• 4 Stroke Husqvarna Motorcycles Made In Italy - About 1989 to 2014
     TE = 4st Enduro & TC = 4st Cross

  • 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 The previous version was outdated and no longer supported.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!

TXC 450 Top End Rebuild

Take it to the shop or do it myself?

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fishermandave

Husqvarna
Hey guys, new to the club of owning a Husky. I just purchased a 2008 TXC450 and I have to say it's an amazing bike. I went through the process and got it street legal. Took it in to my usual mechanic and he said it is probably due for a top end rebuild. Previous owner raced it. In order to keep it running it has to be fairly hot, and a little white smoke when you first start her up. Does anyone have any tips on knowing if it is time for a top end rebuild?
He quoted me for $800, parts and labor. He usually quotes a little high.
Does anyone know where I could source the parts myself? And how intricate the process of a top end is? I have very limited mechanical skills. But I would like to be able to do this myself one day at least. Would this be a big project to tackle?
Thank you
 

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This is a good time to pay for a good wrench to do a leak down test. You might need several different things rebuilt, valves, top end, etc. Id recommend going down to the rod bearings if its coming apart for a top end. Deeper job but your starting fresh. Id hate to see you ten hours after a new piston hearing a rod knock.
 
Do you know where I could source the parts? I haven't found any sites that offer them. I did find OEM parts but I believe it was around $200 just for the gaskets. Thank you for the help
 
Yeah, depends on if it needs any valve work or valve guides. Even a regular shop usually has a "head guy" they use to do that work because of the tools and time needed. If you trust your mechanic, then have him perform the leak test and see where you're at. Then go from there. It's hard to tell if the valve train needs work until the head comes off. Honestly, that price isn't too bad and if he guarantees his work, then any issues related to the rebuild are on him and not you.
 
related FYI not your answer but related, mine (2008 TXC450) had @ 300 hrs on it, AMA Western HS, Tecate Enduro/HSs, National H&H and countless(counted) hard core trail ride time.
My maintenance was very good along with all my bullet proofing mods and special parts. 7602 carb vent filter or other brand is great to have on these FCR carb equipped bikes.
so at rebuild in 2010, both my exhaust valves were beat up on the seat faces we replaced these, we spec checked the intakes and reused them, all wear was minimal...cams great, along with all plain bearings. We split her, rebuilt the crank all fresh and blue printed and installed all new bearings wherever they lived, we also installed the SM counterbalancer complete assembly(the best mod ever for these Italian 450/510 TC/TXC engines), clutch and basket replaced, new piston set, gearbox was at almost zero wear with the exception of the shift barrel, which was worn, we replaced it , its alloy and wears. The evidence of very low wear I attribute to good moto oil changed on a regular basis (Maxima happens to be my choice) and SS oil filter.
Bike is owned by friend and from now back to rebuild in 2010 has low use hours maybe 100.
 
I appreciate all the info guys. I hope to have this bike for as long as possible. It's a complete enjoyment to ride. Where can I find the SM counterbalanced assembly? Do you know what it costs?
Robert, thanks. I'll definitely make sure the parts you mentioned that were worn are double checked.
The bike was raced for around 3-4 years before it ended up in the hands of the previous owner. Who maybe put 20 hours on it and mostly sat in his shed. So I'm not sure how the maintence was. I would assume it would be well if it was raced.
So I am understanding as long as I am not strangling the bike every ride I could get some good use before another rebuild? How often are the valves checked?
Do you have any other mod tips/suggestions to promote a longer living bike?
 
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