Motor rebuild on a KTM

[Mtnseeker1]

After this last ride I'm sitting on about 186.4 hrs and well over 4k miles.
So I've been thinking it is time to start buying some parts.
Q= Is should I be splitting the case and rebuild the gears at the same time or?

I'm thinking the piston,rod are good if I rebuild before problems arise. But I love to speed shift here in the sand so gears are something I'm also thinking about.
I'm hoping to just get away with top end and bearings on the crank but I have no idea about these sort of things.
And remember this is a KTM we are concerned with not JAP.

I have already put two shims in for my exhaust valves and rather rebuild while running vs the cost of some real problems.

[Iceaxe]

The trick to getting long life out of an engine is keeping the air cleaner clean and well sealed. There is no reason to rebuild an engine, particularly the bottom end, unless you have sucked some dirt. Do you have good compression?

Tap'n on my Galaxy G3

[Mtnseeker1]

She's always been clean and way over serviced but even the manual says top end after like 50 hrs.
The thing is she has been raced and I do speed shift all the time here in the sand.
Rode very hard and put away dry with amsoil and oil changes ever 15 hrs but that is way more than what I have been doing. My changes are closer to say 6-12 hrs.
Compression has not been checked but she rides as hard today as the day I bought her.
Just want to stay ahead of any problems is all with such high hrs.
The air filters are replaced and cleaned just about every ride. I have three twin air cleaners with at least one clean,oiled and in a zip lock I carry with me as I ride. (river crossings can be rude).

[moab mark]

My bike wishes you owned it.

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

[Iceaxe]

"Speeding Shifting" means nothing to a motorcycle, they are not like a car. A motorcycle really has what engineers call a crash box and not a typical car type transmission. They were designed to take beatings and speed shift.

As for racing your motorcycle is just a dumb machine, it has no clue that it is being raced and it was designed to be ridden hard. So saying it is "raced" has no bearing.

If its not broke don't fix it... if it was me I'd freshen the top end, make sure everything else's is top notch and call it good.

Dirt is the enemy of engines, you can carry all the air cleaners you want but one small leak and your engine is toast, doesn't matter if it has five or five thousand miles on it.

And just to give you a little back history on me to back up my statements, I spent the best five years of my life making a living as a FACTORY backed MX and Supercross rider. As a hobby and entertainment I have raced just about every big name off road race you can think of... all that was back when two strokes ruled the world.... but again, an engine doesn't know if its a two or four stroke.... anyhoo.... that's my two cents....

Now after saying all that.... if it makes you feel better and improves your confidence then by all means, tear the motor down and have a look, it's really not that big of deal if you know what your doing and can be done in an afternoon.


Tap'n on my Galaxy G3

[Mtnseeker1]

LOL@moab mark, It does bro oh wait I got it wrong again

[BlakeC]

Sweet insight ice axe; thanks

[Mtnseeker1]

I've decided to stay in front of the blow the bitch up thing and go ahead with a top end refresh.
I think I'm due as she is getting a bit stubborn about starting lately.
Do I need to be concerned with the head / cam / valves / timming chain?

My gut says yes but my brain knows not.

Some background here: I just put in a new lith. battery that has like 3maybe 4 times the cranking amps.
When really cold and she turns over without start I do hear a hard click like I used to with my xr650r pin for compression release as she stops hard?

I'm thinking valve clearance but? Already had to do some shims for I think the exhaust valves about 6 months ago.

[accadacca]

I won't touch mine until it blows...

Of course I might have a white and blue one with a big H on it before then... :evil:

[Mtnseeker1]

And some yellower acca don't forget the true H colors. THem bikes are so good looking.

I'm sure my cam is getting flatter by the race thus the valve shims.
One thing KTM does well is fork seals and valve seats and build a bike that is as race ready out of the box as money can buy.