Hello from se Louisiana

[SailRedemption 91]

Hello Honda fans. I just wanted to introduce myself. I hail from SE Louisiana and have had a Honda ATV since I was a kid. Started off with a Honda 90 then moved up to a Honda 200(?). Then I shared my dad's four-trax in highschool, got another slightly newer four-trax. Those have since been sold. My current Honda my uncle gave me he grabbed in pieces at an auction and had it assembled. It is a 1998 Honda TRX 450sw that I have had a handful of years now. It was neglected for a while due to my wife and I refitting our sailboat and cruising. We sold the boat and got a house, so now I'm trying to bring the 450 back to life.

Edited August 23, 2022 by SailRedemption

[Fishfiles 17,026]

Hi , welcome to ATVHonda forums ----  we got quite a few people with 450s and some from SE Louisiana here on the site 

[_Wilson_™ 5,857]

Welcome to ATVH. 

[riverc 540]

Welcome homeboy

[SailRedemption 91]

That's what I am seeing on here is a lot of 450s. Good one to have in that case! Hope I can offer any kind of advice in the future.

[jeepwm69 6,581]

Welcome aboard!

[SailRedemption 91]

Thanks!

 

Question, does anyone know where I can find the VIN on these bikes? I found the black model sticker on the front of the frame and the white sticker(half gone) under the seat. I'm not seeing any stamped numbers anywhere. Any help would be nice, I'm looking to get a new seat off eBay and want to make sure it will fit.

 

 

The seat:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/380987510344?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=4hWwQ1J6SCa&sssrc=2349624&ssuid=Nk8X_lQdSta&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

[jeepwm69 6,581]

Look up on the front of the frame where the front bumper bolts to the front of the frame.  The front bumper bolts go into the ends of the vin plate.  VIN in stamped on the top.

[SailRedemption 91]

12 minutes ago, jeepwm69 said:

Look up on the front of the frame where the front bumper bolts to the front of the frame.  The front bumper bolts go into the ends of the vin plate.  VIN in stamped on the top.

Got it, thanks. It was smoothed over by age and a little dirt.

[SailRedemption 91]

What are the go-to websites for parts? I know about Rocky Mountain, partzilla, and bikebandit. Are there any other ones to check out to cross prices. I found a thread that had some on there but I can't find it now.

[Fishfiles 17,026]

G+H Discount ATV Parts for assorted parts , cylinder and head machine work , internal engine parts  and then  for used OEM parts Powersportsnation.com 

[AKATV 691]

Welcome to the forum!

You are in the right place for good help!

[shadetree 5,429]

welcome to the forums. you are in great hands here for that 450 !.

[THH 246]

Welcome!

[SailRedemption 91]

Thanks, y'all have already save me both time and money and it's only been a few days. 

[SailRedemption 91]

Pulled the fenders and other misc plastics off today to wash. Soaked everything down with some Awesome soap and rinsed the plastics and bike with the pressure washer. (I didn't get too close to gaskets). Was able to get the front rims off but the backs were put on with an impact I believe and I don't have that or a breaker bar. The oil cooler was chocked full of mud so that's clean and clear now. Bike is dry so I sprayed everything down with ospho to kill the rust. I'll spot paint everything black later on.

 

I found out I have a ripped CV boot on the front right axle. Im going to just go ahead and replace all of them while I'm doing it. They aren't that expensive and if one is bad it's only a matter of time before the others fail.

 

On a scale from 1-10 how hard is it to change out CV boots?

[jeepwm69 6,581]

CV's aren't bad at all.  I normally won't use anything made by All Balls but their boots seem to be good to go.

 

 

[SailRedemption 91]

6 minutes ago, jeepwm69 said:

CV's aren't bad at all.  I normally won't use anything made by All Balls but their boots seem to be good to go.

 

 

I was going to get OEM off partzilla/elsewhere.. I thought I read somewhere that All Balls quality wasn't good. That's good to know they aren't that bad. I'll look at the manual later today and see the process.

Edited September 12, 2022 by SailRedemption

[Fishfiles 17,026]

I feel the same way , all balls did suck in the past  ----- 

 

I was going to mention , when you order axles ,remember  the 450s has two different lengths --- Sixity use to be good , not sure you can still get them 

[SailRedemption 91]

1 minute ago, Fishfiles said:

I feel the same way , all balls did suck in the past  ----- 

 

I was going to mention , when you order axles ,remember  the 450s has two different lengths --- Sixity use to be good , not sure you can still get them 

I wasn't planning on replacing the axles, just the boots. Maybe grab a couple bearings while I'm in it too.

[jeepwm69 6,581]

19 hours ago, SailRedemption said:

I wasn't planning on replacing the axles, just the boots. Maybe grab a couple bearings while I'm in it too.

 

19 hours ago, SailRedemption said:

I was going to get OEM off partzilla/elsewhere.. I thought I read somewhere that All Balls quality wasn't good. That's good to know they aren't that bad. I'll look at the manual later today and see the process.

Just CV boots.  Everything else I’ve tried from All Balls has been garbage!  CV boots are the only thing of theirs I’ve used that was ok

[shadetree 5,429]

On 9/12/2022 at 1:09 PM, SailRedemption said:

Pulled the fenders and other misc plastics off today to wash. Soaked everything down with some Awesome soap and rinsed the plastics and bike with the pressure washer. (I didn't get too close to gaskets). Was able to get the front rims off but the backs were put on with an impact I believe and I don't have that or a breaker bar. The oil cooler was chocked full of mud so that's clean and clear now. Bike is dry so I sprayed everything down with ospho to kill the rust. I'll spot paint everything black later on.

 

I found out I have a ripped CV boot on the front right axle. Im going to just go ahead and replace all of them while I'm doing it. They aren't that expensive and if one is bad it's only a matter of time before the others fail.

 

On a scale from 1-10 how hard is it to change out CV boots?

buy from rocky mountain atv, partzilla's prices are too high. as for how hard the boots are to change ?..haha..well..depends..if this is yer first time >, yer scale is a 10 !..lol. no..really...its not that hard,,but ya better have plenty of rags/towels handy ?!..it gets very messy, BE SURE TO PAY ATTENTION TO WHICH WAY THE INNER CAGES FACE IN THE CUPS ?..DO NOT PUT THEM IN BACKWARDS !!..AND MAKE SURE YOU PUT PLENTY OF GREASE IN THE BEARING RACE AND RUBBER BOOTS. for the outside boots ?, you must take the inner cv joint apart , off the shaft, in order to replace the outer boots. i take a small flat head screw driver, hammer it in under the clip bands to open them, then carefully spread the band apart, once this is done, under the large spot on the rubber boot, inside the cup, is a spring clip, its in a groove, will be hard to see, because its covered in grease. pry it out, then pull the cage out of the cup. end of cage is a c-clip, you will need a pair of snap ring pliers to get the c-clip off, then pull the cage off the shaft, now you can work the cv joint boot off the shaft. once this is off, do the same on the outer bands then just slide the outer boot all the way off the shaft, reverse when putting new boots back on.

[SailRedemption 91]

8 hours ago, shadetree said:

buy from rocky mountain atv, partzilla's prices are too high. as for how hard the boots are to change ?..haha..well..depends..if this is yer first time >, yer scale is a 10 !..lol. no..really...its not that hard,,but ya better have plenty of rags/towels handy ?!..it gets very messy, BE SURE TO PAY ATTENTION TO WHICH WAY THE INNER CAGES FACE IN THE CUPS ?..DO NOT PUT THEM IN BACKWARDS !!..AND MAKE SURE YOU PUT PLENTY OF GREASE IN THE BEARING RACE AND RUBBER BOOTS. for the outside boots ?, you must take the inner cv joint apart , off the shaft, in order to replace the outer boots. i take a small flat head screw driver, hammer it in under the clip bands to open them, then carefully spread the band apart, once this is done, under the large spot on the rubber boot, inside the cup, is a spring clip, its in a groove, will be hard to see, because its covered in grease. pry it out, then pull the cage out of the cup. end of cage is a c-clip, you will need a pair of snap ring pliers to get the c-clip off, then pull the cage off the shaft, now you can work the cv joint boot off the shaft. once this is off, do the same on the outer bands then just slide the outer boot all the way off the shaft, reverse when putting new boots back on.

Fantastic advice thanks! Yes first time doing this but I've done other jobs on equipment so maybe a 9.5 then right? Haha !

[SailRedemption 91]

Stripped the bike down as far as I'm going to get it for cleaning and cosmetics. Took the exhaust heat shields off and soaked them in Evaporust to kill the rust. Came out looking nice. The muffler guard needed a spot braised and the intermediate will too. I'm painting them with some high heat grill paint to hopefully keep the rust at bay a little longer. Not sure how long it will last though. Anyone tried this?

 

Also took the fender brackets and foot pegs off to soak in evaporust as well. They will all get a coat of paint. Sanded the racks and bumper with 120g and will prime them later today. Tomorrow I'll hit them with a little more sandpaper and they will get Raptor liner. It's a two part in an aerosol can so we'll see how that works out. Hoping it's a little more tenacious than Rust-Oleum.

 

Soon will be ordering the remaining parts like filter box cover, sparkplug, carb kit, front axle boots and tires.

[_Wilson_™ 5,857]

Grill paint ? Yes i have. But I'll have to go look in my shop, I've tried every kind, but wanted that flat exhaust black look, so i went with johndeere exhaust paint, but grill works just  as good plus cost  ALOT ess then paying for the johndeere name.