Micah Gafford

Good morning, Happy Labor Day! Remember the weekends were brought to you by the blood of labor unions. That and children not working in coal mines and factories anymore... and safety standards... the 40 hour week... and... oh okay you get it at this point. Have a good one today!

On 9/6/2020 at 1:22 AM, Jeff Cotter said:

I have actually used weedeater line to clear brake lines in the past. liberal amounts of pb blaster and weedeater string chucked in a cordless drill. 

That is brilliant... I wish I'd tried that.

I ended up buying 2 new lines and two used ones that eventually popped up on ebay. It's all working now.

Thanks everyone!

Haven't ridden much else besides my property or friends but I just found out about a place everyone around here that everyone says is really great. Interlake state rec in Indiana It's a state part for everything off-road from hiking and biking all the way up to heavily modified off-road vehicles with beginner to expert trails. Hopefully we'll get a chance to go sometime and I can tell ya'll about. 

No, the OP was back in 2012 when I assume it worked really well but the app hasn't been updated since 2016 and most of the reviews for the last couple years say it isn't even functional anymore.

Well, I never found out and never found a good supplier to get steel braided hose for the brakes without buying a giant reel. I found some cheap replacements that finally popped up on ebay so went that route.

I've had a seriously annoying time trying to deal with the brakes on my rebuild. What size is the fitting that screws into the inverted flair cross and into the caliper? I plan on trying to make parts I need with braided steel hose.

@gillies_robert Do you think you could post a list of tools actually needed to do all the work? I'm thinking I know some of the tools I'd have to get but not all. I want to price out whether buying tools and then doing it myself is close enough to just buying new parts. If it's close I always go with the excuse to buy more tools 😉

6 hours ago, MarkinAR said:

I've made hard brake lines for years for auto. I'm not sure that's the route to go with ATV though bc its likely the rubber hose portion is collapsed. Its also likely the wheel cylinder or caliper is seized. The orings in both fall apart if not used and then the cups rust. 

Yeah, I wasn't sure if there were tools to do the hard line and hose fittings together like it's done on the atv. Someone else suggesting seeing if I took the three lines to a brake shop and asking if they could just copy they turns on the hardline and length of the hose to just put it together for me. I might call around to see if that's an option too. $300 just for brakes seems a little much to me with current options I have to replace all the lines. I squirted some carb cleaner in them and I'll let that sit overnight to see how that does but I'm not very confident they're going to come back.

I tried with brake cleaner I could try with some carb cleaner tonight. The "home made" isn't as sketchy as you'd think. There are tools to do it right. Mechanic shops do it all the time on cars. I don't have any brake cable or similar around. I'll see if I can find something while I'm in town this weekend maybe there are tiny pipe cleaners somewhere...

I bought this ATV from a friend who had it stored in their shed for a few years. I've been going through it getting things ready to fire it back up and get it driving around. So far I've changed out fluids, removed and cleaned gas tank. I am waiting on a fuel fitting to be ready to able to put the gas tank back on and fire up the engine. I'll follow up once I get to that point with whether or not that went smoothly.

Right now however I've got a brake problem. The brakes were locked up. I took the brake line off the master cylinder and made sure that it wasn't locked up, it works. I proceeded to try and flush them no luck. Then I just disconnected the brake lines. They appear to be blocked up. I don't know if the hose portions deteriorated or what. I've found the front left and right brake lines, although $70-80 each doesn't make me happy... I can't find anyone selling the rear brake line 1930751 or the primary 1930760 that goes to the inverted flare cross fitting. This leads me to wonder if I should buy parts and tools to make my own brake lines.

Two questions:

If I should decide to make my own can you point me to any tutorials out there on doing that and what size are these lines with the flared fittings?
Can anyone else find the two brake lines i listed for sale somewhere?

I definitely already know where the chill spot will be. Boulders that are great for stop and picnic.
I hadn't considered a serious mud pit before. I think some spots do get really squishy and would quickly turn to a mud pit if I tore it up a bit...

Awesome app suggestions I will certainly try them out.

Thanks for the great input guys!

Oh, that's a great idea. I think the boys will have a blast actually making the map and probably some signs too. I like the split for a dry and muddy option. If I get my drone up and going again I'll fly it through some of the area I'm planning on doing but going from above will pretty much just be a forest view 😉 I'll have to see if I can find some drone footage of others. Most of the atv cam trail drives aren't very fun to watch shake along.

16 minutes ago, 06kfx440 said:

The real question is what you would like to have.
 

That is the real question I suppose... I just don't really know. I'm not looking for the adrenaline. That's mostly because my 6 boys from all the even numbered ages from 14-4 will be using the trail on their small ATV as well and I don't want the wife to shoot me for putting a 10 ft jump over a creek into the trail. I haven't done very much four wheeling in my lifetime so I was hoping a lot of people would chime in with what they enjoy the most about spending time out on the ATV. With other people's comments I might find something that strikes me as something I'd probably really like too.

To clarify the 4 year old will not be driving an ATV I just meant all of them in the sense that even the younger ones will be growing up into being able to ride whatever we setup for many years in the future.

So the kids have a 110cc ATV I'm getting an old polaris xplorer up and running and I've been thinking about what kind of trail I should make. I've got some very wooded acreage and hills with creeks running through it. I'm planning on using a lot of the old logging road for the main trail but what do you normally want to come across when you're riding your ATV? Any suggestions on things I should build in? What would you make sure you had on a trail you built and what would you avoid doing?

3 hours ago, Aj Hurtibise said:

@Frank Angerano what do you mean phase to phase in electrical really isn't my forte but I do have a cheap  meter

The phases are the three coils that pick up the magnetic fields as the motor spins to generate electricity to run the engine, recharge the battery, and all the other electrical stuff. Here's an easy video on testing that stuff. A cheap meter is fine it should be able to test for ohms in this range.

Awesome maybe I'll make the list in a month! 😉

Okay, yeah I'm going to have to take off the gas tank like you said @Frank Angerano It's got a dried pool of goo in one corner from what I can see. There's an in line fuel filter right before the Carb so easy to see when the seat is off. Not going to start that until maybe Thursday. Air filter is pretty bad so I'll probably replace that. He used some of the old foam type of material you'd use on your shop vac for the wet stuff around the air filter and sewed it up to stay on, any suggestions on whether I should put something like that back on?

Do'h yeah thanks lol I don't know why I couldn't think of the term master cylinder.
 

On 8/25/2012 at 7:33 PM, marioweldinginc said:

I dont wear a wedding ring at all. It was a requirement not to wear one or any jewelry when I was working but then it became habit not to wear it. I do wear it when we go out. My wife doesnt wear one either.

I wore a titanium ring originally because it was a possibility I'd ruin another one easily by getting it squished in just tight enough places I wouldn't worry about my finger but did have to worry about a ring.

On 10/15/2012 at 7:51 PM, mxquadmom said:

When I ride I use to wear my ring but not anymore for 3 different reasons:

#1 - After 18 years of marriage taking my ring off is no biggie

#2 - The blister/calloused hand I get from riding really hurts

#3 - I always end up damaging/bending the ring if I ride long enough.

 

1) Yeah, my wife is not insecure about the wedding ring and with her metal allergies often keeps hers off unless we're going out.
2) Same if I end up swinging a hammer a bunch in a day
3) see above reply Î

On 2/24/2019 at 2:55 PM, Frank Angerano said:

Tattoo that thing on. No more worries ! 

Still keeping that in the consideration list for next tattoos on the both of us.

On 1/2/2020 at 11:51 AM, BAMFUPINYA said:

I have a silicone ring that I swap out for the real deal when doing any outdoors activities, working in the garage, etc. Have had a couple close calls with ring avulsion in the past and I like all of my fingers, so silicone rings it is for me. 

 

This is what I eventually ended up doing. The combination of my new brother in law getting a set for working on their farm and me getting a bit fat and having my original ring start to hurt I just moved entirely to the silicone rings so I keep them on a lot more often now. I also don't worry about losing it when I pull off my glove on a cold day.

Good morning, it's always morning somewhere...

It's pinned but it doesn't work anymore sadly I get >>  Error code: 1S160/2

@Frank Angerano Thanks! I hadn't even thought of trying a thinner oil at first. The hand brake isn't a cable but has brake fluid and it looks like it's not budging at all right now. I'll have to crack that open; it's "resevoir" is right on the handlebar. It is water cooled so yeah I'm planning on changing that too.

Good tip on the tires they will likely be the very last thing bought after I know I've got everything else up and going but I'll keep my eye open for a good deal to show up.

2 stroke I think... I think in 1995 there was only one xplorer and it was a 2 stroke Polaris 400 xplorer 4x4. I just ordered a battery looks like I'll need a full set of tires but I might be able to putt around they just all have slow leak dry rot so enough for making sure it moves but not seeing how well it GOES 😉 I'm going to change all the fluids and hit all the grease spots. After that I'm not sure what else I should check over before a fill up and trying to fire it up. I'd certainly be thrilled for a checklist of what to run through before I try and start it considering It's been in shed storage for a few years.

I got quarantined for two weeks and did end up getting some projects done. I finished the flooring int the master bedroom closet that I hadn't gotten around to since we moved in a year and a half ago. I got the table saw finally all setup and running in the garage. Got the kid's 110cc atv running again (that's a whole other story) uh, let's see. I converted my office into a little bit of a studio to record replacement Sunday School lessons for our young adult group at church. Filled in some more of the stone path. Broke the riding mower's blade bearing housing... lucky that's an easy swap out and just a $20 part.... It has felt like I got more done than I normally would have. Now I'm back to climbing poles again so less project time. Saw some good work done in those photos!

I'm Micah I live in southern Indiana in the Hoosier national forest. Just picked up my first ATV for extra cheap and I've gotta get it up and running from sitting in a friend's shed for a few years. It's a '95 Polaris Xplorer 400. I've had a little bit of experience with simple ATV stuff from the cheap chinese atv my in-laws bought for our kids. I don't expect nearly as many headaches but would love suggestions on what things to go through before putting in a battery, gas, and oil and trying to fire it up.

Thanks!