Kawasaki 550sx piston port CRANK rebuild question

[Polish jet pilot]

Hello,

I bought a PJS crank rebuild kit off ebay. The parts look quite solid (it is actually manufactured in Japan by Toko). The bearings look also solid and have very little play. It's all good.

My question:

It seems that when rebuilding a 550 crank you must drill out (or somehow remove) the old pins. Can you give me some advise (of course a machine shop will do that) what would be the best approach? I understand that the web shims (counterweights) are non replacable while rebuilding the crank??

I would be thankfull for your knowledge Especially the jetski gurus are invited to present their ideas.... I just cannot afford to mess this one up....

Thank you!

Andrew

 

[fun123]

550 Crank

The way to dismantle the crank is to press the pins out.

There problem with this approach as it also removes some metal from the crank web and when reassembling they will have a slightly looser fit. Most crank builders also weld the pins afterwards so that they do not move. They can move when the ski jumps out of the water then hooks up again under hard revs.

My suggestion to you is to resell the rods and buy a brand new stock crank and weld the pins. Cheaper and stronger!

I have a PJS race ski and when I bought it new it had these rods and it caused some trouble. I talked to PJS and they told me that they themselves were discontinuing to use them and going back to welded stock cranks for their race boats. I did the same and never had a problem since and my PJS reed moter puts out over 100 hp.