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Some friends picked this up yesterday morning and we took a drive to one of my favorite places. Kind of in our backyard, for Montana anyway. We drove the Beartooth highway, was hoping to get up there right after they got it opened up but waited a little too long and didnt get to see the snow along the road. Was beautiful nevertheless. Left home by 7am and got up to the town of Redlodge which is pretty much at the base of the mountain by 9am. Just took our time and enjoyed the drive and the scenery. At the top there is a small rope tow ski lift and there were people skiing down a small area on the snow that was left. At the very top people were skiing down another area but hiking back up and shuttling up for each run in cars, trucks, and Van's. Had never been there this time of year so was pretty interesting to see the different types of people and their passion, energy, and reason for being up there. Always amazed at the little flowers that pop up and show some color among the tundra like landscape at 10,948 feet of altitude. Got the rare treat of seeing a couple of mountain goats that were near the road picking the salt off of the rocks from the snow that had been plowed off of the road (We use salt here to melt ice off the highways) Had a great time with our friends and was a beautiful day. Still ice on the lakes at the top. Was 52 degrees, when we dropped back down and drove to Billings was 100 degrees. Topped the day off with buying a couple of guns, a little .17 caliber HMR for shooting gophers, and a little Smith and Wesson EZ 380 for my wife. Her hands are so small it's hard to find anything to fit her. Was nice to get out of town for a day back to the grind tomorrow. 🥴

Man I can’t wait to get into this brisket

Well after 2 years of being disassembled, I put my mower back together and put it to work. Seems to be working well. Pics arent great but I tried to get a b4 and after sorta dynamic. These mowers are a beast if anyone is considering buying one

These ES preps are a one-time routine maintenance procedure. By following this guide thoroughly and completely several problems that Honda created at the factory will be solved. Among those ES faults are: Honda ES systems are not waterproofed, neither electrically or mechanically Honda uses the wrong type of grease in their ES systems Honda uses insufficient amounts of grease in their ES systems (which is a good thing because the recommended grease itself is garbage) Due to excessive friction in stock ES systems reliability is non-existent, battery current required for operation is ridiculously high and the ECM is at risk for burning out You will need basic hand tools, a tub of NLGI #2 synthetic grease, dielectric grease, cleaning solvent, warm soapy water and most of the other supplies in this photo. For this guide I am using a 350 Rancher ES. All other Honda ES systems are similarly assembled so these steps apply to all of them. Begin by cleaning up the front cover and ES reduction gears cover and shift motor areas to prevent dirt and grime from getting in your work. Then unplug the harnesses and remove the reduction gears cover assembly which includes the shift motor and angle sensor in this case. Remove the reduction gears from the cover and move them to a work bench for further disassembly and cleaning. Do NOT drop the shift motor or magnets housing as those magnets can shatter or loosen from the housing. Remove the shift motor from the reduction gears cover and disassemble the shift motor completely. Inspect the copper commutator bars and the brushes for sticking, arcing or excessive wear. The commutator should be smooth and blackened with no signs of heavy arcing or erosion. Do NOT polish or sand on those commutator bars. Those bars have a thin layer built up of graphite lubricant on them. If you remove that layer you are forcing the commutator to wear in to the brushes again, which greatly reduces the life expectancy of the motor. Leave them alone. Clean the magnets housing and the armature with warm soapy water and soft plastic brushes and rinse, then squirt them both down with rubbing alcohol to remove the rinse water from them. Set them aside to dry. If you see any corrosion around the gasket sufaces of the housing or nose, remove the corrosion using sandpaper or a scotchbrite pad. You'll need clean, shiny surfaces for sealing watertight during assembly. Prep those previously leaky gasket surfaces now. Clean the reduction gears cover and small support bearings thoroughly in solvent. Clean the gears and all of the remaining metal parts in cleaning solvent as well and blow them all dry. Using a finger tip, push synthetic grease past the gaps in the metal bearing shields into each of the support bearings in the reduction gears cover until those bearings are completely packed with synthetic grease. Each bearing will take ya about 3 or 4 minutes to pack so expect to spend at least 15 minutes on them. You should feel them drag on the thick grease while turning them once you get them packed full. Now is a good time to clean up inside the front cover on the motor too, and get those support bearings repacked with synthetic grease. Note: It is very common to find one or more of those tiny reduction gear support bearings installed crooked in their bores from the factory. If you find one not installed properly, straighten it up in its bore by tapping on its outer race with a plastic screwdriver handle. The outer edges of the races should be flush with the chamfer of the bore. Failure to fix crooked bearings results in reduction gear(s) rubbing on the aluminum housings causing them to bind up. Binding gears can cause the shift motor and/or the ECM to burn up. Repack the ball bearing on the end of the armature with synthetic grease by pushing grease inside the bearing past the gap in the metal shield. Add syn grease to the bronze bushing inside the magnets housing and wet the shaft where it fits into that bushing. Be careful not to get any grease on the armature outside of that bushing and shaft end. Put a small amount of grease inside the rubber seal lips in the nose of the motor to lubricate that seal. Reassemble the brushes assembly. Coat the rubber gasket (o-ring on some models) liberally on both sides with silicone gasket maker. Depress the brush springs & brushes into their holders and place two small alligator clips (or bent pieces of wire) to hold those two brushes back so you can set the nose of the armature shaft down into the nose housing. Remove the two alligator clips from the brushes once the armature is down in the nose and clamp the end of the shift motor shaft lightly in a vise (or you can get a good grip on it with your fingers and hold on tight) while you lower the magnets housing down over the armature. If you let go of the end of the armature shaft while lowering the magnets housing down the armature will pull out and your brushes and brush springs will fly away. Hold on tight... then put your final two or three bolts in and snug them up. That completes the shift motor and reduction gears cover assemblies preps. The shift motor is now properly lubricated and is sealed up tight. Its fully submersible, you can shoot it with a pressure washer as often as ya want to and it won't ever need any more of your attention. Now move your shift motor back to your ATV... where you have already repacked the support bearings in the front cover. Remove the rubber o-ring gasket from the cover and coat it liberally with silicone gasket maker. Stuff it back into its groove in the front cover once it has been completely wetted with gasket maker. Also remove the o-ring gasket from the nose of the shift motor and coat it liberally on all sides with silicone gasket maker before putting it back in its groove. Coat each of the reduction gears liberally with syn grease. Don't be shy with it... stuff those gear teeth full of grease and make sure both sides of the gears are wetted with grease before installing them into their repacked support bearings. Then install the shift motor assembly onto the dowel pins in the cover. Apply silicone gasket maker to both sides of the o-ring gasket for the angle sensor and install the angle sensor into the reduction gears cover. In this case (350 Rancher) the shift motor harness must be routed underneath the angle sensor before the sensor is snugged down. Do NOT overtighten those screws. Now hold the bracket in place and snug each of the four mounting bolts down in a criss-cross tightening pattern. Do NOT overtighten any of those mounting bolts. You are now back where you began. Next up, adjust the change clutch per the service manual. Remove both front and rear fenders. Open EVERY wiring harness connector pair on the ATV and pack dielectric grease into each connector to seal out oxygen and water. Do NOT skip this step, this is very important, saves you 100s of $$$ and countless hours of your time! Just do it and don't be caught whining about it! 🙂 Finally, clean the frame and motor grounds and clean and dielectric grease the battery terminals. You will need a battery installed in your ATV that is in decent condition. Put your fenders and trim back on the ATV. Enjoy your properly prepped and now bulletproof Honda ES system. You're done working on it for at least ten more years, more 'n likely 20. Have fun with it!

Sounds like a fun day....Looking at those pictures,sure makes me miss Colorado....But with dad in nursing home and mom needing help will be in Louisiana for a while.

Thanks i am doing some field work this week so I’ll take more pics. it is an Essex Light All Terrain Tactical Vehicle on a Mule 3010 950 cc diesel, 24VDC system, 360 degree illumination, the versatile NATO single pin 28VDC, cab gun scabbards, Kevlar belted run flat tires, hoist points, 11K BTU heater. I’ll swap the turf tires on it to the run flats tomorrow.

Ok thanks goober, I was able to fix the switch with your tutorial, but alas, still no spark. Gonna get a new cudi box and spark plug

I got the plastics on. And put a new seat cover on as the factory one was dry rotting. Plus general touch up. Probably will address the wheels and tires soon and add a winch and maybe a rear trunk/seat for the wife.

your sure right !. i could of used some help a few times, but i had no one to call on at that time, so i just bit the bullet, and like always..just get-r-done !..lol.

Yea I also remember all the old pics. Also remember you talking about what a pain in the butt putting up the roof trusses was. They couldn't be assembled on the ground and lifted up, you had to make them in place.....seem to recall a few 4 letter words in the description....lol

next up .... the Dixie vodka 400 @ homestead-Miami speedway ...6/14 @ . 2:30 PM ..., ill be looking for Hubba bubba Wallace to be slammed into the wall!! or his pit crew dropping the ball on purpose!! ... especially after he disrespected NASCAR, drivers, sponsers, and mostly the fans ..hopefully he will be FIRED soon!!!!

here is the deck with the railing installed. spent most of the day getting it all up. will head back down there tomorrow to hook the new how water tank up to my well pump line.

Ok. Now that's as slick as owl !! Cool!!

that's impressive goober ... my old boss little Johnny is a die hard fan of the 2510 mule. with his messed up ankle ... it's easy for him to get in, and out .... that Bout the only Kawasaki .... he has a any good thoughts about ... lol! post us some more pics of yours !

I usually dont post much on these threads but when NASCAR banned confederate flags because of Bubba Wallace I'm done. I haven't watched much these last few years because of stupid rulings and changes but this one takes the cake. I'm from the north all my life but the whole confederate banning statutes and now this is total garbage!! It's part of the south's heritage, good bye NASCAR hope you lose even more of your loyal viewers..... Plus his car will have BLM crap all over it, nope not gonna give it the time of day....

Sounds like a bad blower motor. They can develop dead spots that will prevent it from starting.

hm...... bubba Wallace ... should be drop kicked out of NASCAR !! the pre show was a joke! and hubba bubba, didn't mention George HAD DRUGS ON HIM, ALONG WITH BEING DOPED UP, AND RESISTED .. who's the rasist in this country now ?? i sure have a new disrespect for NASCAR now!! I'm shocked he didn't take a knee along with those loosers in the NFL

Now I can tell the wife our Avalanche can pull a gooseneck! 🤣

I think this picture was taken in Oklahoma

Might lose a finger on that left hand too if she's not careful.....