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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

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

I AM Sanford and Son

lol..don't feel bad bro !, you, me, and about 10 million other atv owners have ALL done this with the kill switch !..lol. glad you got it going !!.

update: not going to sit here and type out a book on what took place this past sat ?, lets just say me and al got my stand to its new spot !. we did not get it up yet, as we still have 2 more stands to move off the sold land. this coming sat, he asked me to come back down, and help him. of course, i said '' i'll be there boss '' !. once we get the remaining stands moved, and a bridge moved he built in placed there, we ( or me ? ) will start working on getting my stand back up, shooting lanes cuts, feeder back up. hopefully we don't get rained out this coming sat ??!!.

12's are mostly common. i run 24x8x12 , and 24x10x12 on both of my atvs, one is a 1989 trx350D foreman, it calls for 24x9x11 all the way around ?, BUT !, i made and installed front disk brakes on it, in order to run disk brakes , you must have 12 inch rims in order for the calipers to clear the rims. soooo..now when i need tires on my '03 trx450fm ?, i can run the rims and tires off my '89 trx350D !. both have foreman rims and tires on them.

Check all of your connections to be sure they are clean and properly connected. Including ground. If all looks good you can cook your CDi box. I just recently did the cdi on a 88 300 and it worked. put cdi box in oven at 450 for 7 minutes. With plug facing up.

Today, I moved my atv from the back of my garage to the front of my garage in anticipating of a camping trip this next weekend.

Found the issue it was the fuses under the handlebars the harness was not connected properly thanks for the info

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.

lol...don't feel bad , we ALL do stupid stuff, spec when we get older !..lol. glad you got it back together !.

I feel stupid I had the longer spline collars on the wrong spots. I got it on now. Will report back when the 500 top end is on and running

Thanks ever so much, great explanation. Steve

Of course, taking advice from me will lead you to a shop that looks like Sanford and Son......

@sshinnssi - AKATV did a great job on mine - it will cost ya a couple hundred plus but still cheaper than replacement unit which they don't make anymore. Before and after

I rode mine a couple days ago. Stayed at my buddy's hunting shack. Two guys rode in his Can-Am Commander and I rode my Rubicon. Rode through the woods to tour one of the last remaining CCC camps. Then continued our loop back to the shack. 51 miles total. Saw a bunch of whitetail deer and ruffed grouse along with the usual eagles. Beautiful 50 degree day.

it truly boggles my one brain cell, trying to figure out why atv owners who ride an utility atv, want to '' get that one extra hp '' ?!..lol. you can only get so much from these machines, after that..its all over but the crying. soo..bottom line: don't bother trying to get 100 hp from an engine that is designed to give you 10 hp..lol.

Took it for a spin and got 1/2 down the street and it started running like crap. i thought “Now what?” but it would smooth out with starter fluid, so I drained the tank and put some fresh gas in, and after feathering it for a few minutes it smoothed up and ran great. Took the mini-me out on the farm, dug out a beaver dam to make her a “waterfall” and it did fine on that trip, so back to the owner tomorrow Thanks again for the input guys!

Thank you! These are the kind of tidbits that make a forum like this such a wealth of knowledge. Greatly appreciated!

Boutta start on a performance build on this bike I’ll update y’all as it goes

@AKATV

I found it and got it downloaded. Thanks again AKATV.

Yikes! That one is pretty bad, but the circuit board doesn't appear to have obvious water damage. Does it backlight in the dark if you turn on the headlights? @AKATV will be along shortly.

as for parts ?, your best bet is power sports nation for used parts, or..an atv salvage yard. as most parts for that old girl will be discontinued today. now, you can find after market parts..which all will be made in china ?..but honda atvs hate china parts on them !.