Setting up 2010 YZ450 for Snow bike

jrusher · Oct 22, 2013

Just picked up a 2010 YZ450F and a mountain horse kit Ive done some research and looks like i need to modify the air box for snow ingestion some other questions I have though are
- do i need to run a thermostat or regulate flow to rads?
- engine temp gauge needed ?
- wheres a good place to buy the bigger foot pegs, light kit, bar heaters?
- have guys lowered the rear end to lower seat height ?

Any other tips would great to keep this thing reliable an the oil free of gasoline contamination, will be riding 2000-7000 ft revy, valemount etc

Thx

PalousePoo · Oct 22, 2013

I took the timbersled rear strut rod, and had another one made that was only 1/2" shorter than the stock one. This lowered the seat height a lot, but was not recommended by the manufacture. It does change the geometry, and maybe lets it wheelie easier, which is fun, until your in a steep climb. I'm gonna experiment this year with the stock one, and see if I can tell a difference. With experience, the tall seat height isn't such a problem cause you learn to come to a stop and balance, and avoid that natural tendency to put a foot down. That is what tips you over, and provides tons of laughs from your buddies!

mwf3158 · Oct 23, 2013

Had many of those last year! lol

PalousePoo · Oct 23, 2013

Buy a Cyclops light from Off Road
Rider on here in Kent Wa. Not cheap, but works great. His kit connects into the fuel inj power.

M5- · Oct 24, 2013

mwf3158 said:
Had many of those last year! lol

Yep. I've got lots of Gopro's of doing just that all usually with the" Dam it Fawk Me" audio to go along with it. LOL

M5

JimBridger · Oct 24, 2013

I bought a Polisport led light, and plugged it into the fuel inj. power. Works awesome!

I'm still struggling with intake options, but i think I'll pry throw in the towel, and just get a BD Turbo kit.

PalousePoo · Oct 25, 2013

For footpegs, check out fastway pegs. They look beefy. I may try some this year. I think Allen puts them on his KX demos.

torkd · Nov 6, 2013

jacobdewey said:
I bought a Polisport led light, and plugged it into the fuel inj. power. Works awesome!

I'm still struggling with intake options, but i think I'll pry throw in the towel, and just get a BD Turbo kit.

Ive got a 2011 YZ450 that I am also putting a Mountain horse kit on. Do you run into any issues getting the bike started when the weather is really cold? Ive heard guys say they wrap a heat blanket around the head when travelling to the staging area but that would require a 120V plug in. What are your thoughts on that?

Thanks,

PalousePoo · Nov 6, 2013

My YZ starts just as good coming out of the trailer, stone cold, at 25 degrees outside temp., as it does cold, in the summer time. About 5 kicks.

jrusher · Nov 6, 2013

I ordered a cyclops led 610 light and some ame hot grips that are the non programable grip basically they arent looking for a battery power source or drop in volts.. Will i have any issues running these? From what Ive read long as i dont run them both at the same time I should be okay?
Also wheres a good place to tap into for power for the grips on the yz450? Thanks

jrusher · Nov 22, 2013

Just finished getting the yz450 ready for the snow, heading to revy monday for first ride. I thought id post a few pics of cpl mods i did got alot of good info off here hopefully the bike runs well. I havent ridden one of these kits yet so should be interesting been sledding alot of years and race mx so shouldnt be to bad i hope lol..
- thermo bob thermostat with bypass and used some foam board insualtion under skid plate
-mosse racing skid plate biggest i could find might extend the sides up further
- fastaway adventure pegs
- blocked off shroud intake holes with pre filter material, might tape off rad openings as well
-610 led cyclops light
- AME heated grips, grips get really hot work awesome, wired them into the cyclops wire harness for power
-cyrca hand bark busters
- dr d pipe and changed map to a lean map
- chain case guard in the works
Hopefully she doesnt over fuel

JimBridger · Nov 24, 2013

I went yesterday, and learned a few things. I insulated my case, similar to what you have done, and it made a world of difference. My temps were between 145-190*F, with one radiator blocked, no thermostat. (only 5-6" of new snow, so they weren't submerged in fresh snow all day.)

On my intake, I did a little different setup than you, but we probably flow the same amount of air through the shrouds. Once inside the shrouds, all I ran was a backfire screen and prefilter over my stock cage. Once the bike got up to operating temp, I was surprised to find I had a lean pop-sputter on WOT, as I had already added a bit of fuel, because of my pre-filter intake and a full yosh exhaust. (6500-8000' elevation) I brought my tuner so I added more fuel to the top end using my GYTR Tuner. My bike now has way more grunt than last year when I was trying different things to keep snow out of my intake. I was pulling 3rd climbing straight up the hill, where last year 2nd was all I ever climbed in. Make sure to bring batteries for your tuner, I didn't and mine died. lol

One more thing, Buy radiator cages for your bike, they bend soooo easy without some extra support. One tip-over on a hard drift, and you'll be dropping $200 on a new rad.

BTW, Your Bike looks sa-weet!

c_ruf · Nov 24, 2013

Bike is looking real good jrusher. I just picked up a used kit this weekend and am hoping to get it set up shortly.
What type of material did you use on the intake? Has anyone used frog skins?
What is the graphics kit you put on called?
Did you ride the bike at all in cold temps before you put the thermostat on?
Do you plan on running a splash of race gas?

jrusher · Nov 24, 2013

Thanks.. Just went for a test rip around the house here in some fields we have about a foot of fresh its set up abit. Handles great in the fresh stuff but really sketchy on the hard pack i expected this especially with those deep keels on ski.. Going to crank the compression right in on the forks they compressed really easy. Gonna take some seat time to get used to and the deeper the better it will handle im sure.. I got the kids pro to ride if this dont work out to well lol.. Off to revy tomorrow for the week
Ya Jacob I can see the rad supports being needed i almost tipped over a few times.. Going to get a inline temp gauge to monitor temps. I'll see how this map work out its the jay mammont map off thumpertalk supposed to be lean
Cruf I got a sheet of the slp pre filter material to block intakes off, one industries graphics kit.. No need to run race on these bikes..

torkd · Nov 25, 2013

jrusher said:
Thanks.. Just went for a test rip around the house here in some fields we have about a foot of fresh its set up abit. Handles great in the fresh stuff but really sketchy on the hard pack i expected this especially with those deep keels on ski.. Going to crank the compression right in on the forks they compressed really easy. Gonna take some seat time to get used to and the deeper the better it will handle im sure.. I got the kids pro to ride if this dont work out to well lol.. Off to revy tomorrow for the week
Ya Jacob I can see the rad supports being needed i almost tipped over a few times.. Going to get a inline temp gauge to monitor temps. I'll see how this map work out its the jay mammont map off thumpertalk supposed to be lean
Cruf I got a sheet of the slp pre filter material to block intakes off, one industries graphics kit.. No need to run race on these bikes..

I tried putting that Jay Mammont map in my bike right before a ride on sunday but the programmer said it couldnt connect to the ECU :mmph:

. We also had to ride a km of ice from the staging area before hitting snow and that was quite an experience.

That bike you set up looks great! heres a pic of mine in fernie this past saturday, it was my first time ever on a timbersled and Im so happy I was lucky enough to find one.

EDIT** Im a dummy and just realized I tried putting the Map in while the bike was running! Had the excitement jitters of the first season ride and wasn't thinking straight I guess.

torkd · Dec 2, 2013

jrusher said:
Thanks.. Just went for a test rip around the house here in some fields we have about a foot of fresh its set up abit. Handles great in the fresh stuff but really sketchy on the hard pack i expected this especially with those deep keels on ski.. Going to crank the compression right in on the forks they compressed really easy. Gonna take some seat time to get used to and the deeper the better it will handle im sure.. I got the kids pro to ride if this dont work out to well lol.. Off to revy tomorrow for the week
Ya Jacob I can see the rad supports being needed i almost tipped over a few times.. Going to get a inline temp gauge to monitor temps. I'll see how this map work out its the jay mammont map off thumpertalk supposed to be lean
Cruf I got a sheet of the slp pre filter material to block intakes off, one industries graphics kit.. No need to run race on these bikes..

Have you messed with the gearing at all yet? I've only had my bike out twice with the kit on and it is super slow in 5th down the trail. Also found myslef shifting between 2nd and 3rd constantly when playing on some hills. I'm wondering if gearing it up for a little more track speed would work, or if losing the bottom end power would be worse...

JimBridger · Dec 2, 2013

torkd said:
Have you messed with the gearing at all yet? I've only had my bike out twice with the kit on and it is super slow in 5th down the trail. Also found myslef shifting between 2nd and 3rd constantly when playing on some hills. I'm wondering if gearing it up for a little more track speed would work, or if losing the bottom end power would be worse...

I'm wondering the same thing. Climbing in deep soft snow, I am hitting the rev limiter in second, but lugging pretty hard in third. A little lower rpm's on the trail wouldn't be bad either.

Motogeek33 · Dec 2, 2013

jacobdewey said:
I'm wondering the same thing. Climbing in deep soft snow, I am hitting the rev limiter in second, but lugging pretty hard in third. A little lower rpm's on the trail wouldn't be bad either.

Same thing here... when riding last year, I almost never used first gear and I felt like I could use a higher fifth going down the trail. I'm going from a 13 to 14-tooth countershaft sprocket to see how it works. I can always go back if it doesn't work out.

PalousePoo · Dec 2, 2013

Interested in how you think the 14 tooth works and if you need to add a half link

Motogeek33 · Dec 2, 2013

PalousePoo said:
Interested in how you think the 14 tooth works and if you need to add a half link

The 69-link stock chain that came with the kit is super tight even with a 13-tooth countershaft sprocket, so I found a brand new 78-link chain on ebay for $15 that I'll break to the length I want. My 2012 kit seems to have plenty of clearance between the track and chain (unlike the pics I've seen of the newer kits), so I should be able to cut the new chain to have 1 or 2 extra links over stock and still be able to tighten it properly with the tensioner. Right now the tensioner is all the way backed off and I can barely get the master link on using needle-nose pliers.

Gearing up with the WR's wide-ratio transmission might not be the greatest idea, but we'll see what happens. It might work a lot better on a YZ.

Setting up 2010 YZ450 for Snow bike

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