CR500 aluminum frame bushing fit solutions

I just spent a bunch of time trying to find the right spacers, decide how I am going to buy one that is super close and lathe the other. When I had an idea.

I imagine this should work for about all cr500 conversions that use a honda frame. Most all utilize the cr125 bushings for the swing arm, which puts the gap on left side at 54mm, plus a 5mm bushing on outside of swing arm. then 59 plus 5, so we have a total distance of 59mm left, and 64mm right.

First that gets me thinking if they have a fit kit listed for the 125, it would be the proper fit for our conversion. If anyone wants my measurements let me know.

Now on to the simple solution. The sprocket alignment should be the same, so for instance I have a crf450 fit kit, the outer spacers on each side need to remain in order to get the proper alignment. The crf in my case has a width of 49+5 on left and 54+5 on right. That is 54mm on left, and 59mm on right to total.

So we basically have a 5mm difference on each side. So why not just use a 5mm spacer? to make up the difference. In fact we already have a 5mm spacer, from the piece outside the swing arm. If I was to place that on the inner most position of each side against the motor bushings, the fit kit for the crf450 should work without any additional bushings or modifications other than utilizing the swing arm spacer.

I will check later when I find the cached pages again if it works across all models and years, but almost positive it would, since we all use the same positioning in the conversion.

kell8071 said:

As you memtioned match the frame. I have an 04 crf frame so I used outer spacers for that model since it already had correct sprocket alignment. Then I measured the inners and called timbersled, they had ones that were within .020" so I called that good and it all bolted up fine.

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Still have the part numbers of those two bushings you could list here For reference?

kell8071 said:

I don't remember which side is which but the two inner bushings used for my '04 CRF450R/'89 CR500 conversion are listed below. Keep in mind every CR500 conversion is likely different.


16-RE-755 (1.491" L x .898" W x 43/64" ID)
16-RE-698 (1.728" L x 1.135" W x 43/64" ID)


L = overall length
W = width of shoulder or gap between Tsled frame and engine


Kell

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Thanks so much for including this. Yes those should work for my application as well. The 698 is from the cr500 fit kit itself, and would be in the number 3 position, or right side inner, and it is very close to my measurement.
RE 696 is another cr500 part 1.498L .905W, but is a bit further off. The right side matches my numbers to .01, but left is .04 if that matters, could be lightly milled or even polished, on the thicker side.
But to be honest, I think these will be correct for most conversions, as we all use the cr125 spacers. Of course if someone didn't use them, and had their motor offset a bit different, their sprocket would be a bit out of alignment even on dirt. But I'm assuming using a honda frame.
For reference.
http://www.conversionparts500.com/#...R500-conversions/p/35822757/category=13717068

kell8071 said:

Yeah, that's seems about right for the one side being off by .040". I vaguely remember planning to machine or sand it down but then tried installing it and it all went together fine so...


Kell

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Maybe I will see how fast I can get some bushings, was going to put kit on next week, if I can't have them by then I will probably use the spacers.

M5- said:

When I did my CR500 install I just installed the kit with no bushings, aligned the chain so it was perfectly straight, measured then cut them on the lathe it doesn't take very long. The TS bushings for the steelie CRs don't actually align the chain very well, best to make your own even for the AF conversion IMO.


M5

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I guess that is something to consider. I'm hoping to start installing the kit next wednesday, but if I run into issues like this, with it being the holidays, I don't have access to my guy with a lathe. I would rather it be done right though. I guess I can hold off on ordering any extra bushings, and then see how these spacers line up, and if it is off delay my first ride a bit.

Ok, so attempting to put this thing together, and it does not work.

I had to use a crank puller to spread the frame to even get the outer bushings to fit in the frame. Which should have been just right for a crf450 of that year, as there is nothing modified to do with that aspect.

Now that it is in and I have the crf450 bushings on the inner sides, the swing arm spacers are too big, I got one in, but then the other was even further pinched. If they were actually 5mm it might work, but they are closer to 6mm. So I'm going to see if I can pick up a couple washers to fit in there, the swing arm bolt washer, If I had two for each side would probably be perfect. I could get that by monday likely if nothing at hardware store.

I'm just shocked how much I had to expand the frame to get it to fit, it should have just been the thickness of the orings, which should have been no big deal to compress and push it in, but no dice there at all. With how hard it was to get it in, I'm hoping I can just find washers or fab a spacer to force in there that is relatively tight but will go in on both sides, cause I don't want to pull the thing back out unless I'm making 4 new bushings.

It's too bad they have this strange design, because fitting the actually swing arm and spacers and bushings it goes together quite easily, I had to pry a little bit, but was only a few minutes, vs a few hours.

edit: unless I can pick up the inner bushings listed here, but haven't had much luck with getting bushings.

What a joke, had to grind down a couple washers to get it to fit. Is this going to fail?

Then I torqued it to 75 ft lbs like they say, then go to lift the skid and lift the entire bike, it pivots, but is practically stuck, and takes an awful lot to make it move.