Taking cylinder off 96 RM250?????

[J.D.]

Is there anything special I need to know about dissassembling the powervalve stuff? I need to take the cylinder off to replace base gasket and I've never fooled with powervalves before.

[burnoutboy]

Simple, pop the cover off on the side of the cylinder and disconnect the powervalve linkage from the powervalve arm then slide the cylinder off.

[J.D.]

Hmm ok. Got the cylinder off....but that stupid rod pulled right out. This means I'm gonna have to pull the side cover and put it back on doesn't it? What happens if I just leave the rod out, it won't have good top end power?

[burnoutboy]

Your powervalves wont work, resulting in a large loss of power. Pop that sidecover off and re attatch the arm , it's a 5 minute job.

[J.D.]

Haha yeah I know.....but this bike has turned into a hassle. I get forward one step, have to go back 3...lol. I bought it not running for 750. Found it leaking compression past o-rings, thought ok maybe they're bad, bought new ones...still leaked. Had head milled, wouldn't start...so I turned it upside down, ran it in gear got all the water out of crank case. Then it started, ran good for 10 seconds then noticed it seeping out of base gasket and it started running like ....now, this powervalve mess is all disconnected and whatnot. This thing better be fast and handle good or I'm gonna park it on the traintracks. Supposedly it just had a topend done 12 hours ago, and I'm kinda believing it, piston looks brand new, still nice fresh looking crosshatches in cylinder, gaskets seem pretty new, and I notice it has a HotRod's rod in it. So....we'll see in due time.

[burnoutboy]

Don't sweat it man, the powervalves always seem to get disconnected, think of it as a good opportunity to check out the clutch e.t.c. They are very fast bikes when running well.

[ATCR250R]

Yes, it is easy to fix the linkage it happened to my 1997 RM250 last year when rebuilding it. Snaps into a plastic piece I believe, easy to fix. Good luck!