What really needs to be done to a new bike?

[Guest Guest]

So, my list of things that you have to do on a new 426 is:

Change oil every time you ride. Oil is life for a 426.

Tighten spokes every time you ride, they always seem to come loose.

Buy a new chain. An expensive but seemingly required change.

Check rear sprocket bolts, add locktight red, and torque every time you ride.

Put on a Hinson clutch basket. It seems no one really knows what serial numbers have the clutch problem. Yamaha says only the early 426's have the problem. According to MXA all the 426's were built on one day in June. So does that mean only the bikes built from 8:30-10:00 A.M. have the nasty clutch baskets?

Jeeze, what else am I missing? This just seems retarded that there are so many problems with this bike. I bought it becasue it's the Big Nasty Monster that everyone is raving about. It's a blast to ride but come on yamaha, do they really expect every YZ owner to go through this? My list does not even count the fact that the axles, swingarm, and shock pivots are lubed with vasoline from the factory and they need to be lubed immediatly. I never expected to have to rebuild the whole thing to make it last!

Roostn in Denver

[MikeOK]

Yo roostn- I recently went through the after break-in maintenece thing on my 426 and found what everyone else has been saying to be true. I bought mine in June, and my dealer told me it was his last for 2000 so I figured the clutch thing shouldn't be a problem for me, and so far after around 25+ hours it hasn't been. I also heard that they didn't build these bikes throughout the year so who knows? But for information here's what I found: every bearing needed grease, especially the steering head and swingarm bearings. I changed the fork oil also and it definately needed it. I haven't had any problems with loose spokes and I am 210 lb's, race it at least every other weekend. I have also found that I probably spend 2 hours working on it (mostly maintenance things)for every hour of riding, especially when I'm racing often...

Mike

[Hick]

Roostn,

Don’t use red loctite on your rear sprocket bolts. That stuff works pretty good and you may have hell changing sprockets out. I use blue and make sure the lock nuts are still in working condition. I have already replaced them once with quality Nylocks. You should only have to tighten spokes the first several rides, after that a periodic check should suffice.

I realize you may be using a bit of sarcasm here and I can totally understand how you got pissed and why. You just paid like six grand for a brand new bike and all you hear about is the damn thing fallin’ apart on everybody and you need to grease this and replace that or else.

A few things to remember:

Folks who have no problems don’t go around advertising this.

A full blown, annually updated, race ready, purpose built machine WILL have glitches and WILL need maintenance. If you don’t believe this talk to a Husaberg owner.

Japanese factories are run by Cost Accountants who know how much a good chain costs but don’t appreciate how much better it is.

Yamahas are now the most popular competition model so there are bound to be more people with problems. If there was one KTM RFS for every YZF/WR I am CERTAIN that we would be hearing tons more about KTM problems.

Not only that but I’m convinced that the average YZF/WR owner is MUCH more savvy than the average guy out flogging a 2-stroke. So when the clutch makes noise we investigate, when we hear about lack of grease we start greasing things, and if we think that buying a two hundred dollar chunk of billet aluminum and/or tearing the thing apart every so often will help it run better and/or longer we don’t hesitate to do so. I don’t know why this is. I rarely looked at my two stroke until it left me stranded and just waited ‘till it ran like crap to rebuild it.

My last and only other new bike (except for ’82 RM80) was a 99 KX500. The spokes came loose, I lost a hundred dollars worth of fasteners that vibrated off, I blew a headgasket, the graphics began chipping off immediately, the bars bent the first time I dropped it, the chain lasted a week, the rear sprocket started chipping teeth the week after and the detent spring broke. All in the first 3 or 4 months. And this is on a bike that hasn’t been updated since, what, like 1990? And two of these problems made the bike unrideable (detent spring and head gasket).

My 426 needs lots of oil changes, the bars bent immediately, chain sucked, sprocket broke, no grease, clutch made noise because it rubbed case, main and counterbalancer gear retaining nuts came loose and counterbalancer straight key was rounded off. All in all I consider it a wash, but I only paid 5k for my YZ, just $300 more than the five-honey ?

Somewhere there is a KTM RFS/Cannondale/SuzukiDRZ/Husaberg owner that wishes he bought a YZ because of all the problems he’s had with HIS bike. I’m sure this person could convince you that you bought the right bike, or if not would be happy to trade…

…because in the great big scheme of things I think the 426 is a better value than any other comparable race bike, glitches, oil changes, crappy accessories and all.

[holeshot]

Roostn:

I check the spokes about once every 5-10 rides or so (now that the wheels have seated). If you check your spokes after five rides and none are loose, is there any reason to check after every ride? Check often when new (after the first ride and use your best judgement thereafter).If you're jumping 100 ft. triples, it might be wise to check after each ride - the same for any bike, not just the 426.

Change the oil after every ride? If you went two hundred hard miles that day - O.K.

Linkage maintenance on the 426 is no different from any other bike.

The rear sprocket bolts haven't come loose on my 426, but they could, so I keep an eye on them. I've never "torqued" them.

The clutch? - well, I think you've hit on a genuine weak point here. I've changed to a Hinson basket, not for strength, but because the stock basket does not provide adequate oil to the plates. This is a separate issue from the "bad, weak basket" deal. Inadequate oil to the plates causes chatter and eats the plates. My clutch started to slip after the first hour of use (at first, I thought the lack of response was due to poor fuel ?.

Others have had different(and more expensive) problems with the 426, so Yamaha would do well to improve their quality control program, considering that we are in the internet age, and news travels quickly.

Still, the 426 is an awesome bike, but let's hope it's not the Maico for the new millenium.

[Guest Guest]

You are correct in noting some sarcasm in my post. I have a 1979 TT500 Yamaha that I have Flat Track raced HARD for 8 years and it NEVER fails and I never have to do anything to it. I also have a 1996 Honda CBR900RR which is also extremely low maint and bullet proof.

I just freaking LOVE my YZ and hearing all the stories does freak a guy out. I really think that most of the guys with problems are running these babies at full roost, landing triples in 5th gear pinned, and anything will grenage itself if you do that long enough no matter how much maint you do.

Me? I'm a trail rider. My bike is for tight single track and for next years Pikes Peak Hillclimb. I raced the Peak this year on a Triumph and landed a 4th. Next year I wanted a bike that I can Roost up the hill with no mechanicals and I think the YZ is the bike to do it on. Finally, I dig 4 strokes. I love a big with a ROAR and these 400's are the bomb when you whack that gas!

My plan is to keep on top of my service, like I do with all my bikes, and I don't think I'll have any probs. I agree that 426 owners do seem to be much different from the normal Ring-Dinger and are more in tune with the machine. I just was suprised by what had to be done to my "Brand New" bike in terms of teardown and lube, toss this off, put this on, and watch out for this. My expactation was that for my $6K I would bet a machine built with all the care and attention that I pay to a bike that I build from scratch. But for Six grand, I guess you can't expect a whole lot.

Roostn in Denver

[So_Cal_Erik]

In referring to Hick's posting I must say that I have yet to talk to any 4-stroke KTM owners that have had close to as many if any problems as the Yamahas have had. Yes the KTM's and YZ-WRF's are going to need frequent

regular maintenance. They are RACE-BIKES, and

need to be checked every time you go out. Not to check is foolish, and you're just asking for trouble.It only takes five minutes-there's NO EXCUSE to not check! Always check your spokes,

your tire pressure, and check for loose bolts, check your oil, and your radiator water level, every time ! check your wheel bearings and clean and add grease every time you change your tires, check and add grease to your steering and swingarm bearings every 6 months of regular riding. I also before riding, spray chainlube on all movable parts,including footpeg mount/pivots,

linkages, and axle dust seals as well as of course, the chain. Make regular maintenance checks a habit, I know it's a pain in the butt, but the little time you spend doing it yourself will save you a LOT of downtime and money in the long run, plus you get to learn all about your bike in the process, and you'll be less likely to get ripped off by your local mechanic.

Erik

------------------

So Cal Erik

Visit my club's site at <A HREF="http://www.ruts.org

" TARGET=_blank>www.ruts.org

</A>

[This message has been edited by So Cal Erik (edited 09-07-2000).]

[ETS]

I also put red lock tight on the rear axle nut, in our group we lost a couple axle nuts before we started locking down. Maybe buying a new lock nut would have cured it, but lock tight is cheaper. I have a 99'400 and when it's time for another I hope they have the 426's fixed or I will go KTM. At least all the problems happening it makes me not want a new bike. I had tranny problems on my last RM and I wouldn't buy another because I was always afraid to grenade it again. Otherwise it was a great bike.

[Matt_Porritt]

I think the bottom line is that the bikes we ride are 'Race bikes'

Race bike need alot of upkeep.. BUT a good grease when new and regular maint. will make them very reliable and last a long time.

------------------

--

**Ride it like you Stole it!**

Matt Porritt

99 YZ400F

Vist the Rubber Chicken Racing Online Shop

Discounts for ThumperTalk members.

[Tim]

Well said boys,

We can't help to realize that the more high preformance a bike, car, street bike or what ever a machine becomes, the more maintanence it will require. The YZ400-26 is not a bike to be ridden then tossed in the garage until the next ride. Same with a high preformance drag bike, hot rod, or anything else that is anywhere near it's mechanical limits. Now if you would have let's say a XR200 maybe you could be a little more relaxed on the work put in. But that bike is lame and we needed something else to put the fear of god into us.......... ? Right?

[JBM]

I've replaced my chain and handlebars, lubed the steering head and swingarm, and changed the fork oil and seals. Other than these the only things I've had to do "regularly", are change the oil, clean the air filter, and lube the chain. I've checked the whole bike over of course...spokes, nuts and bolts, valves, wheel runout, tires, fenders, gas tank, paint, skid plate...I'm getting carried away and kidding, but I have checked everything I can think of and do so fairly regularly. Everything has worked fine so far. I got one of the first bikes too. I've had my 426 since early December of last year. My clutch too will chatter after first start of the day if not warmed up real good. My solution to this? I warm it up real good. I even took the clutch completely apart and everything looked good so I've decided to let it be. If it breaks I'll deal with it at that time.

I hear you guys who have had the problems and that would s**k, but overall I think we can all agree that Yamaha has made a great bike. Hang in there, the riding of the bike makes up for it.

[Boit]

Thought I would share my experience with the 426 as well. I took delivery in March and when I got home with the bike, I immediately disassembled the suspension to luble the swing arm pivots, shock mounts, axles, steering stem bearings etc.....then went over the entire bike to check all fasteners and setup the controls to suit me. I ran the engine in two spurts of about 20 each at low RPM with a two hour cool down in between and then changed the oil and filter. In my opinion, this allows the engine a chance to seat the rings properly and to remove any metal shavings from the crankcase. The oil is always dirty the first time from the ring blow-by and from all the moving parts wearing in. I've also found that the bike was jetted slightly rich and changed to a #160 main jet that has gotten rid of that annoying hesitation when the throttle is snapped open. Aftermarket parts that I've installed are: Vortex aluminum airobx that allows easy air filter changes and flows more air, Pro-Tec upper triple clamp that has two bar positions, Renthal(Jimmy Button bend), Renthal grips, DID ERT with Renthal sprockets(check bolts often and loc tite) Dunlop 756 for the loamy soil we have here, WB titanium hi-boy head pipe and carbon fiber silencer, DSP frame guards and skid plate, Fastline front brakeline with the surf'n turf Honda style routing clamp, Bel Ray DOT 4 brake fluid, Hinson clutch, Factory R&D P38 accelerator pump bottom plate, Pro Design super cooler, and Redline Waterwetter.

I find that Westwood International is the best place to get aftermarket parts. I find their prices are lower than anyone else's. If anyone knows of a better place, I'd really like to know.

[426_Monster]

Originally posted by Hick:

Roostn,

Don’t use red loctite on your rear sprocket bolts. That stuff works pretty good and you may have hell changing sprockets out. I use blue and make sure the lock nuts are still in working condition. I have already replaced them once with quality Nylocks. You should only have to tighten spokes the first several rides, after that a periodic check should suffice.

I realize you may be using a bit of sarcasm here and I can totally understand how you got pissed and why. You just paid like six grand for a brand new bike and all you hear about is the damn thing fallin’ apart on everybody and you need to grease this and replace that or else.

A few things to remember:

Folks who have no problems don’t go around advertising this.

A full blown, annually updated, race ready, purpose built machine WILL have glitches and WILL need maintenance. If you don’t believe this talk to a Husaberg owner.

Japanese factories are run by Cost Accountants who know how much a good chain costs but don’t appreciate how much better it is.

Yamahas are now the most popular competition model so there are bound to be more people with problems. If there was one KTM RFS for every YZF/WR I am CERTAIN that we would be hearing tons more about KTM problems.

Not only that but I’m convinced that the average YZF/WR owner is MUCH more savvy than the average guy out flogging a 2-stroke. So when the clutch makes noise we investigate, when we hear about lack of grease we start greasing things, and if we think that buying a two hundred dollar chunk of billet aluminum and/or tearing the thing apart every so often will help it run better and/or longer we don’t hesitate to do so. I don’t know why this is. I rarely looked at my two stroke until it left me stranded and just waited ‘till it ran like crap to rebuild it.

My last and only other new bike (except for ’82 RM80) was a 99 KX500. The spokes came loose, I lost a hundred dollars worth of fasteners that vibrated off, I blew a headgasket, the graphics began chipping off immediately, the bars bent the first time I dropped it, the chain lasted a week, the rear sprocket started chipping teeth the week after and the detent spring broke. All in the first 3 or 4 months. And this is on a bike that hasn’t been updated since, what, like 1990? And two of these problems made the bike unrideable (detent spring and head gasket).

My 426 needs lots of oil changes, the bars bent immediately, chain sucked, sprocket broke, no grease, clutch made noise because it rubbed case, main and counterbalancer gear retaining nuts came loose and counterbalancer straight key was rounded off. All in all I consider it a wash, but I only paid 5k for my YZ, just $300 more than the five-honey ?

Somewhere there is a KTM RFS/Cannondale/SuzukiDRZ/Husaberg owner that wishes he bought a YZ because of all the problems he’s had with HIS bike. I’m sure this person could convince you that you bought the right bike, or if not would be happy to trade…

…because in the great big scheme of things I think the 426 is a better value than any other comparable race bike, glitches, oil changes, crappy accessories and all.

Hi Hick

main and counterbalancer gear retaining nuts came loose and counterbalancer straight key was rounded off.

Can you give more info on this, seeing that I seem to have the same probleme, Took it to the shop today. What causes this

Greetings for South Africa

Dreyer

dreyer@mercdata.co.za

[daveyg]

I'm glad to hear that so many people seem to like their 426's. Personally, when I got mine home from the dealership, I greased everything, replaced the chain w/ O-Ring, frame guards, did some suspension mods, protapers, Hinson Basket (after I heard of clutch failures), etc.....then it was ready to ride. But.....after two months of weekly riding and numerous oil changes and regular service, my tranny decided to fail. Now, months later I have my bike back and I've ridden it a couple times since. I'm again starting to hear a tranny noise and this sucks. I love the bike, the feel, the power, etc......just like you guys, but I can't afford another 800.00 repair bill and Yamaha saying, "Sorry, your out of luck." Great bike when it works like it's suppose to, but I am a little disappointed.

[Hick]

Originally posted by 426 Monster:

Hi Hick

main and counterbalancer gear retaining nuts came loose and counterbalancer straight key was rounded off.

Can you give more info on this, seeing that I seem to have the same probleme, Took it to the shop today. What causes this

Greetings for South Africa

Dreyer

dreyer@mercdata.co.za

I dunno.

Maybe they just aren’t torqued enough at factory.

Maybe using key to hold counterbalancer gear is bad engineering/design since counterbalancer inflects oscillating or push-pull-push force on the gear. This push-pull effect on gear (and key) may be incompatible with a straight key, they are kind of soft. For ’01 models a key will no longer be used, counterbalancer gear will be held on with splines. I wonder why? ?

I have checked mine once since this happened and it was still snug so I would say that the main reason the key got rounded off is because the nut came loose. This created enough play for the oscillating resistance to rock the key back and forth and round it off.

But I need to check it again and I will since I’ve ruined a rim and can’t ride my bike anyway. If it has come loose again I will start a new topic.

Another theory that just occurred to me is that perhaps the key they used is too long and butted against the back of the main gear, giving assembler a “bad” torque reading. Then over time the soft key wears against the hard gear and creates looseness.

But I have no idea, really. I just put mine together with a new key and torqued all the nuts back on.

I’m sorry about your bike. Let us know what your mechanic says. Make sure you have him inspect the key way in the crank carefully. Mine had a small portion of one edge chipped off, which is why I still check it periodically.

[This message has been edited by Hick (edited 09-13-2000).]

[YZ426_Kicks]

Originally posted by Roostn:

So, my list of things that you have to do on a new 426 is:

Change oil every time you ride. Oil is life for a 426.

Tighten spokes every time you ride, they always seem to come loose.

Buy a new chain. An expensive but seemingly required change.

Check rear sprocket bolts, add locktight red, and torque every time you ride.

Put on a Hinson clutch basket. It seems no one really knows what serial numbers have the clutch problem. Yamaha says only the early 426's have the problem. According to MXA all the 426's were built on one day in June. So does that mean only the bikes built from 8:30-10:00 A.M. have the nasty clutch baskets?

Jeeze, what else am I missing? This just seems retarded that there are so many problems with this bike. I bought it becasue it's the Big Nasty Monster that everyone is raving about. It's a blast to ride but come on yamaha, do they really expect every YZ owner to go through this? My list does not even count the fact that the axles, swingarm, and shock pivots are lubed with vasoline from the factory and they need to be lubed immediatly. I never expected to have to rebuild the whole thing to make it last!

Roostn in Denver

Hey Roostn,

Took a little to find it, but I just wanted to let you know that my 2000 YZ426F was manufactured by Yamaha on:

04/26/2000...That's right 0426 2000. I found it to be very ironic, but that's the date. By New York State Law, all vehicles must be titled and the manufacturing date must be listed on the title.

Some have been wanting to know about VIN numbers for the sake of tracking problems. Here's mine:

JYACJ01C5YA010219

If you've been keeping up with the forums you know what I've been experiencing...

Hope this helps

Thanks!

Randy

YZ426 Kicks

[This message has been edited by YZ426 Kicks (edited 09-22-2000).]

[This message has been edited by YZ426 Kicks (edited 09-22-2000).]

[Guest Guest]

I own a 00 WR400 and after about about 50 miles on it something in the tranny let loose. It cost me $300.00 dollars to fix. I called Yamaha, which took me about 1 month to get a hold of them and they told me sorry cant help you your warranty ran out five days ago. Then to top it off the dealership where I had it fixed stripped out my oil drain plug and blamed it on me!! To fix that problem they drilled out the hole, tapped it and when they did that they drilled it crooked so thet thing leaks. I have to use teflon tape on the bolt to stop it from leaking.

I like the bike but I dont think I'll buy another Yamaha again. They seem to have to many problems.