A forum for owners of Yamaha TTR250 trail and enduro bikes!

I started writing this some time ago but have been far too involved to get back to updating! So even though i start off with the stripdown in actual fact is coming together now with the engine back in....

 Not sure why some of the photos have turned themselves around?  Sorted for you Cubber

I picked up the bike for a bargain price from our bike club, we used to run off road events and offer a ‘have a go’ option with a couple of hire bikes, due to increasing costs of land use it became unfeasible to continue, so the club moved toward green laning and got rid of our two hire bikes, so that’s how I became the owner of a slightly battered but reasonably cares for TTR.

After a fair bit of loitering and part purchasing I have finally managed to get underway.

Its already gone rather a lot further than I had initially envisaged, the original plan was to sort the oil leak on the head, get it good enough to pass an MOT and get out on some green laning, however, I now have a bike in a lot of pieces!

The frame is pretty bare now, just a couple of bits to remove, has a few bits of corrosion that have been temporarily treated:

They will need a rub down and finish properly then for ease I think the whole frame may get a coat of smoothrite (as much as I would love to get it powdercoated I don’t think I can stretch to that/get it past the wife!).

So the corrosion got taken back using a couple of wire brushes in the drill and the frame got a light rubbing down ready for a spray can paint job. I went for the blue smooth hammerite, actually came out a lot better than I thought.

Cleaned up the air box and rear shock, also replaced all the linkage bearings, and that went back in to make it feel like I was getting some progress toward a rideable bike lol

The bike came without any clocks or headlight so I have an aftermarket headlight to fit and got some clocks from Steve at Totally TTRs, I had to make a bracket as they appear to be like hens teeth to source.

 The engine came out and had the top end off, there was an oil leak which I thought was the head gasket, turned out to be the decompressor plug! Took the time to check and adjust the valve clearances, check the barrel and piston rings, replace the gaskets and give it a quick spray of silver to freshen it up. (Turned out the silver was a little brighter than I wanted...) somehow I have no photos of any of this process?

I whipped the speedo drive out of the front wheel and followed Brian’s Guide, after it being particularly solid it now works like a dream :)

The one thing I did learn was to make sure you bag and label everything you take off, I took a few photos of the electrical clips, but not the actual loom routing or bolt positions etc. Makes it quite hard when you are rebuilding, still have a box of bolts that I have no idea where they came from!

The swingarm wasn’t too bad but looked a bit battered, after a good clean up, spray, new bearings and decals it’s looking pretty good. The worst bit was getting the bearings out from the shock linkage point. I tried using the bearing press at work but it didn’t work as its not square where the bearings fit. Resorted to a lump hammer! All rebuilt and refitted:

The rear calliper got treated to a good clean, new seals and pins greased.

Continuing with the budget rebuild I sprayed the rear grab handles, footpegs, stand, gear and rear brake lever using more hammerite smooth black and refitted.

The engine went back in, despite my efforts at protecting the frame there are a couple of scuffs that will need a touch up, if only I had read Brian’s rebuild thread about the clutch lever arm, it would have saved the extra effort!

It’s getting there now, final push with a tail tidy to knock up at work, rear tyre to change and new chain and sprockets (they are pretty badly hooked) to replace, forgot to take the front sprocket off prior to taking the chain off so will need to do that once the new one is fitted.

On a good note I did find a box with my number plate, all four indicators (like new) and the fitting brackets plus reflectors in the club lockup :)

more to follow....