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My ES is too dang reliable and I find myself with extra time on my hands, time that others seem to use working on their machines. For us ES owners, what do we do with that extra time? Please and Thank You. WM ES Owner

Thanks Jeep for your humility concerning this subject. Thanks Wilson for the personal message to say hi. I'm back for the first time in many months.....many months. I enjoyed this forum for the most part but left several years ago (with just a few visits per year) because of the politics and religion. This is the first post I viewed and to my pleasure discovered this new opinion concerning volatile issues. I am a strong conservative Christian man that has learned to be very careful.....I have very strong opinions like everybody else but realized that Truth in Love trumps all else. I'm back for a while to see how it goes. You "old timers" may remember that I'm not a huge four wheeler enthusiast yet I own two and that my real passion is dirt bikes. I do enjoy listening to conversations about certain problems and even contributing if I have some insight. This feels good and it's good to be back.

Okay, not quite what you think, but it is a Honda. Have some friends who are back in country do to some unrest where they've been serving as missionaries for the last almost 40 years. Had a very short amount of time to get out leaving their business and belongings behind. Back in the states til August of next year while they regroup and make a new plan. While here they are going to need to do some traveling to raise more financial support. So will be doing that over a fair amount of this spring and early summer. Their travels will take them all over the U.S. so they figured they might get a small toy hauler, 18ft, and save some hotels along the way. Also thought they would take a toy along as they go to help the monotany of their time on the road. So last fall for one of their meetings, they flew to Dallas, and while there, purchased a Honda Gold Wing and drove it back to Montana. They'll put that in their little toy hauler and take it a long. Soooo...... most of the winter my friends stuff has been in my wife's ear about how much fun it is, and all of the other people we both know that have bikes that we can get out on rides with. It didn't take much convincing, I've wanted to get a bike for a long so started looking a lithe over a month ago and finally found one. So last Friday after work took off for Eastern North Dakota to go get my new to me purchase. Was a miserable trip. I was pulling a 17ft empty cargo trailer and drive in 30-45 mph head/cross wind the entire way. Pulled into my buddy's house in Bismarck at 2 am, but by the time we visited and I got settled it was 3:30 am and was up at 7:30 ready to drive the remaining 2½ hours. He had different plans so after breakfast we didn't get out of Bismarck until after 9:30. Had 40 to 45 mph wings the remaining distance. Long story sutures short, got home Sunday evening at 6 pm. More wind, rain, snow m, and ice on my way home. 1450 miles. Not sure how folks can live in that part of the country. Stopped and took pics from four directions. Absolutely nothing you see in any direction. Ended up with a 2008 1800, very nice shape only 25,000 miles. Trails don't open till mid June so will have some time to ride before atv season starts.

So the long awaited update is here. The Foreman is out of my shop and back on the farm. Thanks to the help of ol Mr RTV himself aka Shade tree 🤣, the machine is FIXED!!! It was a process and I had all but given up but Shade talked me off the ledge. I ended up taking that rear engine cover off and replaced the Ignition spark generator or the pick up coil inside the case. That was the part keeping us from getting spark. I did keep the CDI/ ICM I replaced on along with the new voltage regulator and coil. After some issues with the neutral switch and having to remove and install the rear cover (a total of 5 times...)🤷‍♂️🤦‍♂️ I got the unit back together today and ran it. I let it idle for 10 min which it couldn't do prior and took it for a 1 mile ride with no issues. Im happy to say its all fixed up and its back to pushing feed for dairy cows. I want to say as a newbie to the site here, it was quite refreshing to talk to people who knew their stuff and pointed me in the right direction. I definitely look forward to being a member here and I greatly appreciate the help from Shade and the others!! Thanks again

Very true, that maybe a warning sign, but first it would be ignition fuse blowing .Went for short ride...wow, like a new machine, idles sweet, plenty of power, so happy, showing 3,250 miles in 14 years..thanks again guys.

SUCCESS!!! I got in new OEM PCM today, along with OEM coil (x2), relay and idle air control valve, cranked right up and idled beautiful, coil stayed cool, no blown fuses. Thank you EVERYONE for your input and knowledge and motivating me not to give up..all back together so ride later after grass mowing..once again THANKS to you all who also put up with my whining lol...guess this thread is DONE..maybe it will help someone in the future, I know personally I learned ALOT about my machine.

As some of ya'll know, i've came into a couple golden machines ?!. i call them big john, and little john. they are a kwik-way boring bar machines. they are very very old and very very rare to find them , let alone that works ?!. ok..little john works, but needs some shadetree touch to it ?..lol. big john does very well !. i had to bore out a cylinder that came on this stupid trx300ex to a 74.45mm piston. i did get it bored out with the old cutter that came with it, but i did break down and purchase two new cutting tips to go into the holders. one is a rough cut, the other is a fine cut. with some practice, i'll get to make some cash on the side from doing bor jobs, sounds boring eh ?..lol. really though...its getting harder and harder to locate folks that can bore cylinders, let alone cheap, and fast ?. i will not be sending my cylinders out any longer to get bored out. here is a pic of big john, and little john i took today when i was working on this trx300ex.

Nice old guy bike

It's been snowing here since Thursday afternoon. I'm done with winter...lol

Just wanted to take a minute to thank Ron for the repairs on my speedometer/cluster. Sent from South Carolina to Alaska and I had a working dash in 2 weeks. I definitely recommend this to anyone having doubts about doing it. Ron is a standup guy.

Thank you so much Jeep. You were 100% correct. After replacing the oil pump chain and installing the engine, I was still waiting on some new seals/boots for my front drive shaft. Being impatient to give the machine a try to see if everything worked, I covered the front differential to protect from dirt, and drove the machine up and down the road a couple of times. I would never have guessed that without the front drive shaft in it would cause all of these problems. Put the drive shaft with new seals & boots in last night and everything is working perfectly! Thanks again!

Yep, I had a Rubicon and an aftermarket top end gasket set. Gave me fits trying to get the valve cover on as the aftermarket gasket wasn't stiff enough to hold up the push rods. The OEM gasket make it MUCH easier to do.

Thanks, I was trying to save a couple of bucks, but in the long run it's costing more !

oem all the way, stay far...far away from any after market parts, when you can get oem. if and when it comes time where we can't get oem anymore ?, then i will use china junk ( we won't have a choice ), until then, i will use oem all the way !. just ask jeep69 what he went through awhile back when he tried using a after market head gasket ?!!..lol.

This is a chart of HP Make/size Horsepower Lowest ratio (final:1) The numbers after the HP is the gear ratio Recon 250 15.5 HP 36.8 300 Fourtrax (after 1988) 16.5 HP 55.0 300 Fourtrax (1988) 18 HP 55.0 350 Rancher 21 HP 54.1 350 Foreman 24.5 HP 57.2 400 Foreman 21 HP 56.9 420 Rancher FM/TM 26.5 HP 46.5 420 Rancher AT (IRS) 27 HP 38.8 450 Foreman 24 HP 56.9 500 Rubicon 33.5 HP 58.6 500 Foreman 27 HP 51.0 500 Foreman (FI) 28 HP 53.4 650 Rincon 35.5 HP 17.7 680 Rincon 38.5 HP 17.7 420 Vs 450 HP

Tires for the truck. The sipper may be down for the count, blowing oil out from somewhere. Yea I know what tire threads do to undies around here….. kinda why I wanna start one…..

Hi @Kyle9076 I would say it's the capacitor for the pull start -- just unplug it -- tape it up good and plug it back together

advice is free...parts are not !..lol. first off, complete engine gasket kit. tube of yamabond ( for where there is no gaskets ONLY ! ). all engine oil seals, D.I.D. cam chain is what i install in all my builds. 3 qrts of atv oil, oil filter, spark plug. air filter. only spec tools you will need: valve spring compressor ( if you do not have one ? ). flywheel puller, centrifugal clutch puller tool. a seal puller ( but not really needed, but works easier than prying seals out with a screwdriver ). service manual for sure !!. have your camera ( cell phone ) on hand to take lots and lots of tear down pics, before, during, after. this way, if you get stumped?, you can always go back, look at pics to see where that thrust washer goes ?..lol. if it were me ? ( i know its not..lol )..i would replace the main crank bearings while you have it torn down, yes..its extra money, but i would do this now, and be worry free for a few more yrs !. a good metric socket set, brass hammer, pry bars, air compressor, air impact gun ( 1/2 ), deep impact sockets, you will need 27mm, 24mm, 22mm, here and there. you can never have enough impact sockets !. some cases, you will need a 30mm, 29mm, 28mm. these come in handy for the hub nuts. not needed, but handy..A PARTS WASHER !. this comes in very handy to rinse out the cases once you get it all part, yes..i go that extra mile when i build my engines. if you get stumped ?, we are always here to help !, myself..i also do phone support..lol.

It was the ECU. Got a used one from PSN today and it fired right up. Gotta get everything put back together and get it out of the yard.

Update.....I sent my combination meter (speedometer) to AKATV and I couldn't be happier. With the speedo now working, this has totally cured shifting issues and other minor hiccups engine related. If anyone is having mysterious driveability problems, and the speedo doesn't work, I strongly recommend getting it fixed. The service this gentleman provides is impeccable. Thank you.

It can get a bit light in the front end when climbing snowbanks loaded I've found. But I can travel faster on rough ground. Counter weight on the front rack helps. Power steering is great that way. But any quad I've had or have are tippy when loaded climbing stuff. But weight on a bit of a slope I don't find bad. Neighbor has a 2000 350 es and he loves running around on mine.

I wanted to let all members know that member @Fat Tire has a lead on on a couple NOS Honda Speedometers for the Foreman 450S footshift model 1998-01, absolutely brand new in the box, and one used one with under 300 miles in VGC If you have the "black screen of death" common to the 450S, or yours is water damaged and/or non-repairable etc.. and you have found that these are discontinued- I would quickly look him up, I expect they will not be around long If I get any requests, I will forward them to him as well. -AKATV

least its not a can am !..lol.

Things around here are "so flat you can watch your dog run away for 2 days" but at least we have trees!

Nice! Great bikes! I had a new one in late 2001. Abused the crap out of it.

This is a buddy of mines pic. You can see part of the flame on the lower left (7 o'clock)

Yup, g/f and I biked up by the dam to watch, bunch of ppl already there. Got real dark & cold all at once. Quite the site!

Pretty cool thing to see.

We’re going to drive about 45 min nw to get into totality. It’s going from about an hour west of me to an hour north of me, so we’re going to try to catch it in the middle of nowhere, where hopefully we can avoid the crowds.

My house will be in the shadow tomorrow. I'm almost in the middle of total coverage, so it should be dark here for about 4 min plus. Is your house in the path?

I spent big money on a fancy Battery Tender for four batteries. I just replaced the battery for the first time on my 2014 TRX 420....They pay for themselves.

Has been a bit since @Goober was here. Hopefully he's ok and just doing RLS.

OK thanks for the help I fixed it valves were way out of adjustments runs great now and starts fine

Update Big thanks to jeepwm69, I ordered an oem carb and installed on the bike. Reset the codes and the bike runs through all gears in every setting, including ESP. Still having issues with the screen going blank intermittently but otherwise the bike is operational now. Just goes to show that cheaper isn't always better!

calling @AKATV.

sure the water is fine..until the sharks show up ?!..rofl.

i have visited there, what a bunch of bs-ers. yet i visit quite often.

Thanks everyone for the welcoming greetings! I’ve been poking around the site and finding lots of helpful tidbits. This definitely seems like a positive and active forum! I’m glad to be a part of it.

welcome bigaxejack, nice to have ya here !. fine bunch of helpful folks here. both of your machines i know very where as far as mechanic wise.

Welcome, great group of folks here. We'd love for you to share some of the mountain scenery with us.

Do we at least have matching jackets? lol

just guessing, lack of round up ?..lol.

with it being 24 yrs old ?, its hard to narrow your issue down. the piston, or bore can be worn ?, the connecting rod can have play in it ?. wrist pin top at rod can be worn out ?, valves can be out of adjustment ?. really hard to tell you what it can be. the only way you will find out, is too tear the top end down, and inspect the piston, bore, valves, rings, connecting rod. BEFORE you tear it down !!. make sure to have a top end gasket kit, and a tube of yamabond or hondabond on hand !...DO NOT USE RTV SEALANT ANYWHERE ON THIS ENGINE !!!. i'll go out on a limb here, and say your piston, jug, connecting rod is worn out..one of these..or all 3 need to be fixed.

My ATV was only running on 1 cylinder.. not sure why 🤣😂

So anyways, let me tell you about why our country is going to crap.... 😅

as always Jeep....you have my appreciation and support in your policies. thanks! Ed

Got another PLASTI_DIP video... and it's on chroming this go round and i think they have nailed it! The test samples Look great!... i'll send ya via PM.....

little tip: the trx400fm and the early trx450S ( '98-'01 trx450S ) , both use the same front differentials.

in the pic of the stator ( bottom pic ). that switch that sticks up ?..that is your gear position switch, it tells you on the dash what gear you are in..or when in neutral or reverse ?. see that rolled pin that looks like a TEE ? , the longer end of it faces/sits over the letter N that is stamped on top of the plastic switch right below it when its centered over the letter N.

These critters again ? Are You sure you want to tangle with that bad attitude looking crew ? Credit for this pic goes to @56Sierra