WTB or borrow crank install tool. Tusk or Motion Pro

OaklandF4i

OaklandF4i

Darwin's exception
I have one, but all the way up in Lake County. If you really get stuck, welcome to drive up and use it in my garage. But by the time you have paid for gas, you are nearly to the cost of just buying one from Rocky Mtn. The Tusk one works great btw.

I've installed plenty without though. While the tool makes the process painless, with a little prep it isn't too bad without.

Not sure of your experience level, but here a few tips for doing it without one. No offense intended and disregard if you've done this before/already know this.

Put your crank in the freezer over night. A couple of hours in the freezer won't generally do. Leave it there until ready to install.

Install the transmission in one side of case and make sure its shifts.

Dry fit the two case halves without the crank but with the transmission to make sure you have the transmission lined up correctly (good to do regardless if you have the crank puller or not.)

If all good, smear a little transmission oil with your finger around the inside of the main bearings.

Start with the case half with the transmission seated in it and heat the inside of the main bearing with a torch until you get a bit of consistent smoke rising from it (that's the film of oil you just put on.) The smoke tells you its hot enough.

Remove crank from freezer and it should just slide right in without hammering (very bad idea).

Repeat process immediately with the other case and your torch. No time for sandwiches at this point. :teeth

It too should slide most if not all the way on. If you have an inch or so gap between the case, ie it didnt go all the way on, don't fret. You will be able to safely finish the bit of gap with the case the bolts.

Take your time and tighten in a criss cross pattern and don't take up too much of the gap with anyone bolt.

The case will be easily pulled down on your crank, the transmission may take a jiggle or two occasionally on the case halves.

Stop if the bolts around the transmission seem to be needing more torque than nesc and jiggle until its lined up correctly (this is why dry fitting without the crank is a nice step to get a feel for the fit.) This process will be no different if you have a crank installer or not.

Lastly, you can use dry ice if you are impatient and don't want to wait for the crank to deep freeze over night. Or if for some unforeseen reason you had to take a sandwich break halfway through the process. Even with dry ice, its not an instant process. You need to give it some time to thoroughly freeze.

Anyways, might help if you don't find a puller close by. Good luck. :thumbup
 
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A

AFM890

Member
Thank you so much for the detailed advice

I haven’t rebuilt bike motors for many years. Built a lot of horizontal split case 2 stroke 250cc twin race motors back in my AFM race days. (Honda NSR250/RS250s). Need to find my lead down kit. Lol.

The cold and hot method will work but sure hope one of my old race buddies or a good Barfer in the Bay Area has the crank instal tool. My single cylinder 2 road race buddies (RS125s) tell me the bearings come on the crank and they don’t Have the tool. Ha

I’m also pretty sure I could make an install tool with pieces of a gear puller, bolt/threaded rod, pipe, and some way to connect the crank sides to threaded rod.

A nice ride up to lake county would be a nice trip.

I’ll keep you posted.

Thanks again for the offer.

-Dylan
 
OaklandF4i

OaklandF4i

Darwin's exception
Never really understood why all motors aren't horizontally split. Helped another barfer a few months back split the cases of an RD350. Talk about painless....

The torch method really isn't difficult, especially as you have experience building motors, even if some years back. For the less experienced folks who are a bit overwhelmed with it all, it certainly takes a bit of angst out of the process.

I'm sure if you took the bolt that holds the primary gear on down to the hardware store you could find another longer one with the same pitch. Be fairly straight forward pulling that side on with a longer bolt, a nut, washer, and a piece or two of scrap wood.

Not sure about the CR's crank on the other side. It has a nut to hold on the flywheel. A puller could be fashioned using that nut, albeit with a bit more work than the other side.

A lot cranks are hollow with a thread on that side too (stator side), even if not used for anything. If so, figure out the pitch, get a long bolt to fit and repeat process like primary drive side. Never done it, but seems very doable.

But have to figure out what your time is worth. After figuring out pitches, travel to store, fashioning your scrap wood.... might be time to just buy one. Then again, there's satisfaction to be had with home solutions. :laughing

The crank fit on the main bearing isn't all that crazy tight. They really do just fall in after being frozen and the main bearing heated. Not an exaggeration.

Its as easy as putting new bearings into cases. As long as the parts are properly frozen and enough heat is used. The problems most folk encounter is they haven't properly deep freezed the part and or not added enough heat.

But always welcome to ride up with the engine and do on my bench too. Good luck. :thumbup
 
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