2001 400 MXC Bearing Grenade :(

[Normlguy67]

I have two questions and I am hoping someone can help answer them.

1.) Do I need to grease the new camshaft bearings before I put the bike back together or is an oil bath sufficient? KTM Part #0625062014
They don't appear to be greased. If indeed they do need to be greased what type of grease do I need to use.

2.) As stated in the title, I had a bearing grenade on the rear of the camshaft. I have recovered 3 or 4 bearings and the others are someplace in the engine.

I was told by a KTM mechanic that I could flush the engine with kerosene and possibly get the remaining bearings out.

He said flipping the bike over could, possibly, get them out as well.

I recovered 2 or 3 from the camshaft area and 1 from behind the stator.

He said that if I could not account for all the bearings that I would have to split the case.

Is there anyone with experience with this problem that could add anything else that might help me get the remaining bearings out.

I have recovered a lot of shrapnel as well. I assume they are parts of the bearing casing.

I fear there may be more in the case and I will have to split the case regardless of whether I get the remaining bearings out.

Thanks in advance.

[bajadog]

Never having had that happen to one of my bikes,
I asked some real RFS experts on another site for
advice. Here it its:

"Below the crank is a curved duct that oil from the crank goes into on the way to the oil pump. You can see this in the parts schematic . The good news is they will not fit thru the hole to go further, but leaving one there while sounding harmless would just mean on some very steep down grade the loose balls are going to roll into the crank and lock up the engine, can be very expensive.
I would remove cylinder, turn the bike upside down, remove the bottom oil screen, (the 8mm Allan head) and blow air, solvent etc up that hole, everything should fall out."

"BTW, the new bearings should be the sealed type, a little oil is good.
I would also remove the magneto, the lower chain guide, that 1/2 circle black plastic piece. Order one from the 2004-2007 parts list, it will have a screen that keeps errant pieces out of the engine."

"Also, replace the timing gear on the end of the camshaft with an '03 unit that has the cast-in decomp pin vice the screw and nut. The nut is prone to come off."

[Normlguy67]

I wanted to share some pics. Some people may not understand problems with the Camshaft as I did not until I saw.





These two shots show the old style cam. This is the nut and screw that will come out. It was quite loose. I was told that it would be possible to tack weld the screw to keep it from coming out as I was not prepared to purchase the new style cam gear.

If you look closely you can see the small nick in the cam lobe from the bearing grenade.

There is an aftermarket screen that goes behind the stator to stop bearing from entering the engine case. It is a great deal for less than $3.

This is the process I used to get the 3 bearings from out of the case without splinting the case and it worked fine.

1. I drained the oil from the case and locked the engine into TDC.
2. I removed the valve cover and broke the cam chain with a tool I got from Pro Motion.
3. I had a very hard time with removing the exhaust from the head and ended up drilling the center bolt and taking off the exhaust that way. The only part of the exhaust that could be removed easily was the slip on tail pipe.
4. I removed the engine from the bike.

5. I took the head and the jug off (in one piece at that time, but later put a new head gasket on).
6. I took the piston off
7. I filled the case with diesel fuel and washed out the case several times and in the process was able to retrieve the bearings.

The whole process took me about 2 days. I would have only taken a day but I was really stumped by the exhaust.

As you can see from the photos this was done in the desert. I am a full time RV'er and I didn't have the luxury of a garage.

I would rate the complexity of the job as a 4. I have never been a "real mechanic". I found much of the information on the job from YouTube and asking questions of mechanics who were willing to share information.

The most difficult process (outside of the exhaust) was finding someone with a torque wrench. I broke a socket (a non-Craftsman Socket) taking off the head bolts because the torque was so high on them. I wanted to make sure they were re-torqued properly.

In the process of doing this I also upgraded the water pump seals to the "new" style that doesn't require taking out the camshaft to replace them when they go bad.

I replaced all the cam bearings to ensure I won't have to deal with this again anytime soon.

Of course I gave the engine and frame a thorough cleaning.

I noticed a slight leak on the case gasket but I was not prepared to split the case and change the gasket. That will have to wait for another time.