We sent the cases out to Tudor's Performance  in Corona, CA to have the crank bearing bosses machined to accept steel sleeves. Jeff believes that steel is much more desirable than the brass or bronze that the other shops use. The LT500R is prone to the bearing bosses becoming elongated due to different rates of thermal expansion of the bearings and cases and the enormous rotational mass of a 500cc single. With the inserts the bearings actually become TIGHTER as the engine heats up! If you have not done this to your 'Zilla you MUST while the cases are apart. When the bearing bosses fail it leads to certain engine seizure!

   Again to check for this condition on a Quadzilla:

• Remove the flywheel cover.

• Grab the flywheel with both hands.

• Aggressively attempt to move the flywheel up and down.

• ANY MOVEMENT means you need this fix immediately!

  Now that all your parts are laid out and your shop manual is open to the exploded transmission schematic, and you are sure you have ALL the gears and washers where they belong... We would also like to thank Yamaha-Suzuki of Arizona  (YSA) in Phoenix, for providing all of the OEM Suzuki parts used in the engine and transmission overhaul!

Let's put this Japanese puzzle together!

We also had to replace the blind bearing on the end of the input shaft. To reinstall heat the boss with a propane torch and freeze the bearing overnight, it will slip in with a few taps of a hammer and a brass drift. You can also see the steel sleeves machined and pressed into the bearing bosses as noted by the arrow.	Before installing the crank seals, anoint them with blue Loc-Tite to ensure their not migrating during operation.	Drive the new crank, counter balancer and counter shaft seals in VERY carefully. Improper installation will bend or damage these critical parts.

Drop the assembled input shaft into its bearing.	Drop the assembled counter shaft into  place, you will have to lift the input shaft up a bit to clear the larger gears. Make sure the both are seated firmly. You will not be able to turn the shafts freely yet due to the slider gears being improperly positioned.	Assembled gear set will look like this.

     With the gear sets in the second part of the puzzle is the shift forks and shafts. You must have your trusty manual to refer to in order to make sure you have the forks in the right position!

Click Here for Page Two!