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We survived Zeta. They are saying it was a Cat 3 storm. Winds over 111 mph. The east winds came first and were stronger and longer. The eye went right over us. It was calm for over 30 minutes and then the wind switch to the west and went from 0 to 100 in one second. I was outside and it was crazy. Had to get in quick. they say 3-4 days for electricity for us. My buddy in New Orleans says they told him 7-10 days. So many poles down. Running a generator so pretty comfortable except for the Internet. On the phone only at the moment. So many stories.

I'm not putting a lot in anymore but I'm still here. I'm ready for some slower times to be online more.

Wind damage for me was minimal. branches and limbs mostly Been burning all day since before sunrise. Still got a lot to do. A few decorations fell. The wind mill threw a blade. cant say enough about going thru the eye. Was so cool. Was my second time. I went thru the eye of Betsy in the day time as a kid. I wish this would have been a day time event. When that west side edge came , it was the biggest gust of air I ever felt. 0 to 100mph in one second. But it was total darkness except for a hand held q beam I did learn my patio can handle a East wind better than a west wind. Lots of trees on the east side.

Update.. I’ve put a total of roughly 7hrs on er since the new weights. All I can say is wow.. that is what the ole girl needed. No slippage now!

We are coming up on 400 members in under a year since the forums went live! Congrats everyone give yourselves a pat on the back for keeping this place growing and making our home a place people want to join!🤘👍

Now that I reversed the mirrors, I was quite surprised that they don’t really vibrate & can see behind me almost perfect! This fairing windscreen has been a great addition. I’m very pleased with it. for anyone considering one, this make is excellent! Very well built, no issues. Hats off to Vip-Air.

Hi: I put studs in my tires in the winter.

I love this place! I hope everyone has a great time here & gets the help they need! & share the knowledge they can!

Welcome to the forum! I sent you my contact info, let me know whats going on exactly and I can get you straight Maybe you can post some pictures here for us to see -"that guy in Alaska" -lol

This is a 300ex full system

The eye went right over us. Dead calm for over 30 minutes. Did you get any weather

wow , thanks for all the warm welcomes. I have been in touch with AKATV and my faded meter is off to him for repair. I will keep posted. Thanks

Haha! I saw the exact same bike for sale not far from my place. Many people are jacking up the prices though because of Covid. Unfortunately 8500$ for a 2011 is way out of my budget.

In my opinion the mirrors are worth the price of the fairing as I live on a busy road and was afraid of being run over.

li agree with prov, don't see how running chains or any other type , would harm the differentail ... besides .. most times with all four wheels on the ground, the drive train is slighty wound up, but if anything would get loose, it most likely be the axle hubs.

I don't know anyone around here that chains up all four. I've never had damage to my machines and never heard of anyone else having problems. A set of two is around $80 at our local fleet store. Peerless is what they carry. You want V-bar for sure. Plain chain doesn't work. If you have deep lug tires you will want the ones that cross the tire tread in a diamond pattern to keep them from going between the lugs.

Good front and rear green, good front and rear yellow, extra rear yellow, one green tank cover, floorboards, flares, 3 seats (need recovered, but good foam), a meter with 1200 miles on it, and a solenoid. I also gave him a Jeep carb which he is vapor honing for me. It had about 40 years of oil, grease, and grime on it when I gave it to him.

Tue evening thru ALL night, nothing but heavy rain. I just slept in yesterday as the mud is retarded. But in the afternoon it was nice so I left on the quad for 4hrs. Only ran across 3 does. Rained again last nite/this am. I’m packing up heading home. Leaving for another spot with a buddy next Monday for the week. I hope it cools off enough to freeze the ground up!

Dad picked up a standby generator a few years ago. In true Dad fashion, it's still sitting in the garage, not hooked up. After ice storm 94, and then hurricane Elvis, he decided it was worth getting one, but said he's more worried about man made disasters cutting power, like riots/melee. In a time like that, who knows when the power would be back on? I have a 6500W Honda generator and a transfer switch. Since everything at my house is gas I can pretty much run business as usual except for the A/C. Sister has that old ES3500 Honda that @retro rewired for me. The electric start is exactly what she needed. She'd have to run her fridges and freezers for her business in cycles on that, but at least she wouldn't lose all that food.

Hi: Fish -- lock your generator down -- stand by with a gun LOL -- stay safe my friend and your wife.

I have been thru a lot of hurricanes > This is the craziest one I ever been thru > the winds are steady building and it is still on a direct track to put the eye over our house >>> when I was a kid and we lived in New Orleans , Hurricane Betsy went right over our house , I remember going outside with my Dad when the winds suddenly stopped and looking up at the funnel in the dead calm , then the winds started back the other way and that was a powerful hurricane -----

I'm just thinking anything now like an iphone or kindle has a clear stick-on screen protector on it now when you buy them, and some stuff like that has display stuff printed on it to make it look like the device is on while it's on display. Looks like if someone could make something like that screen protector with the print on it, you could slap it on after a meter repair and then there's the cover to protect it. Didn't think about sun fading. That could definitely be a problem.

hey Fish...good to hear from you on the other side of this!!..I think everyone was surprised at how it strengthened...it met up with the cold front here in the Carolinas...hit us with some 40-mid 50s winds...plenty of work for the power crews today....

My meter is off to AKATV for repair. I will post pics when it gets back! If it gets back..lol!! Hopefully USPS doesn't mess things up!!

I run the 4 link chains on all 4 tires for plowing, they were about 80 bucks for a set. They work great and I wouldn't go without now. Limiting your turning on the concrete will minimize the damage, but I don't leave marks on a paved driveway here when I do the neighbors, if you have newer tires with deep lugs they won't work as well, a 2 link or the diamond pattern works best. Tire chains are awesome in my opinion, just make sure they are tight, I use a bungee cord for each of my tires. They work great in the mud also,they will dig a hole with ease. As far as wear and tear on differential damage, if your not bagging it they will be fine.

He didnt say anything about the clutches. The clutches were not releasing before he took it. I rode the bike around a few days when I put the kit in the carburetor and to be quite honest it had been so long since I'd ridden it I assumed the hard shift and lurch from 1st to 2nd was from having sat too long. It wasnt until a few days before I found this site, reading some posts of similar issues and adjusting the free play that I realized the clutch was not releasing. FIshFiles, you ok down there?? You had said Zeta was going to pass right over your place.

Here is the gauge on the 05 500 I am working on. Sanding and buffing method. Didn't look that bad beforehand really but it is crystal clear now. Needs a light UV clear coat and it's like new again.

This my friends is why I LOVE stainless steel head pipe & aluminum mufflers! Mine won’t rot away. Eventually I’ll need to repack, but this is where its at fellas. Find a custom shop to make u one. Then add any slip on u want. Can’t be beat. I totally understand the OEM look, sound ect. But for longevity SS for the WIN

great video, but he's working with a good outer base, most times these are what is rusted away, and when this takes place, you can not weld to anything on it, as any welding will just burn right through rusted metal.

Nah, rebuild it. It's honestly not that much different from an FM 420 engine. I redid the wife's a few years ago. I know everything in Canada is super high, so if you need to find parts down here and have one of us get everything together and send to you up there, that's an option. I wonder what locked up your oil pump? Looking at your first post, I wonder if a piece of the drain plug threads got in that pump and locked it solid.

You'll be frozen solid and unable to do anything else before long. LOL

Done. Wheeler, what you gonna buy with that gift card? Inquiring minds want to know.

might need to pull one of my gennies out before this morning is done..these ol mid-lands trees don't take as kindly to this bluster..have heard several cracks this morning..so at least some large limbs coming down..we'll see later when i have time to ride out back. I had thought about, and watched a good friend, do the whole home genset thing..he likes the peace of mind, but he's actually used it i think once in the past 10 years.. honestly, I've only pressed a small gen into service twice in the same time frame..but knowing i can keep the freezer going..that's worth the spend. and we do get a decent amount of use out of a genny as we do some off-grid camping several times a year (non covid years)..the wife is a rock hound...so gems, fossils, etc..dragging me out to God knows where so she and her club can dig around in the dirt...I usually get a nice Honda trail 90 ride out of the trip though... this weekend is an example..we'll be offgrid..so power will come from a lil honda eu2000..enough to run the microwave, TV etc...don't need air conditioning this time of year..else I'd have to take the larger genny..which still is only a 4700 (less when running on propane) but enough to turn over the HVAC...both are good to have in-case and are small enough to sip the fuel...unlike a big house rig.

added one more vote for wheeler !

oh my bad i thought the other one was too... you might search for a moose hitch .. i just googled a few images ... looks they have some with loops .. https://www.mooseutilities.com/products/?productGroupId=44346&productId=121374 some a bit pricey, but I've always been a fan of moose products.

our prayers are with you Fish.

Yes don't fall for the lawnmower one LOL -- those auto gen's are costly for all the times one may need it.

Just gave Wheeler my vote.

Mel , I hope I know the difference between a generator and a lawn mower engine running , if you catch my drift of a fish story that has been told , LOL Was just telling the wife we need to get a automatic stand by generator set , as the lights are flickering as I type

Thanks for the prayers , I remember that storm , lights have flickered quite a few times , DirecTV going on and off , they are already reported how many thousands out of power ---- phones , ipad , and 10 Ryobi batteries charged , filled the tubs with water , if the electricity goes out , the wife will empty the well holding tank in no time , so if you got a tub of water and a bucket you can flush the toilets ----- starting to really blow now , I'd guess 35+

Finally got some time today to get the clutch off. Oil pump casing is split apart. There's more bad news...the crankshaft balancer shaft end is sheared off where the oil pump drive tang fits. I really didn't want to get into the crankcase. It might be cheaper to look for a used motor and keep this one for parts.

These two songs are about as far as I can stretch it but I like them.

same here, just hope there's not a cold front moving after this.. thank goodness the storm shelter pump is hooked up. @TBRider i can't see fish going camping in the snow... if you could pull that off, derf might have some ocean front property very soon... lol

Today , I learned the bolt on hitch of the 500 and the 2nd gen 450 (2002-2004) are the same , never knew that

oh400ex ---- I must have been having a bad day , I revisited that Dirty Head song Scott' posted , I didn't really like it that much the first time I listen to it and didn't give it a like back then , after listening to it a second time I gave it a like and would listen to it again , they are kind of raggea -----

Worked out for me since i do not like to ship the plastics, the carb will be done before the 2nd trip is made that way as well.

Well things sure have slowed down now that the weather is getting colder. Got the clutches, friction weights and springs replaced. Shifts perfectly now and centrifugal clutch is working again. The drum was slightly grooved but definitely usable with new weight set. Clutch plates were in-spec and even if they weren't could have been ran again. As you can see in the pictures everything was aggressively cleaned and re-oiled before going back in. I think all I used was scotch-brite, plastic blade-style scrapers, WD-40, assembly grease, GN4 and lots of paper towels (blue towels are better but more expensive) Compressed air is super important for getting the grit off parts before reassembly too. Wheeler man... I would have never taken an abrasive (more aggressive than scotch-brite) to the drum. That was a big risk in my mind... I just hope you got away with it. Jeep's hose clamp trick works like a charm. Almost good enough that you feel like you don't even need the real tool... I have used a strap before but this worked so much better. Thanks again! Shade you owe me one. The first gear in that bike is good. Video is uploading but long/short is that it shifts perfectly and first/reverse is exactly like any other gear. Take a note of the difference between old friction weights and the new assembly. Definitely needed it. New (OEM) springs make the clutch and centri-clutch feel amazing. Would never consider any other springs but OEM when doing a clutch. This bike will run many trouble-free miles on the new OEM clutches! A few pictures of the in-progress restoration on the yellow plastics. After washing with soapy water and scotch-brite the parts are sanded. If there is no damage I start with 220 on a power sander. Knock down the entire panel evenly as possible and use a sanding sponge for anywhere that can not be reached. I then move through the grits. All this is done dry and using air compressor to clear sanding dust. 220 > 400 > 600 > 1000 > 1500 and the soft cotton buffing wheel to finish. You should be using an impact driver with adjustable speed trigger for that step. The reason that an impact is better than the drill is when the wheel catches an edge the impact slips while the drill digs. VERY light pressure at first with the cotton wheel. No compound of any kind and make sure the surface is clear of sanding dust with air compressor before buffing. It can be taken to a ridiculous level but to factory mirror polish is not difficult. If you try and skip a few grits it will be much harder. Never use a heat gun to refinish plastics. Thank you for looking!

Well I must be a one off... ya man it fit.. like I said, It fit rite on.. worked great, even with the lip.. it didn't impede anything, at all... Yes I know the reverse cable is working correctly because I installed it correctly this time around.. You know what shadetree.. maybe, just maybe, you can learn from me on this one.. I mean it fit on & worked perfect.. I dunno what else to say... I don't need to go to Partzilla & do that.. here is a pic of the one I took out. I KNOW I have (they sold me the starter bearing) even thought I told them clutch bearing.. didn't know they were discontinued like you say...