jeepwm69

Was driving to work yesterday, cruising about 75, and my timing belt popped. Coasted to the side of the road, and had to wait for a tow from the old man. Got it back to the house, took off the valve cover and timing cover, and sure enough, timing belt with a nice clean break. No drying, cracking etc. Just broke. I was well over the recommended 90K interval that Honda recommends, but I've gotten away with that until now, usually running them 140-150K before changing them. I guess I learned why the say 90K! Anyhow, most likely I've have bent valves in the head. This car has 348K on it, and I was hoping to get twice that out of it. Dad bought it new, has been meticulously maintained. So, plan is to pull the head, see if I have any piston/cylinder damage. If I do, I'll have to find another engine. If the cylinders and pistons look ok, I'll have the head reworked, bolt it back on with a new timing belt, and hopefully get a lot more miles out of it. I'll post up some pics. A few years ago I wouldn't have dreamed of tearing into a car engine, but working on these ATV's has given me experience, knowledge, and confidence, so let's see what we can do!

@AKATV is the meter man. Can you post a pic of what your dash looks like, preferably with the headlights on so the display it lit up?

Glad I could help you out. I don't do ES machines, but situations like this justify my hoarding of old parts for machines I don't have, that have something wrong with them!

Yeah, more or less. They'll poke out a hair more with that offset, but you do need the same offset front and rear. I ran Rincon wheels on my wife's 420AT. 12" all around, aluminum, and the perfect offset.

What kinda golf cart? I still have the 1974 Cushman my parents bought when mom was pregnant with me. Batteries and tires and it just keeps going.

Welcome back! I rebuilt an 09 FA for the wife years ago. The DCT Ranchers are geared a little higher than the footshift and ES Ranchers, so I swapped in the two secondary gears from a footshift/ES which is a cheap small (15%ish) gear reduction. It also required shaving down the speed sensor a bit. I had 26" Mudbugs on Rincon wheels on hers. I also did a Foreman pod light on the top and a 500 Foreman (475CC) top end on it since it was a basketcase when I bought it and I had to rebuild the whole thing. The good, IRS rear end gives a better ride, peppy sporty smaller chassis The bad, IIRC those DCT's have 14 sensors on the engine. Everything is electrical/ controlled by the computer, so if you have any problems with it, troubleshooting can be a PITA. My wife didn't like the auto shifting, especially if she was in the mud, as it felt like the transmission was hunting for gears. (ESP mode worked fine in the mud). Some pics here from my thread on the old forum. https://www.hondaatvforums.net/threads/the-09-475-rancherat-ive-been-resto-modding.64545/#post-636818

I am jelly of the FEL. Dad bought a Deere 750 back in the early 80's to use mowing (has a grooming deck on the back). It has a 3 cylinder Yanmar in it as well, so Deere has been using those for a long time. Unfortunately, both his 750 and my bigger 2640 are both 2wd tractors. I was planning on adding a FEL to my 2640, and quickly discovered that ADDING a FEL is as or more expensive than just buying a tractor with a FEL already attached. I also learned that a 4wd tractor is much, much better to use with a FEL. So now Dad is kinda looking for something 4wd, FEL, that isn't too big, and isn't too modern (we like old simple stuff). Deere is preferable since that's the only local dealer support.. Anyone have any suggestions on what we should be looking for? @_Wilson_™?

This engine belongs to a local plumber who does work for me at my workplace. Nice guy, active in the local church youth program. His 450 wouldn't shift, so he asked me to look at it. Since my daylight working hours are rare now, I told him to pull the engine and bring it to me, and I'd fix it. So he got it pulled, and this is what I found. I think he was losing oil at the shift shaft and the front output seal. Top end was previously rebuilt. Oil screen looks bad, and oil screen was pushed out of it's grooves. He said the wheeler was in a flood at some point prior to him owning it, and that shows with the rust on the crank. Shifting problem was the spring loaded arm that sits in the star on the end of the shift drum. Looks like it dropped behind the star wheels, which locked everything up. Probably the bolt that holds that shift linkage on the end of the shift drum came loose, allowing the star wheel to move just enough to let the spring loaded arm drop beneath it. Anyhow, ordered all new seals and a gasket set, and also a timing chain. Will get it cleaned up and old gaskets scraped off while I wait on parts.

Welcome aboard. Looks like @AKATV must have missed this one. I tagged him for you.

He does great work! Glad to see he can keep these meters working so we can keep these old machines on the trails. Now we just need someone to make/ rebuild the ECU's. The 05-11 Foreman ES ECU's are discontinued, and getting hard to find. This worries me as that means eventually the same will be true for all of the older Hondas like I have.

Go ahead and pull it. If the pinion bearing is shot, and the pinion gear isn't too chewed up, put a new bearing in there and put it back together.

Welcome aboard. The regulator is a not-uncommon part to fail on a 350. It may have failed for the previous owner, who put aftermarket junk on there. Buy a used OEM regulator, and see if that fixes your problem. If unplugging it stops your fuse from blowing it has to be a bad regulator or associated wiring. This is my "go to" place for used parts most of the time. They stand behind what they sell. https://www.powersportsnation.com/honda-rancher-350-fm-02-regulator-31600-hn5-671-48143.html

Try the baking. At this point you have nothing to lose, and more often than not it will revive an OEM CDI that's gone south.

Check battery cables. When starter brushes go bad they typically have a "bad spot" at first, when the engine starts the compression stroke, and the starter is weak so doesn't get turning any before it hits that compression stroke. So you've measured voltage at the battery, which appears good. Next time it happens, jump the solenoid terminals with a screwdriver and see if it starts. If so, probably a solenoid going bad (get oem even if you have to buy used). If it still doesn't turn over, kick it over with the kick start once, and then try to start it again. You can also measure voltage going to the starter with the start button pushed to make sure you're getting 12V to the starter. I had a Foreman that would hang up sometimes and not turn over. Battery was fine. Starter was going bad. I could pull it over a bit with the rope and it would spin and start the wheeler.