2013 KTM 65 rebuild

[anderson750]

Since this will be the first time I have done a complete rebuild by myself, I thought I would chronicle it here. I bought this bike brand new in December of 2012 and it has been a great bike. The only issue I have ever had with it has been with the power valve. The stock KTM power valve on the 2013 for some reason has a tendancy to break. I replaced the stock valve with a billet power valve from EHR. Currently the bike has a little over 130 hours on the hour meter. the last time I check the crank clearances, at around 90 hours when I freshened up the top end, the tolerances were getting close to being out of spec. I do not want to push it to the point of failure, so I am doing this during our summer break from racing.

I am waiting to buy the parts until I get the bike torn down. These 65's have been known to lose 3rd gear. When this happens it is usually long before the bikes reaches the hours we have on this one. In an effort to get all the parts at one time, I am going to wait and see how the transmission looks.

While it is apart, I will do a lot of general maintenance like greasing the swing arm & steering bearings. I know Derick will think it is a waste of time, but I am really OCD about 1 thing in life and that is bike maintenance. I guess that is one reason why I have gotten 130 hours out of this crank.



Ready to start coming apart



EHR Power valve after about 60 hours. The stock PV was breaking anywhere from 6-15 hours.

 

[Tonkaman]

Isn't the RME trend just to buy a new bike when it's time for maintenance? Any special plans for the engine and trans or are you keeping it stock?

 

[Cascadia]

He already bought a new 85 for Jack.

Paul, will Jack be racing the 85 after the break or will he finish out the season on the 65 for points?

 

[anderson750]

Isn't the RME trend just to buy a new bike when it's time for maintenance? Any special plans for the engine and trans or are you keeping it stock?

No special plans to do any major modifications. I will do some part upgrades that I am researching now. The bike will be up for sale in October and will probably go to someone who is currently racing. It would probably make it to the end of the season without the rebuild, but I cannot sell a bike knowing that it could go anytime.

Paul, will Jack be racing the 85 after the break or will he finish out the season on the 65 for points?

He will probably race the last 2 or 3 on the 85.

 

[anderson750]

With an OEM crank being over $500, I have done a little research on options to save money but not lose quality or reliability. Option 1 is to use a Hot Rods crank at a cost of $225. Option 2 is to buy a Pro-x connecting rod at $80 and have a machine shop replace it at an additional cost of $100 to $150 labor and use the stock plastic crank stuffers. Option 3 is to send the crank to Florida and have Nihilo Concepts replace it with the a Pro-x rod and put their billet aluminum crank stuffers in it for $275 plus whatever shipping it will cost.

Since I like shiny anodized aluminum and have been really happy with all the Nihilo items I have bought in the past, I am going to ship it to Florida. They can get it in and out of their shop within 4 days, so it will probably take longer to get there and back than it will be in the shop.

 

[anderson750]

No turning back now.


The crank has been shipped and I have decided to send the cases to PAX Racing to be matched. It is not uncommon to see a small amount of leakage on these cases, so for $50 they will be matched and free of any air leaks.

 

[Tonkaman]

Aren't these the same cases? Are you worried about them being warped?

 

[anderson750]

Aren't these the same cases? Are you worried about them being warped?

Not worried about them being warped, just making them true and flat along the mating surface. I am sure it is a quality control problem, but on these 65's it is common to see "moist" dirt collect where the reeds enter the cylinder. It is not a big leak, but is enough to affect performance. I never had it on this bike until recently so I sent it to be matched

 

[Tonkaman]

Gotcha, That's a good idea. It's those little things that most people skimp on when rebuilding

 

[anderson750]

Small update that results in no progress made. It is a good thing I still have about a month before I need to have this bike back to together. I got the cases back from Pax Racing and I can see where they have essentially flattened the whole mating surfaces of the case halves. Not necessary to do, but for $50, it is good piece of mind that there will not be any air leaks. Next parts to arrive was my shipment from Nihilo. I had them install a Pro-X connecting rod


the only problem is, they were supposed to install their billet crank stuffers instead of putting the stock plastic stuffers back in. They did not charge me for the billet stuffers, but still called them to find out why. It was an oversight on their part and they asked me to ship the crank back to them and they would install them and ship it back to me at no charge. Since I am not in a rush and quite frankly I will not have time to work on this bike for about 2 weeks, I went ahead and sent it back.

Another small upgrade I am doing to this bike is changing the water pump gear to a billet gear from Nihilo. In KTM's lapse of engineering excellence, they have decided to put plastic water pump gears in their mini bikes. After about 130 hours, you can see where the teeth on the stock plastic gear are starting to chip off.




This is the shiny billet replacement.......a $20 insurance policy against melting a motor down due to lack of fluid circulation.



I am leaving next week to take my boy to Glen Helen just outside Riverside, California for a 3 day MX class. Should be a fun guys trip.

 

[Corban_White]

Starting to chip the teeth off?!?? Those are dang near gone!!!!!!

 

[anderson750]

Well, I got the bike back together last week and broke in and it appears that I have succeeded in my first complete rebuild. Since I had the time, I sent the crank back to Nihilo so they could put the billet crank stuffers in it. They did not charge me for them since they forgot to do it the first time. The crank looks a little frosty since I had just pulled it out of the freezer for installation.


I did not take a lot of pictures during the assembly since I was concentrating a lot on details and double checking everything against the service manual and online microfiche to make sure everything was correct. I was really worried about the transmission since I have never taken one out and put it back in. It can be a little tricky buy after figuring out the best technique for putting it in, it all went really smooth. Here it is with the case halves put back together.



The one problem I did run into after is was all assembled was that it was making a clicking noise when I would start to pull in the clutch. If you look in the above picture, you can see that the idler gear that connects the kick starter to the clutch basket is sitting slightly higher. Everywhere you have a washer in this motor, it always goes under the piece it is associated with between it and the case, so that is where I put the washer that is associated with this gear. Well if I would have been thinking and actually looked at the microfiche on this part I would have seen that it goes between the gear and circlip.

Next up was to remove the glaze in the cylinder and put some cross hatching back into the cylinder. There are many beliefs and strong opinions on this matter and whether you should use a hone on a nikasil cylinder. I have been taking advice from a reputable engine builder in Florida and he recommends it as long as it is done with the proper hone with the proper technique. I have been honing this cylinder every rebuild since I bought the bike and it has not been a problem.



Cylinder after honing is complete.



Bike fired right up and sounded nice and tight during the first heat cycle, other than the problem I explained above which took me about an hour to figure out.



I guess there is no rest for the wicked when it comes to rebuilds. We went to a fundraiser for Josh Knight and his trip to Argentina to compete in the ISDE at the track in Ogden and 3 laps into my boy riding his 85, we lost the crank in it.

 

[Gravy]

eesh. Katoooom!

 

[anderson750]

The good news is that the Edge is going to see if KTM will warranty it. I bought the bike in April with 29 hours on it. It was a factory return, which in this bikes case it was used by one of their Orange Brigade riders for one of the big amateur races. Before they send them out to the dealer they go through them and replace anything that is out of spec. At 29 hours the crank was in spec, but you would expect it to go longer than 55 before going out. I knew what I was buying and I cannot say I am surprised it went out. I bought the bike at a great price so if they warranty it great, if not then I will go the same route as I did with this 65 rebuild and put the Pro-x rod with billet stuffers.

 

[Tonkaman]

Congrats on the rebuild! Opening up the transmission the first time is like trying up rebuild a rubix cube