 YZ?

Should I assume the 07 and later WR?

Thanks.

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gdbarr1976

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Since we are mixing and matching models here...what year WR parts will work on an 06 YZ?

Should I assume the 07 and later WR?

Thanks.

Actually allot of parts are interchangeable going as far back as 03. Also allot of the parts off both a 250 and 450 are the same. I used a cdi and wiring harness being parted out from a 03 250. Same part # as a 08wr450. In fact I think the stator on the 03 wr250 and the 08 wr450 are the same. In 03 they went to the coil on the plug and it hasnt really changed since. Just compare parts #s you will be surprised at what fits!

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