aaaaaand one more xr600 usd swap! yeah thats right!

well fellows I will be part of the cool usd gang now...

Just finished an initial test fit of my usds on my 88 xr600.

Here are some pics...

Some details...

Test ride and finishing touches in the next few days...

So what you need to do is:

Buy some CR250R forks...yeah the motocross ones...2002 and up, why youll know later.



Thanks to Steve who pulled the trigger on these showa twin chambers, they are pristine inside and out. Rebuild with some fresh maxima 5w, and plush 375cc's of fluid and some new fork skins too! nice

Then get the cr250 clamps and take off the cr stem(this way its sort of easier, I had to I was missing the cr stem and well I had to use the xr stem! more details on why later



Press in a bushing in the upper clamp:



Then press in the xr stem into the CR bottom clamp(notice clip is still there so it wont go up anymore?)



Press lower bearing back onto xr stem in cr clamps



Tell machinist, to shave a bit off the nuts and spacers on the xr stem configuration:



He took about 1mm off each side if the keeper nut, and 2mm off the stem top nutm why you ask? well to gain you some mm cause the xr stem is ever so shorter than the cr/crf stem



Then notice you have an issue with the locking spacer that keeps the stem tight, the issue is the diameter is too small cause you pushed everything up kind of:


so you dremel the hole out a bit:

and shave the teeth down so its flush against the nut:



So then mock it up and you get this clamp setup:


NICE WERE GETTING SOMEWHERE AND ACTUALLY THE HARDEST PART IS DONE.

add some bars of your choice:



Then slide some tubes up this sucker(sorry beers kicked in!)



Put your old bars on(I will still be using my fatbars and one set of adapters, feels good.)


some more pics next...

THEN:

Notice why 2002 and up is key here....

Put on your old caliper(mine is an 88) so other most all will line up actually, huh what? yeah no bracket extension or spacer, just put your old one on and bam!



yeah! just replace the top bolt of the caliper with another 10mm one from say for example you bar clamp bolts!

Then while doing this take the time to check out your caliper...!

I apparently have an issue with the piston surfaces crumbling under the metal detachable caps(notice pistons are hollow, nice weight savings there honda, im impressed!


so I put the caps back on nice and tight and cleaned the pads up and lubed the caliper pins...nice!



Then put a SWEET crf/x black excel wheel you got on ebay for 79 bucks! yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah so it matches your rear of course! stainless spoked too! nice



Then thank your dear friend steve for buying the crf/x speedo and odometer cable for a few bucks...nice, guess what it hooks up to the 24 year old xr odo! yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!

some fork guards here:


a rotor guard there:



loosely fit everything up:

and admire the new front end of sorts!



and a little prfile pic too!



now let it soak in and get ready to do more testing tomorrow or the next.

some important and superflous notes**********************

***The reason you use 2002 and up showa twin chambers is they are the same from that year up to date.

***2002 has the same caliper mount so no brackets or extensions needed. Just replace the top bolt as it will be longer since the xr top mount on the fork is deeper...so use whatever 10mm bolt you have! I used an extra bar clamp mount bolt. worked perfect.

***If you want to use a speedo or your old one, GET A CRF/X WHEEL any year I beleive, why? the x's have the speedo, RRRRRR'S dont

*******if you dont want a speedo use any cr wheel, any year

*****the Cr brake rotor is about half the width of the xr rotor, so dont freak out! weight saved there I guess? jejeje

Youll have to bend the brake cable mount bracket or use only one hole:




Now onto the important details:

You have option when doing a usd swap...

Most guys use the CR STEM as its thicker, yeah that was my plan, but that stem is somehwere in US postal serviceland so I dont have it.

Then you would press that stem out, turn it and rethread it or something...then press back on. You turn it down cause the xr bearings are smaller, since the stock xr stem is smaller. duh!

Jeremy and steve are helping me do this on the cr stem, which I plan on using evenually as I would like the extra heft/srength.

But being anxious and staring at my awesome usd's wasnt helping sooooo I decided to go the other route...

why, I had my old stem, and making bushings isnt rocket science...
choose your favourite machinist, say I need the cr clamp holes to be this diameter and show them the xr clamp holes...

then say I need you to press the stem down the bottom of the clamps and up again...

then have the machinist shave a bit off the bottom clamp where the bearing sits, a bit off the top clamp where the stem nut sits,

why to gain a few milimeters so your not to short to tighten the stem well enough!

In the end it worked out, I guess I lucked out as I hadnt measured the xr stem precisely before doing this, just a rough measurement.

the cr/crfx stems are 10.5 inches

Im guessing the xr stem is 10.25 or damn near close.

anyways

more stuff to test out tomorrow.

I found out the cr wheel had seized bearings, oh well new bearings never hurt.

Oh

the forks are too raised in the triples... did this cause most everyone does it...the cr forks are slightly longer but not by much so Ill be lowering them back as the bike does feel a bit sumo/lowered in the front compared to my old setup/forks. Or by stiffer springs? dont know yet Id have to ride a while to getthe feel for it.

Anyways verbal diarhea out!

christian

That's awesome.
Thanks for posting your version of this - it's very helpful.

-Tom

thanks for looking!

I had a lot of help especially sourcing the correct parts which makes ALL the difference...

There are tons of swaps, some hondas cr swaps, some off brand swaps, and some become QUITE complicated because you are using different brands, etc...

this swap can be done even easier if you just turn down the cr stem...but you have the issues I mentioned before and well I was missing mine...

Thanks again for commenting/

Christian

Hi, Christian !
I'm doing the same job as you, now. I will adapt CRF450R front shock absorber for my XR500r.
The axis of your XR600 STEERING STEM the clamp is made of steel or aluminum?
I want to save the STEERING STEM XR500R and I am faced with a choice: use aluminum axis CRF450R (mechanical processed) or make a new axis of steel.
What is your advice?"
Ivan.

good for you...

Im almost positive that the xr500 stem is steel/alloy though...might be different tolerances needed there...

xr600 stem is aluminum.

One other note is that cr450x and r are notoriously STIFF forks...so You might have some issues with the plush old style xr500.

Thats the reason I went with 250's(steve recomended this too) they are softer and have softer springs in them...45, 450 is 48? something like that.

good luck though.

christian

Thank You Christian !
CRF450r has a diameter 47 mm. The frame Xr500r 84-85= frame XL600R and has a slightly smaller stiffness (прочнотс&#1100 than XR600 only. Front fork my XR500 required service and I have had a very advantageous offer for the purchase CRF450r the front fork in excellent condition. I could not resist.

yeah the diamaters are 47mm on all cr showas, new at least 2002 up.

What I was referring to is the spring rate

the cr250r forks I have have .45kg springs in them, the cr450x and r I think have .48kg springs...also the dampening and valving are stiffer.

Good luck once again...

I got my usds for $200 plus the wheel under $300

not bad!

post up a thread when you have yours done too!

cheers

Christian,

To bad you didn't know your caliper pistons were all f***** up. Guess how many calipers I have laying about. Perhaps when Anna comes down again. July maybe says the Mrs.

the second swap I went to all balls and used their extensive fork swap database which even cross refrences between brands 2 bearings shims and seals about 80.00 no machining required .....

aja!

remember when you sent down the xr600 cartridge forks with me? last august?

yup

I have a 2000 year master cylinder, caliper and new hose....so Ill be switching them out as soon as I get her started...

now I have to deal with a no start issue....

the bike is complete

headlight dims when kicking over...cant get her to start...

ill check for spark tomorrow

Oh I switched back to the stock xr600 cdi?

hmmmmm

hope thats not it

cheers

I dont think they make that kit anymore

even so ordering from the states takes a while...and I had a machinist and my stuff

so thats what I did!

jejeje

cheers

ok for now

cant wait for my new clarke oem replacement tank

cheers

Thanks for the write up, and thanks for the all balls reference!

I've got the parts and I'm currently planning on grafting an '05 crf450r front end onto a '86 xr600r. Here's another good link that has some good info:

http://home.comcast.net/~ledrocnoc/CRFClampMods/

interesting...

we opted to machine down the nut more than the clamps, because well the nut is something you can easily replace, that and my machinist said taking more than 2-3mm off the top clamp especially and it gets dangerous...

like this link you posted we pretty much did everything exactly the same

I also do think that the xr650r head stem is slightly longer than the xr600, meaning you would have to machine down more...

anyways

cheers and thanks for looking

p.s. went riding today again on street and decided to put the fork tubes donw to the first groove on the tubes,...I hd them lowered a bit too much...

I also replaced the crfx wheel bearings,,,

smooth now!

oh and I cut my bars 1cm off each end...makes a big difference too!

cheers

well finally tested out the swap on dirt...


and its a success, no issues or problems with the swap.

notes:

When going real slow, putsing around you will notice the ride is a bit stiffer and bouncier.

This is a worthwile negative compared to stock cause as soon as you whack the throttle and get going at speed and start hitting stuff like rocks, berms, holes, etc...RUTS general technical stuff the forks soak it up and it becomes compliant and plush...it also deflects MUCH less at speed when hitting hiden rocks or whatnot.



...and the real reason I did this, is the wheel goes where I want now. Its stiff front end and tweaks less than conventionals and that makes me happy.

I do need to play around with the clickers both front and back, but Im stoked.

overall a very worthwhile upgrade...

thats a wrap!

christian

just a little update for those intererested

these forks kick ass!

here is a pic with the new oem replacement clarke tank too:



its planted, jumping, traction, turning, braking etc...absolutely 100times better

see ya!

Hope to join the USD club aswell some time soon !

yeah supermoto style! jajaja

i like the cr forks, pretty damn sweet!

cheers