2007 TE-250 Cam Bearing Failures

Hi, All............

New to the forum (first post). I bought this bike from my brother (who bought it used) and found both camshafts' bearings (three of the four) have failed. One bearing came completely apart and the camshaft jumped up and down causing the gear to grind on the aluminum valve cover. Now I have two bad camshafts (bearings failed on both) AND metal shavings in the bowels of the motor.

My brother said "I think I have the original cams that came with the bike when I bought it used"........so, guess what? Both of them have failed bearings, too! This isn't the first time this has happened to THIS BIKE! What did I get myself into...........

Seems this is common on the Husky of this vintage. I've searched this forum, as well as TT, and don't see anything recent on the issue. So, I have three questions and would appreciate some good input. (First, I will admit to being a dumb sh*t by not recognizing the noise the motor was making when these bearings failed, but I think they were failed when I got the bike, so it sounded normal to me. It quit running when the cam started jumping up, so further investigation revealed the extent of the damage.)

Anyway, disclaimer aside.............

Question 1: Has Husqvarna improved the bearings on the OEM replacement cams, or am I just setting myself up for another failure? Sounds like some of you have had success pressing the gear/bearings off and replacing with sturdier ones, but I don't see myself tackling such a project.

Question 2: After throwing $500 or more into new cams, am I throwing good money after bad, or should I simply part this thing out and cut my losses? (I know; subjective, open ended question, but the bluebook value on this thing is barely $1500 in California. It's in decent shape, and only needs new fork seals otherwise - as far as I can tell ).

Question 3: Is there even a market for the parts on this thing if I do decide to part it out?

From what I understand this vintage of Husky's are pretty reliable as they are based on the 450/510 motor. So pretty much under stressed being only a 250.

Talk to Dan at motoexotica in Vacaville. He has nos and a good stash of used parts. And a pretty good source of knowledge. I have the same bike and he told me that these years are a great reliable bike. Only issue is they have a tendency to burn/use oil so always check the level.

Speaking of oil- are you sure that you have good flow and pressure?

I'm no expert, but I haven't heard of many cam/upper end issues with these bikes.

Good luck.

Could be the one lemon. Sorry lol. I would take the whole motor down and check all oil passages. And basically blue print it.

I had a TE 250 that burned up the cams in just a few miles. It turned out the oil line bolt to the top end was not drilled and oil could not reach the top end. Definitely check things out.

At 1000 dolar value you would not get your money back both for parts and labor. Questions is what is it worth to you once fixed. If your put this to good use , why not. It is fun both fixing and riding it.
I have observed down here tendency to just replace broken parts and expect proper results. Question every mechanician needs to by asking is why. If there is no answer to why it broke often there is no permanent repair. It you are confident you have cause of malfunction. ...

Yeah Man!

Something is wrong.

Never head of one destroying bearings in the top end.

Unless some defective Chinese bearings got in the supply chain in Italy?