GasGas 300 Bolt stopping Connecting Rod

[lneil06]

My bike has a 2013 GasGas 300 motor in it. My son went to start it and it stopped with a clunk. It wouldn't turn over with the starter - nor with the kick start. The following night I was able to push the piston down from where the spark plug is with ease - so it 100% wasn't seized..

I pulled the magneto / electric starter side cover off to see if the starter was stuck and it wasn't.. I then pulled the kick starter and clutch side completely off to see if anything was stuck in the gears of the starter, clutch basket, or power valve -- Not issues there.

The following night I pulled the head off and cylinder off. Low and behold - A bolt was going across where the crank goes -- it's from one of the rubber/plastic pieces on the crank. I was able to move the bolt - but don't have a allen wrench that will fit in that small gap to tighten the bolt.

I contacted a person a GasGas and asked for some ideas / help - since I have had numerous other issues with this motor. He told me there is loctite on that bolt and it shouldn't of come out - it's not a GasGas issue..

Tonight I pulled the bolt out far enough to inspect all the treads and there is 100% no sign of any thread lock anywhere.

I was told I might need to split the case to remove the crank and put the bolt back in... Unless there is a nut on the backside that I can't see - then splitting the case and taking the crank out is 100% not going to change anything.

Not happy having to pull this motor apart.

I have owned more than a few bikes over the years and never seen, nor heard of anyone running into this problem.

Has anyone else had this problem ?

 

[gasgasman]

Pretty common.
You can take a 90 degree Allen wrench, cut it down to fit between the crank fillets. Use that to tighten the bolt.

 

[Gasser Nate]

You can do the above but I would advise you to just bite the bullet and spilt the crank and fix it properly once. There is a couple of bolts holding the crank spacers in that are impossible to get to using the above method.

 

[(F5)]

Its 6 years old. These engines come apart like a dream. Throw another rod in it and it will last until he swaps for an electric bike (ages if he has red blood) .

 

[lneil06]

I was able to cut down a allen wrench and get it in there.. This motor doesn't have many hours on it. We didn't find any sign of thread lock anywhere on the bolt.

Splitting the case wouldn't change the ability to getting a allen wrench into the this area.

It's been cleaned, and thread locked and back in place. Not the most brilliant design.

 

[Jacob 'Berg]

I was able to cut down a allen wrench and get it in there.. This motor doesn't have many hours on it. We didn't find any sign of thread lock anywhere on the bolt.

Splitting the case wouldn't change the ability to getting a allen wrench into the this area.

It's been cleaned, and thread locked and back in place. Not the most brilliant design.

My concern would be access to the other stuffer bolts that do not have thread locker on them. Were you able to remove the other bolts and apply thread locker?

I would split the cases and make sure the other stuffer bolts are all torqued to specifications and loctite added.

Splitting the cases will allow you to remove the crank to access all of the bolts.

 

[lneil06]

I can access the other 3 bolts without using the cut down allen wrench without splitting the case - clean them and loctite them.

Just glad it wasn't running full tilt and did this - GasGas must have a special tool just for this - even if you split the case it doesn't make it any easier to get too - the clearance to these bolts don't change.

 

[gasgasman]

Just glad it wasn't running full tilt and did this - .

For some reason, almost always happen at idle.

 

[Gasser Nate]

I can access the other 3 bolts without using the cut down allen wrench without splitting the case - clean them and loctite them.

Just glad it wasn't running full tilt and did this - GasGas must have a special tool just for this - even if you split the case it doesn't make it any easier to get too - the clearance to these bolts don't change.

No special tool. They are put in when the crankshaft is split. To do it properly you need to split the crank.

 

[Zman]

It is riding season! Your fix should cover you for the rest of the season and probably much much longer. If it were mine I would ride it and double check it in the off season.

 

[palframan]

I had the same situation on an '11 300. I chose to split the cases and crank. I could not see risking it.....

 

[slodrew]

same thing happened on my 04 ec200 and I didn't have any problem backing out all of the stuffer bolts, puttying loctite on them, and tightening them back in.. so easy I'll definitely check them when it's time to put a top end on my 17 ec300.