Honda TRX300FM 1992 1st gen

[shadetree 5,864]

6 hours ago, Fishfiles said:

I don't see it being any issue , the OEM shaft is the same length over all as the 424 and the OEM shaft has longer couplers , so it is possible that it goes even farther back and forth with the OEM shaft depending where it is  bottoming out at , either inside the couplers or on the gears ------ going to check the other 4 - 424s tomorrow and see if they are all the same amount 

something is not right ?, or else you could have had the same thing happen to the oem drive shaft ?, AND I'VE NEVER HEARD OR SEEN A OEM DRIVE SHAFT POPPING OUT FROM GOING OVER STUFF ??!!..lol.

[Fishfiles 20,145]

Shade , I don't think you understand what I was trying to say happened -------  the shaft has never jumped out between the t-case and the diff and I don't think it ever could ,  what happened was , the anti-rotation strap is clamped with a u-bolt to the bottom tube of the frame , so I went over something and hit the u-bolt perfectly in the right spot and hard I would guess  , it caused the u-bolt to slide back along the frame , that cause the strap to pulled back on the housing , which in turn pulled the shaft back , so the coupler was still on the pinion spline , but right at the end of the splines , and would slip teeth , the housing was being held back by the strap , the spring in the end of the t-case side was not able to push the shaft forward , so it was a matter of loosing the u-bolt sliding it back in place , maybe I never had the u-bolt tight enough from the start , this is my 5th 424 , have a lot of hours of riding on them and it only happened once that the strap got pulled back 

 

that strap pull problem cold never happen on my 95 red 300 as it has a skid plate , I do jump over a lot of downed  trees and scrap the bottom of the frame , for that the skip plate is a good thing to protect the frame tubes and make hitting that u-bolt impossible  , but I am not a fan of the skid plates when you need to clean the bike as it makes a lot more washing mud out and harder to do  , the skid plate  holds wet mud and promotes rust -------  pros for the skid plate is it helps keep you from getting a root from sticking into the frame and hooking you up and when you bottom out on the mud , you are sliding on top the mud and not swooshing into it 

 

so now that we are talking about this , I am going to look into a way of securing the anti-rotation strap to another location so the u-bolt is not under the frame , as it is now on the other atvs the threads are not even facing down , so hitting the 1/4 u-bolt hard enough in the right spot to move it down the frame is 1 in a " lot " of chances , but they way I ride anything is possible 

[shadetree 5,864]

3 hours ago, Fishfiles said:

Shade , I don't think you understand what I was trying to say happened -------  the shaft has never jumped out between the t-case and the diff and I don't think it ever could ,  what happened was , the anti-rotation strap is clamped with a u-bolt to the bottom tube of the frame , so I went over something and hit the u-bolt perfectly in the right spot and hard I would guess  , it caused the u-bolt to slide back along the frame , that cause the strap to pulled back on the housing , which in turn pulled the shaft back , so the coupler was still on the pinion spline , but right at the end of the splines , and would slip teeth , the housing was being held back by the strap , the spring in the end of the t-case side was not able to push the shaft forward , so it was a matter of loosing the u-bolt sliding it back in place , maybe I never had the u-bolt tight enough from the start , this is my 5th 424 , have a lot of hours of riding on them and it only happened once that the strap got pulled back 

 

that strap pull problem cold never happen on my 95 red 300 as it has a skid plate , I do jump over a lot of downed  trees and scrap the bottom of the frame , for that the skip plate is a good thing to protect the frame tubes and make hitting that u-bolt impossible  , but I am not a fan of the skid plates when you need to clean the bike as it makes a lot more washing mud out and harder to do  , the skid plate  holds wet mud and promotes rust -------  pros for the skid plate is it helps keep you from getting a root from sticking into the frame and hooking you up and when you bottom out on the mud , you are sliding on top the mud and not swooshing into it 

 

so now that we are talking about this , I am going to look into a way of securing the anti-rotation strap to another location so the u-bolt is not under the frame , as it is now on the other atvs the threads are not even facing down , so hitting the 1/4 u-bolt hard enough in the right spot to move it down the frame is 1 in a " lot " of chances , but they way I ride anything is possible 

I understand perfectly what you said, and what I was saying, regardless is the 424 is strapped down or not ? ( which only keep it from spinning by the way ), that set up SHOULD NOT move forward or backward like your showing in the pic with the pry rod bar. you cant move the oem drive shaft period !, unless you unbolt the front diff to remove it ?, sooooooo..again...that 424 is NOT suppose to move forward or backward at all !.

[shadetree 5,864]

two options, attach the 424 to the left forward upright tube ?, or, put a skid plate on the bottom, I would do both !..lol. skid plates are on there for a reason, and its not to collect mud !..lol.

[Fishfiles 20,145]

I  kind of wish I had another  300 4wd that has a stock front shaft to see how much the shaft will spring back , I would bet it is at least an inch from memory , I would like to see it , if a member has a stock 300 ( perferabally a 1st gen ) to check that measurement and do it with a pic , that would be great , it would just take grabbing the shaft with a vise grip and prying back with a bar or screw driver , I would also like to see the same thing on a 2nd gen  ---- I am going to check the 2 450s with  4x2 in them ,   I think those two will measure different from one another , remember one is a 2002FM electric shift diff   that has been converted to a 2000S full time 4wd diff  with a 424 , I know the 2002 is a tighter fit for sure , from when I installed it 

 

raining here , better go pick up another case of Mountain Fresh Fermented Spring Water early 

[shadetree 5,864]

34 minutes ago, Fishfiles said:

I  kind of wish I had another  300 4wd that has a stock front shaft to see how much the shaft will spring back , I would bet it is at least an inch from memory , I would like to see it , if a member has a stock 300 ( perferabally a 1st gen ) to check that measurement and do it with a pic , that would be great , it would just take grabbing the shaft with a vise grip and prying back with a bar or screw driver , I would also like to see the same thing on a 2nd gen  ---- I am going to check the 2 450s with  4x2 in them ,   I think those two will measure different from one another , remember one is a 2002FM electric shift diff   that has been converted to a 2000S full time 4wd diff  with a 424 , I know the 2002 is a tighter fit for sure , from when I installed it 

 

raining here , better go pick up another case of Mountain Fresh Fermented Spring Water early 

ummmm..my '88 trx300fw is first gen, but I sure wont rip it apart to check it !..lol. I can tell you this, I cant budge the drive shaft out of either end without unbolting the front diff, and pulling it as far forward as I can, and I still had a hard time getting the drive shaft in and out !.

[Fishfiles 20,145]

it was a tight fit getting the diff back in , I needed to tilt the diff as much as I could and go in on an angle , still the end of the shaft was jamming on the pinion nut , had to pry it that little extra bit , if the drive shaft was any longer it would need the frame notched -----

 

I know you have inner fenders , so getting at the shaft would be  tuff for you ------  I don't put the inner fenders  back on any more , makes cleaning and working on them much easier with out them 

[Fishfiles 20,145]

UPS guy pulled in the driveway at 8:45 last night with a box of O.E.M. ball joints and tie rod ends , said he had 2 more stops , God bless the UPS guy !!!  -------nAll the pieces are here , need to get on the mechanical department and get the ball rolling for the SEMA Show , LOL 

 

Hope to get at least an hour or two of work on it today , going to be tuff with all the holiday prep going on ----we having Christmas Eve party tonight with friends and  Christmas dinner on Christmas Day with family 

 

 

[shadetree 5,864]

3 minutes ago, Fishfiles said:

UPS guy pulled in the driveway at 8:45 last night with a box of O.E.M. ball joints and tie rod ends , said he had 2 more stops , God bless the UPS guy !!!  -------nAll the pieces are here , need to get on the mechanical department and get the ball rolling for the SEMA Show , LOL 

 

Hope to get at least an hour or two of work on it today , going to be tuff with all the holiday prep going on ----we having Christmas Eve party tonight with friends and  Christmas dinner on Christmas Day with family 

 

 

I take it, you watched the diesel brothers lastnight ?..lol. that 6-track truck was amazing !.

[Fishfiles 20,145]

Just now, shadetree said:

I take it, you watched the diesel brothers lastnight ?..lol. that 6-track truck was amazing !.

I missed them last night , was watching the Packers /Viking game hoping that Green Bay lost to help the Saints , but it was not to be  --- Diesel Brothers is a pretty good show , the last thing I seen from them was , part of  a rear steer axle in a rock climber ---- last night I did see a bit of !' Rides doing a 68 Camaro with a 502 , beside wanting to rip out Kindig's gootee by the roots , I like that show 

[shadetree 5,864]

3 minutes ago, Fishfiles said:

I missed them last night , was watching the Packers /Viking game hoping that Green Bay lost to help the Saints , but it was not to be  --- Diesel Brothers is a pretty good show , the last thing I seen from them was , part of  a rear steer axle in a rock climber ---- last night I did see a bit of !' Rides doing a 68 Camaro with a 502 , beside wanting to rip out Kindig's gootee by the roots , I like that show 

they took a 6 wheeled extended truck, and put snow tracks on the rear axles, and steer snow tracks on the front, was one sharp looking truck. and then took it to SEMA, thats why I thought you watched it.

[Fishfiles 20,145]

I missed that one , but sure it will be a re-run and I'll catch it later ----SEMA is one show that I would like to go to in person , but you have to be invited , they don't sell tickets to the public from I have heard 

[shadetree 5,864]

if this link works ?, check this out ! ---> 

 

[Fishfiles 20,145]

Wow , I want one !!!  

[shadetree 5,864]

1 minute ago, Fishfiles said:

Wow , I want one !!!  

I hope you have over 300k ?, cuz thats what the cost was they showed when done lastnight..lol.

[shadetree 5,864]

as bad as I hate fords ?, thats one sick looking truck to say the least !!!!!!!!!!!.

[_Wilson_™ 6,564]

That's impressive!!!

[Fishfiles 20,145]

Got some done ---  Installed the 4- Made in Japan ball joints ------------ with a little tweaking I made a 424 anti-rotation bracket out of the metal part of the exhaust clamp ,  I got the clamp for the rubber part ,  I didn't use the rubber , the metal part fit nice , going to see how a solid mount works out  -------- routed the cable and mounted the control knob , the cable routing is totally different on this 1st gen then the 2-  2nd gens I have with a 424 , the winch and the snorkel both  got in the way ,  it is minimal bends in the cable and shifts smooth 

 

Left to do  , install bearings , a-arms and brake pads and she is  rolling gain  

[Fishfiles 20,145]

Went outside and spent another hour on it ---------  it's down to tightening bolts , new brake pads , spacers and tires and a do oil change , 1 hour of work left , going to ride this one tomorrow 

[jeepwm69 7,605]

Looks good Fish!

 

Where did you get that ball joint press? Looks like it perfectly fits the Honda ball joint

[jeffo21 125]

looking good Fish.

 

[Fishfiles 20,145]

42 minutes ago, jeepwm69 said:

Looks good Fish!

 

Where did you get that ball joint press? Looks like it perfectly fits the Honda ball joint

 

The C-clamp is from a Harbor Freight cheapie set  ---- The pieces that are painted red I made , notice they are two different sizes , one fits the 450 the other the 300 , the cap fits both ---- with the clamp you can install the ball joint in the upper arms with the a-arms still on the bike , since they were already off for the 424 I stuck them in like that ---- just can just use the collars and a hammer , I think you take less a chance of cracking them with a clamp 

[Fishfiles 20,145]

I was thinking about the turning radius  , the 424 is going to help , but , this 300 is 5 inches longer on the wheel base then my second gens and it has shims in the front diff for traction , it has a 3 inch swing arm extension and 1st gens are 2 inches longer in the front ----

 

 

[shadetree 5,864]

I thought you was against using a u-bolt on the bottom because it would get hit ?. first time you run over a stump, that bracket will get moved big time !.

[Fishfiles 20,145]

7:30  Am , one side is finished , ran into a first for me , the SuperATV replacement disc brake inner pad would not go on , I had to take a rat tail file and make one of the square hole in the pad just a little bigger on the bottom side for the pad to cock into place ----another 30 minutes and she is ready to go 

 

This is the best condition mechanically and mod-wise  it has ever been in :

just put new knuckle bearings and seals , ball joints and just one new tie rod end , keeping the other 3 for spares while out in the woods 

 

Wiseco 10..5/1 piston , dog house head porting , 54% reduction , EBC clutch kit , 250 cam , sprocket and chain , 250 jug  bored with 250 slack adjuster ( same displacement as a 300 ) , 1988 exhaust header and a performance muffler ,  3 inch extended swing arm with hitch , rear brake delete , hub paddles , longer rear wheel studs , 2 inch spacers , front diff is shimmed for some extra traction , Warn 424 kickout , SuperWinch , custom winch plate and fairlead , KFI controller , 1000 watt MP3 player with 4 pod speakers , custom double cooler and fan , suicide hand shifter , rear view mirror , Garmin Montana GPS with quick mount , 27 Outlaws with aluminum slots , 420 front shocks , Worx nitrogen rear shock with a custom shock mount , stick stoppers , hub oil/grease in diffs and transfer case , led lights in front fender , 20 inch light bar , snorkeled air box , front disc conversion with 1 inch spacers , 250 brake master ( bigger reservoir )  , reverse lock out by pass , 2 Pelican boxes , Savant floor boards , fenders raised 1 1/2 inches and tied into the floor boards ,  machette w/ mount  , drink holder , etc 

 

one mod still to do , when the right side cover comes off again , I got a 450 clutch basket to throw in it and take them HD EBC springs out and go back stock , but since the hand shifter , it is not so hard on my foot shifting , so the HD springs might stay