davefrombc

I'd likely go with the original piston and rings only because of cost , but if you can get new at a reasonable price that would be a good option .. You should break the glaze in the bore if you go new piston and rings so that the rings can seat in properly. Measure the bore to see if it is on spec before going that way though. Sorry , I can't make the choice for you. LOL... I'm a cheap retired old fart. Gotta weigh cost / benefit in all I do .

Unless you're a hard core racer or otherwise obsessed with speed , any quad from 200 CC on up will give you plenty of speed for trail riding. My old '91 Honda 300cc 4x4 quad will hit 40 mph on the flat and level . A 450 should easily get up to 50 or more and probably match the 700. About the only advantage the 700cc would have is in pulling power or for plowing heavy snow, at a higher cost for fuel in the bigger motor. For normal riding , the 450 will be more than enough

Hard for me to call from afar. Does the cylinder bore look good or is it showing visible wear?. Your photo of the piston looks like the piston and rings are in good shape. Depends on price and budget, but if the cylinder bore, piston and rings all look good, I'd tend to go with them .. any obvious excessive wear or scoring on them and I'd go for a re-bore , new piston and rings since you're that deep into the motor. The outer journal on the rocker shaft looks like it may have been put together without being tightened down properly and the subsequent loose bore allowed the outer journal of the rocker to slap around and slop it out . Can't say why the rocker developed the wavy pattern. Wild guess is it may possibly be because of the slopped out journal allowing the rocker to follow an uneven pattern on the cam. How does the cam look?

Try to get the drill as exactly on center as you can. If you can get hold of a reverse twist drill bit use it. If the stud comes loose while drilling a reverse twist bit would back it out on its own rather than running it in deeper.. I have a set of screw extractors wit a reverse twist drill bit on one end and a conical extractor on the other . If you can find a set of them , they are ideal for that job.

Glad you got it sorted out; and glad you let us all know what it was.. I'd have never thought of the voltage regulator myself. Something to remember next time someone has an odd "fuel" problem.

Sounds like the seller didn't have the stock wheels on the front. You can look up the rims and tires for your quad on this site and compare the specs listed there with what your front wheels actually are. That should tell you if that is the problem . http://www.mud-throwers.com/atv_wheel_chart

Leave the fronts at stock width. The engineers who designed the quad made them that width for a reason . Wider front spacing may be more stable for all out racing , but a pain to steer and handle in more normal riding. Friends who didn't listen and turned their wheels around to gain with very quickly went back to stock spacing after a couple of rides and tired arms.

CVT clutches drive on the sides of the belt. The clutches should be smooth or you'd get severe belt wear . As the belt wears it gets narrower and you would see glazing on the sides.. Evewntually when it gets narrow enough it in unable to ride up in the clutches properly and you lose speed and grip

Your revs going up and no drive power to the wheels was because your CVT transmission belt and clutches got wet. It doesn't take a lot of water entering the housing and wetting the belt to make it slip . CVT transmissions drive on the sides of the drive belt .. Since the clutches are smooth, they lose grip on the belt when wet ..As soon as the clutches and belt start drying they regain their grip. A worn belt will slip much quicker than a new one since it is narrower due to the wear on the sides as it is used. Definitely check all the fluids for water that may have entered through the various vents on the differentials, transmission and motor.

Haven't had to change one myself, but there should be something in the packaging to indicate which way it goes on if it is not obvious by design.

The idler gear is should only rotate in one direction since it is coupled with the starter clutch.From what you've said I'm afraid the clutch is hooped.

Check neutral safety switch, and any relays that are in the ignition circuit trace wires back from the CDI box to battery . Use a simple probe or a VOM meter to see where power first appears. Most likely culprit is the relay or wire last checked before power is found .

Check for a wire with a small bare spot shorting out somewhere in the ignition circuit . It won't be the starter because there is no power to it except when you are actually starting the machine. It obviously can't be a continuous short, just one that movement occasionally makes it connect and blow the fuse . It could happen immediately after changing the fuse , minutes , hours or even days apart if it is in a wire that only occasionally grounds out.

Some makes of quads and other vehicles will run without a battery, but not all . It depends on the make and model. Like cars and motorcycles, many newer quads are going all electronic so some of them won't run without the battery. I cannot say whether yours will or not .

As long as the battery is fully charged the headlight isn't going to brighten when you rev it up.The voltage readings are right for a charging circuit.

Check to see if the enricher / choke is actually working or not. If it is a "butterfy" type choke plate, check to see if it is closing Maybe disconnected ?.. Other than that , I'm afraid it's a head scratcher you will have to hunt down .

Sorry , Can't help on the tach . I see I mistyped in last message It should have been 2 turns , not 3 , but turn it about 1/4 turn at a time. Turn it in or out a bit when you find the spot it starts ok and doesn't die when you open the throttle to fine tune that sweet spot . It should run after a couple of minutes warm up and not stumble when you "blip" the throttle .. If it does , it can be because it is too lean at idle ( air screw out too far ) or a problem with an accelerator circuit.. It's hard to cover bases with suggestions from afar, especially when not familiar with the specific carb(s) on various bikes. All I can do is point in directions to look for problems.

Choke off to start sounds like too lean. Try turning the screw in a bit at a time I think you'll find it better at about 3 turns out rather than the 3.5

Either a relay or possibly the neutral safety switch has failed, or something simple like you accidentally hit the kill switch . I have done that and took me a minute to realize that was all..... I had accidentally activated the kill switch. All that cursing for nothing LOL Hope that was your problem too....Easy fix . If not, fun time chasing down the electrical fault.

Backfire is most often lean.... My ride'em lawnmower does it every time I shut down the throttle and ignition motor dies with last gasp backfire after it has stopped. You could make your screw driver stay on the needle valve by cutting a small piece of plastic tubing that has an opening to fit over the screw heard and attaching it to the end of the screw driver.

Get a probe type tester to see which wire gets power when the ignition switch is turned to the first position . Manfacturers usually don't have a common code for wiring colours. Each model and make have their own codes listed in their service manuals. Without one you need testers and probes to trace wires if the connections aren't easily visible and traceable from end to end .

When the carb was worked on, did you make sure all the passages and jets were clear? There could be a partial plug in the idle air circuit or the needle could be deformed a bit requiring it be turned out farther than normal to get the right mixture .. 2 1/2 turns is an INITIAL setting. On every motor final setting may be less or more. . Most manuals say start at 1 1/2 to 2 turns out from LIGHTLY seated. More than one carb and needle have been damaged by someone turning the screw in too tightly. They usually still work , but settings on a damaged one could be far from what they should be. I'm not familiar with the access to the carb to say what would be the easiest way to access the idle air screw to adjust it , but there are screw drivers available with flexible shafts and cupped heads to keep them on the screw. They'd be a specialty item you might have fun tracking down. Could you possibly find extension shafts to use with an insert type screw driver , or a long screw driver that will allow you to be able to reach that screw from farther out of the frame where there is more room to turn it? One other thing , when you say 5 turns, is that five full rotations or five half rotations on a slotted screw?

It is most likely a fault in the switch. bypass the switch's ignition lead so you have power to the ignition and then turn the switch to the lights on position. If it continues to run then you know the switch is faulty.

When there are two bearings in an assembly with a spacer in between them, the spacer will be tightly clamped between them. A spacer between the inner races keeps the bearings from moving or the inner race from being pushed out of the bearing when the nut mounting the assembly is tightened.. The spacer between the bearings makes them in effect one piece transferring the clamping power of the nut through the races to the shoulder they mount against.

Does it turn over ok with the plug out? On my Honda, if I don't open the compression release I can't kick it over on the kick start .. I never thought but on your pull start there may be an automatic compression release that is not working. It's possible compression is stopping it. Only a suggestion since I'm not familiar with your Timberwolf.