41 replies to this topic

[hanra]

So I needed to get a quad bike to help with spraying and towing loads around the property. Anything second hand still seems to cost a fortune. The Mrs Uncle has a Banana farm up here and this bike came up for sale. It had snapped the CVT drive belt and had basically been shoved into the corner and forgotten about. It's had some use and zero respect given, but it was cheap and should do what I need it to do so I grabbed it.

Replaced the belt and got it moving under its own steam but need to go right over it to make it safe and reliable. The more I look the more I find stuff wrong with it, I've got to draw a line as to how far I go with it.... Otherwise it will end up being some sort of show bike that's to good ride and then sits in the shed all day.......

As I found it in the farm shed.











I went and checked out what they are new....yikes.





Hit up Bunnings for a hire trailer and dragged it home.








Strip down begins. Plenty of rusted in bolts snapping left right and centre. They are so weak...














Hit it with truck wash and the gerni. Has a lot of surface rust on the frame and dirt stains that won't budge.









Giving the plastics some attention should bring them up ok.






All the brakes are stuffed. Rotors undersized and pads basically non existent...... Has actually been wearing the piston in their rear brake.... No wonder the back brakes didn't work!!!

Edited by hanra, 11 September 2016 - 08:10 PM.

[Justlookingtobuyone!]

Jeez mate, just shows what typical farm use can do to a workhorse. Good luck with the project though!

[RallyRed]

got their moneys worth out of that poor old thing!

[hanra]

I forgot about the rust.

[RallyRed]

nice one Brad...all that Yamaha Blue and dirt....made me spend some time and uncover the old YFZ450R in the garage. Hasnt seen the light of day for years.

Heaps of fun on the sand ...might get it going for summer.

 

 

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[hanra]

Cool man. Hook into it!

[yel327]

See if you can find me a Honda ATC350X or even a 1986 ATC260R even in that condition. In Australia!

[Kevrev]

Hi Brad,

 

I went through a similar exercise a year ago, rebuilding the engine, brakes and steering on a 2000 Yamaha Kodiak Quad.

I'm on acreage myself, and wanted an affordable quad to tow a small trailer for picking up firewood, doing fencing etc.

I know what you mean about not wanting to turn it into a full on restoration project, It's too easy to become fussy and forget that these things are workhorses.

Anyways heres a few pics as it went back together.

 

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[Ice]

See if you can find me a Honda ATC350X or even a 1986 ATC260R even in that condition. In Australia!

Mission Impossible

[RallyRed]

yeah Yel, had a 86 ATC250R water pumper..a wonderful thing back in the day. 

(sorry for the off topic Brad, but similar stuff)

[kiwi-lilj]

Just throw the plastics in the bin and go Mad Max style.

[yel327]

yeah Yel, had a 86 ATC250R water pumper..a wonderful thing back in the day. 

(sorry for the off topic Brad, but similar stuff)

 

I should have grabbed an ATC350X from the USA when the $ was $1.10US. A guy around the corner from me has a 1985 ATC350X that I have first dibs on if he ever sells it, he has a 1986-ish ATC200X that I can have cheap but not as powerful as I'd like, I had an XL186S that I converted into a trike (basically the same engine) and it needed a bit more go. What I really want is a 1983-4 ATC250R with one of the USA made and sold conversion frames to fit a late 80's XR600 engine into it, but very hard to find today.

 

 

Edited by yel327, 14 September 2016 - 09:16 AM.

[yel327]

Brad

 

If the Quad doesn't come up and will cost too much, why not look for an old Holden or Ford to do the same thing? When I lived on 10 acres I bought an old HZ 6cyl auto panel van for the same thing. I welded up the diff and stuck rough tread tyres on it. With some load in the back it'd drive anywhere on my property. I used to have a chainsaw in the back and lug wood around in it. Today the equivalent would be an old XF-XH ute, or even VY tonners are now as low as $500-$1000 and most are auto. When I bought my 1/2 acre block, before the house started I bought an old FJ40 'cruiser for $500, used to use it to drag a trailer up the block building fences etc (block is steep, too steep for the cars to drive up until I had driveways built). Even an old 80's 4x4 Suzuki, Jackeroo etc are cheap.  

[hanra]

I was thinking about cutting the roof off my BMW.

[hanra]

Another weekend, some more bits fixed up. Replaced the steering stem bush and oil seals. Still a little bit of play as the stem is worn.....

Got new disc rotors fitted to the hubs. Need to repair the disc protector plates first before I go fitting the hubs back on. Fitted new pads to the front clippers though. So they are ready to go.

Rear Uni joint was totally flogged. No needle roller bearings left in the cups at all. Who knows how long it had been getting ridden like this.....?

Wasn't looking forward to this task.

Undid the rear diff mount bolts. Slid the diff backwards so the two piece tail shaft could be separeted. Flogged the old cups out. And got the old Uni out. New Uni went back in surprisingly easy. Wasn't such a bad job after all.






Bike came with a spare RHS lower control arm. The left has been replaced at some stage. So thought bugger it, might as well change it over whilst it's all apart. Could not for life of me separate the lower control arm ball join.... Tried a clamp, tried a wedge fork. Tried heat. Tried flogging it. Not budging.....

Ended up cutting the arm off, and removed the entire steering hub. Still couldn't get it budged on the bench. He heat had started to stuff the boot and the threads were looking a bit ordinary. Stuff. Cut the balljoint in half, will have to press the remainder of it out at work. What a mungral.......

Simple job now turned out to be a big one......

Edited by hanra, 18 September 2016 - 08:19 PM.

[hanra]

My time is free. This bike cost me $500. I've probably spent $500 on it so far. I don't have much more to do really. But a new set of tyres will set me back $500. But don't reeeeeallllly need them just yet for around the yard. I had anticipated spending $1000 on it when I bought it. Try and find an IRS model like this one for less than $3000-4000.

Edited by hanra, 18 September 2016 - 08:55 PM.

[hanra]

Ok. So how does the lower ball joint come out? It has flanges on either side which are a larger diameter than the hole? There is a circlip that goes around the balljoint in that groove which is the size of the hole.

I think the I'll have to cut the top flange off with the angle grinder to allow it to be pressed out?

Edited by hanra, 20 September 2016 - 07:28 PM.

[hanra]

Got the new lower ball joint pressed in. Got all the brakes back together. New rotors/pads. Also got some new tyres.

[hanra]

Cleaned up the seriously over-greased CVT. I can't believe how much grease I took out of this thing. It was totally packed!!!



Put some Yamalube grease back. Waiting on a 1mm shim to arrive at the local Yamaha dealer before I can put this back in. I've given the faces of the primary and secondary sheave a good hit with sandpaper also.



I want to get the racks, rims and bull bar powder coated. I'll have to get the bar repaired as I can't find a replacement. Thinking about maybe silver wheels instead of black?

Edited by hanra, 25 September 2016 - 08:04 PM.

[hanra]

I'll get a new kit to service the petcock. Was weeping a bit.



I'd read things about fuel getting hot in these bikes as the tank is above exhaust. Thought I'd put some aluminium tape on the underside for something to do.



Got fix a little bit of rust in the frame tomorrow. It's the bracket that the front diff mounts to.

[hanra]

Got the rust all fixed up. Gave the chassis a hit with phosphoric acid to clean up the surface rust and then hit it all with chassis black.

Got the bumper fixed up at an exhaust shop. $50.

[RallyRed]

The way you are going......this thing will be to good to use on the farm....