Ok, Speedchaser building a crank press got me thinking about buying a rod kit to rebuild my cranks, both part#'s for the Fl400 rod are discontinued and the CR500 rod kit is also discontinued so that means no more rods from HONDA, I know there are a few after market company's making rod kits, how many are there and which one should we use?

Vesrah?

Hot Rods?

Pro X?

old post

viewtopic.php?t=5753&highlight=pilot+stock+rod

Ok after searching more I don't think there are kits for the FL400, I think everyone is selling the CR500 rebuild kit for the Pilot.


Vesrah-

http://www.moto-man.com/Vesrah-Connecti ... _3026.html

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/HONDA-CR ... _500wt_749
Vesrah rod part#11-4112, wrist pin#11-6758

same rod same seller but states its for a FL400 Pilot so its worth more money unless im wrong?
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/HONDA-FL ... _500wt_967
Vesrah rod part#11-4112, wrist pin#11-2387

Hot Rods-

http://www.moto-man.com/Hot-Rods-Connec ... _3024.html

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1987-200 ... _604wt_950



Pro X-

http://www.mawonline.com/google/P09230163.HTM

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/PRO-X-CO ... 973wt_1002

You tried to order the Honda rods ?

Here is the info on the CR500 kit http://pilotodyssey.com/PO/viewtopic.php?p=12949

Years of searching and reading about crankshafts and rods all over the net the name that comes up the most for failed parts is HOT RODS short life and failure rates, dunno if its a numbers thing, they are most popular their fore you see more that failed?

Other observations are the popularity contest, I seen this when researching a crank for my TRX250R seems when ever you ask about rods or crank shafts first thing to come up is "HOT RODS" followed by someone regurgitating their advertisement ad verbatim then when you question the people replying "HOT RODS" asking how many they owned, how many miles they put on them, you guessed it no reply.

don't recall reading anything bad about Vesrah and Pro X I will ask around and see what other think..

I have searched and searched and can not find much info on the rods other than one time users who love what they installed or hate them because of a failure, but I feel this info must be taken with a grain of salt who knows how long or how hard the people who like the rods have run them? and who knows if the people who don't like them didnt install them wrong, or over rev, or over heat their engines? we need a reputable Engine builder to let us know what they use and why.

Hoser, I would be willing to buy one of each Hot rod, Pro X, And Vesrah and have them shipped to you so you can look them over in person and tell us what you think?


Also the wrist pin end of the 500 rods are wider, the wrist pin bearings that come with the 500 kit wont work you have to use a FL400 wrist pin bearing. will the wider rod end effect the oiling of the bearing? should we have a machinist (speedchaser) fly cut the 500 rods to make them the same width as the FL400 rods?

ATVR has been using the CR500 rod in place of the 400 rod you might call them see what they say when using the 500 rod with the OEM 400 piston I think they just use the 400 bearing and all is well?

I didnt like the 500 rod simply because it was adding weight, it also adds strength but adds it to an area where the 400 never seem to be weak, we might not have a choice but to run the 500 rod, I am not sure having Speedchaser machining them down would be worth the time unless it was a fast and inexpensive ?

I can look the rods over but not really sure what I would be looking for other than to compare oiling slot size, location and finish.

Turn to page 28-29 of your two stroke tuners handbook..

http://www.pilotodyssey.com/2stroketunershandbook.pdf

Quote from the post on the other board,

"Vesrah 5004 (9,48 Oz)
Hot Rods 8139 (10,37 Oz)
Stock Rod (9,06 Oz)

The Pictures show the Rods with Stock Bearing and Stock pin install in the Stock Piston.

There is less side clearance with the small end of the Vesrah and Hot Rods, between the rods and the Stock Piston.This might even limit or reduce the ability for the small end bearing to receive lubrication.The Vesrah has a bigger hole for lubricacion than the Stock Rod and The Hot Rods has 2 bigger holes for lubrication than the Stock Rod, maybe this can fix the lubrication problem.

In the big end no problems, all the rods, bearings, pins and washers are the same. Hot Rods has 2 oil grooves like the Stock Rod, and the Vesrah Rod has 4 oil grooves, better than the Stock Rod.

These rods must be used with the Stock Piston Pin Bearing. The bearing comes with the Kit doesnt work with Stock Piston, maybe with Wiseco Piston."

Take a look at chapter 7 and page 149 http://www.pilotodyssey.com/performance ... m-bell.pdf

Never tried these before never had a rod apart to massage them, looks like it would be worth the effort.

Rods have been discussed here but its been a while here is some links I dug up dunno if you seen them.

Found these using the search and searching for cr500 and rod more might be found using different words and combination's.

viewtopic.php?t=1111&highlight=cr500+rod

viewtopic.php?t=921&highlight=cr500+rod

viewtopic.php?t=720&highlight=cr500+rod

viewtopic.php?t=2604&highlight=cr500+rod

ATV Racing http://atvracing1.com/safety.htm has been using the CR500 rod in place of the 400 rod you might call them see what they say when using the 500 rod with the OEM 400 piston I think they just use the 400 bearing and all is well? I no longer deal with ATVR someone else can ask them.

I didnt like the 500 rod simply because it was adding weight, it also adds strength but adds it to an area where the 400 never seem to be weak, we might not have a choice but to run the 500 rod, I am not sure having Speedchaser machining them down would be worth the time unless it was a fast and inexpensive ?

I can look the rods over but not really sure what I would be looking for other than to compare oiling slot size, location and finish.

Turn to page 28-29 of your two stroke tuners handbook..

http://www.pilotodyssey.com/2stroketunershandbook.pdf[/quote]

I know you don't like us stockcar guys much but its how I grew up and where I learned, as far as rods go when we ran claimer engines we would run stock rods but we would beam grind them (that's what we called it) we would grind/polish the casting ridge off the sides of the rods with a belt sander to make them smooth to help relieve stress, I don't see why it woudnt work for a 2 stroke?

Yeah that all old school on all parts remove sharp edges to remove stress risers in the metals, its covered pretty well in the 2 books I listed above it also tells what not to do...

Most the 2 stroke rods I have seen look like they been tumbled to remove the rough edges.

For a while one of the rods think it was hot rods came polished rumors ran ramped all over the web they were faster because their was less drag whilst rotating making more HP, I never seen anything solid to support such claims, sounded good probably made for good sales too

Vesrah CR500R part# 11-4112 or 5004, "remember you have to use the Fl400 wrist pin bearing the one in the kit wont work", does anyone know part numbers for FL400 wrist pin bearing?

Hot rods. "remember you have to use the FL400 wrist pin bearing not the one in the kit"


http://www.hotrodsproducts.com/index.cf ... ductid=145

He did post here, I guess we didnt care until we all needed rods........

viewtopic.php?t=5753&highlight=pilot+stock+rod