Destructo

Awesome!!!! I have one more to do this spring. I'll use the same technique

Yep OEM gaskets from now on.. cuz that really sucked. Unfortunately I bought like 4 of these for 2 bikes because I figured in another 10000km I'll have to do this again and who knows what supply will be like by then lol

I used an aftermarket gasket and had same problem

Pretty much. I wonder how the factory does it. Or if there's a grease sticky enough to hold the ball side of the pushrod into its cup.

Like slid the little bent wire between head and cover and over like an hour just struggled till it finally sat right. Hand tight the bolts and turned the motor by hand to make sure nothing went pop, scrape or bang before I carried on too

I used a very thin but stiff piece of steel wire that I kind of bent in a w shape to hold both push rods. Much trial and error. You know how the old joke about the long cane pulling a guy off stage when they suck? Like that, but instead of 1 hook I bent 2. Wife had both her hands aligning the cover on the head while I held the wire and gasket. There's gotta be a better way cuz that sucked and the gasket has a little spot that is supposed to hold them straight but it's not very strong lol

Thanks. For an update, I decided to pull the crank and he balancer fell out. Its bearing time lol

No but I read a previous post he was involved with where it was stated that 2004 was the upgraded pump, which i have a brand new one anyways so this ones factory pump goes to my 2003 lol

Inspecting this after splitting the case and I noticed the balancer has alot of in and out play in its rear bearing as seen in the attached video. Question is what holds in centered on the crankshaft? If it moves too much in or out it contacts metal. 20230616_181911.mp4 20230616_181911.mp4

Okay. I spoke with brian and he says this amount of play is normal. I'm gunna send it lol

Thanks. I sent him an email with the video as an attachment. Any idea what the whining sound could be while slowing down or descending a hill? One way bearing? I already have a new oil pump so I'll probably install it into this one and use his ones factory pump in my 2003 when it's on the bench lol

Heres a video showing its movement. Is this too much play? Does it seem okay to reinstall? received_1434019520470591.mp4

I as well am trying to reach Brian, could you inbox me his email address please!?

Hey all, so ive got a 2004 trx500 torn down, case split and am inspecting everything. It happened because of a strange whine i heard while descending hills that my other identical bike doesnt make, both bikes had different oil pressures so i figured id replace the oil pump while im in there. So , the hondamatic: it has a big of in and out play in the dark metal head part of it that sits and the front of the motor. when i rotate it it has a tiny tiny bit of a sound like marbles rolling around but i cant see any damage and it "appears" as if the sound comes from the little 'pins' moving up or down as they are rotated around the assembly. Does anybody have a video of what it should sound like when the hondamatic is rotated on a bench? should it be completely silent? It rotates smooth and all and while put together it ran fine, just wanted to ensure it doesnt break on me while out in the woods and for the price of a cheap oil pump and teaching the wife how to dismantle and reassemble the bike its worth it...supposing the hondamatic isnt about to die regardless. Any info is appreciated. Thanks!

I'll have to pull the motor on the bike that doesn't have oil in there and split the case in a couple weeks and have a look I guess. Unless theres a way I can get in there with he horoscope?

The 2004 must have a plugged area in the flow of oil I presume.

The oil doesn't spray out the timing hole, just if I look in the timing hole I can see it spraying into that chamber with the timing hole. The oil level is *just* below the timing hole. So this 2003 with the oil in the chamber with the timing hole is proper and the one that doesn't fill there it not?

Extra pressure would be weird and I have a new hn2 model pump for it. More just wanting to know if there is supposed to be oil in the chamber that the arrow points to or not. Gotta find out which bike gets its motor ripped out and which bike gets ripped on till it explodes THEN gets its motor ripped out lol

The one with oil in the chamber with the timing cap is the 2003 with a fresh cylinder, new valves lapped and new gaskets... I think there is something wrong with the cam decompressed as on the compression strike with the recoil starter it's so hard I keep breaking ropes, hence the hanging one in temporarily lol I haven't checked compression cuz I'm going on vacation tomorrow for 2 weeks but when I return I'll have more info on that but it seems like mega compression compared to when I got it before he work we did. If I recall correctly that is simply the flywheel a crankshaft bearing and stator right in that chamber right? Wouldn't think there would be a reason for it to have oil in it I think. It had the same oil issues prior to me doing he handwork as far as oil check and pressure goes

yes its a hondacrapmatic... they are the same vehicle just different year, well and one has a gps but thats negligible.. the one with the oil in the flywheel area- is very difficult to check the oil level. if i pull the dipstick while its running it will blob oil out at a high rate, if i let it cool off and check the oil its like its full beyond the top of the dipstick... i can never get a good reading on that one. however i only put 5 of the 5.3 liters in it ( freshly did the top end and fresh oil). i dont have a tachometer, but when i check oil pressure at idle its something like 22 psi and when i blast the throttle the oil pressure gets up there and beyond the spec in the book ( i dont know the rpm but when i "brap" it the pressure goes way up.) Ive not gotten this one to fully filled oil level yet because it seems like its more than full, when i know for certain it is in fact not. when i pull the valve ports, they have oil dripping on them just as the other bike does so i know the oil system to the head works fine.

i have 2 identical ATV's, 2003 and 2004 trx500's on the 2003 if i undo the bolt in the picture ( for flywheel timing for TDC) its filled with oil and if removed while running itll spray out. on the 2004 under same circumstances there is no oil. which one is messed up? should there be oil in this chamber or not?

there has to be some honda engineer dude somewhere like: "it is wisest to do things the most difficult way possible, it is our duty to use dissimilar metals in high tension high stress/strain environment" "hondamatic run good, until 30 cent part fails then we get to sell another hondamatic" "cant they just rebuild the hondamatic?" "no because we will ensure we manufacture a special seal for it and never sell it to anybody!!!!!" "Oh you so wise engineer-san! yes we must follow this path!"

! straight man

hmm good idea, i have the whole thing on 4 jack stands... i will lower the right hand side tonight to the ground and see if that works. durable but dumb design... they should take a lesson from the amc/jeep 4.0 lol

Yes... wife likes, Honda hates haha i feel like a flat tool with the shape of the pushrods spaced properly would be my only out here... but there has to be a better way