TSS CRANKSHAFTS - Race-Engineered & Proven, for Extended Play

Banshee/RZ350 Banshee/RZ350 Banshee/RZ350 Yamaha YZ250

Crankshaft, +4mm Stroke Crankshaft, +4mm Stroke Crankshaft, Stock Crankshaft
(58mm), 90° (58mm), 180° Stroke (54mm)
firing order, fully- firing order, fully-balanced
balanced

Designed by our GP engineer Wayne Wright, these race-proven crankshafts are built with
top-shelf features that are normally the preserve of elite GP machines:
Hoeckle - TZ - built properly

Ignition tie-ins .. other tie-ins ... BF piston mass notes

Precise Crankshaft Assembly Balancing: More power, reliability, smoothness, longevity, comfort, allows lighter
construction, less interference, stresses,

Rocking couple - 90 degrees - ignition - TRACTION

Cylindrical Roller Main Bearings: Rated at double the load-carrying capacity of ball bearing mains - THE decisive
advantage when it comes to coping with extreme radial stresses

The Bearings - roller bearing TZ type - s/cut + g'box bearings

Peek big end cages and thrust washers

REBUILDABLE

FLOATING CRANK

GP FEATURES

the decisiveadvantage rigorously tested in racing conditions exclusive

TSS cranks are the only ones on the market that are balanced specifically for RD/RZ/Banshee with 350cc and
above capacities. All the others, the Hot Rods and Wiseco and even OEM Yamaha, they are not anywhere near
correctly balanced. For a full explanation please see my sermon HERE; but suffice to say, the OEM YPVS crank
uses the same webs that the YPVS 250cc motor used, in the same way that the 250LC crank has the same balance
factor as the 350LC crank, because it's basically the same unit.

The LC and YPVS cranks alike were only ever designed to be used in a 250cc incarnation - as befitted the
Japanese 250cc learner licence laws of the time.

The problem is that Yamaha simply decided to put bigger pistons/barrels on an already underbalanced crank, and
then relied on the under-engine torsion bars to keep the vibes and rocking-couple forces under control. This was
apparently a cheaper option than balancing the crank correctly with tungsten alloy counterweights, as per the
Hoeckle TZ cranks and indeed the 'proper' RD400 crank.

The out-of-balance crank scenario was then made worse when Hot Rods et al decided to make stroker cranks by
simply offsetting the crankpins on what is an exact replica of the RD/RZ250 crank web, and of course this throws
the balance factor out even more, and then in adding the 5mm longer rod, threw the balance out still further.

We at TSS disagree with this cynical, penny-pinching approach, which basically abandons good engineering in
favour of lowest-cost bodge solutions. Therefore we have had 100 cranks manufactured to our specs, that ARE
correctly balanced for the 190 gram-plus pistons of 350cc+ engines.

The main problem with the RD/RZ cranks is that they are made cheaply, with the webs made from all the same
material. As is explained in the diagram below, there is neither room to add more material on the opposite side of
the web to the crankpin because of conrod clearance issues; nor can any significant amount of material be
removed from either side of the pin for fear of weakening the critical crankpin supporting area. The only answer,
then, is to insert counterweights opposite the pin that are of a significantly higher density than the surrounding
metal - exactly what we have done:

In the next two pics you can clearly see the tungsten alloy counterweight on the opposite side of the web to the
crankpin. Naturally, the weights are welded in place.
See this diagram, it shows what I mean about adding counterweights, as well as some of the other advantageous
features of TSS cranks:

CLICK HERE to see a Wear

Resistance Comparison between big
end bearing cages with Peek Coating
vs. Copper + Silver Coating
TSS +4mm Stroker Crank, 90 Degree Firing Order
Pic below of our +4mm stroker crank (58mm stroke) with 115mm rods, firing at 90 degrees, fully-
balanced, with top-notch SKF Explorer TZ-type roller bearings (outer mains):

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Price: USD$750 SHIPPING QUOTE email us for
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TSS +4mm Stroker Crank, 90 Degree Firing Order

Pic below of our +4mm stroker crank (58mm stroke) with 115mm rods, firing at 90 degrees, fully-
balanced, with NSK maximum-capacity 11-ball outer main bearings:

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Price: USD$697 AND GET SHIPPING QUOTE email us for further info
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TSS +4mm Stroker Crank, 180 Degree Firing Order
Pic below of our +4mm stroker crank (58mm stroke) with 115mm rods, firing at 180 degrees, fully-
balanced, with top-notch SKF Explorer TZ-type roller bearings (outer mains):

CLICK HERE TO BUY NOW AND CLICK HERE to email

Price: USD$750 GET SHIPPING QUOTE us for further info about
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TSS +4mm Stroker Crank, 180 Degree Firing Order

Pic below of our +4mm stroker crank (58mm stroke) with 115mm rods, firing at 180 degrees, fully-
 balanced, with NSK maximum-capacity 11-ball outer main bearings:

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Price: USD$697 NOW AND GET SHIPPING email us for further
QUOTE info about this
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Either of these 58mm stroke, 115mm rod cranks can be specced with
standard OEM type 7-ball main bearings.
In this case they cost USD$615.

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(90 degree 58mm stroke with 7-ball main bearings throughout)
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(180 degree 58mm stroke with 7-ball main bearings throughout)
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We do also make stock 54mm stroke, 110mm rod YPVS/Banshee cranks, firing at 180 degrees, as per the pic
below. These are appreciably less pricey than the balanced 58mm stroke TSS cranks, as nowhere near as much
work goes into them, i.e. the extra steps of crank balancing via insertion of tungsten alloy counterweights are not
undertaken for the stock 54mm stroke cranks, and the main bearings are standard Yamaha OEM spec 7-ball - as
per stock Yamaha/ Hot Rods/ Wiseco cranks.

Price is USD$428 CLICK HERE TO BUY NOW AND GET SHIPPING QUOTE (Secure 128-bit
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All our cranks are guaranteed to be assembled to within 0.02mm runout.

TSS YZ250 Crankshaft

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Price: USD$280 NOW AND GET email us for further
Years: 1999 - 2000 SHIPPING QUOTE info about this product
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Crankshaft Balancing: Yamaha YPVS/Banshee and Big-Bore Variants

Even when YPVS/Banshee cranks are correctly balanced for the reciprocating masses, often owners report the
experience of riding to be rather strange. Typically the engine feels much smoother but oddly 'chuggy' in a sort of
low-pitched way they are unaccustomed to.

It doesn't 'feel' like the Banshee engine they were so used to. Yet the engine is properly balanced, and the crank
under far less strain than before, and therefore can rev higher with greater reliability ... so why might it feel there
was something odd about riding the thing?

Some explanation is in order. This is an interesting story lads, so pull up a chair and pour yerself a mug of finest
char. Steve's Campfire is crackling away nicely ...

I don't want to lapse into too much tech-babble here; suffice to say, a crank that is 'under-balanced', such as the
YPVS/Banshee crank, tends to create oscillations/vibrations in the vertical plane. This, for anyone who has ever
converted an LC or YPVS 250 to a 350, is exactly the type of stronger vibrations you feel when switching from
the 250 to the 350.

What's happening is that the crank, which was originally intended for the smaller, lighter pistons of the 250, has
effectively become more unbalanced with the addition of the heavier 350 pistons. The crank's balance factor has
not been corrected for the greater loads being put upon it. Still, this unbalanced state is no great drama - unless of
course revs are sustained beyond 10,000rpm - in which case the crank will be toast in no time.

The truth is that if YPVS/Banshee cranks were balanced properly, they would be able to spin to far higher revs
with a greater margin of reliability. But the OEM Yamaha cranks are NOT balanced anything like they should be.
Very few OEM cranks are balanced with any degree of accuracy. "Awww it costs too much", they would whinge.

So, short of buying a Merc or high-end BMW, your automotive cash is buying compromised cranks.

It just happens that in the case of the LC350 and 350 YPVS, the crank balance error factor is compounded by the
fitment of heavier pistons for which the assembly was never designed.

It gets worse. It gets worse, because the typical stroker cranks used in big-bore Banshee-based engines (+4mm,
+7mm stroke etc) use webs that are simply lifted from the YPVS design - which of course means more stress on
the crank assy anyway, PLUS the cranks run a heavier 115mm rod rather than the stock crank's 110mm rod, AND
of course a much bigger gudgeon pin AND a much heavier piston assembly.

Just how bad can this out-of-balance crank scenario be?

In fact, and this will shock some people, even the 250LC and 250 YPVS cranks aren't balanced anywhere near
right. And since the +4mm stroker cranks only run YPVS webs with a 2mm offset pin anyway, the figures make
for sobering reading.

To be exact, the static "out of balance" mass of a +4mm HR crank is 54g measured on a digital scale
perpindicularly tied to the centre of the crank pin. But the total reciprocating mass of, say, a 73mm Wiseco piston
assy is 342g.

A crank's Balance Factor is typically expressed as a percentage figure. Normally the balance factor on a twin such
as the RD is set at 50% to 55% of the total reciprocating mass - in this case 342g - so this would need 171g for the
50% case and 188g for the 55% case.

The crank's balance factor, therefore, should be set at or around those figures of 171 to 188g. BUT, the actual
balance factor is only 54g.
So, With only 54g this in effect means the crank is balanced to 54/342 = 15.8%. (i.e. the crank's balance factor is
way less than the total reciprocating mass of piston/ring/pin/clips.)

Even in the case of a stock YPVS crank fitted with 250 pistons - total reciprocating weight of around 190g - 55%
of that is 104.5g .... and we have only 54g. That makes for a balance factor of only 28.5%.

So, the YPVS, Banshee and aftermarket stroker cranks are hopelessly out of balance. This partly explains why
these cranks go bang with sustained high-rpm running. It explains the stronger vibes felt when converting a 250 to
a 350, and by extension the sometimes intolerable vibes of a stroker crank/big-bore motor, whose crankshaft is,
after all, only based on the original OEM Yamaha crank webs.

We are in a world of trouble.

Naturally, we at The Two-Stroke Shop decided to remedy this slipshod situation, and therefore set about balancing
our cranks professionally.
 This brings us back to the YPVS/Banshee chaps
who said the balanced crank setup felt unusual. It
felt unusual because although the crank was
correctly balanced, and consequently the forces
that were previously trying to tear the cases apart
had been tamed, nevertheless the eerily smooth-
running motor then made apparent a different set
of forces - and these forces, known as the 'Rocking
Couple' were being felt.

Please note that the Rocking-Couple Peak Forces

are independent of the crank’s Balance Factor. The
Balance Factor is all about balancing the crank
assembly precisely to match the reciprocating
components, i.e. the piston/pin/rod etc, whereas the
Rocking Couple relates to, in the case of a 180°
parallel twin, the violent oscillation of the engine
to the left and then to the right as opposing pistons
reach TDC and BDC simultaneously.

The rocking couple effects a sort of see-sawing motion to the engine, as both pistons reach the end of their travel.
This is not something that can be fixed really, it is an inherent trait of 180° parallel twins.

However there is a fix, even for the rocking couple. In order to combat these forces, we need to re-phase the crank
firing order - and in the case of parallel twins the most effective setup is a 90° firing order.

What happens with a 90° configuration is that a higher inertial momentum (flywheel effect) can be maintained
about the crankshaft by having one piston always at or near maximum velocity while the other one comes to a
‘stop’ and then changes direction. The pistons are never both ‘stationary’ at the same time.
This ‘flywheel effect’ also allows the use of smaller actual flywheels.

Therefore a 90° layout will always give the crank an easier life, and accordingly crank life will be extended. This
is particularly important for racing applications.

However, one cannot simply re-phase an RD crank to the 90° layout and retain the OEM Wasted-Spark ignition
system, because this system is not able to differentiate between cylinders, and in any case it fires both cylinders
simultaneously; one before TDC and the other below BDC. This is why it is called 'wasted spark' - because the
system puts out twice as much spark energy as it needs. That is why we developed a new replacement 100mm
stator and flywheel with two ignition triggers and one flywheel trigger bar. This setup, which runs extra charging
coils for road use, has a flywheel that is half the weight of the stock Yamaha item.

More importantly, we moved over to a non wasted-spark ignition setup, using a custom-designed, fully-
programmable twin CDI ignition unit by Ignitech with programmable parameters for ignition timing; power-valve
control; electronic power-jet control and throttle position system (TPS.) This is a twin ignition coil system that
does away with the dreaded 'wasted spark' system, enabling each cylinder’s firing event to be timed independently
of the other; freeing-up ignition timing options beyond the stock Yamaha 180 degree timing layout; making
possible 90 degree crank firing layouts.

This brings me back to the original point of the Banshee lads saying their engine felt strange. Yes it did, because
although the crank's Balance Factor had been corrected, the peak Rocking Couple forces started to become more
apparent. Not horribly intrusive, but apparent. It's almost like a musical scenario whereby two drummers hammer
out a tune together, and suddenly the bloke on the small drums stops drumming altogether, leaving only his mate
pumping away on a big bass drum. All of a sudden, the bass drum becomes the sole point of focus.

So to fix this, we need to reduce the Rocking Couple forces - and we do that by the aforementioned process of re-
phasing the crank to a 90 degree firing order. This reduces peak rocking couple forces by an average of 31% -
right through the rev range. That's a lot of relief from crank grief.

So to recap, what we have done is to correct the crank Balance Factor, and then further carried on to ameliorate
the Rocking Couple forces. These two fixes combined represent a major improvement to the running of the
engine, and directly lead to:

(1): A smoother-running engine at all revs, with no intrusive resonant vibes

(2): Less stress on crank = Longer crank life
(3): Enhanced high-rpm running/power (less vibration = less resistance = more horsepower.)
(4): Comfort on long road rides, and better ‘feel’ of controls when racing = less fatigue - more enjoyment.

Thanks, for anyone who made it this far!

Cheers,
Steve