Troubleshooting and fettling

All items are generally accepted for all Husaberg models.

To confirm speciffic differences check out your bike's sector at the bottom.

Light yellow for 400/450, light blue for 470/501, yellow for 550/650.

Husaberg generic info

Radiator/side panels

Trouble fitting panel to dowels. Create new holes on the back of panels under seat. Then adjust slightly.

Spacer to front Sprocket

Rusty and haggard. Don't worry, not a problem. It'll go on like this forever.

Fork seals

Leaking. Can use Kayaba; machine the outer leg from 58 to 59mm. Never leak!

Oil leak at rocker cover

Drips down front of engine. May have over-tightened the breather clip and torn the rubber tube (Simon). "O" rings on black plastic rocker spindle caps. Also centre screws-thread lock in. Change rocker gaskets once per year. The dowel that the breather pipe is connected too comes loose (Simon). Try new "O" rings on the cam end cap, different silicones. I found both the rocker cover and the top of the head had warped. Use a pane of glass, P600 wet n dry, bulldog clips, 1/4 turn every 6-7 strokes. It works!

Losing coolant

If using same headgasket again... May try torqueing down to 60Nm - 15Nm above factory numbers (became the standard torque setting from '04 onwards).

Manual decomp

Circlip groove on end of shaft. The groove for the circlip is too shallow and will end up in the sump.

Oil blowing from the pipe

Possibly the Reed valve. Broken/damaged/blocked reed valve situated below timing gears. See this UHE Forum Thread.

Overheating

Try Evans Coolant. Very succesful-even at altitude. Pure water is still the best conveyor of heat though but boils too soon. Remember that the coolant should only just cover the tubes so don't overfill. Radiator caps sometimes don't seal correctly. Coolant may be seen leaking from the waterpump housing. Start the bike up and let it idle whilst looking for tell-tale signs. Remove the spark plug and check the top of the piston and also remove the cap and look at the coolant for bubbles. This represents the headgasket has gone (Lineaweaver). Check the look of the oil through the sight glass: this will go 'cappicino' in colour. If after a rebuild: did you renew and silicon in the three 'O' rings around the barrel?

Coolant catch tank

Gear selection/false neutrals

Common in the early models. Use a later model gear selector fork and it's cured. See Taff's gallery

Quick release fuel tank

Noises from the starter area

The free wheel mechanism (clutch) that was introduced mid 02 is built into the starter reduction gear set which was previously a solid machined gear assembly. It's recommended to fit this to earlier machines to prevent gear/sprague breakage if kick back occurs. As far as the Sprague assembly itself, the large outer gear/hub is the same 01-03, the sprague is the same 01-03, but the inner small gear/hub is different mid 02. Why? The gear teeth pitch was changed mid 02 on the counterbalancer, inner counter balancer drive shaft gear , outer balancer drive shaft gear, primary gear, and outer clutch basket gear. Mix 01 and 03 gears and it's very noisy. The noise usually happens when an 03 counter balancer is installed in an 01. It would have been nice if one could simply change the balancer drive shaft with it's machined-on inner gear to an 03 assembly, but the 01 outer balancer shaft drive gear will not fit the 03 drive shaft. Install the outer 03 balancer drive shaft gear and you also need to change the primary gear. clutch basket, and the inner starter sprague gear. Paranoid types will start thinking 'conspiracy theories' at this point. (Actually they make a special double bearing balancer with the 01 gear pitch.) All this info is because if your 01 hasn't been updated, it can't be the freewheel mechanism that is slipping because you don't have one. Probably the sprague is slipping. They are quite delicate and small amounts of wear on the inner gears hub or the outer gears hub will make the sprague itself slip. Remember that the outer hub is the same 01-03 but the inner is different (DSducati).

Tappet inspection covers

Two gaskets. A bit softer on the screws but stops leaks.

Frame bung when re-routing the engine breather

Oil filter

Metal material opposed to paper. Life use is up to you! Clean and go again.

Switches onto right bar

Clutch lever locates to hand. Remove indicator part of switch underneath (2 screws).

Air filter wet

Regulator

Covered in dirt and crap. Remove to central bolt under the seat. Standard on '03+.

Grips

Rotate and lock wire them on.

Rear brake-eccentric adjuster

Enlarged by 2mm in diameter. Found I couldn’t adjust the lever low enough for my style. Ok now.

Adjust exhaust

Sitting on clutch cover and cases. Need to "oval" centre pipe slightly with a gentle tap.

Brake Pads

Brakes lack initial bite. Tried EBC, tried Apico, settled for 'Gold' sintered pads.

Chain-easy to remove

Left hand retaining plate shape needed. (Mikst)	No right hand retaining plate needed. If you hit a stone the plate will bend and cause heavily wear instantly. (Mikst)	Divided chain guard. Make the replacement of the chain guard quick and easy. No divide of chain necessary. (Mikst)

Engine breather

Lineaweaver has made this neat unit to fit in your nasal passage!

HT lead/plug cap/coil

Can have misfire. Silicon the lead into both the coil and the plug cap.

Rocker breather

Splits easily, oil in carb if inverted. Fit Yam WR4 breather and feed down onto front sprocket or below... Re-route to get cleaner air to carb. Block underside of frame, a NAPA Auto Parts 5/8" (1.5cm) radiator heater hose Bypass Cap P.N. 660-1696 is a perfect fit, point a 6' hose up, and fit a K&N filter. Or fit an air pump check valve (Chrysler #04300376 cost is about $30). See this UHE Forum Thread.

Water pump oil seal

They can leak. Fit two thinner seals for insurance. Ask your bearing stockist!

Ignition timing marks

Find TDC using "dead-stop" method. Warning: 8d out on my bike. See this UHE Forum Thread.

Chain adjustment

If you have trouble getting the new gearing to work you can turn the adjuster blocks the other way round and bring the wheel further forward.

Large rear sprocket-problems with guide

Over 48T the lower chain guide is too close. There is room to pivot the guide down at the front and re-drill at the rear for a lower hanging chain guide.

Kickstart lever

Rotate it forward one spline. This gives a longer deeper kick and helps starting a great deal. Remove slack so engine spins fast. Modify the crescent. See this UHE Forum Thread.

Seat bolt rusts

Add a washer or two beneath the seat bolt head, as the threads protrude into the dirt underneath and after some use will wear out the threads. Space it properly so that no threads protrude. (Fryberger)

Headlamp protection

(Correcaminos)

Dashboard

My custom Husadash. (Oneloudskunk)

Rim lock bolt protection

Protect the threads from mud and impact damage with a bit of old fuel line. An earlier version used nylon tube that had the end stitched up and safety wired to a spoke. I find that the rubber hose fits better and therefore keeps the crap out better. (Steve)

Front axle handle

I cut up an old lever and mounted it with an old barkbuster mount to my front axle. Cost: $0. (Steve)

Brush guard

An old throttle cable, an electrical connector, a bit of nylon tube and you reduce the chance of scrub jamming between your gear lever, or brake pedal, and the cases. (Steve)

Wiring

I covered all of my battery cable ends with industrial heat shrink tubing. Now they are water tight! (Volvonut)