Hailstatedogs

Fishfiles, thanks for the info. While we did inspect the diaphragm when the carb was rebuilt and didn’t notice any holes or cracks, we’ll definitely look at it again and inspect it more closely. Thanks!

Evening, folks! Got a 2007 Foreman ES that my dad and I rebuilt. I’ve been riding it some to get the motor broken in. I have no history with utility ATV’s, as I spent most of my days riding Warriors and Banshees. Needless to say, the Foreman is VERY slow. Having never ridden a Foreman, I have no baseline regarding performance, but it seems very slow even for a utility ATV. I got a chance to ride another Foreman over the weekend that is almost the same age, and after riding it for about 30 seconds and getting it to third gear, it was immediately obvious the one I rebuilt has issues. It has plenty of torque in first and second gear, but once I hit third, it is very slow and has little acceleration capability. The engine is not revving up like the clutch is slipping, but I’m not an expert in those matters. Bottom line: it’s slow as molasses and just won’t go, and I have no idea what’s going on with it. It almost seems like the engine is constricted somehow. Clean air filter, rebuilt carb, but didn’t do anything to the exhaust. It smoked like a freight train before being rebuilt. Is it possible the pipe can be restricting the performance with build-up? Maybe related, maybe not....I rode it before putting the shift motor on it, and the bike would snatch and lunge, particularly going into first and second. Did the same thing when the new shift motor was put on, but I have to get the clutch play screw adjusted just right, or it will try to shift into the next gear but will not complete the action. Anyone have any ideas? Thanks for the advice!

Yep, it shifts easily and smoothly with the clutch cover off, but put the cover on and bolt it down, the manual shaft completely seizes up. I find it really strange that it will shift with the cover on and the absence of the clutches. In either instance, the cover requires a bump or two with my palm once it gets close to closure. I assume this is when it makes contact with the crankshaft and I have to bump it into the clutch cover bearing. I’ve checked the shift linkage against the schematics, and also pulled the cover off another Foreman engine that’s identical with the exception of being a foot shift. I can see no difference between the two. I really haven’t dealt with the clutch adjustment screw other than to keep it as loose as possible. Maybe that’s the wrong approach, so if I need to try something different there, I’m open to any ideas.

I’ve never been able to get it to slide on very easily. On my first reassembly, had to use some light taps with a rubber mallet once the cover got within 1/4” of closure. Before I disassembled it for the second time, I pulled the clutches and then tried to replace the cover. I could see where the crank was not aligning perfectly with the ball bearing in the clutch cover. With the second reassembly, the cover would stop at the same location, but I was able to get it close up after a few strikes with the palm of my hand, and the alignment looked much better when looking at it without the clutches installed.

No gasket between the case halves....only a thin film of Honda Bond, and it was only placed on one half of the crankcase. I assume that’s what I was supposed to do, as there was no gasket included to go between the cases. I ordered the OEM kit that included what I assumed to be for all the gaskets and o-rings for the bottom end. On the clutch cover, I used a gasket, and I think I may have used a very thin application of Honda Bond on the clutch cover. I’m really having trouble understanding why it shifted fine when I put the cover on and torqued it down without the clutches installed as a check since I knew there had been issues with it, and then it went back to its wicked ways when I installed everything again. Maybe it’s something really simple, but I just don’t get it.

Thanks for the welcome! Yes, I carefully scraped off all the gaskets (took what seemed like forever) and replaced all of them with OEM gaskets. Put Hondabond between the crankcase halves.

I purchased a 2007 Foreman 500 ES last year with the intent of rebuilding it. Was told when I bought it that it wouldn’t shift, but made the wrong assumption that it was only confined to the electronics, but I realized the day after purchasing it that it would not shift manually either. Since then, the engine has been completely torn down and cleaned up. Replaced the oil pump and timing chain, and to my untrained eye, everything else looked fine. Put the crankcase back together, checked the gears to make sure it would shift, and the transmission worked fine. Completed the remainder of the bottom end without incident until trying to place the clutch cover. It was very difficult to put on, and once the bolts were hand tight, the manual shift completely locked up. After many iterations of potential problems, I took the engine all the way back down and reset the crankshaft. The first time the crank was not done with the proper tools, so those were purchased before pulling it back in. Went back through the same steps, but this time did something a little different. After getting the crankcase halves torqued down, I placed the shift mechanisms and then torqued down the clutch cover without the clutches installed. Went through all the gears and it worked fine. Finished adding everything, torqued the clutch cover down, and I’m back at square one. The manual shift will not budge. Loosened the clutch cover off to hand tight, and it will shift, albeit a little sloppy. I’m very inexperienced, have watched all the YouTube videos I know to watch, looked at schematics countless times, and am out of moves other than relegate it as a good boat anchor. Anyone have any ideas what could be going on? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Greetings! I’m new to the web site and somewhat new to working on four wheelers. My dad and I purchased an 07 Foreman 500 ES with the intent of rebuilding it. We completely disassembled the motor, cleaned it up, replaced some parts, and got it put back together. We had an issue with getting the clutch cover back on and had to use some gentle persuasion with a rubber mallet (lesson learned). Needless to say, when we got it reinstalled in the frame, hooked everything back up, and added the engine oil, I noticed a hairline crack in the clutch cover that oil was slowly leaking from. Before taking it back off the bike, we decided to see it it would crank, and it fired up almost instantly, but the manual shift shaft wouldn’t budge (was also like that when I bought it). We took the clutch cover back off, and the gears changed easily. We determined the crankshaft trying to fit into the clutch cover bearing put everything in a bind, so we now have everything torn down again and will make a more careful attempt at reinstalling the crankshaft. However, when I split the cases again, I noticed something that doesn’t look right. Having never done this before, however, I was hoping someone with some experience could look at the pictures and verify my fear that the crankcase half is cracked. I’d desperately like to be wrong and chalk this up to casting imperfections, so any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!