Snowbike newbie - wr450, mh st

[shelbwyo]

Going to put a 14 MH ST on my 2003 wr450f. The kit i bought was used and was on a newer kx450f. Have the fit kit that a buddy ran on his yz426. Started putting the track on and ran across a few problems.

The front fork clamps had some shims that my friend used on his 426 but said they needed to be thicker ( his were about .015"). Made some thicker shims (about .040") and I think they are going to work. Going to have to redrill holes in the spindle for the clamps. What is the procedure for doing this? Do i want to try to have the ski hanging freely or does it need to be pushed to the front or back? Going to have to put the holes where i can redrill the holes with enough aluminum between the holes already drilled. With the location of the holes already drilled I am going to have to slide the clamps up the fork tube a little bit. Just looking for some advice before i drill the holes.

Has anyone ever set the brake up to where the hand and foot brake work? Buying or making a bolt to go in the brake on the track that holds both lines should work.

Is it a "must" to buy a thermostat bypass kit? Or engine shroud?

Im 180 lbs w/o gear, do i need to put stiffer springs in the shocks? Change oil weight?

Best option for sealing up the air box? I have a prefilter to go over stock air filter.

Any advice on rejetting the carb? It is stock currently.

Never ridden a snowbike, so looking for all the help i can get. If you have any other tips they would be appreciated.

 

[CATSLEDMAN1]

03 wr450

I have been riding an 03wr450 for 4 years.

1. prefilter instead of stock filter, drill more holes in airbox and cover then on the inside with frog skinz filer, cover top with frog skinz, stock air box will work ok with no other mods

2. If you plan to ride a lot of conditions and not just a few sunny days in the spring, go with a thermo bob thermostat setup and avid carb heater.

3. buy A LOT STIFFER fork spring, check Yam service boot or RACETECH site and buy stiffest for springs in Yam book, too stiff cut 1/2 inch off or run several different spring rates in fork until you find what you like.

4. STock Jetting ok or down a step on main

5. electric start weak on these 03, need to upgrade to 04 starter drive for safety, sprag clutch's wear quickly, up grade, right side kickstarter/case/kickstarter shaft weak, they break, upgrade to 04 later or watch for issues.

6. wider foot pegs.


7 its a low powered bike but good chugging low end torque, will slog through a lot of powder, gear it so you top out in 5th about 45-50, learn to ride the thing then change cams to YZ cams more cheap hp there.

8. stock no mods in powder cover your radiators with cardboard, cover engine with some kind of shroud, I'v seen a lot of miles put on the older Yam with nothing more than that.

 

[SnoFro]

Make the bottom of the spindle level to the ground. Have the track kit and ski installed. Have the bike supporting it's own weight(without stand) and someone steading the handle bars so it doesn't fall over. Put a plastic milk create under the skid plate. There should be 1 inch clearance from the milk create to the skid plate. If there is more than 1 inch clearance put some wood blocks in there for spacing. The milk create is just for safety(just in case you rotate the spindle to far). Rotate the spindle on the axle so that the bottom of the spindle is level with the ground. Unfortunately I can't post a picture because I got a ransom malware virus on my USB drive. So I will try to explain. You want the top of aluminium block (that the ski bracket bolts to)to be parallel to the ground when the bike is supporting itself. You do not need to remove this block from the spindle to see if it is parallel to the ground. Just look at the line where the spindle meets the block just below the bolts. It is important to get the correct angle of the spindle. If the spindle is rotated to far forward or back wards it will cause hard steering. Ounce I got the spindle clocked properly I use a clamp to hold it. Use a felt pen to make a mark on the spindle. Put the bike on a stand(I use a jack) to lift the front ski. Check your felt pen mark to see if the ski moved. Make sure your silicon stopper is installed (the little rubber block between the ski bracket and the lower spindle part). Now I check to see if I have the correct position for the spindle. The ski shouldn't tilt down pass level to the ground. It is OK to have a little pressure tilting the ski up. But be careful(just a little pressure). I find it is better to have the ski touching the silicon stopper at level. Now mark your holes and drill them.


If your existing hole are hindering this position find a solution that doesn't change this angle. This angle is important for handling and steering. I wouldn't suggest raising the fork clamps. Actually I'm against it.

 

[shelbwyo]

I have been riding an 03wr450 for 4 years.

1. prefilter instead of stock filter, drill more holes in airbox and cover then on the inside with frog skinz filer, cover top with frog skinz, stock air box will work ok with no other mods

2. If you plan to ride a lot of conditions and not just a few sunny days in the spring, go with a thermo bob thermostat setup and avid carb heater.

3. buy A LOT STIFFER fork spring, check Yam service boot or RACETECH site and buy stiffest for springs in Yam book, too stiff cut 1/2 inch off or run several different spring rates in fork until you find what you like.

4. STock Jetting ok or down a step on main

5. electric start weak on these 03, need to upgrade to 04 starter drive for safety, sprag clutch's wear quickly, up grade, right side kickstarter/case/kickstarter shaft weak, they break, upgrade to 04 later or watch for issues.

6. wider foot pegs.


7 its a low powered bike but good chugging low end torque, will slog through a lot of powder, gear it so you top out in 5th about 45-50, learn to ride the thing then change cams to YZ cams more cheap hp there.

8. stock no mods in powder cover your radiators with cardboard, cover engine with some kind of shroud, I'v seen a lot of miles put on the older Yam with nothing more than that.

Thanks for your reply.

1. What kind of prefilter do you suggest? Ive looked on frogskinz website and looks like all their filters are made for sleds. Can you buy a small sheet of it somewhere else?

7. What size sprocket do you run?

8. Would getting the thermobob and avid carb heater replace the need to cover the radiator on powder days? Planning on making my own engine cover, but does someone make one for this bike?

 

[shelbwyo]

Make the bottom of the spindle level to the ground. Have the track kit and ski installed. Have the bike supporting it's own weight(without stand) and someone steading the handle bars so it doesn't fall over. Put a plastic milk create under the skid plate. There should be 1 inch clearance from the milk create to the skid plate. If there is more than 1 inch clearance put some wood blocks in there for spacing. The milk create is just for safety(just in case you rotate the spindle to far). Rotate the spindle on the axle so that the bottom of the spindle is level with the ground. Unfortunately I can't post a picture because I got a ransom malware virus on my USB drive. So I will try to explain. You want the top of aluminium block (that the ski bracket bolts to)to be parallel to the ground when the bike is supporting itself. You do not need to remove this block from the spindle to see if it is parallel to the ground. Just look at the line where the spindle meets the block just below the bolts. It is important to get the correct angle of the spindle. If the spindle is rotated to far forward or back wards it will cause hard steering. Ounce I got the spindle clocked properly I use a clamp to hold it. Use a felt pen to make a mark on the spindle. Put the bike on a stand(I use a jack) to lift the front ski. Check your felt pen mark to see if the ski moved. Make sure your silicon stopper is installed (the little rubber block between the ski bracket and the lower spindle part). Now I check to see if I have the correct position for the spindle. The ski shouldn't tilt down pass level to the ground. It is OK to have a little pressure tilting the ski up. But be careful(just a little pressure). I find it is better to have the ski touching the silicon stopper at level. Now mark your holes and drill them.


If your existing hole are hindering this position find a solution that doesn't change this angle. This angle is important for handling and steering. I wouldn't suggest raising the fork clamps. Actually I'm against it.

Thanks for the reply. I understand the way your explaining it, but I will have to look at the bike again. I dont think there is anyway to mount the fork clamps without moving them up the fork tube to avoid the holes already drilled. What is wrong with doing this, if you maintain the angle of the sprindle?

 

[teal_210]

Thanks for the reply. I understand the way your explaining it, but I will have to look at the bike again. I dont think there is anyway to mount the fork clamps without moving them up the fork tube to avoid the holes already drilled. What is wrong with doing this, if you maintain the angle of the sprindle?

You don't want to slide the fork clamps up on the fork tubes because you will limit the travel of your forks. They will bottom out on the fork clamps.

 

[shelbwyo]

You don't want to slide the fork clamps up on the fork tubes because you will limit the travel of your forks. They will bottom out on the fork clamps.

Is there another way of doing it besides egg shaping the existing holes?

 

[SnoFro]

It's just my opinion, but I never liked this way of attaching the front spindle. I understand there isn't much for options, but what concerns me is the loss of fork travel and the possibility of fork tube damage. Most guys are putting in stiffer fork springs to keep the front end up. I use my own designed front spindle that mounts to the brake caliber mount and I'm still using all my fork travel. Thou I don't believe anyone has had any damage to their fork tubes I beleive the possibility still exist and now the 2016 Timbersled fork clamps have plastic bushings. Are you sure the fork clamps will work on your bike. I will reread your post.

 

[SnoFro]

I can tell your a creative guy for coming up with solutions. I would normally tell someone to just buy the correct fork clamps for their bike, but I haven't always listen to someone when it comes to saving money. So I suggest ounce you get the fork clamps to fit correctly drill the holes in the spindle in the correct position like I said in the previous post. Then cut 2 small plates of a aluminium to put on the inside of the spindle. 1 plate on each side. Make these plates wide enough for the width of the fork clamps plus 1.5 inches on each side to drill holes through the spindle and plate. You will have to use longer bolts for the fork clamps and 2 short bolts to bolt the plate to the spindle side. You may only need to make the plate big enough for 1 extra bolt. It depends on how the close the new holes are to the old existing holes. This will be plenty strong and won't add too much weight. Now you will have all the fork tube travel. If you do a nice job on the plate it shouldn't look to bad. You could paint it black.

 

[shelbwyo]

Is the yard sheet of frogskinz material what you guys use to seal up the airbox? I see that is available on their website.

Got a new chain on order. And looking into stiffer fork springs. Not sure what I'm going to do with the spindle yet.

 

[SnoFro]

Did you understand what I meant about putting plates on the inside?

 

[shelbwyo]

Did understand what I meant about putting plates on the inside?

Yeah I am going to look at that as an option. Might have to go that route.

 

[CATSLEDMAN1]

wr 450 conversion

1. buy the frog skinz bulk and make filter cover and other air box vents.

2. On some cold deep powderdays I run my radiators covered, thermo stat, carb heater, side covers. when you ride in elbow deep snow you will eventually have to wipe snow off you air box vents.

3. that vintage 450 motor often weep coolant from water pump seal, no panick, I run a clear plastic quart bottle as recovery bottle, just keep eye on it and add some every other ride or so.

4 cut down or can the radiator shrouds, they get tore up anyway in the cold tight trees

I'll check my current gearing and post, although I run a 2.5 track, and geared it down a little more when I put it on last year.

I've run several exhaust systems, none that I would brag up, running an 06 YZ muffler and power bomb pipe.........ok but too loud as all the Yam pipes I have tried.

 

[CATSLEDMAN1]

wr 450 gearing

here's the gearing I'm running on my 03 WR450

Keep in mind I have a 2.5" track and 3.0 pitch drivers, however I have run this gearing with several 2 and 2.3" tracks with 2.5 pitch drivers, so its a good big hills tight treee setup that will still allow a 5th gear breeze back to the truck.

14 bike driving a 19 tooth

16 top tooth in chain case 18 tooth bottom gear.

I have modded my kit so many times I don't recall if this presents any frame issues for sure not on the bike. I have had to notch the track for the chain.
Best is to put it together, ride for 20 minuets with chain rubbing track, you will see the witness marks on the track and with a untility knife you can carve up the track.

 

[cokecrazed007]

I'm going to be riding a 07 wr450 this year and I was wondering if the stock stator would run hand warmers?

Sent from my SM-G900W8 using Tapatalk

 

[shelbwyo]

I'm going to be riding a 07 wr450 this year and I was wondering if the stock stator would run hand warmers?

Sent from my SM-G900W8 using Tapatalk

I would think it would. going to wait to ride to see if i want hand warmers.

 

[shelbwyo]

1. buy the frog skinz bulk and make filter cover and other air box vents.

2. On some cold deep powderdays I run my radiators covered, thermo stat, carb heater, side covers. when you ride in elbow deep snow you will eventually have to wipe snow off you air box vents.

3. that vintage 450 motor often weep coolant from water pump seal, no panick, I run a clear plastic quart bottle as recovery bottle, just keep eye on it and add some every other ride or so.

4 cut down or can the radiator shrouds, they get tore up anyway in the cold tight trees

I'll check my current gearing and post, although I run a 2.5 track, and geared it down a little more when I put it on last year.

I've run several exhaust systems, none that I would brag up, running an 06 YZ muffler and power bomb pipe.........ok but too loud as all the Yam pipes I have tried.

So been looking at thermobob and avid carb heater. Just wanting to check that I need both of these items, as both of them have a thermostat? If I do need both, how do both thermostats work together?

Thermobob: http://shop.watt-man.com/Thermo-Bob-3-for-WR450F-2003-and-newer-TBWR4.htm

Avid carb heater: http://www.avid-products.com/eshopp...uct_1787445.Keihin_FCR_bypassheater_kit_w.htm

And do i need the 190 F avid thermostat?

 

[J&L Snowhawk]

I set up my nephews yz450. 2004 with avid thermostat and just my shroud kit and intake kit and never have a problem. I've been doing this forever it seems and if you shroud the motor and do a thermostat and intake your bike will run great. Get tired of telling the same thing over and over but it works.

 

[shelbwyo]

Are the thermobob and avid thermostat the same thing? The avid has a carb heater, but are the thermostats basically doing the same job?

 

[dirtrebel]

the avid package comes with a thermostat and carb heater and the carb jacket its a complete system. The thermobob is just a thermostat, you would have to then buy the avid carb heat collar for the carb separately, and rig them up to work together. The thermobob stat is a little sleeker design but if u want to run the carb heat just buy the avid full package, call avid and talk to Robbie the owner, he is knowledgable and a stand up guy. also I run a 07 wr450 as my backup bike, the stock stator has tons of juice for grips, take power from the headlight wire, that is the ac side and only makes power when the bike is running. the dc side is a trickle charge to that battery for electric starting only.