Hello, I love the Yamaha tech forum. I have learned a lot here.
I have had my 550 for a couple years now, I put 7 thousand miles on since buying it. The bike has 12,500 miles now. [IMG][/IMG] I opened up the engine looking for a whine in the primary gears, I now believe the roller bearing for the balancer has too much play and want to replace the roller bearing with the ball bearing from the 600.[/IMG] I think the 550 balancer looks heavier than the 600 balancer and wonder if the ball bearing will hold up in 550? I think the ball bearing will keep balance shaft from floating in and out as the roller lets it do now. Any input, idea or hunch welcome.
I found Carl H.post on bearings...http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...t600-2kf-47115... But I haven't found anyone who switched a 550.
The 550 is hard to find piston + rings for and I wanted to go to 600 cyl. since I bought it. Felt I might be missing out, so I found a 34k cyl. and its being bored to clean it up 95.25mm is all. Getting ready to enlarge case for it now.
95.25 not 101, as I see so many, I measured o.d. at bottom the of the 600 sleeve for case work, and that is 101mm+-.
Will my 550 head need combustion chamber opened up anywhere? I think both 550 and 600 chamber look the same size.
My engine is all apart now, I also found rough bearing 6004 on output shaft.
Any pointers , cautions, criticism welcome. Otis0

Very nice 550. I had one for years, great bikes. Please do post and show us how the build is going.

Two points:
1 The Euro XT550 had a beefy aluminum bash plate instead of the flimsy steel USA one. I don´t know if they still can be found, but they are great if you ride any offroad.
2 You can run a capacitor instead of a battery if you want. Less weight and less maintenance.

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Yamaha XT600E '01, Honda XR400 '03, Yamaha XT550 '83

Measure the width of the camber , I'll check with one of mine . It should work fine as long as there isn't too much of a squish band. A 600 head gasket should be used.

Thanks G6, JJ , anybody else curious, i have started the job on the xt550 thread at ADV. I have the 34k cylinder fitting the case now. Matched head to new cyl. diameter. Waiting for parts.otis

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The mating of the 600 cyl. with my engine is complete. I put the ball bearing on the balancer right side like I wanted.
While engine was out I stripped and painted the frame.
Have about 100 miles on it now. Engine much quieter internally feels strong but I haven't tried to run it out yet. I'm real happy with it.

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