Six862m6

Hi folks, I was wondering if someone might be able to direct me as to how the extra wiring for the removable headlight on an 85 TRX250 was originally bundled up/placed?  In the middle of restoring my dad's old bike and it has looked like the first picture I've attached for the last 20 years at least....  Now that I have all of the original plastic back for it, I'd like to put that wire back how it should go (I believe it goes in the cubby under the headlight itself with the two main fuses, yes?). Any info or pics would be great, thank you!

4 hours ago, Fishfiles said:

Looks right to me .

Hey Fish, good morning sir. Hey maybe you missed it in my last reply to you but do you by any chance remember the vendor/place where you picked up your Cree light bars?  Thanks!

8 hours ago, _Wilson_™ said:

Looking good! Do you have the rear tail light assemblies too ? And i think ? Those rubber (right hand side from the pic) trunk rack straps might be upside down ? Pointing up... mine laid flat ... Looking at that bike sure does bring back memories of the great times i had riding my 85 250.....  N, Your back tire choice (i like) i had wooly boogers on mine... 

Thank you sir. I was able to get the front plastic carrier/rack on yesterday as well (mostly). Starting to look like a quad again! I do have the tail light assemblies, they're over on the bench right now. I've ordered LED replacement bulbs for them, once I get the bulbs I will reinstall the housings. And I'll look over the rubber rack straps but I'm pretty sure they way they are is the only way they'll go on and work to latch the door in place.

 

40 minutes ago, Fishfiles said:

Thanks , I always buy Cree lights , that's a 20 inch ----  they light it up ----  they come in spot light or flood light and now  some are both spot and flood combo   on the same bar , the ones I have that are combo are not controllable separately , they both come on at the same time --- I am not sure if any are separate control , that would be cool ---- I can't say which is better , spot or flood , both are insane amounts of light 

 

Them TRX250 Fourtrax are really tuff atvs , that engine is the same engine in the ATC250 Big Red 3 wheeler  , proven tuff 

Thanks for the info, I'll look into the Crees for sure. Do you happen to remember the vendor that you got them from? 

Yea, the old bird is coming along. I put the rear plastic back on it yesterday evening as well as the new (to it) powder coated rear rack/bar assembly. This is the first time in probably 30 years that this thing has had the plastic cubby door and the carrier door that covers it! Thankfully I was still able to buy the plastic bushings for the door new. I just bought a new set of tires for it (not that the ones it has are all that bad, especially the rears but I am going to have the wheels powder coated and I want a set of Swamp Witches on the back anyway, so hey, time to do it). I may work on putting the front plastic and carrier on today or tomorrow.

Still not sure what I'm going to do with that ! tank though....

On 12/21/2022 at 3:27 PM, Fishfiles said:

I remember a member that was doing a mod to the light housings and fitting different high powered bulbs into  the stock housing , I think his name was something like  what7 , I think  @_Wilson_™ might know who I am referring to ----- 

 

 the way I use my ATVs in water   , I think if water gets into the housing , then the bulb usually blows out

 

 

 them high quality bulbs can be expensive , I paid about $90 for the two bulbs in my truck , they do light it up 

Hey Fish, that's an awesome looking rig there sir! Hey, what light bar is that and is it good for night time trail riding? I'm looking for a good LED Light Bar that will fit nicely on the front carrier of that 85 TRX250 that I am restoring. Any suggestions?

2 minutes ago, Fishfiles said:

So lay the wrong tank theory to the side , then since it is pretty sure the right tank ,  I would have to think the frame is tweaked  , it might  be hard , even impossible  to see a bend ,  maybe a crack in the paint here or there could be a tell tale of being bent  >>>>  the more I think about it after looking at your torch pic above , the more I think it is bent from that accident it had ----  what else could it be 

I would agree with this IF it weren't for the plastic tank fitting right. No modifications, fits like it should. Like I said, it's really weird.  I was/am almost at a spot where I'm wondering if the 86/87 tank mounting holes WERE slightly different (and this one had been replaced on that bike at some point.... I know a lot of them had rust/hole issues) and they would fit the 85's if YOU TRIED REAL HARD.....  🤣 Head Scratcher.....

17 hours ago, _Wilson_™ said:

I show the same part # for all three years (250a)-(85-87) 17510-ha8-680 too.. But i think he's got the right tank because the 200sx didn't has a gas gauge ... Or am i mistaken ? And one of pics clearly shows the gas gauge, and gauge bezel .... 

Thanks for the replies Wilson. As you caught, the 200 doesn't have a fuel gauge which mine does. It's turning out to be a real head scratcher really.

17 hours ago, jeepwm69 said:

Are you sure that tank is from an 85 250?  I know the 84 TRX200 was similar looking, but not the same machine,

 

The fact that the aftermarket tank fits would lead me to believe you have the wrong tank, rather than there being something bent.

 

I know you’re restoring the machine, but the plastic tanks are a nice upgrade.  No rust or leaky seams. Can’t see the tank on that model with the plastics installed either……

Yep, positive. Like I replied to Fish, I saw pics of the 85 being parted out that I bought the tank and other parts, namely the front plastic with correct decals for the year (these changed). Also, as I believe Wilson caught, the 200 is definitely a similar looking tank but doesn't have the fuel gauge which mine does.

Honestly I wouldn't mind the plastic except for two things; it uses it's own different looking fuel cap and, mainly, it doesn't have provisioning for said fuel gauge.

18 hours ago, Fishfiles said:

 

If you  bought that tank used  and it doesn't fit , then I would say it is no telling what it fits , maybe it  could even  be a TRX350A or D , a 350  tank is built the same way >>>>>   the TRX200SX is very similar as well >>> since your 250  has been in a known wreck , bad enough that  the front end had to be heated up , then could it be possible that the frame is tweaked -----I think you got the wrong tank --- do you have a better pic  of how it doesn't fit ? 

 

One major difference for me to deal with was the  rear end , I use that 250 Fourtrax rear end in my 300s ,  about the only part of the 85 1st gen  rear end that  fits both gens is the differential ,  the axle , hubs , brake drum , axle tubes are all different lengths , etc ---------  also the swing arm of your 85 should be welded to your right axle tube and all be one piece --- the 86-87 is not    ---- I have learned that the 85-early 86s rear end parts are the same on a 95-861/2 ATC250 Big Red three wheeler 

So the guy I bought the tank from was parting out an '85 TRX250 for sure as I saw pictures of the bike before parting and bought other parts from it as well (namely the correct front plastic piece with correct decals), so I have no doubt there. I can take a better pic of the bike without the tank on it but I already looked it over and it doesn't look like anything is bent out of place. The aftermarket plastic tank for it had no fitment issues at all. As for a better pic of why it's not fitting, it's really just that one pic of the mounting holes not lining up..... that's it. Everything else fits perfect, from the way it grabs the rubber grommets on the front to how it lays on the frame. As for being a 350 or 200 tank, I would agree they're similar but none of them have a fuel gauge (which mine does as seen in my first pic). It's just weird....

1 hour ago, Fishfiles said:

Hi Six' , welcome to ATVHonda forum , I have had a few TRX250 Fourtraxs over the years , they made them from 1985-1987 , the 86 and 87 ( 2nd gen )  are pretty much 100% the same part interchange  , the 1985 ( 1st gen ) was an animal all by itself , dso many differences between the 2 genbs , I just looked up the part numbers and it is lasted as 1985 only , then 1986-87 , then I have seen 1986 1/2 models that were still 1st gen parts , so buying parts you need to watch it  -----     I think you have the wrong tank 

 

Maybe something can be done to make it work , personally  I am all about modifications , LOL 

Hi Fishfiles, I appreciate the reply. Typically I'm good with modifications as well but I'm trying to restore this particular bike to "as new" or as close as I can come to it for my dad. You can see in the one picture what I started with..... It's had a rough life.... at one time this thing ended up in the pond on my dad's property floating only by the big rear tires! (he forgot to set the parking brake when it was on a slight incline and he turned his back on it for too long.... ha!) that being said the engine is super healthy and it runs/drives good (now that I did some other fixes, see my comments on the wreck it was in coming up). The only real modification that I'm keeping is the CHEAP, high amp/capacity (compared to stock anyway) garden tractor battery mounted in front of the engine! This thing was a life saver before due to the 85s having a known cold start issue..... this one would never start before without some starting fluid aid even though the inside of the carb and jets were spotless!  That's fixed now as well.... I picked up, cleaned and installed an 86 (QA09 I believe) carb which had the cold start issue corrected. Starts right up now! Thankfully I was able to pick up an almost mint front plastic section (even has the original correct decals)...... finding that in really good shape was hard. He threw all of this stuff (and everything else you see missing) away over the years.... at this point I have pretty much everything ready to put back, including original mounting hardware. I even got all new (to me) racks/carries and had it all powder coated black (The originals seen on the bike in the pick were pretty well bent up EVERYWHERE). Going to put new tires on it as well and when I do, I'm going to have the wheels powder coated as well.

I know what you mean about the 85 being it's own animal.... One thing that already bit me is that the wheels are different from 86-87's. Not just how they look, the bolt pattern!  It's still 4 lugs of course, but one is actually smaller than the other (I don't know that actual sizes/specs right off hand). I bought a pair of fronts from an 86 to replaced the bent front wheel on the bike and they wouldn't fit!  Another thing that I've been fighting is that when this bike was only about 3 years old or so, my dad let one of his friends go riding back in the woods with it and they hit something so hard with the right front wheel that it actually bent the frame where the "J" arm attaches (as well as the J arm itself, front shock, wheel, and snapping the tie rod). Now this piece is actually replaceable on the 86-87 bikes as it is bolted on to the frame with 4 large bolts. Not so on the 85's! It's freaking welded to the frame! So I sacrificed the old, bent J arm and went to town with a heating torch and sledge hammer (See picture below of torch in action). It's not perfect but I got it straightened out enough that the new arm moves properly now that it is connected to the replacement shock. Before there was basically no suspension travel on that corner.

Now, on to the tanks. I did see that the 85 tank originally had a different part number as well. HOWEVER, they look to have superseded it with the same tank/part number as the 86 and 87 (check the diagrams below). That tells me that while there was a change, it had to be something small and not major like a mounting hole change, otherwise the new tanks wouldn't fit the old bike. Thoughts?

Hi folks, this is my first post here on the forums. I was directed here by one of the members over on HondaATVForums.net. This post will basically be a copy paste of that post. I would have put this in your "Utility Tech" section but of the three choices, none of them seemed right.

I happen to be restoring my dad's 85 TRX250 that he bought new that year and ran into a snag with the gas tank I picked up for it (he had at some point replaced the original metal tank with a plastic, I'm sure due to rust/leakage issues). So I purchased a good used OEM tank off of another 85 being parted out. It fits great.... almost. The only problem is the bolt holes in the back are off just enough that it is completely impossible to install the mounting screws. Rubber grommets in front fit good and snug, tank goes all the way forward on to them, tank feels good and secure while laying on the frame, and the screw holes are aligned vertically, but off just slightly horizontally.

I've attached some pictures showing the tank, the mounting on the front and what I'm talking about with the rear screw mounts. Please note that once I insert the OEM metal sleeve/collar combos into the rubber grommets, you can no longer even see the mounting hole in the frame.

Has anyone else ran into this before? I'm pretty confident this isn't a case of "press it forward harder and force it" as the tank is as far forward as the rubber grommet holders on it will allow.