Today's lesson:

[mopar_man]

Don't beat on your machine. Take care of it and it'll take care of you. I'm not sure what the circumstances were on this thing before I bought it but I got it not running (this is my Recon so if the admins want to move this, feel free). I got it running only to find it wouldn't come out of reverse. I tried to shift out of reverse and it sounded like a blender full of ice. I tried it once and determined that something was obviously wrong so I stopped like anyone with common sense would do. I pulled the whole thing apart to find one of the springs in the centrifugal clutch was broken. How does a person do that?! I replaced that spring and put it all back together. I had forward gears again but first gear wouldn't work. You could creep ahead only for it slip out of gear. I tore the engine apart again. This time, I find what the pictures below show. The guy I bought this from had a teenage son so I'm not sure if he decided to rev it to the moon and dump it into first gear to pull wheelies or what kind of abuse this thing suffered. Whatever happened has resulted in me needing to find a shift fork, countershaft first gear and reverse/first gear countershaft shifter. The case was cracked so badly around the oil drain hole that I had to have a friend of mine completely weld it closed and I have to use another drain on it. The rear plastics and rack weren't included so I can only assume they were damaged beyond further use. The front rack is badly bent as well. I also included a picture of the filter screen as I found it during tear down. The thing also went for a swim at one point as the oil was milky and green when I drained it. Some of the internal bearings were rusted solid (you can see one of them in the corner of the filter screen picture). Incredible for something only 8 years old (6 when I bought it).
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[3wheeledjunkie]

Those little Recon's are usually invicible, we've only seen one with a shifting problem, and it was a broken linkage. Someone seriously abused that baby, I be scared of what else is wrong with it. I've personally passed on a cheap 450 Foreman, because the other guys quad looked like it was trashed beyond belief. Guys have brought theses little things in to the shop with about a WD-40 cap full of oil in em, still running and running em hard. Shouldn't cost you a whole lot to fix. Those items are about 5 -8 bucks a piece.

[200XMichigan]

I don't even understand why people don't maintain stuff. They spend a few grand on a nice machine. Then proceed to beat it into the ground. I just don't get how anyone could spend all that money and not drop a couple bucks every now and again for some oil and a plug. I mean half the maintenance, valve clearances, clutch adjustment, a lot of it doesn't cost anything other than getting out there and doing it. I picked up a cheap Chinese quad so people can ride when I take out my 200X, the guy say, "I was gonna restore it." But then tells me it has the original plug. I mean first its a Chinese quad, what's that worth restored, not much. Second, you think you're going to restore it when you haven't changed the oil, plug or checked the valve clearances. Like what restore it to new so you can not change the oil on another good running vehicle.

I think the only good thing of it, is the people that beat them after spending a few grand on them, then sell them for cheap to someone with the no how and ambition to get them going again.

[3wheelmecca]

At least the motor is not blown, that is unbelievable. Me being a mechanic myself, am more than religioous with my maintenance. that is just sad. At least its in good hands now.

[mopar_man]

Those items are about 5 -8 bucks a piece.

Nope. If I bought those three parts OEM new, they would be $100 shipped. I bought a complete used transmission off of eBay for $67 shipped, which included a bunch of parts I don't need but I can maybe sell or keep in case I need them. That's the cheapest I could find.


I don't even understand why people don't maintain stuff. They spend a few grand on a nice machine. Then proceed to beat it into the ground. I just don't get how anyone could spend all that money and not drop a couple bucks every now and again for some oil and a plug. I mean half the maintenance, valve clearances, clutch adjustment, a lot of it doesn't cost anything other than getting out there and doing it. I picked up a cheap Chinese quad so people can ride when I take out my 200X, the guy say, "I was gonna restore it." But then tells me it has the original plug. I mean first its a Chinese quad, what's that worth restored, not much. Second, you think you're going to restore it when you haven't changed the oil, plug or checked the valve clearances. Like what restore it to new so you can not change the oil on another good running vehicle.

I think the only good thing of it, is the people that beat them after spending a few grand on them, then sell them for cheap to someone with the no how and ambition to get them going again.

I don't get it either. Checking valve clearance on this machine takes some time as the tank has to come off but it's maybe an hour, hour and a half tops to do that and the other usual maintenance.

[mopar_man]

I got it all back together and it drives, runs and shifts like the day it came off the showroom floor. When I took it out for it's maiden voyage, I pulled the front brake lever and it barely slowed me down. I don't think the front brakes had ever been adjusted on it. I'm 250 lbs and I could stand on the rear brake foot lever. It was seized to the frame. Luckily the place where I was working on it had a torch and I was able to "convince" the lever to come of so I could clean it up and lube it properly. I put the plastics and racks back on today to find the front brush guard and rack are badly bent. I had to do some redneck engineering with a sledgehammer to get things closer to what they should be. I didn't want to beat on it anymore and weaken the metal around the welds. It's close enough now that I could get everything bolted together but it's almost wound like a spring so the next time the front rack comes off, it's going to jump off the bike. :P Now to find a couple elusive parts (tool box cover and lid, taillight, and rear mudguards) and it'll be complete.