How has your pre-owned CRF turned out?

[rcowboy]

About two months I bought a used 05 450r for $2500. So far i've replaced the water pump seals, shaft, and bearings. Bought a complete driveline chain, and sprokets. Swing arm pivot bearings. The motor seems to be fine, but i'm not so sure about the tranny. Some metal flakes are showing up in the oil. Hopeing this is clutch wear, probably not the case with my luck lol.

You guys are going to love this stuff. Check this out:

The weap hole for the water pump was sealed with JB weld so they could make the sale. ? Why on earth would you run a good motor into the ground for $6.00 in seals beats me.

Also...

The swing arm chain guide was so worn out, that the chain was cutting a grove into the swing arm bearings. I didn't see this damage until I went to service the chain and sprokets as it was on the bottom of the swing arm. Also the rear wheel is toast. Its an 1/8 th inch out of round in both directions.

also... lol

There is a spring that goes into the oil filter the provides alittle pressure to push out on the oil filter cover. Well I guess that spring was lost, so they cut a piece of fuel tube and shoved it in the hole of the filter to make up the difference lol.

Just though i'd share my story, and to be honest i'm having fun working on this thing. Gonna take it out for the first time tomorrow to the local MX track.

[NorCalRider]

Sounds like McGyver worked on that bike. ?

[BigBoyNickF]

I also have a 05 a bought used in dec of 07. Have had to replace the seal behind the front sprocket and put a rear brake gasket kit in. Other than that have really had no problems. Runs strong and still starts right up.?

Nick

[camoman1]

my pre owned 07 Crf 450r is keeping me busy replaceing worn stuff but the clutch that is shot will be the first major expense. I love working on the bike and the education I am getting will be valuable if I ever buy another. Too bad you never can know what's shot between those engine cases when you are looking to buy, and I don't know how many times I heard that the bike was only driven on Sunday by a little old lady when I was looking to buy!

[honda88]

I got an 03 about 3 weeks ago. I replaced the rear wheel which I knew and new rear tire. Other than things I wanted to put on it has been good so far but all I have is one ride. It already had a new chain Kibblewhite valves and new stock plastics. I paid 1,100.00 and 300 for rear wheel and I put another 375 for stuff I wanted. When I got mine I took the entire bike apart including front and rear suspension to asses if there were any problems. I am glad I did because the front forks fell apart. the rebound dampner was not attached. If I rode before checking I would be dead or badly injured..Any time your buying a used bike assume it was abused and check everything.

[JJRace]

1/8th in you wount feel that on the track. Get closer to 1/2" and you will for sure feel it in the air.

Sounds like a trail riders bike. Used, never maintained.

I have always on my MX bikes just first thing install a hinson clutch basket. No flakes in the oil ever and never have any fade issues like you hear so much about. I also drill extra oiling holes in the inner hub and pressure plate.

You seemed to have gotten a good price on the bike at least. same year bikes are asking $3-3500 around here in good shape.

[rcowboy]

Sounds like a trail riders bike. Used, never maintained.

You nailed it on the head. Thats exactly how it was ridden.

I knew when I bought it for $2,500 something probably had to be wrong with it.

I expected to probably spend $1,500 to get it back to specs. So far it hasn't been has bad as I though, but will see how it holds up tomorrow.

[zac949]

Purchased my 05 back in may 08. thought i needed to do the water pump thing but realised i let it idle to long and she spewed out the over flow:bonk: . Still runs like a champ and starts withing 3 kicks. the stock chain is stretched to the max so it looks like that will be my first maintenance purchase along with a new set of rubber

[SilverHorse]

I too just bought a 2005 450R for $2500. I can't find anything wrong with it yet, so I hope I get some good time on it before I have to start wrenching.

[rickwood]

Sounds like a trail riders bike. Used, never maintained.

Careful there, guys. Some of us trail riders maintain our bikes quite well. I bought my son an '05 CRF450R for $2,500 two months ago. It seemed like a great deal - new 13:1 wiseco piston, new stage 1 hotcam, new stainless valves, kickstand, skid plate, original tank & desert tank, paddle tire and extra wheel, scot steering stabilizer.

The guy we bought it from wasn't too mechanically inclined. We noticed that when he changed the rear wheel back to the dirt tire he left the spacers out! Fortunately they were with the other rim. We also noticed a hodge-podge of bolts on the bike, which we promptly switched back to factory bolts (makes it a lot easier to work on). The seals in the steering stabilizer are shot, but that should be an easy fix. The head gasket was leaking, so we replaced that. It also gave us a good excuse to check out the piston and shim the valves (they were pretty close). It's sealed up nicely now and starts almost every time on the first kick. The brake pads were shot, so we replaced them. The clutch was also awful. We replaced the plates, but due to severe notching in the basket it still felt rough. So I took the dremel to the clutch basket and the clutch works very smoothly now. Both fork seals were leaking -- replaced those and changed the fork oil.

Bottom line is that with about only $250 into the bike it's now a very good running bike! We're going on a week long trip next week to Moab and Caineville, Utah, so we'll give it a much better check out then. We've still got a few more things to do to it. Replace seals in stabilizer. Need to check/grease all suspension bearings. Also need to perform AP mod on carb. Seems like it may be just a tad lean on the pilot jet, potentially the main as well. But I think we've checked out pretty well the things that could end up being expensive to fix. I think we got a great buy for $2,500. Especially considering we would have bought another rim anyway (we ride an equal mix of trails and sand dunes - gotta love living 30 minutes away from St. Anthony! ? )

[Rodanst6]

Picked up an 06 CRF450 beginning of February, put about 10 hours on it so far, no problems, replaced the drive train due to a gearing change and piped and jetted it but that's it, except for oil changes and filter cleanings.

[PBWR450]

Picked up my 02 earlier this month, trail ridden only and appeared to be well maintained. It had new sprockets, brakes pads, rear rotor, Devol skid plate, UniBiker guards, Rekluse, etc. I cleaned the carb because it was running lean and found the plate on the slide to be upside down. The second ride out the water pump weep hole started leaking on start up, 5th ride out and it began knocking down low, turned out to be 3 fiber plates in the clutch had come apart. I had less than 1 hour total on this bike. You can read about that in my engine noise thread.

Bottom line, I am done buying used dirt bikes. I realize you can expect to find just about anything when buying used but at least buying new I know for sure how it has been ridden and, what was done to it and, if it was done right.

[NastyR1]

Picked up my 02 earlier this month, trail ridden only and appeared to be well maintained. It had new sprockets, brakes pads, rear rotor, Devol skid plate, UniBiker guards, Rekluse, etc. I cleaned the carb because it was running lean and found the plate on the slide to be upside down. The second ride out the water pump weep hole started leaking on start up, 5th ride out and it began knocking down low, turned out to be 3 fiber plates in the clutch had come apart. I had less than 1 hour total on this bike. You can read about that in my engine noise thread.

Bottom line, I am done buying used dirt bikes. I realize you can expect to find just about anything when buying used but at least buying new I know for sure how it has been ridden and, what was done to it and, if it was done right.

And that my friends is what is making all the manufacturers rich off of the 4-stroke craze. You pay a lot of money to buy it, maintain it, get little for it when you trade it, and then the poor slob that buys it has to put a lot of money into parts to get it up to par.

That's why I will never buy a 4-stroke as my primary bike, you never get out of them what you put into them. If you're racing, that's another story, you need them to be competitive, but I don't feel sorry for the weekend posers that put 8-10K into a machine just to have the latest bike when they would be more than happy with a cost efficient late model 2-stroke.

[jacckfish]

03 crf 450r $2000: 1ST ride was awesome. Found out I needed brake pads. No biggie.

2nd ride, was just as awesome except I bent the shifter, no Biggie.

3rd ride:ALL HELL BROKE LOOSE, wouldn't keep running unless choke was on. So I put a new piston and rings in. Ran great in garage. on way out to ride the bike fell over and put a small hole in the radiator which I didn't see untill I was 4 miles out on a trail. Went back to truck and Sat there the rest of day waiting for my buddies and drank their beer HEHEHE.?

Fixed the rads and had an F-ing blast. but the bike just didn't seem to run right. couldn't figure it out. started to get hard to start. Then real hard and had a massive GET OFF at 65mph which ended up in shoulder surgery. Got healed up went to ride and bike would not start. Put in new Kibblewhite Valves and sprint kit. Bike started on 3 rd kick? went for a ride and the bike was running lean:banghead:. On way back to cabin it locked up. ?

Went home tore it apart, and found the cam sproket bolts worked loose and fell into the bottom end. NO DAMAGE to anything except valve head cover. Also found header crush washer was to crushed, hence the running lean part I hope. I am waiting for the cam bolts and cam chain guide to put the lemon back together and see how she does.

Very soured on the buying used bike thing. Hindsight for me says I should have bucked up and bought new, but I have learned alot more about bikes. I like 4 stokes and they are not that hard to work on. My next 4 stoke will be PLATED which you can't do with a 2 smoke.?

[kevhogaz]

I bought an '05 CRF450 over the winter. The bike had the obligatory disclaimer, "trail ridden only, never raced, 15 hours total"!

Here's what I found:

50 tooth rear sprocket installed. Wheelies in 5th anybody?

Fork seal blown, assured it was just replaced.

Large rock chip in fork leg with blown seal.

Oil was black, in trans and crank case

Forks shot. Factory Connection had to just replace all internals.

That was about it, for bad stuff. The bike is mechanically sound, pulls strong, and has no damage to the frame or swingarm.

[lessongeo]

REPLACE THE HEAD

Again, REPLACE THE HEAD.

2005 and older the head had a poor grade of seat material.

Buy a 2006 or 2007 head off ebay when you need to replace the valves.

If you plan on riding hard or owning the bike for more than a season, get a newer head and Kibble valves.

And never buy a used 2005 CRF450R from a guy that only replaced the valves and kept the original head.

He might not be trying to screw you, but eventually someone will have to replace that during the bike's lifetime.

Just my $0.02

[Flyin-A]

Previously enjoyed '07 ridden 3 times. I rode it a year and lost 5th gear(never shifted like my old Hondas). 5th,4th,3rd,center shift fork,shift drum(think the chip out of it caused all of the problems)went ahead and put a new piston,rings,wrist pin(original piston did not have the coating worn thru). About to finish up with it this week. I have held every part in my hands including the suspension. Powdercoated frame,clamps,rims,hubs,heat shield,outer cases. Ready to do final assembly. ?

[Kawi4life]

Picked up my 02 earlier this month, trail ridden only and appeared to be well maintained. It had new sprockets, brakes pads, rear rotor, Devol skid plate, UniBiker guards, Rekluse, etc. I cleaned the carb because it was running lean and found the plate on the slide to be upside down. The second ride out the water pump weep hole started leaking on start up, 5th ride out and it began knocking down low, turned out to be 3 fiber plates in the clutch had come apart. I had less than 1 hour total on this bike. You can read about that in my engine noise thread.

Bottom line, I am done buying used dirt bikes. I realize you can expect to find just about anything when buying used but at least buying new I know for sure how it has been ridden and, what was done to it and, if it was done right.

Yup... Growing up I don't know if my parents couldn't afford new bikes or just weren't willing to pay the price for a new bike over used but all the problems I had buying other peoples used and abused junk and having to do motor rebuilds, new bearings (suspension, swingarm, etc), leaky suspension, bent, twisted, and rattling rusted scraped up pieces of shit I vowed that once I got older and started working I would never buy another used dirtbike or quad and I haven't. Bought my first brand new bike myself in 1995 at the age of 17 (KX100) and I'm telling ya, doesn't matter how much work and effort you put into a used bike, it will never be as nice, tight, and sound as a brand new bike off the showroom. Plus the main thing like you said - you buy new then you know what you got (how it is ridden, maintained, etc.)

[rcowboy]

Welp, took the new girl out for the first time today. All I can say is WOW! I'm impressed, one of the best bikes i've ever had. Even though it an 05. I feel like a pro on this thing. I had a 1990 KX250 and I had to work my but off to do any kind of lap times. Let a buddy of mine ride it also and he was also impressed. The suspension is great, the best i've ever had.

[Vampireracing]

Welp, took the new girl out for the first time today. All I can say is WOW! I'm impressed, one of the best bikes i've ever had. Even though it an 05. I feel like a pro on this thing. I had a 1990 KX250 and I had to work my but off to do any kind of lap times. Let a buddy of mine ride it also and he was also impressed. The suspension is great, the best i've ever had.

Just curious. Did you check the valve clearance yet? 04-05 models have a problem with the valve seats being soft. So far I've had to re-do the valves twice already on my 04 since I bought it in 06. Right after I bought it I had to completely re-build the motor. Top and bottom and replace all the same stuff you mentioned in your first post. By the time I spent the money for repairs I could have gotten a brand new bike.

I'm done with used unless It's from a buddy that I've ridden with. That way I do know how it's been ridden and maintained.