bansheesandrider

The MYTH that I heard was that a colder plug would help prevent it from seizing. And yes NGK is backward, 9 is colder than 8.

X2

The handle bar switch has a metal tab in it that is supposed to make ground at the handlebars, that is usually the problem.

CheapCycleParts.com has much better prices than most local dealers, but Apache Motorcycles in Arizona is usually even cheaper. They use to be Yamaha Suzuki of Arizona. They are who I use for all my OEM stuff that I need.

At one time there was a thread on doing this. You have to cut off the rear tab for the J arm, weld in a new up & down tube for the A arm rear mount and mount it up. There are kits available to do this, Google it. But why go to all that work, there are aftermarket J arms available that are stronger than the stock A arm setup and they have replaceable ball joints so the next time they wear out you can just buy ball joints instead of A arms. Or, if you really have to have A arms, just buy a bare frame for a couple of hundred bucks.

No it does not matter.

100 psi is low and 250 mains seems lean. I had FMF Fattys on my wifes bike with a Toomey 2 into 1 K&N air filter and it was jetted 290 mains 27.5 pilot, clip in the middle of the stock needle and 1.75 turns on the air screw.

There are lots of things- siezure,crank let go, damaged transmission, something grenaded in the clutch cover. Until you start tearing it down, you can only speculate. Pull the head, if that looks OK then pull the clytch cover, then the cylinders and then split the cases until you find the damage.

Stick with the BR8ES plugs, the 8 heat range is the correct heat range for almost all Banshees. As for the resistor, Yamaha started recomendind it on the later bikes. They said it would prevent problems with the CDI box, I don't know if it does or not, but they don't cost any more than the non resistor plugs. Another reason for the resistor plugs is the TrailTech computers seem to require the resistor to make the tach function correctly, other tachs might be the same way.

It is a lot of work- you either have to put the complete RZ electrical system on the Banshee to run the powervalve system, or you have to find an aftermarket controller to do it. I think there is a company called Zeeltronics that makes one. One other thing to consider is that the RZ cylinder water jacket is smaller than the Banshee's, because of the powervalve. This could lead to overheating and/or siezures in the exhaust port area. The Banshee has a close ratio tranny and the RZ has a wide ratio tranny- this means the RPMs will drop more when you shift gears with the wide ratio. This means that off road, it will be harder to keep the bike in the powerband, but for desert racing it could allow for more favorable top speed.

If you can't pull the rod out with a magnet, then you are going to have to split the case.Did you remove the pressure plate and the ball that is between the adjuster and the pushrod? If the ball is stuck, then you have "welded the ball", if none of it will come out, you will have to split the cases, replace all the damaged parts and put it back together. You will also need a pancake bearing to prevent this from happening again. Make sure the lever and tranny shaft are not damaged also. Good Luck.

Break downs don't usually occur in camp, usually it is a long ways from camp whn it breaks, and then how do you get it back to camp. I have NEVER seen a clip type master link fail as long as it was installed correctly, they are plenty strong for any Banshee. If you don't get the rivet style installed properly the chance of failure is pretty high. In my opinion, and it is just my opinion, the rivet style masterlink is just an unneccessary complication that you don't need and might cause more problems down the road. Do you want to have to use a chainbreaker to pull your engine or swingarm off? The one time I had to tow my bike back I wished I could have pulled the chain was when I put on a new swingarm without a chain guide. The chain came off and was laying on the axle, rubbing and scratching the chrome. Yes, I had tools back at the truck, but we were in the middle of the dunes with absolutely no tools with us, just a tow strap. And there was no way I was leaving the bike to go get tools. That was eighteen years ago and now I always at least have a knife with me, and I won't run a swingarm that does not have a chain guide on it.

A Lisle gauge should be an OK gauge. Lisle and Thexton supply diagnostic and test equipment to SnapOn, Mac, Matco, so forth to cover things that they don't make themselves. Not saying that the gauge is as good as a SnapOn or a SnapOn is the same thing, but it should be a decent gauge. You definetely have detonation going on, spark plugs backing out is the indicator for that. The quick fix is higher octane fuel. How ever with 19cc domes you should have alot more pressure than that, so realistically, the proper fix is a top end job and the correct fuel.

I always recomend taking your cylinders to a reutable machinist and let them obtain the pistons as required. When it comes to car engines the pistons vary enough for a given size that they adjust the bore size for proper clearance, we are talking .0001 inches difference. I don't think ATV pistons vary by much, so I don't think the machinist do that. But by letting whoever bores the cylinders supply the pistons, it gives you some recourse if something is not right when it is put together. There wont be any of the machinist saying the pistons are wrong or the piston supplier saying the machinist screwed up. In my opinion, that makes it cheaper in the long run to do it this way. All this being said, if you want to gamble, you can probably go with the 64.5 pistons as I have seen some pretty nasty scratches clean up with that much of an overbore. Of course I can't see your jugs to be sure so it is on you.

Your offset numbers don't add up. The 2 numbers of the offset should add up to the width of the wheel. Also, most aftermarket front wheels are either 5 or 7 inches wide, it is very difficult to find aftermarket front wheels that are 6 inches wide. Most wheel charts say the stock wheels are 6 inches wide and the recomended replacement is a 10X5 wheel.

If something grenades in the tranny, you might be ahead to pull the chain so things are not grinding in there on the way back. Or if your chain comes off for some reason, like the lack of a chain guide or something else, can you get it back on the sprockets without taking it apart? You woiuld be able to get a clip style off with nothing more than a pocketknife or screwdriver and a rock.

Some people claim that hhooking it to the orange wire at the coil will damage the CDI box. If the contacts are closed when the tether is pulled out then it should be wired to the same wire as the off/run switch uses and to ground. If the contacts are open when the tether is pulled then it sould be wired to the key switch wires, if you are keeping your key switch, it should be wired in series with the key switch and if you are taking the key switch off, it can just replace it. Remember, when they say normally open or normally closed, it means with nothing acting on the switch,or the position that the spring moves the contacts to. This means on a tether switch that the cord and the little plastic "key" are removed from the switch, or pulled out. Hopes this clears some things up.

They wont work in Keihen carbs of any size, they should work in any size Mikuni carb that is is the same series or model as the stocker regardless of size. Stock carbs are Mikuni VM26s and most 35mm carbs are Keihens. Toomey claims they give a smoother powerband, but I have never tried them. Cascade also has some special needles for the stock carbs but I know nothing about them.

Has the TORS system been eliminated? Are the carb tops just round caps that screw on the carbs or are they a funky shaped box with wires and screws on them? If they are round with nothing but the throttle cable attached to them then the TORS has been eliminated. If the TORS has been taken off, then the side of the carbs should have been drilled and tapped for idle screws. They should be directly in line with the slide on the carb, that is how you will adjust your idle speed. If the TORS is still there, then the screws on the top pointing to the rear of the bike are the idle speed adjustment. I recomend getting a service manual and read the sticky about carbs and jetting.

I run a twist and love it. Most people I ride with are of the opinion of, if you grew up riding dirt bike and are used to a twist, then it is fine. If you learned to ride with a thumb throttle, then you may not like it. It is a matter of personal preference. My daughter started out when she was 5 with a thumb throttle on a TRX70. At 10 we switched her to a Blaster with a thumb throttle, but she had problems with her thumb getting tired. Finally after 2 years of having to stop and let her thumb rest, we decided to try a twist throttle. We have not had to stop since and she is now 22. She has never had a crash or near miss because of the throttle. So it is a matter of personal preference. I also run the 2 into 1 set up on all my Banshees and love it. I use an outerwear and ride sand and don't have any problems with water. I did not notice a difference in power with pods, but I like not having to clean two air filters for each bike, and every thing else is much easier to get to.Stay away from the boost bottle, they don't do anything but cause your intake boots to tear. As for reeds, I am running Boyesen reeds on stock reed cages that have been ported and knife edgded and that works well for me for the money that I have invested.

Nineteen years ago, I bought a plus 4 arm from JP Racingthat did not have a chain gude bracket on it. They said it did not need one. I put it on with a new chain and sprocket set and properly adjusted it. On the first ride the chain came off because it was not properly guided on to the rear sprocket. Luckily it did not damage the cases. I came home and welded a bracket on it myself, and have never thrown another chain. Like I said before, does he really want to send it back and wait who knows how long for it to come back, or spend a couple hours in the shop putting a bracket on it and be done with it. Obviously they don't want to put a bracket on it, so if I were him, I would take care of it myself and be done with it.

If I am not mistaken, the way those switches work, you could just unplug it and take it off. But the you would have to kill the bike by putting it in gear and dumping the clutch and you won't have any lights. Or, you can add a kill switch that grounds the wire from the CDI that used to go to the run switch and add some kind of switch that will control the lights.

FYI, the wider your wheels, the wider the footprint of your tire and the less they sink in the sand. I used to run 10X7 on the front and 10X10 on the rear until I went back to the stock 89 wheels. I went back to the stockers because I was having to much trouble bending Blue Label wheels, even my wife bent her's and she barely gets off the ground. With the stock wheels, I have far less problems with bead leaks also. I would highly recomend a wheel with a rolled bead to prevent leaks, as thick of a wheel you can afford in 10X7 and 10X9 sizes. I run the same size tires.

If your set has a Cascade style front chain slider, it will take the place of that wore out part, but it also needs to be put on the swingarm before the swingarm is put on the bike. There are a couple of manufacturers that have a slider that looks like Cascade's, but it is split so it can be put on the bike without removing the swingarm, but even those are probably easier to install with the arm off the bike. If you ride in sand that stock one wears out very fast, they will even wear through and fall off and then the chain is sawing on the swingarm. The Cascade one lasts forever.

Are you sure you want a riveted chain on an off road machine? Do you carry a chain breaker with you when you are riding in case you have to take the chain off, say to tow the bike back if it breaks down? Unless you have some monster HP, I would stay with a standard clip style masterlink.