KDXRIDER.NET

Well I never even got to ride my bike after rebuilding it due to life getting in the way (3 year old son, wife going back to school). Well I finally had a chance to go riding this past weekend. FIlled it up with fresh fuel, started on the thrid kick and smoked like I don't know what. Major disappointment. I did notice that my oil level was lower than when I changed it last year and there were not spots on the floor. So I think the main seals are bad. They must be real bad if they leaked when the bike wasn't even running. I thought they only would leak when the bike was running due to the oil being sucked through the seals. I did take it for a few quick blasts up and down my street last year when I was jetting it but really never noticed any excess smoke. Sorry for the rant. Now on to my question.

I read the sticky on case splitting and have all the mentioned tools except for the case splitter and crank puller. This is where I am getting confused. People mention problems with the Tusk crank puller not fitting. What is the deal? I am doing this to an '89 if that matters. I planned on getting the Tusk splitter and puller to do it.

The crank puller is a great tool and to me worth the money. The people that wined about it not fitting were talking about it not fitting on the right side of the crank due to the thread size. That side is easily done with freezing the crank and it will drop into the case. The sticky was done on an H series and should be very close to your 89 other then I think the 89 uses a bolt to hold the flywheel on and not a nut but the crank puller comes with the adapter to use a nut or a bolt.

It might be worth making sure the crank seals are bad before you tear into the engine. The smoke might be old gas and the low oil level should be confirmed. But splitting the cases isn't that bad of a job if you have the right tools. If you have everything it could be easily done on a Saturday with time to spare. Just make sure you have everything you need before you start. Crank bearings, seals, gasket set, beer, tools, beer, a way to keep the beer cold, ect.

+1 on the beer very important

To throw my 2 cents in, I've heard of crank seals acting like they are bad if the bike has been sitting for a while but then coming back to life once they get run for a bit.
Unless you think it is dangerous to run the bike it might be worth it to fill your oil back up, make sure you have some fresh mixed gas at a good ratio, and then run it lightly for a little while.

I am with Thrahl, run it through a few heat cycles before tearing into it.

On my last rebuild, I used old crank and transmission bearings and stacked them over the crank with some washers and made my own puller.