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jeepwm69

08 Foreman 500 with PS rebuild

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I'm about 1/2way through getting this one put back together, but figured I'd post up as I'm sure I'm going to run into some snags before I finish it.  It started off as the tan bike on the trailer.

 

Bought two wheelers from a guy in Central AR several months ago.  One was a 2012 Rubicon that "runs great but doesn't pull" and the other was a "parts bike"

 

Get over there and the parts bike is an 08 500ES with PS.  No wheels and tires, missing right knuckle and CV, rigged junk muffler, no carb, meter, tank covers, and a bunch of other misc stuff.  That said, there was still enough for me to rebuild it since I have a bunch of 500 parts around.

 

So I stripped it to the frame. 

 

Rear end was seized up.  Took it apart, ran it through the parts washer, and surprisingly enough, bearings were still tight, gears looked good.  My guess is the thing had just been sitting for a long time with goop in the diff.  I thoroughly cleaned it and oiled the bearings and it spun over like a new one.  I did replace the left rear axle bearing and seal.  It had some slack in it.

 

Engine was seized.  Had to hammer the piston out of the cylinder.  Valve cover was cracked around one of the rocker shafts.  Must have jumped time (according to Shade).  No worries, already had a footshift motor rebuilt with a new crank, new top end. 

 

Of course, that meant finding a footshift wiring harness and handlebar switch assembly, which I did.  Same guy (here in Arkansas) had a meter too, so got both of those things from him. 

 

I'm keeping the tan/ camo fenders.  Have a good set of green fenders I'll put on it, save the tan ones for one of my own machines.  It was missing the tank covers and kick start cover.  Found the tank covers (dang camo plastics are pricey!) but haven't found a used kick start cover yet. 

 

Front diff was good.  Replaced the CV's, and put a good set of knuckles with good bearing and ball joints on. 

 

Little stuff is eating me up.  Rear brake cables (both), choke cable, reverse cable were all gone or cut.  Airbox boots and air filter metal can were missing.  Calipers were seized so they had to be replaced.  Brake MC was bad, etc etc etc.

 

Finished hooking up the carb this morning, and added oil.  Have to get a neg battery cable (missing) and hook a battery up to it and I think I'll be right to fire it up.  Assuming it starts up ok, I'll still have to put fenders on, bleed front brakes, put rear brake back together, and add racks, floorboards etc. 

 

It's definitely had a rough life, but a 500 footshift with PS ought to bring good money when I finish going through it with the current used market.

 

 

08 PS.jpg

valve cover.jpg

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Well I had a crapton of parts around, but I might end up regretting building it since the little bits are what ends up adding up to $$$ (as you well know).

 

Just ordered $100 worth of odds and ends from RM.  Clamps, boots for air box, negative battery cable, etc.  That little stuff really adds up quick.

 

 

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5 minutes ago, jeepwm69 said:

Well I had a crapton of parts around, but I might end up regretting building it since the little bits are what ends up adding up to $$$ (as you well know).

 

Just ordered $100 worth of odds and ends from RM.  Clamps, boots for air box, negative battery cable, etc.  That little stuff really adds up quick.

 

 

tell me about it !..lol. i know this game very well !. we pay little up front, but when its all said and done ?, we have to fork out some big bucks to make it whole again !..lol. i paid 500 i think it was for this '87 trx350 foreman 4x4, as of right now, i'm well into 500-1k in parts ? !.

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Need to take more pics.

 

I had to put together one meter out of two. One had a busted case, the other the board looked iffy.  Put the good board in the good case, and hooked it up to a booster pack and the PS light is on, and the 4wd light blinks 5 times (rear VS sensor).  The clock doesn't show up partially, and the fuel gauge is dim except for the top two bars, which are dark.  Everything else seemed to work.  Think I might try a different sending unit and see if that changes anything on the fuel gauge, but the clock I guess I'll have to live with. 

 

Decided yesterday to crank it up.  Hooked it up to a new battery and it fired off very quickly.  PS light was no longer on so a good strong battery must have fixed that issue.  The 4wd light is still blinking, so I'll rob a speed sensor off one of my other front diffs and see if that fixes it.  Valves were loud as all get out, so I shut it back down, and went out early this morning and adjusted the valves to spec.  Once I get the blinking 4wd light fixed, I'll just need to re-bleed the front brakes, put the plastics, racks, and front bumper on, and then take it for a spin.  At the rate I've been working that will be at least another week's worth of work LOL

 

 

meter.jpg

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Tinkered a bit this afternoon.

 

Got the speed sensor worked out (loose connection), front driveshaft installed, and the engine runs goid after the valve adjustment. 

That said, got some smoking at first. Not sure if it’s top end, oil in the muffler, or what (new crank, bored cylinder, new piston and rings). 

 

It was loping a bit at idle. Black smoke when I gagged the throttle which means running rich. The weird thing is I shut the fuel off at the tank and was just going to let it run the gas out and die, and with the fuel shut off at the tank, the lope at idle went away and the idle speed actually increased gradually. 

 

If I turn the fuel back on it starts loping at idle again.

 

I cleaned the carburetor and went through it and everything looked OK, but I did not put a kit in it. 

 

Ideas?

B9994981-019D-4957-8766-A10C081448F1.jpeg

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I would guess it is running rich , if as the supply dwindles it runs better 

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21 minutes ago, Fishfiles said:

I would guess it is running rich , if as the supply dwindles it runs better 

 

Have adjustment screw 2.5 turns out. In leans it, right?

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11 hours ago, shadetree said:

shindy kit...lol.

I think I have one around here somewhere.  Guess I might as well use it LOL

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13 hours ago, jeepwm69 said:

I think I have one around here somewhere.  Guess I might as well use it LOL

sounds like a great idea..i am sure glad i thought of it !..lol.

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Well I already had another carb soaking to put on my buddy’s wheeler, so swapped that on yesterday and it runs great, so will tear that first carb back down and go through it again. 

 

Got rear fender put on, front diff and driveshaft bolted in, and gas tank and shield bolted down.

 

Need to bleed brakes again, and put wheels and tires on it and test ride it a bit, then will finish plastics and bumpers and it’ll be ready to list.

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Not much done to this one this week.  I did get a new (to me) set of brake lines yesterday and installed them this morning before work.  The old ones were stretched out on one side and the brakes didn't act like they wanted to bleed.

 

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Just bled the brakes on this thing again. Still don’t have a firm lever. 

 

Bled both sides multiple times. I’m seeing NO air. 

 

Pinched the line going out of the MC and the lever is rock hard. 

 

I noticed the caliper on the left side shifts a bit when I squeeze the brake. The right side does not move.

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Maybe.  Right side caliper piston siezed. Blockage in the brake hose.  Rust forms inside the steel fitting where it transitions from rubber to steel.  Or there is still sir in it.  Copy and paste this dude named Jeep.   Put a electrical tie strap on the lever over night.  

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40 minutes ago, jeepwm69 said:

Just bled the brakes on this thing again. Still don’t have a firm lever. 

 

Bled both sides multiple times. I’m seeing NO air. 

 

Pinched the line going out of the MC and the lever is rock hard. 

 

I noticed the caliper on the left side shifts a bit when I squeeze the brake. The right side does not move.

seized caliper piston.

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3 hours ago, shadetree said:

seized caliper piston.

 

What’s the fix for that one? 

Replace?

Seems like you or Retro put a grease fitting on there, got piston out, and cleaned and reinstalled, but can’t find it.

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3 hours ago, Fishfiles said:

Maybe.  Right side caliper piston siezed. Blockage in the brake hose.  Rust forms inside the steel fitting where it transitions from rubber to steel.  Or there is still sir in it.  Copy and paste this dude named Jeep.   Put a electrical tie strap on the lever over night.  

I blew air through both sides so it’s not clogged. They bled great and did not have any air in them at all. Not even tiny bubbles. Normally with air in the system I can pump them up and they will work. In this case pumping away still did very little

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Jeep you probably already checked this but I spun my self around and used a half a bottle of brake fluid with a similar issue lately.

 

I had two problems.

 

Firstly the caliper was seized with rust and just needed to be taken apart. I did light steel wool on the mating surfaces, oiled and put back together.

The second issue that I chased my tail on was a leak in the block that connects the hose from master cylinder to the individual calipers.

To be more specific the block was fine but the master cylinder hose fitting was frayed and leaking in a not immediately obvious way.

 

I hope you find the issue soon, or at least have someone to pump the handle for ya! 😄

 

oh400ex

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7 hours ago, jeepwm69 said:

 

What’s the fix for that one? 

Replace?

Seems like you or Retro put a grease fitting on there, got piston out, and cleaned and reinstalled, but can’t find it.

zerk, grease gun, and a correctly placed solid bolt in the other hole , few pumps of the grease gun, piston will come right out. then its a matter of getting all the grease out of the caliper..lol.

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4 hours ago, jeepwm69 said:

Gonna have to find a zerk that fits that caliper banjo bolt hole

go to harbor freight, they sell a zerk kit that has a bunch of different sizes in the kit.

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Going to try to source a zerk to use on the calipers today (Harbor Fright is 60+ miles from me). 

 

Yesterday I go the rear fender, rack, and rear flares installed.  Ran taps through all the bolt holes since I got paint in the threads when I painted the frame when I had it stripped bare.

 

Was going to get the rear brake reinstalled when the wife came out and handed me the kid (had to get ready to go to church, LOL).  Took me 20 minutes to find the new brake cam I ordered.  Shop has gotten messy again.

 

 

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Zerk required is a 10mm x 1.25 thread.  Couldn't find one locally so ordered some on Ebay.

 

Got the engine side covers cleaned up and painted, front skid cleaned up and repainted, and pulled the front fender and tank covers out of storage, where I also found a starter, head, valve cover, and two calipers.   LOL  Time to clean up the shop again and get organized.

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