• Husqvarna Motorcycles Made In Sweden - About 1988 and older

  • Hi everyone,

    As you all know, Coffee (Dean) passed away a couple of years ago. I am Dean's ex-wife's husband and happen to have spent my career in tech. Over the years, I occasionally helped Dean with various tech issues.

    When he passed, I worked with his kids to gather the necessary credentials to keep this site running. Since then (and for however long they worked with Coffee), Woodschick and Dirtdame have been maintaining the site and covering the costs. Without their hard work and financial support, CafeHusky would have been lost.

    Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve been working to migrate the site to a free cloud compute instance so that Woodschick and Dirtdame no longer have to fund it. At the same time, I’ve updated the site to a current version of XenForo (the discussion software it runs on). The previous version was outdated and no longer supported.

    Unfortunately, the new software version doesn’t support importing the old site’s styles, so for now, you’ll see the XenForo default style. This may change over time.

    Coffee didn’t document the work he did on the site, so I’ve been digging through the old setup to understand how everything was running. There may still be things I’ve missed. One known issue is that email functionality is not yet working on the new site, but I hope to resolve this over time.

    Thanks for your patience and support!

Just Bought My First Husky

A

Alfie

Husqvarna
AA Class
Hello,

Have just joined your forum after buying a 1973 Husky CR400 have wanted one for years (my usual ride is a Honda XR600R)
The Bike is in great condition(see Photo) imported from the US.
As far as I know the bike was raced for a short while until the owner was in his 70's, he then carried out a nuts and bolts renovation and kept the bike in his front room where it remained for 20 or so years.
The bike is totally dry, oil and fuel wise (even the forks) and I was looking for any advice on what whats needed before very gently attempting to start her up ?? I am expecting oil leaks from various places perished seals etc
She has the original front Tyre so I don't think she's seen much action. Once carefully up and running I am hoping to race her, I am also looking for an owners manual if anyone can point me in the direction, I will also be painting the tank at some stage!!
Thanks in Advance,
Alfie.
photo2.jpg
 
Welcome to the husqvarna forum. I don't know much about these early huskys but they surely broke new ground on what was to come down the road. Don't paint anything yet till the guys talk to you about it. Congrats on your find and purchase. If it wasn't for my misses my husky would be in the house.

You can also check out the colors of these on the husky club site if it's pictured there.
 
You will find out these are worst than potato chips you can't stop at one. My last bout with the husqvarna addiction I had 27. Now I'm one going on 3 soon. But I'll be holding back and stay at 3 I hope.

The only rash I ever got was from an older gent who raced pentons and lost to the husqvarnas. He had the Yankee red Sox rivalry I never knew that existed between the older penton owners and husqvarna owners. My co-worker who raced NETRA(new England trail riders association) back through the 70's he said if you wanted to be out front in a harescramble you had to be on a husqvarna. These early 400's made the husqvarna brand famous.
 
Welcome Alfie. Where in the world are you located ?

The bike looks stunning. You are probably correct in thinking it will need new oil seals. If it were me I would be tempted to strip and check the motor over, looking carefully for any signs of corrosion in bearings, bore etc. After all, it has sat for 20 years.

As Bill said, leave the painting till later. Just get it up and running.

Parts for Huskys are easier to get than most modern bikes.
 
Hi Grouty I am in Pembrokeshire Wales, just going over the bike now bit by bit, she's not as perfect as she looks from a distance, I suppose its to be expected as she has never been ridden since the rebuild. Going to have to re tap the sump plug as there is no thread left and the wrong bolt in there, wire in a kill switch also sump guard is missing probably have to make one of those if I cant find one, but She's giving a spark which is always a bonus I suppose, will let you know how it goes.
Any ideas where I can get a workshop manual ??
 
Sump plug were talking about the tranny drain plug? Or does the crankcase have a plug to drain it if it floods bad. When retapping put grease on the tap to trap the metal chips from tapping. Go in two turns remove the tap and clean it and regrease it and go in deeper. A few more new threads and clean the tap and repeat.
I would go up one thread size and use a copper washer on the new plug.
 
As the crow flies you are not too far away Alfie. I guess I will see you somewhere in Wales/South of England in the pre-74 class (I am usually on a 73 CCM)
If you can get it up and running try to get to the Dartmouth Classic meeting next May Bank Holiday (early May). Camping is free if you want to come a few days early and leave a few days late. There is a facebook page for the Dartmouth Classic Motorcycle Club.
Can't help with a workshop manual though. I guess someone will be along soon that has one to post up.

Are you going to the Telford Show in Feb ?
 
I would before even trying to start it break down the engine and replace all seals. If it has not run for over 20 years the seals are dried and will fail when first started. Crank seals especially as air leaks there will seize the top end. Also gaskets at the intake manifold would be suspect as well.
 
Thanks for all the advice,
have re cut the Sump/tranny plug, also rinsed out with diesel , hopefully got all the bits out Have just spoken to the guy who imported the bike and he says the fluids were only drained out before shipping it was stored with oil, so it hasn't been as dry for as long as I thought, Really hoping not to have to break down the engine at this stage.
Me and a Mate are joining the local Scramble Club (Teifyside) and as soon as we get our bikes sorted will be out and about but no definite fixtures yet,
Thanks again,
 
View attachment 48801

I found this copy in a shop that was closing its doors years ago. Fairly good info and plenty of pictures. Might try finding it online or through Clymer directly. Then again, plenty of help and advice to gain from members here.
 
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