Yamaha TTR250

[tdvt]

Wondering if you ever fitted the steering damper? Mine can feel a little twitchy on the tarmac or hardpack with knobbies sometimes.

I've only had my '04 TTR250 since end of May, but now have it plated here in Vermont. Just really getting going with it.

So far, so good.

[LC Garage]

Originally Posted by tdvt

Wondering if you ever fitted the steering damper? Mine can feel a little twitchy on the tarmac or hardpack with knobbies sometimes.

I've only had my '04 TTR250 since end of May, but now have it plated here in Vermont. Just really getting going with it.

So far, so good.

Have not installed the steering dampener (yet), still intending to get one on her this coming winter as I do plan to ride the Stump Jumpers Desert 100 next Spring on this bike. Have been busy since getting back from Baja catching up on everything I'd let go while prepping for the big adventure. http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=755786

I do have a question for you other TTR250 riders; what battery do you recommend? The one I have is just a little over a year old and will not hold a charge, is there an upgrade battery for this bike?

[tdvt]

Originally Posted by LC Garage

I do have a question for you other TTR250 riders; what battery do you recommend? The one I have is just a little over a year old and will not hold a charge, is there an upgrade battery for this bike?

I did have to buy a battery for mine but I needed it that day. Got it from the Yamaha dealer but it was an aftermarket brand (not sure which) & certainly wasn't a burning deal (around $50). If I'd had more time I'd probably have gotten one off of eBay, they seem fairly inexpensive for what is likely a short-lived part anyway.

Your Baja trip looked pretty crazy!

[tdvt]

Today, UPS dropped off a Polisport replacement fender (#351008) for a Gas Gas 450 that I had ordered from Motorcycle Superstore for $5 (closeout I guess). It's the same shape as the stock fender & the blue is a VERY close match. Had to redrill 4 holes (already marked in the mounting area) to put it on.

Way cheaper than a Yamaha replacement.

[LC Garage]

Originally Posted by tdvt

Today, UPS dropped off a Polisport replacement fender (#351008) for a Gas Gas 450 that I had ordered from Motorcycle Superstore for $5 (closeout I guess). It's the same shape as the stock fender & the blue is a VERY close match. Had to redrill 4 holes (already marked in the mounting area) to put it on.

Way cheaper than a Yamaha replacement.

Sweet!

[LC Garage]

Just bought a used Scotts dampener off ebay, it appears to be from a road bike as it seems to dampen in both directions, but I did get a great deal ($91) and have heard varying opinons on using one way or two way dampening. The main thing I was looking for was to prevent crashes similar to last year where I hit a rock and the bars were jerked out of my hands. Here it is;





I'm planning to mount it "sub" style or under the bars and will be ordering a kit from Scotts.

[LC Garage]

A few weeks ago, I called Scott's and explained what I was working on and that I had bought a used dampener off of ebay. They started asking questions like "what do the knobs look like?" and "what is the serial number?" and after further discussion and research they concluded I had a 1996 dampener that had not been serviced in at least 8 years. They could tell the age from the serial number and the time since serviced by the old style knobs that should have been replaced when last serviced.

They said they could help me, but the first thing was to get it serviced. They also did some research on mounting and after having me take measurements concluded that they were only going to be able to help with mounting it in the upper position, not the sub mount as hoped. Oh well, no big deal. By the way, the Scott's guys were extremely helpful and encouraging thru the whole process. They were great!

So off goes the old dampener in the mail and a few weeks late comes back looking very pristine, with all new brackets and hardware for TTR 250. Cool!



Stock look;




Removing stock upper clamps;



New components loosely in place, cross bar not wanting to roll over dampener;



Cross bar loose on one end;



With cross bar loosened, bars rolled right into place, and cross bar was re-installed. Snug fit but just enough clearance to work. Those guys at Scott's know what they are doing.



Weld on style post, slightly too long, will shorten and weld onto upper frame backbone (Phase 2)



Steering stops will need to be modified, as they are now, too much rotation for the dampener, and as Luke said "you don't want your dampener working as a steering stop". Any creative ideas to reduce rotation? If nothing creative pops up, will probably just weld some material onto the lower frame stops.



Cant wait to get this completed, as soon as this is done and the new gel battery installed, she'll be ready tear up the trails!

[tdvt]

Thanks for taking the time to post the pics, let us know how it functions.

Probably a number of folks watching this as I found it through the TTR forum even though I've got it subscribed to here.

I don't think I could find it, but in researching WR/YZ to TTR fork swaps I saw a nice photo of some steering stops that were modified by drilling into each stop (on the side towards the middle) tapping the hole & adding a small socket head bolt.

That way they were somewhat adjustable too.

I recently picked up a WR exhaust to try (there are a few posts of another installation on the TTR forum) Nice & light, hopefully not too loud.

I'll post results when I get to it.

[LC Garage]

In the first phase, I was able to fit up the dampener and get a rough idea how it all fits together. Phase 2 is the location and mounting of the weld on post. Start by removing fuel tank, seat and anything directly in the way.

Before;



After;



Careful measuring showed I would need to remove .50 inch from the post;



Post length before;



Post length after;



Cut accomplished with Luke's cut off saw;



High tech locating system for spot weld consisted of black tape, wood screw and gravity;



Spot welded in place, needed to be fairly vertical (side to side and front to back) and the tip of the guide post centered in dampener arm. Not perfect but serviceable;





Next step is to disassemble for finish welding. Tacking is ok assembled & neccessary for locating parts, but the full weld process would burn up bearings, seals and possibly the wiring.

Before disassembly;



After disassembly;



I still need to remove the ignition switch before welding, but did not have the correct torx bit for that. Phase 3 will be finish weld, touching up the paint, and reassembly. Not sure if these handlebars are going to work, the center bar clears the dampener but does not allow the slow speed adjustment to fully rotate. Also am considering going through the fork legs while they are off. Pondering installing "gold valves", anyone have experience with installation and performance improvement with them?

[LC Garage]

After this weekend, the dampener project is nearly completed. I'd thought about doing the finish welds myself, but as Luke is getting lots of Tig practice on his MK1 project, it seemed like a better idea to have him do the finish welds. Got home Saturday afternoon and had a pleasant surprise:

Luke & TwinDuro after finish welding the post and welding on steering stop tabs;







They had made the steering stop tabs plenty big, to allow material to be removed slowly and check clearances as the tabs got smaller and smaller. Earlier it had been determined that the post itself was almost in the right position as a stop to protect the dampener, but of course you would not want the upper triple hitting the post instead of the stops as you would bend and/or eventually break it. Almost 5/8" between post and upper triple to start. Ideally this clearance will be closer to 3/16" when completed. Note tab is marked for first cuts based on measurements. Each round of cuts and grinding required the triple clamp, fork stem and one fork leg to be rough assembled for checking clearance.







After first rough cut;



Still too much tab;



This after the third round of cuts and grinding, clearance appeared ideal;



Note: not much tab left!



Front end rough assembled with dampener, confirmed two things; first, that the upper triple has adequate clearance both directions and two, that the steering stops will prevent the dampener from bottoming out. Mission accomplished!



Last step of dampener project will be to disassemble, clean everyhting up, touch up the paint and final reassembly.

[TimCC]

Looks great. I'm happy that you're doing this. I've been dreaming of adding one to my TTR. Make sure to give us feedback on how she rides with the new addition.

[Krazyjohnny]

My wife I went out to ride today at Lake Murray. Her TTR 250 just up and quit running. We found out the gas cap breather valve locked shut. I just unscrewed that mechanism and removed the one in the breather tube and all was good to go unitl the rain soaked us.

It is all good.

[LC Garage]

All taped up and ready for paint;



Painted with an automotive metallic blue;



Yikes, the color on the paint can was a much closer match than this!



I realize that it's just a dirt bike and most of this will be covered, but I just had to get the paint a little closer to stock. Here was my last attempt;



This is after the 4th different can of paint, ended up using a very ordinary navy blue. Best match found and this time I felt was acceptable. Stem is in foreground, starting to get serious about cleaning everthing up in prep for final assembly. This is when things went awry.



While cleaning the paint and gook off of the bearings and races, I took the first good look at the lower race after the weld process and it wasn't good. I'd mistakenly thought that the heat of the TIG would be low enough to not harm the race. Definitely damaged and needs replaced. Kicking myself for not knocking the race out before welding!



Will pick up new a new lower bearing and race this week (& probably a set of handlebars), would really like to have this rideable by next weekend. Already have the new gel battery, and other than possible suspension upgrades, am nearly ready for the first XC in March.

[LC Garage]

Today's mission; get the bike together and running!

Started with this;


And this;


Bearing kit from All Balls;


Started with cut off wheel and removed cage and rollers;


Then used the cut off wheel to groove the inner race;


After additional cuts and grooves, a chisel was used to crack the race, then it just fell off;


After removing all traces of grease (and before my wife could stop me) into the freezer for a cool down;


And the new bearing goes onto the wood stove to be warmed up:


After setting the lower seal in place, used the old inner race (upside down & with an assortment of washers stacked on top) to drive the warmed up bearing onto the cold steering stem (with a length of pipe);


All cleaned up & greased;


Steering stem back in place, not shown was driving the new bearing cup into the lower steering head;


Fork legs and wheel;


Front brake and speedo cable;


Cables & wiring, should have paid more attention when disassembling, had to take the headlight and speedo off a couple of times before all the wires and cables were properly in place;


Getting there, took my time getting everything just right, so far it looks like I may be able to get by with these handlebars, I did rotate the cross bar back so that the low speed adjuster can be rotated a full 360 degrees;


Out with the old battery that lasted barely a year, in with a new gel battery;


Ready to button up;


Fired up almost instantly;


After all the work it felt great to ride her again!


Now that it's rideable again, I can tweak, tune and practice, our first cross country event is on 3-17 and on 4-6 we have the Stump Jumpers D100. Can't wait!

[AfricaWim]

Bought one of these earlier this morning for my son to use on outrides.

Needs some work but we will sort it out in time. She's a heavy old girl and I struggled somewhat to get it loaded....but surprisingly quite lot more performance than I expected TBH.