I recently heard about the plastic oil pump gears issue with warping and losing teeth.
I ordered and installed the taco moto billet idler/intermediate and driven gear set.
before installing the side cover I decided to give everything a poke and shake, this is when I realized the larger of the two new gears has a lot of movement along the shaft.
the oem washers are on each side of the gear and the snap ring is new and properly seated.
I have sent a video demonstrating the play to taco guy, ktm North America, several engine builders and a few dealers.
I’ll assume no one ever checked this before because no one gave a straight answer to if this is how they all are.
I searched online and if the topic exists I could not find it. The first pic is the gear pushed in toward the engine 
This image is pulling the gear away from the engine and toward the snap ring.
it would make sense if a little bit of warpage plus so much wiggle room to have teeth misaligned would create problems.
Anyone else think this play is normal/correct? Anyone have theirs accessible to check?
I'm tackling this upgrade this weekend, hopefully. I'll have to check to see if there's any play.
This is normal. Plenty of tooth engagement at each extreme.
I don't think I'd call that "normal". I don't remember seeing that amount of play. The gears getting ~50% offset like that would seem to accelerate uneven tooth wear. Measure the thickness of the center of the original and new gear and see if they are the same.
Some things to consider - you can replace the shaft that the idler gear rides on. It's item #31 in the parts diagram, called "bushing pin" and is only like $7. I'd be sure to use new washers. Perhaps they are worn thin? If the new gear is measurably thinner maybe add 1 or 2 washers to compensate?
Ultimately, I like the complete bulletproofing of the gears and pump rotors with the 2023+OEM parts from this thread. Aftermarket gears are aluminum and the OEM ones look like some kind of steel or something more durable.
https://www.vitalmx.com/forums/tech-helprace-shop/ktm-updated-250350-oi…
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Question, Was the primary gear installed when you had this side play? I ask because the idle gear sits behind the outer teeth of the primary gear which might sort of limit its side to side play, as in this picture.
I’ll put the video on YouTube, I’ll post the link here and in a reply post because I don’t really know who would see what.
https://youtube.com/shorts/5SqL8SP0iqo?si=aBAiP1v0PQs0bDw5
Here is a better view of what’s going on, YouTube link below.
https://youtube.com/shorts/5SqL8SP0iqo?si=aBAiP1v0PQs0bDw5
I don't have one open here to compare but that looks pretty loosey-goosey to me. Pretty sure I would have noticed if mine was that loose and investigated further.
I hope your job goes well.
what gears are you upgrading to? If you get a chance to video stock gear side play and replacement gear side play that would be awesome. I’ve heard from KTM engineer that the side play in my YouTube video is normal but almost everyone else says it’s not.
I just heard back from a guy who I won’t name but he runs a ktm service department at one of the largest ktm dealers on earth.
He said,
“We had a clutch out of an almost new 2024 350 xc-f today and I checked the play on the gear myself, very little movement on it, much less than yours has. I would stick the oem metal gears from KTM in there.”
Good to get solid confirmation.
In case you missed it I posted this link earlier for the thread where we hashed out the new metal OEM gear swap. Best to do the full deal and swap the gears and the pump rotors.
https://www.vitalmx.com/forums/tech-helprace-shop/ktm-updated-250350-oi…
That is a great thread and list of part numbers. THANKS for sharing that. One of the parts listed as “big gear shaft” I assume is the shaft the larger diameter intermediate gear rides on, the one that’s sloppy in my YouTube video link. I am curious if that shaft is different than the one I have? Possibly the snap ring groove is located closer to the gear.
Either way I’m glad you stumbled across this post and shared that link, I like the idea of eliminating all plastic parts in the oiling system.
What exact bike is yours?
Yes, that part listed is the shaft that the big gear rides on. I doubt it's any different than yours. I'd suspect more that your aftermarket gear is not the exact same dimensions as stock (either thickness or bore size) or your stock shaft has excessive wear on it.
I’ve got a 2020 husq ge350s.
my shaft doesn’t show any wear.
I posted in the other thread about “small gear pin” and “small rotor pin” having same part numbers but different description. A couple of other parts I can’t find using the part numbers. that list was a huge help. I can’t seem to get the parts diagrams online to expand on my phone and im The one guy on the planet that doesn’t have a computer 🤣.
Just some background on plastic oil pump gears. Most MX bikes have plastic oil pump gears. KTM had defective oil pump gears that would warp under extreme high heat conditions on 350s and some 450s 2016-2019. KTM superseded that gear with new plastic one. There has not been any failures that I know of with the new gear. I understand not wanting plastic gears for this critical part but the defective gear was not properly formulated and has not been a problem since it was updated.
Thanks for the input, I’ve been called OCD and all sorts of other names I’m sure hahaha.
I came across the plastic gear topic by accident and decided to swap them for peace of mind and I’m glad I did, just not happy with the side play. Here is a video of my 2020 husq fe350s that’s been ridden on flowy trails and roads so never rock crawling or getting super hot.
It’s got warpage for sure.
I’m awaiting a large order of metal gears and oil pump rotors, all oem stuff so hopefully that will do the trick. I’ll get back here for sure with dimensions of the stock plastic compared to the taco aluminum and the new oem steel gears. https://youtube.com/shorts/ENq_3odz3P8?si=mqXx9HF8cGLaAK8c
Oem plastic intermediate oil pump gear out of 2020 husq fe350s
this video shows warpage
https://youtube.com/shorts/ENq_3odz3P8?si=mqXx9HF8cGLaAK8c
You've got that video set to Private in youtube so we can't see it.
On the plastic gears, yeah, they "fixed" them in the more recent years (I had 100 hrs on my 2020 with no probs) but it kind of makes you wonder then why they made them metal starting in 2023? In any case, it's an easy and not too expensive swap to put the newer metal parts in for peace of mind.
Pit Row
The videos I posted here are the only time I’ve ever posted on YouTube so I’m a novice.
I believe I just fixed the video to public, let me know if it works.
Yes, video works now. Good demonstration. In the earlier 2016-2019 gears that were very bad, the whole gear would "cup". This made the teeth offset from the small gear very bad and they would then wear rapidly and get chewed up to the point they would stop making contact with the small gear and fail to rotate the oil pump. Your gear looks like it only warped at one small spot and the teeth did not get chewed up yet. So you caught it at a good time.
Sorry, I didn't see the post until after I did the installs. It was super easy, but I do have the engine on a stand for a full rebuild. I do have play in mine. I don't believe while it's running it's sliding back and forth. I replaced the Primary Oil Pump Gear, the other small plastic gear (can't recall the name), and the 22MM oil pump gear.
OP, I just changed mine today on a 2021 350 SX-F with OEM steel gears and there is not nearly that amount of play of the gears on the shaft. 90 hour engine.
Not saying the play you have is good or bad, just reporting on what I found with the OEM parts.
Glad to hear yours doesn’t have all that play.
I’m not working on my bike til all the oem steel gears, including new bushing (intermediate shaft), steel rotors and all new needle rollers…..everything coming new.
I don’t want to speculate on what I suspect to be the problem so I’ll wait til I have new steel ktm gear to measure against oem plastic and taco gears.
my original bushing pin p#77038013100 is perfect condition but I ordered a new one to be 200% certain the snap ring groove in in the same spot.
Problem solved.
The oem plastic idler and oem steel idler have the same width bushing and have minimal but perceptible movement between both washers/snap ring.
The TACO MOTO gear in previous videos/photos had excessive and concerning side to side movement along the shaft. The width of what would be the bushing area on the TACO MOTO gear is significantly smaller 0.024” than oem and the diameter is 0.002 larger on the taco, so far all FACTS.
Now for OPINION, mine is that too much play here and disengagement of teeth is a bad idea, the gear able to make contact with the clutch basket also a bad idea so I have installed proper oem steel gears. Thankful I checked and didn’t run my engine or I would expect aluminum shavings in my oil (found this also in another thread). Watch the video comparing oem black plastic bushing width to TACO MOTO and make up your own mind for what’s best suited in your bike.
Worth noting I had limited and vague response from TACO MOTO who’s last response to me was “Our parts are exactl blueprint spec of oem part and have same fitment characteristics with better materials”.
….he’s wrong.
Thank you to FGR01 who helped with a parts list and everyone else who chimed in.
https://youtube.com/shorts/Vk2sC97yhIA?si=Cxi3qtXKE27lhcbu
Thanks for the follow up and clear explanations and videos. Yeah that's no good. I wouldn't run that. Also, not having a pressed in bushing and riding directly on the aluminum itself might be an issue as well.
I had the taco Moto oil pump gears put in on my KTM 500 which is a 2022. This was during the rebuild top to bottom done by Chris Blais. After an hour on the engine, there was so much aluminum in my oil screen. It took many oil changes for it to all subside. Here’s a picture after the first hour oil change and snapshots of a video of the gears with 55 hours on them where you can see the wear. I spent lots of money on this rebuild and I’m very displeased to find out that the oil pump gears were the culprit of all that aluminum circulating throughout my engine. It caused a blockage in the oil feed leading to the camshaft being scarred. They are willing to refund me for the oil pump gears however, the reality is I’m feeling like they are responsible for a lot more damage then what the gears cost in themselves. Such an amazing company that I’ve put lots of money into, just a shame that these things happen to people looking to be proactive about caring for their engine.
Man, that hurts to look at! Ironically I have a friend going through a rebuild at the moment and I recommended the taco mot upgrade.
I sent them ur screen shots and told them to go with oem. Luckily it’s a 450 so not a plastic gear. Hope it works out for you.
Damn, I can't believe they are still selling these things to unsuspecting riders. Yeah, they were aware of this issue and it's crazy they are being this unhelpful. Not the first I've heard this about them.
Looks like OP dodged a bullet there. I am not a fan of aluminum sliding parts in general. If OEM steel gears were not available, I would take the OEM plastic over those aluminum gears and just replace every 100 hrs or so if I was worried about them failing. I don't think the warpage seen on the OEM part in this case was bad enough to worry about.
I did see Honda has a similar black plastic gear now in the CRF250R. There was a failed one on Facebook I think where a chunk of the gear was missing.
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