Brought home an '81 ATC200 - from a field

[rotozuk]

This poor thing was left out in a field for the last many, many years. Well, it followed me home the other day.

Upon inspection found it was making spark and building compression. The OEM carb and fuel valve did not like their long stay in the field. Ordered up a new carb with a new intake manifold and fuel valve that night. Of course when they arrived the intake was wrong. Found the correct one and finally got that in the other day. Fixed the pull starter (just a quick cleanup did the trick) Cleaned out the tank, it had huge chunks of what used to be rubber, and glue like fuel. After many many pulls found the spark had left, turned out to be a loose lead at the coil. And the next pull she gave the good fart sound, and the next pull or two she was running. A quick tune on the China carb and all is good.

Brakes are functional once I get some new cables. Electrical is working. (have not checked the lights) And 1 out of 3 tires holds air, 2 out of 3 accept air. LOL I have the split rims on this so decided to give some tubes a try in the leakers. Also have a brake handle ordered up. Clutch seams to be working fine, but chain is shot... Can't imagine why looking at the photo.

So yea, chain ordered up too. Thank that is about it.

I have no seat pan for this thing. Anyone have something? Worse comes to worse, I think we can make something up that can pass for a seat. Heck, it will look about as nice as the rest of the machine.

Sad, I don't think this thing has a lot of miles on it. No idea why someone just left her out to die from exposure.

[rotozuk]

Got some more parts in. New chain is on, but screwed up and removed one too many links. Can't fit the chain cover back on as the axle is so far forward. Silly me, I didn't even know you could adjust the axle location to tighten the chain. So got to get another link, or a new chain. Thinking the new chain is probably the better fix, but I'm not wanting to spend a lot on this old girl. She is going to be put to work on the ranch. Not a big deal if the chain pops.

Got the tubes for the tires, but they are not very large. I think to make these work I'll end up with way more tire pressure than I'd like. The key to the ATC is that 2 PSI tire pressure working as suspension, right?

I've wire wheeled the old split rims and some other parts can gave them a fresh coat of paint. But only painted the inside of the rims (where the tire covers things up) as I sort of like the ugly rusty finish in the rims. This thing is not going to win any beauty contests, so why not keep the ugly patina?

Think I might need to patch the tires and get some fresh o-rings and see if I can get them to hold air.

Does anyone know of a source for decent tires for the ATC that will flex like the OEM? How about these big o-rings? Might as well go for the valve stems to, I cut out the old ones.

Thanks

[350for350]

For general riding, I usually run 2.5 PSI in the rear tires and 3 PSI in the front. That's what seems to work well for me. I have some Cheng Shin C829s on my 250ES. They're the same size and I love them. They're knobbies and somewhat like OEM tires in performance.

[ATC King]

The wheel O-rings are easy enough to find on Amazon or Ebay.

I wouldn't fool with tubes, that's a step backwards. I certainly wouldn't with old leaky tires, because it feels like a waste of money and time. Old, dry rotted tires get punctures more easily and having to break the tire down to patch a tube would get old, quick.

Besides, those rear OHSTU tires are an original ATC brand, may even be original to that trike. I don't know, hopefully someone who's more knowledgeable on the stock tires will say. If they'll hold air, even if needing a tube, and they're not completely shot, they're worth something, if only for nostalgia. If they have any value left, I wouldn't spend it finishing them off.


The Chen Shin C829 is a good tire choice. They ride smooth, are dimpled knobbies which increases traction, and if not ran any higher than 2.5psi they wear really even across the majority of the tread and not just the center like some less flexible tires will. They will look like they're low all the time with the correct pressure, on a heavier 200ES anyway, which may be about 80-100lbs heavier than your 200.

I've read some specs that say they're radial while others list them as bias ply. No mention of radial on the tire itself and the CST website doesn't specify either. I've used some sure enough radial tires before and the C829 seems like it rides as smooth as one, but I can't confirm.

Good tires though. Not the lowest priced, but will last a long time and ride smooth while doing it.

[rotozuk]

Thanks for the feedback. Just seeing it now, and wishing I had bought those tires.. Oh well, for now the tubes are working better than I expected.

For me the plan is to use the 3 wheeler around my property, not really take it anywhere. But you never know, would be fun to get one in the dunes again. Hardly see the older models like this in the dunes.. (they sort of suck for that.)

Anyhow, she is running pretty well. Still haven't found a seat, and the rear brake is pretty sucky, but not sure I'll mess with it.

[ATC King]

The stock rear brake, in good condition, is plenty powerful enough.

You can loose some efficiency through a dry brake pedal pivot, cable, and brake shoe actuator. Cleaning and lubricating those will help.

The big issue at this point is wear and tear. Some of that can be from years of neglect and poor storage, causing rust pits on the brake drum surface. For a trike that has a lot of hours on it, the brake drums get worn out. No matter what you do, a drum that's worn past it's service specs will never give good braking because the shoes won't fit it properly. There will be a lot of area the shoes don't contact, leading to a reduced braking force. The shoes will never wear in either. If the drum is worn out, it'll never have the braking force it should.

If you've ever had the chance to ride a low hour machine you'd know how well the stock brakes work. I'll tell you that most of the well used trikes out there have worn drums and they'll never work as good as when new and you'll have to constantly adjust them because the shoes will wear quickly.

If your drum is worn past spec or has a lot of pitting, you'll need another drum. Find one in spec from a seller who'll actually measure the thing and give good pictures of the condition.

If it's an all steel drum, the braking surface could be welded and machined back to OE spec, but I don't know of anyone who's done that, what rod/wire was used and the affect on braking. To hard or too soft of a surface will have it's own issues. We're getting to that point though, as new drums aren't available.

[rotozuk]

While very neglected, this unit seems to have low hours on it. I have little doubt these are the original tires. While it has some light rust scattered around, for the most part just surface rust. The cargo rack has what I'd call heavy surface rust. There was also a bit of pitting rust on the chain cover. Front brakes looked nearly new.

We got the third tube and finally had 3 tires holding air. Longer than 30 second test drives. After a few minutes she started running rough. We pulled the china carb and found a little dirt, but nothing else. Decided to try and rebuild the stock carb. Got it running, but pretty sure the float is sticking. Ran out of time to mess any further. It runs on the stock carb, but still not right. Starting to question the valves. Should at least put my eyes on the setup there. Will need to chase a stripped out screw.