Weekend before last I checked out a craigslist add for a "running" Honda ATV. When I got there it was suddenly "not running". Checked it out and offered an amount for it as is, not running. Got it home and had the engine fired up after cleaning the carb and installing a carb rebuild kit. The list of things wrong with this old gal is extensive, might be easier to list what is working I have rebuilt the final drive (differential), all the bearings were shot, the needle bearing in the pinion gear was, well, non-existent. During disassembly I got out about a tsp of oil from it, the rest was a gummy mess that seemed to consist of sand, ground up bearings and OLD oil. Adjust the foot break so the breaks actually work now (at least the rear ones). There is no cable going to the left hand brake handle. Here's what I found when working on the front of the ATV. Removed the right wheel and found a matted bundle of grass Then I saw that the back plate for the brakes was bent (nice chuck of SS that is a pain to straighten out) Removed the brake drum to find, the reason why the front brakes were never "hooked back up": Parts are on the way to rebuild the brakes, master cylinder, replace the tie rods. yes the plastic is crappy on this, but once some of the mechanical stuff is done it will be a good running quad for my BOL.
Cool Project, Kck... We have two '86 FourTrax, that still run if I charge the Batteries... Very rugged Machines.... But not as nice as my Rhino....
Woohoo, tracking shows all my parts for the front end are arriving today. So, tonight will be a night working in the garage I also plan on removing the front and rear cargo racks, stripping them down and repainting them.
To save the mess at home, you might try to find a furniture refinishing operation with a dip tank that might let you dip the hardware in and hose it off for you.
Excellent idea @ghrit. A welding shop in Denver I used to work at had a large hot tank for dipping/cleaning items for repair. Seems like a couple times a month we would get somebody in asking to have their engine block,bike frame, old cast iron parts,whatever dipped. They used to charge 25 bux for all that would fit into the tank. It was a real time saver.
